Authored by Nathan Worcester via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

WASHINGTON—The Senate will hold a weekend session as it debates the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require citizenship verification and photo identification in federal elections.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), joined by other Senate Republicans, speaks to reporters as the government is on verge of shutdown amid partisan standoff, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 30, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

President Donald Trump, who strongly backs the SAVE America Act, has called on lawmakers to add provisions banning men from women’s sports, outlawing gender-altering surgery in minors, and restricting mail-in voting.

The legislation made it out of the House on Feb. 11, where it was backed by Republicans and opposed by almost all Democrats.

The Senate initiated debate on March 17, less than two weeks ahead of a scheduled recess.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has opposed what some call the standing filibuster, citing misgivings from many of his GOP Senate colleagues about an approach that could, in theory, exhaust a filibuster of the SAVE America Act.

Senate Republicans are continuing a debate on the act even as they stare down the 60-vote filibuster threshold, a significant barrier given the current party breakdown in the upper chamber.

As the debate kicked off, Thune told reporters, “How it ends remains to be seen.”

“There will be a point at which it will end, and there will be a series of votes that come with that,” he said.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told reporters on March 20 that he would be glad to see the Senate stick around to debate the Iran War, but not because of the SAVE America Act, which he described as legislation that “everybody knows is not going to pass.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), lead sponsor of the SAVE America Act, doubled down on his commitment to the measure.

“The SAVE America Act will pass[.] The Senate must keep debating it until that happens,” he wrote on X on March 20.

On Truth Social, Trump reiterated his support for the measure on March 20, ahead of the Senate’s weekend work.

“The SAVE America Act must be passed by the Senate. There is nothing more important for the U.S.A.,” he wrote.

Lawmakers have submitted multiple amendments to the bill, including some intended to implement Trump’s proposed changes to it.

An amendment to the SAVE America Act from Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) to ban men from competing in women’s sports is now on pace for a March 21 vote.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has also teed up a procedural vote related to funding the Transportation and Security Administration, though one removed several steps from a vote on the floor.

In addition, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) filed for cloture on Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s (R-Okla.) nomination as Homeland Security Secretary.

Thune’s move brings up a March 22 vote in the Senate.

Three weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, the Trump administration’s central focus now is very clear: reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restore the normal passage of crude and LNG tankers through a maritime chokepoint that carries roughly one-fifth of global oil and LNG flows.

On Saturday morning, Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command and the official overseeing Operation Epic Fury, released an update on day 22 of the combat mission and stated:

Iran has lost significant combat capability over the last three weeks. We are taking out thousands of Iranian missiles, advanced attack drones, and all of Iran’s Navy, which they use to harass international shipping. Their navy is not sailing. Their tactical fighters aren’t flying. They have lost the ability to launch missiles and drones at high rates as seen at the beginning of the conflict.

Cooper then focused on the Hormuz chokepoint, stating that U.S. forces had “destroyed intelligence support sites and missile radar relays” along the critical waterway that the IRGC used to monitor commercial shipping traffic and conduct targeting operations.

“Iran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz has been degraded as a result. And we will not stop pursuing these targets,” Cooper noted.

“Iran’s capabilities are declining…” – Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM Commander pic.twitter.com/FC3TgpEGpJ

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 21, 2026

A quick summary of the overnight U.S. military operations to degrade IRGC forces around the Hormuz chokepoint, which could allow tanker traffic to resume in some greater capacity next week as the world, and Asia in particular, faces an unprecedented energy shock:

U.S. forces have destroyed Iranian radar and surveillance nodes used to track shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, struck underground anti-ship missile facilities, and hit multiple coastal military sites, as Cooper assesses that Iran’s combat capability has deteriorated over the first three weeks of the war.

Cooper’s push to neutralize IRGC forces in the Strait of Hormuz comes as shipping traffic through the waterway remained subdued last week.

Overnight, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told Japan’s Kyodo News that Tehran is prepared to facilitate the safe transit of Japanese vessels. Japan imports roughly 90% of its crude from the Gulf, a dependency shared by much of Asia, including China and other major economies.

Following the degradation of IRGC forces in the Hormuz area, a coalition of 23 Western and allied nations (UAE, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Australia, and 15 others) issued a joint statement condemning Iran’s attacks on commercial shipping, energy infrastructure, and the strait.

The countries signaled their readiness to support secure transit through the Strait, including coordination efforts and preparatory planning. In other words, this is a major diplomatic breakthrough to reopen Hormuz.

23 nations just issued a joint statement on the Strait of Hormuz. This is a major diplomatic escalation.

∙ Signatories – UAE, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Australia + 15 others condemn Iranian attacks on commercial vessels and civilian energy infrastructure… pic.twitter.com/vPjqlPlMDi

— DA Sails (@da_sails) March 21, 2026

Additional Hormuz headlines:

Iranian Navy guided an Indian LPG tanker through the strait on a pre-approved route following diplomatic engagement

Iranian officials have become unwilling to discuss reopening Hormuz

Brent  still around $112/bbl (+54% since the conflict began)

Energy market:

US temporarily eased sanctions on Iranian oil already at sea in a bid to cool surging crude prices, signaling a tactical reversal of its prior “maximum pressure” stance as the war enters week four

New developments on Iranian missile capabilities:

Iran launched ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia US-UK base, demonstrating missile range beyond previously known capabilities

Iran unsuccessfully targeted Diego Garcia base according to UK official source

The base suffered no damage according to a person familiar with the matter

Latest on the Trump administration:

Trump said he was considering winding down US military efforts against Iran, claiming the US was close to achieving its objectives

The U.S. is ramping up strikes on Iranian drones/naval assets and preparing to deploy ~2,500 additional Marines, adding to ~50,000 troops already in the region.

Most critical reads:

IEA Chief Warns Gulf Flows May Take Six Months To Restore After Biggest-Ever Energy Shock

Qatar LNG Repairs To Take Up To Five Years, Cost $20 Billion In Lost Revenue, Cripple Chinese Supply

Qatar Dethroned As ‘LNG King’ As U.S. Seizes Throne, Reshaping Future Of Gas

Demand Destruction Has Arrived

Polymarket bets on a US-Iran ceasefire by April 15 currently stand at 21%.  

All eyes on the Hormuz chokepoint next week. 

Via The Daily Signal,

This is a lightly edited transcript of a segment of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words” podcast from Daily Signal.

What is it with the fickle Europeans? I know that they have different interests than ours, but we’re both Western entities. You’d think that we’d be more collaborative on the effort to disarm and denuclearize Iran. But a lot of strange things are happening.

The traditional use of the Diego Garcia critical airbase in the Indian Ocean, run by the British, but often leased to us and allowed us to have a very valuable base for our long-range bombers. The British initially refused to allow us to use it. And then, only under conditions that it would be used for defensive purposes.

I don’t know what that means. But I think they forgot the 1982 Falklands War. They were in big trouble going all the way across the world to attack a country in the Western Hemisphere.

We were trying to be on friendly relationships so that [Argentina] wouldn’t join the other communist nations. And of course, we offered them 2 million gallons of gasoline. We offered them the use of a carrier if they needed it. We gave them sophisticated intelligence. Without the United States’ help, they would’ve had a very hard time retaking it. So, what’s happened?

And then Spain has said that we can’t use at all the NATO base there in Spain. [President Emmanuel] Macron in France and [Chancellor Friedrich] Merz in Germany have also said they’ve expressed reservations.

President Donald Trump is now trying to say, you know, we’re using all of our assets to disarm this common threat to the West. Could you just send a few ships to help us, you know, patrol the Strait of Hormuz? And they’re reluctant.

This gets back to the United States, who pays an inordinate amount of the NATO budget. And it keeps having to, you know, to harangue and hammer. “Please, please defend yourself. We are here to help you, but we’re across the ocean, 3,000 miles away. And this is in your interest. You know, this is the third time Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.”

So, don’t they have a fear of Iran? I mean, there was a joint missile defense project. Obama canceled it, in that infamous quid pro quo hot mic conversation where he made a deal with the Russians to give him space so he could get reelected. He would dismantle the Czech and Polish project to have missile defense. That was primarily for the protection of Europe. The United States was going to pay a great deal of it. Protection from Iran.

So, what’s going on? What explains this European schizophrenia? That they want to be an ally, but they don’t want to be an ally. They’re scared to death of a nuclear Iran, but they don’t want to do anything about it. They want the United States to handle it, but they want the United States to handle it and keep them out of it.

But most of their oil comes from the Middle East or North Africa. So, they are adamant that they want the supplies, reliable. They want the Strait of Hormuz open. They want the United States to ensure that. They want the United States to clear the Red Sea of Houthi attacks. We know all that, but they’re not there when we need them at all. And a very, you know, a very reasonable request.

And so why is this?

Well, I think there’s a lot of reasons.

I think they’ve made some disastrous, internal and external choices in their policies.

First of all, Germany has 16 percent of its population are immigrants that weren’t born in Germany.

The vast majority of them are unassimilated, unacculturated, unintegrated Muslims.

Many of them, or most, under Angela Merkel policy. She was the German version of Alejandro Mayorkas, who opened the border and pretty much enacted this destructive policy. In other countries at 6 percent to 10 percent to 12 percent.

But the key is there’s a force multiplier of these open-border illegal immigration policies.

And that is the Muslim communities that immigrate are more radical often than the countries they left that were radical enough.

They don’t want to be part of the West. They feel that their birth rate and their increased immigration will soon swamp these European governments. And the European governments are terrified of them.

So, on key issues of concern to the West, to emasculate Iran, they’re afraid to say anything. And they’re afraid to express support for Israel because these internal populations within the continent will turn on them, or they won’t get their votes.

The second disastrous policy was green energy. Germany and other countries, with the exception of France, have either put on hold or dismantled their coal plants. In the case of Germany, they had to restart them because they disarmed or displaced their nuclear facilities.

They don’t want to tap the huge natural gas deposits that are thought to be in continental Europe. They are not looking for new sources of offshore oil. They don’t want any fossil fuels. No natural gas unless we import it.

They don’t want to develop themselves. And the result is their energy is two or three times more expensive than their economic competitors. And they’re captives of the Middle East and Russia for energy. So that has affected their political independence.

Third, they thought they were at the end of history after the fall of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. So, they thought they were in some type of disarmament utopia. So, they, more or less, disarmed.

So, here we are with tiny little Israel with 11 million, 10 million people, and they have 300 front-line aircraft fighters, jets that are flying every day with some of the best pilots in the world. And they have more fighters than our key trio of NATO partners. More than Germany. More than France. More than Great Britain.

Of course, we know about European fertility. Ours is bad enough at 1.65. Theirs is down to 1.3 and 1.4 in some countries, and 1.1. There’s been a new credo in Europe that you’re not going to have children. The good life is too precious. Why waste it raising children? And of course, socialism is not sustainable.

They have this huge socialist safety net, which is exacerbated by millions of impoverished Middle East people coming in illegally who demand entitlements and, sort of, threaten their hosts. And they’re not very gracious immigrants. And you put it all together, and you get European schizophrenia.

And what is that schizophrenia? It’s quietly whispering to the United States, “Help us. Help us. You’ve got to make sure that Russia doesn’t go further west in Ukraine. What are you going to do?”

“All seven presidents before you, Mr. Trump, they’ve all worried about the Iranian nuclear ballistic missile crisis. We’re closer than you are. We can’t keep appeasing them. They hate us as much as they hate you. Who is going to do something? Please, Mr. President.”

And then publicly, “Oh, we’re very disturbed. This is very disturbing. This is very dangerous. I don’t think that we really want to be actively a participant.”

And, the final irony, Europe’s got a bigger population than we do. 450 million people. And its GDP is about the size of China’s. So, it’s got huge resources and potential, even under its socialist and green energy policies. Even with its open borders. Even with its low fertility. With all of those crises that are self-inflicted, it still could arm itself and be a full partner. And yet, it will not do it.

And therefore, it knows it should do it. And it knows there’s things that must be done. And it wants them done, but it wants the United States to do it. So, at the same time, it can criticize them and triangulate against its own savior.

It’s a tragic and really, to be honest, pathetic situation.

Summary

Natanz nuclear site attacked: Iran says “no nuclear radiation” detected, even as attacks on core sites like Isfahan nuclear facilities signal clear escalation despite earlier Trump signals of maybe “winding down.”

War expands with furthest ever Iranian missile launch: Iran fires missiles at Diego Garcia in a failed but unprecedented long-range strike.

US claims momentum, hits hardened targets, Hormuz softening ops: CENTCOM says Iran has lost “significant combat capability” after 8,000+ strikes, and bunker-busting attacks on coastal facilities tied to control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Kharg invasion risk rising: US still weighing a high-risk seizure of Kharg Island as more US warships and Marines surge to the region, raising odds of boots-on-the-ground escalation.

*  *  *

Natanz Nuclear Site Suffers Direct Attack – No Radiation Leakage 

President Trump’s late in the day Friday comments proclaiming “I think we’ve won” suggested he might be readying the announcement of an offramp or at least de-escalation, but that speculation has proven premature as things definitely escalated overnight. 

For apparently the second time of Operation Epic Fury, Iran’s flagship enrichment site at Natanz nuclear facility has come under attack. Iran’s nuclear agency confirmed the strike but is keeping details deliberately vague, saying nothing about how it was carried out or what weapons were used. What it did emphasize, however, is that “no nuclear radiation” was released.

via AFP

Natanz – alongside the Isfahan nuclear facilities – sits at the core of Tehran’s nuclear program, long viewed as a prime target in the US-Israel campaign to cripple Iran’s ability to produce an atomic bomb – though it remains that even Iran’s current wartime leadership is saying it has no intent to produce a nuclear weapon. The AP says Natanz was earlier struck at least once at the opening of the conflict, writing: “The facility, Iran’s main uranium enrichment site, was hit in the first week of the war and several buildings appeared damaged, according to satellite images.”

All of this, along with steady the overnight and early morning heavy bombing of Tehran marks a definite escalation despite Trump having floated the idea of “winding down” operations in the late Friday comments.

Iran Vastly Expands Threat Radius: Diego Garcia

Another huge escalation and development: British officials are staying tight-lipped after an attempted Iranian strike on the key Indian Ocean air base on Friday reportedly failed, offering no details on what exactly happened. But this risks pulling in the UK, which has appeared reluctant to directly participate in Trump’s operation. Britain has generally condemned “Iran’s reckless attacks.”

Just hours after Iran targeted the Diego Garcia base, Britain confirmed US bombers can continue using UK facilities – including the same base – for operations aimed at stopping Iranian attacks on shipping in Hormuz.

“Iran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia, a joint U.S.-U.K. military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean, according to multiple U.S. officials,” The Wall Street Journal details. “Neither of the missiles hit the base, but the move marked Iran’s first operational use of IRBMs and a significant attempt to reach far beyond the Middle East and threaten US-UK interests.”

“One of the missiles failed in flight, and a U.S. warship fired an SM-3 interceptor at the other, according to two of the people,” the report added. “It couldn’t be determined if an interception was made, according to one of the officials.” The geographical expanse of the war just got greatly expanded, given Diego Garcia lies about 4,000 kilometers from Iran.

Iran and some regional proxies continue attacking US military sites and interests across the region:

Drone strike triggers massive blaze at US-linked Baghdad airport facility

Iran-backed militia Ashab al-kahf claims responsibility for the attack#israel #iran #war #strikes #drones #attack #hezbollah pic.twitter.com/GZnmWWEv8l

— WION (@WIONews) March 21, 2026

Pentagon Touts ‘Obvious Progress’; Bombs Underground Facilities

CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper has said in an operational update that Iran “has lost significant combat capability” in the three weeks since the war began, also at a moment of reports that more IRGC leadership has been taken out in airstrikes. He said the US has struck more than 8,000 military targets, including 130 Iranian vessels. “Our progress is obvious,” Cooper boasted.

He described that multiple 5,000-pound bombs were dropped on an underground facility on Iran’s coastline, part of a strategy to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. “We not only took out the facility but also destroyed intelligence support sites and missile radar relays that were used to monitor ship movements,” Cooper said.

Domestic fallout amid rising prices at the gas pump looks to grow in US:

Question: I’m a waiter at a local restaurant in Queens, a full time college student who sleeps an average of four hours a night and is still thousands in debt. How is a war in a country half the world away funded by the taxes pulled from my check, helping me in any way? pic.twitter.com/QVgzfSSQZ8

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 21, 2026

Trump is still said to be mulling a very high risk Kharg Island takeover, which to accomplish would most definitely require ground troops. A second deployment of US troops to the region was authorized earlier this week, and three warships and thousands of additional Marines are en route to the Middle East.

One among many problems in even getting to Kharg Island is that hundreds of miles of Iranian coastline must be passed by any ship hoping to reach Kharg, which lies over 300 miles deep and northwest of the Strait of Hormuz.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

The authoritarian COVID lockdowns and stay-at-home orders sold as life-saving measures have been unmasked once again as a deadly failure of big government overreach.

A new UK Covid-19 Inquiry report has concluded that the relentless “Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives” messaging likely cost thousands of lives by convincing people they could not get access to health services.

The inquiry, led by Baroness Hallett, slammed the slogan created by Cabinet Office officials without input from health leaders. It “led some people to feel they must avoid burdening the NHS” and “may have inadvertently sent the message that healthcare was closed,” contributing to a sharp decline in A&E attendances for life-threatening emergencies such as heart attacks.

Stay at home advice during Covid cost lives, inquiry concludes https://t.co/Lm4uaR8hvV

— Times Politics (@timespolitics) March 19, 2026

The report states plainly: “It is clear that, during the pandemic, worsening delays in diagnosis and treatment led to increased ill-health and suffering and, in some cases, cost lives.” Some patients waited so long their conditions became “untreatable,” with permanent loss of mobility.

Baroness Hallett stressed: “It is important that government communication campaigns do not deter those in need from accessing healthcare.” She urged future governments to consult healthcare professionals on messaging “to avoid unintended consequences.”

Office for National Statistics data backs this up, recording more than 17,000 excess deaths from non-Covid conditions at the height of the pandemic. Cancer screenings were paused, diagnoses plummeted, and non-urgent care cancellations left patients suffering. Hospital visiting bans were branded too tough, with dying people left alone and families devastated.

But at least we got to enjoy the dancing nurse videos in near-empty hospitals. pic.twitter.com/rJ6XPcctRX

— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) March 19, 2026

The NHS itself “coped, but only just,” teetering on the brink of collapse under “intolerable strain,” per Hallett, who noted politicians like then-health secretary Matt Hancock were reluctant to admit the system was overwhelmed.

The findings come on the back of mountains of research indicating isolation policies inflicted generational damage on children’s development. 

A recent University of East Anglia-led study, published in Child Development, concuded that lockdowns may have permanently damaged kids’ brain development through lost socialisation and routine.

The study tracked 139 children and found the greatest harm hit reception-year pupils aged four to five when the first lockdowns struck in March 2020 – a critical window for learning routines, friendships, and self-regulation.

Lead researcher Prof John Spencer said: “Children who were in reception when the country shut down showed much slower growth in key self-regulation and cognitive flexibility skills over the next few years than children who were still in preschool.”

He added: “Reception is a critical year for peer socialisation. It’s when children learn classroom norms and build early friendships that shape their confidence.”

Without those experiences, “children’s self-regulatory skills didn’t develop as quickly year-on-year after the lockdowns ended.” The study concluded: “Without these experiences, reception children had a challenging time developing self-regulation and cognitive flexibility in the years that followed the pandemic.”

That research adds to a cascade of older studies exposing the full horror.

A 2023 report by Speech and Language UK revealed the average child missed 84 school days due to Covid policies. Eight in ten teachers reported worsened pupil inattention post-pandemic, blaming screen-based “learning” and stunted social skills.

Teachers have also noted rises in needless chatter, shouting, and inappropriate laughing, with the “ever-swiping nature” of social media like TikTok worsening the fallout.

Previous research showed teenage girls’ brains aged prematurely by up to four years during lockdowns, with boys affected by one-and-a-half years—linked to social restrictions hitting girls harder.

Covid lockdowns rapidly aged girls’ brain by 4.2 years compared to 1.4 among boys.

Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/9kT18beXBM

— AF Post (@AFpost) September 10, 2024

University of Washington researchers compared MRI scans from 2018 to post-pandemic ones in 2021-2022, finding accelerated cortical thinning, a natural process tied to anxiety, stress, and higher disorder risks. Whether this is permanent remains unclear, but it spotlights the unseen toll of isolating youth.

This latest warning adds to a mountain of evidence exposing lockdowns as a disastrous overreach that prioritized control over common sense, devastating children’s futures.

A previous study highlighted how lockdowns drove 60,000 children in the UK to clinical depression, with the enforced isolation sparking widespread mental health crises among youth that required professional intervention.

Another investigation revealed that babies born during lockdown were less likely to speak before their first birthday, as the lack of face-to-face interactions and exposure to facial expressions hindered early language acquisition.

Babies born in lockdown were less likely to have said their first word by the time they turned one 💔 Lockdowns and mask mandates stunted babies’ development: They weren’t able to socialize or read facial expressions, study warns! 🆘
Daily Mail Online https://t.co/v2XtsXaDim

— CyberChick (@warriors_mom) October 12, 2022

A further study found many children unable to say their own name due to the impact of lockdown, pointing to profound speech and developmental delays from limited social engagement.

‘Children learn by watching people, by watching lips, by seeing faces. No only did we lock them at home, we put masks on the people around them.’

NHS GP Dr Renee Hoenderkamp discusses more children needing help with speech after lockdown isolation. pic.twitter.com/BPXStRrXZF

— GB News (@GBNEWS) November 8, 2022

Research also uncovered that children were suffering from as many as three different viruses simultaneously due to weakened immunity caused by lockdown, since prolonged indoor confinement prevented the natural building of defenses against common pathogens.

June 2022: “Children were admitted…with a startling range of 7 viruses. They had adenovirus, rhinovirus, RSV, human metapneumovirus, influenza & parainfluenza, as well as Covid—which many specialists say is to blame for the unusual surges.” https://t.co/ZdBhe3z7xu

— Laura Miers (@LauraMiers) March 12, 2023

In addition, an outbreak of hepatitis in children was directly attributed to lockdowns that weakened immunity, resulting in unexpected surges of the liver condition among previously healthy kids.

Doctors also raised alarms over a mysterious outbreak of brain infections in Nevada kids, believing it was linked to COVID lockdowns that left children’s immune systems vulnerable and unprepared for routine exposures.

NEW — The CDC is Investigating an Alarming Cluster of Mysterious Brain Infections in Children in Nevada

“Before COVID they were seeing about 4 cases/year of brain abscesses in children. When they looked in 2022 it was 18.” pic.twitter.com/JdZkRTc71W

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) April 29, 2023

Disturbing lockdown drawings also illustrated the severe effect on children’s mental health, where artwork captured the trauma, fear, and emotional distress from being cut off from normal life.

The harrowing pictures drawn by children in lockdown https://t.co/P9XIoJRJmY

— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) January 7, 2023

These findings, among others like excess deaths and ignored warnings, paint a picture of policy failure. Lockdown zealots dismissed the collateral damage, but the data doesn’t lie—government mandates crushed freedom and futures alike.

These inquiries and studies should bury any remaining excuses for repeating such experiments. Surrendering liberty to bureaucrats never saves lives – it only costs them, and scars the next generation forever.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

The Department of Homeland Security shutdown entered its 36th day on Saturday after Senate Democrats blocked yet another funding bill for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Transportation Security Administration, and other federal agencies, triggering weeks of chaos at airports nationwide, including long TSA checkpoint lines during the peak of the spring break travel season.

Early Saturday morning, Elon Musk, closely tracking the DHS funding lapse, wrote on X that he would personally pay the salaries of TSA agents to get them back to airports and help avert further chaos.

“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Musk said.

I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2026

On Friday, a motion to advance a funding bill failed 47-37, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster. John Fetterman (Pa.) was the only Democrat to vote “yes” on the DHS funding bill. Sixteen senators from both parties were absent for the vote. This marks the fifth time Democrats have blocked the Homeland Security Appropriations bill since DHS funding ended in mid-February.

Democrats have been absolutely furious over any funding bill for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that does not include reforms to immigration enforcement operations. That is mostly because they are watching President Trump erode their political power by deporting the very illegal aliens their party allowed to invade the nation under the Biden-Harris regime. Remember, these illegals are the future voting bloc of the Democratic Party, meant to seize political control by disenfranchising citizens.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) is planning to force a vote sometime today on a proposal to fund the TSA.

“The chaos at TSA is reaching a boiling point. We need to reopen it as quickly as possible. That is what Senate Democrats are intent on doing,” Schumer said.

Related:

“Problem Is Solvable”: Airline CEOs Urge Congress To End Shutdown, Pay TSA Workers

By the end of the week, 10% of all TSA workers did not show up for work – just below the record 10.22% absentee rate set at the start of the week. Nearly 400 agents have quit so far in the months-long shutdown, according to DHS. These workers have been without pay since mid-last month, when the Democratic Party began using these agents as political pawns.

The severity of the government shutdown this time has not yet reached the crisis level of travel disruption seen during the 43-day shutdown late last year, when air traffic controllers were used as leverage in political disputes, disrupting air travel nationwide. To prevent such issues in the future, perhaps privatization talks for these agencies should begin.

Is it possible that an unhinged, left-wing judge might try to block Musk from offering to pay TSA agents’ salaries during the funding lapse?

Authored by Damian Pudner via the Foundation for Economic Education,

An unsettling look at the economic settlement that the UK now seems willing to accept can be found in the latest fiscal forecast, published on March 3.

By the end of the forecast period, borrowing will have decreased from 5.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024–2025 to about 1.6 percent. Public debt stabilizes at roughly 95 percent of national income. At those levels, even small shifts in interest rates matter: The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that a sustained 1-percentage-point move in the Bank Rate changes government borrowing costs by about 15 billion pounds (about $20 billion).

In the later years of the forecast, economic growth limps along at about 1.5 percent, while unemployment is expected to peak at 5.33 percent. Meanwhile, the tax burden approaches an unprecedented 38 percent of GDP, the highest sustained level in the postwar era, as public spending remains significantly higher than its pre-COVID-19-pandemic share of the economy.

Taken together, these forecasts describe an economy settling into a comfortable equilibrium of high taxation, high debt, and chronically modest growth. Expectations are quietly lowered and economic underperformance is being normalized.

There is no ambition here. Nothing is reset. Nothing is reimagined. Nothing really changes.

There is something unmistakably Starmerite about the entire outlook. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s political persona is built on reassurance and managerial competence. The chaos will stop. The adults are back. Nothing dramatic will happen on his watch. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is no different.

But countries do not restore economic dynamism through managerial composure alone.

The UK was once the workshop of the world. Later it became one of the most open and dynamic economies in Europe. When the postwar economic model began to falter in the 1970s, the country eventually recognized that incremental tweaks would not suffice. Structural reform became unavoidable.

What followed was neither cautious nor gradual. The reforms of the 1980s dismantled large parts of the existing economic model and replaced them with something far more competitive. Nowhere was that clearer than in the financial sector. The Big Bang of 1986 swept away restrictive practices, opened London’s markets, and helped turn the city into one of the world’s dominant financial centers.

Whether one applauds or criticizes those reforms, their ambition is undeniable. That sense of ambition is strikingly absent from the UK’s economic debate today.

Instead, the state is not being structurally rethought. It is simply being financed more heavily. The clearest example is the continued freeze in income tax thresholds. According to earlier OBR analysis, this policy alone will be raising roughly 67 billion pounds (about $89 billion) per year by the end of the decade.

By 2030–2031, about 1 million more people will be brought into paying income tax, and roughly 1.6 million people will pay the 45 percent rate, a level originally introduced to target the “super-rich.” At the same time, another 1 million pensioners will be drawn into paying income tax. This is both unsustainable and politically corrosive.

As Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher reminded us, “You cannot tax a country into prosperity.”

The broader economic outlook is equally modest. Productivity growth is expected to recover only slowly, reaching roughly 1 percent annually in the medium term. That supports GDP growth of about 1.6 percent. Such growth may just about stabilize the debt ratio, but it is nowhere near the pace required to transform living standards or expand the country’s economic capacity.

Even the recent improvement in government revenues owes something to favorable financial conditions rather than deep structural change. Stronger equity markets have lifted receipts from capital gains and corporation taxes. Yet the same fiscal projections warn how vulnerable this is to reversal. A sharp fall in equity prices would quickly worsen the public finances. The OBR warns that a 35 percent correction in UK and global equity markets could widen the current budget deficit by about 26 billion pounds (about $34 billion) in 2027–2028. Even a more limited scenario—in which UK equities fall by 15 percent—still adds about 15 billion pounds (about $20 billion) to borrowing.

In other words, the strategy works provided growth improves modestly and financial markets remain cooperative. That is not a robust foundation for long-term prosperity.

Downing Street’s rhetoric is “growth, growth, growth.” The figures point to something more akin to steady, steady, steady or, perhaps more accurately, dull, dull, dull.

Growth is not being unleashed as much as carefully managed.

The economic horizon contains little in the way of bold reform or institutional redesign. For a country with the UK’s economic history, that is a strikingly modest ambition.

The UK deserves something more.

It cannot tax its way back to economic leadership. Nor can it rely on rising asset prices or modest productivity gains to do the work.

Increasing the economy’s potential for production would be the main goal of a more serious agenda: a tax system that rewards enterprise and investment rather than subtly expanding the middle-class tax base, planning reform that actually increases the supply of housing, and regulatory frameworks that promote innovation rather than administrative caution.

In short, something with the seriousness and disruptive intent of the Big Bang.

Political bravery will be needed for that. It will necessitate a government that is willing to pursue reform even if it goes against long-standing interests. Above all, it will necessitate a political elite that is prepared to acknowledge that cautious maintenance of the status quo is not a viable approach to national renewal.

The UK once set the pace of the global economy. Today, it risks settling for the careful management of mediocrity. And that, more than anything else in the fiscal forecasts, should concern us all.

Switzerland on Friday announced it is halting all military and defense exports to the United States, citing its neutrality, coming as the Iran war reaches the three week mark.

“Exports of war materiel to the US cannot currently be authorized,” the government said, as quoted in Bloomberg. The statement specifically referenced Washington’s “international armed conflict” in the Middle East.

Source: screengrab via Johnny Harris/YouTube

The announcement might not be a surprise, given similar past stances by Switzerland; however it comes at a sensitive moment where President Trump has been expressing frustration at Europe and NATO for not stepping up to help open the Strait of Hormuz.

There were signs of this coming:

Last weekend, the Swiss government said it had rejected two US flyover requests on Iran-related war flights but permitted three others, also citing Switzerland’s neutrality law.

Following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Switzerland imposed bans on flights over Swiss airspace and weapons exports to countries involved in the war. It later lifted them.

As for data on past American purchases of Swiss defense items, it’s not significant enough to put any kind of dent in Pentagon preparedness, but it remains of a highly symbolic and political snub – at least that’s how the White House will likely see it

According to figures in Trading Economics:

Switzerland Imports from United States of Arms and ammunition, parts and accessories was US$46.18 Million during 2024, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade.

Switzerland Imports from United States of Arms and ammunition, parts and accessories: But an important distinction is that the move only impacts official defense and military-use items.

According to more figures via Tradining Economics:

Much skepticism toward Washington and Tel Aviv’s Iran adventure has been expressed this week from Europe. Iran “is not our war,” said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. Also European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas similarly echoed: “This is not Europe’s war.”