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Pentagon Orders Cyber Command to Block Foreign Midterm Interference
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signed a Sept. 22 memorandum, released Monday, directing U.S. Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to prioritize intelligence and cyber capabilities against foreign actors targeting the 2026 elections. The order tells those commands to use existing authorities with the Department of Homeland Security to counter cyber threats to election infrastructure. Hegseth called protection of free and fair elections a no-fail mission and said lawful voters must be able to cast ballots free from foreign intimidation or coercion. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Cyber Command and defense intelligence teams will work with federal, state, and local partners to defend voting systems and expose foreign malign influence. Gen. Joshua M. Rudd, who leads Cyber Command and the NSA, said those organizations already counter malicious foreign cyber actors seeking to interfere in democratic processes.
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DC Circuit Weighs Halt to Contempt Inquiry Over Alien Enemies Act Flights
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard arguments Tuesday on the Justice Departmentâs request to stop U.S. District Judge James Boasbergâs criminal-contempt inquiry into March 15, 2025, Alien Enemies Act removals of alleged Tren de Aragua members to El Salvador. The government says the flights had already left U.S. airspace after Boasberg issued an oral directive and a temporary restraining order, that the Supreme Court later vacated those orders, and that the probe unlawfully invades executive decision-making on national security and diplomacy. Officials have named then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as the official who made the final call to proceed. A divided D.C. Circuit panel had earlier ordered the inquiry stopped. The full court vacated that ruling in June and took the case itself. Lawyers for the deportees say officials willfully defied the court. A ruling date was not announced.
Supreme Court Lets Third-Country Removals Resume
The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a Massachusetts judgeâs order that had required immigrants to raise fear claims before being sent to countries other than their own. The 6-3 ruling, with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting, allows the Trump administration to continue using third-country deportations while the justices hear the case in December. The Department of Homeland Security has sent tens of thousands of people to as many as 35 countries under diplomatic assurances they will not face persecution or torture. Most went to Mexico. Officials said a lower-court halt canceled a flight carrying about 70 convicts. Federal law still bars removal to places of persecution or torture.
Trump Unveils America.gov as AI Front Door for Federal Services
President Trump on Tuesday launched America.gov, an AI-powered website meant to serve as a single entry point to federal information now scattered across about 29,000 government sites. U.S. Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia said the chatbot searches official sources and is powered by Googleâs Gemini and Elon Muskâs Grok. Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to integrate public-facing online services with the site as soon as possible. The platform now answers questions and points users to agency pages. Officials said form-filling and transactions such as Medicare enrollment and passport applications are planned for 2027. IRS tax filing and certain national security functions are excluded.
Editorâs Note: One has to wonder why IRS tax filing is excluded. Maybe itâs time to scrap the entire income tax scheme and replace it with a well-structured consumption tax.
Hegseth Sets 20 Percent Cut in General and Admiral Posts
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to announce a 20 percent reduction in general and flag officer billets during a State of the Force address Wednesday at Quantico, Virginia. The target doubles last yearâs 10 percent overall cut and covers Army, Navy, Air Force and joint positions, with completion expected by Jan. 1, 2027. Officials said some jobs will be downgraded to colonel or Navy captain rank rather than abolished, and that the aim is fewer headquarters layers and more authority closer to the fight under the slogan âless generals, more GIs.â Federal law authorizes 857 active-duty general and admiral billets, of which 851 were filled as of late July.
Gillibrand Wears Hijab at Bronx Mosque Next to Cleric Who Praised Hamas. bin Laden Spiritual Adviser
US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) wore a pink hijab during a Sept. 21 visit to the Bronx Muslim Center in New Yorkâs Little Yemen, sitting beside longtime cleric Hamud Alsilwi, according to photos posted by the centerâs outreach director. The senator, who chairs the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee, did not publicize the stop on her Senate website or social media, though she posted other Bronx and East Harlem events from the same day in the same suit without the headscarf. The center is a branch of the Muslim American Society, which federal prosecutors have described as an overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States. Alsilwi has praised Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin for âcausing so much trouble for the Jews,â written that the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine âharmed no one except the Jews and Israel,â and mourned Sheikh Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, whom the U.S. Treasury designated a terrorist in 2004 as a spiritual adviser to Osama bin Laden. A fundraising banner for a new 32,000-square-foot mosque appeared in the photos. Gillibrandâs office and the center did not respond to requests for comment.
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High School LGB Identification Falls Sharply in Latest CDC Youth Survey
The CDCâs 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found a steep drop in the share of U.S. high school students identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, with the largest decline among ninth-grade girls calling themselves bisexual, falling from 26 percent in 2021 to 13 percent in 2025. Identification fell across every grade, driven almost entirely by girls after a sharp rise between 2019 and 2021 during pandemic lockdowns and peak identity-politics messaging. Older teens showed more stability, and psychologist Jean Twenge noted a parallel drop in same-sex sexual activity among younger sexually active students.
Editorâs Note: Imagine that: Shut off the propaganda and suddenly the extraordinary isnât so muc Fad over.
Freedom Foundation Challenges New York Law Curbing Union Opt-Out Outreach
The Freedom Foundation plans to seek a federal preliminary injunction in the Northern District of New York against Civil Service Law Section 216, which Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Sept. 9. The group says the statute lets Attorney General Letitia James investigate, subpoena, and block communications she deems deceptive impersonations of unions before they are sent, with fines of $1,000 per violation and a private right of action for unions. Officials describe the measure as a fraud safeguard. The foundation, which has paused New York outreach, says the law is a prior restraint aimed at its campaigns to inform public employees of their Janus right to leave unions, after nearly 7,500 New York workers used its materials to cancel their memberships.
Connecticut ISIS Hopeful Who Planned to Kill a Hundred Nonbelievers Gets Just 92 Months
Ahmad Khalil Elshazly, 29, of West Haven, Connecticut, was sentenced Monday to 92 months in federal prison and lifetime supervised release for attempting to provide material support to ISIS. The U.S. citizen pledged allegiance to the group and its leaders, administered a Discord server stocked with execution videos and attack calls, and in December 2019 paid $500 to a person he thought would smuggle him by boat from Stonington toward Turkey and then Syria so he could kill âmaybe like a hundredâ nonbelievers rather than a handful at home. Arrested before boarding, he pleaded guilty in 2022 and has remained detained, accumulating disciplinary citations that included handwritten plans for a jail uprising. Prosecutors had sought 15 years, citing no sign of deradicalization.
Editorâs Note: What the hell is going on when someone self-affiliating himself with an international terror organization to conspire to commit mass murder only gets 92 months?!
Ninth Circuit Sends Seattle DEI Harassment Claims by White Worker to Jury
A Ninth Circuit panel on Sept. 28 revived hostile work environment claims by former Seattle Human Services employee Joshua Diemert, a white man who alleged the cityâs Race and Social Justice Initiative trainings and follow-on workplace conduct subjected him to years of racial hostility. Diemert said trainers made sweeping derogatory statements about white people, coworkers labeled him a white supremacist after he objected, a manager questioned what a straight white man could offer the department, and a supervisor pressed him to surrender a lead role so a person of color could advance. Chief Judge Mary Murguia wrote that the alleged incidents, taken together, were numerous, frequent and severe enough for a jury under Title VII and Washington law. The panel of Democratic appointees reversed a district judgeâs pretrial dismissal of those claims while leaving other counts out. The case now returns to district court.
Dutch Police Arrest Suspected ShinyHunters Member After FBI Jobs Site Breach Claim
Dutch National Police arrested a 24-year-old Amsterdam man on Sept. 15 on suspicion of belonging to the ShinyHunters cybercrime group that last week claimed it defaced the FBI jobs website and stole terabytes of data on agents and applicants. Authorities also accuse him of attempting to incite two murders abroad after finding related files on his seized laptop, a charge they say is separate from the hacking case. FBI officials called him an alleged leader of a network that has breached more than 140 organizations and taken about $70 million in extortion payments. A Rotterdam court ordered him to be held for at least 90 days as investigators examine devices and pursue more leads. The arrest came days before the group publicly bragged about compromising FBI systems.
ON THIS DAY IN 1789:
The First United States Congress officially passed an act creating a permanent military establishment under the new U.S. Constitution, establishing the precursor to the United States Army.
đ International
Rubio Links Foreign Actor to Suspected Plot Near UK Air Base Used by US Bombers
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a suspected plot near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, a British base used by American bombers in the war with Iran, clearly involved the hands of a foreign actor. Five British nationals in their 20s from London were arrested early Sunday after a farmer reported three white vans and masked men near the base. They were held on suspicion of explosives offenses and preparing a terrorist act, then released on bail Monday under strict conditions as the investigation continues. Police said they are examining whether the men acted as proxies for a foreign state. Iran denied any role. Rubio cited Iranâs open threats against American interests worldwide but offered no public evidence. No viable explosives were reported in the vans.
Houthis Threaten Saudi Bridges After Yemen Airstrikes
A Sanaa military source told Al-Akhbar that Yemenâs Houthis may target bridges inside Saudi Arabia in response to airstrikes they attribute to Riyadh. The source said Saudi jets have hit Yemeni bridges and other infrastructure while calling them missile launch sites. The group said civilian bridges are not used for military purposes. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree blamed Saudi F-15s for a Sunday strike at the Mawiya junction market in Taiz. Houthi health authorities said seven people were killed and about 40 wounded. Yemenâs internationally recognized government said its forces hit a Houthi camp and vehicles at the same junction.
US Bars Latin American Officials Over Narco-Terror and Corruption Claims
The Trump administration on Sept. 28 revoked or restricted U.S. visas for 27 current and former officials, judges, prosecutors, a police colonel, and businessmen from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, plus their immediate families. The State Department publicly designated Bolivian Attorney General Roger Mariaca, elected in 2024, for allegedly soliciting bribes to aid narcotrafficking and help violent criminals evade justice. Restrictions also hit 12 named Bolivians with existing visas, nine additional Bolivians without visas, Colombian Sen. Martha Isabel Peralta Epieyú and energy businessman Euclides Antonio Torres Romero, two unnamed Ecuadorians, and Peruvian Lima judge Juan Carlos Núùez Matos. Officials said the actions were taken under the Immigration and Nationality Act and tied to Shield of the Americas pledges to coordinate sanctions against those accused of undermining elected governments through corruption or drug trafficking.
Estonia Ties Russian Special Services to Arson at Ukraine Robotics Supplier
Estonian authorities said Tuesday that an Aug. 15 fire at a Tallinn building used by Milrem Robotics was a pre-planned arson attack commissioned by Russian special services. The company supplies unmanned ground vehicles to Ukraine. Estoniaâs Internal Security Service said the method matched that of other European sabotage linked to Moscow. A suspect was taken into custody, and the probe continues. Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna summoned Russiaâs chargĂŠ dâaffaires and said Tallinn would increase support for Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the charge baseless and said Moscow would not take it seriously. European leaders, including Swedenâs prime minister and Germanyâs foreign minister, pledged solidarity.
Iran Rial Hits Fresh Record Low as Oil Blockade Starves Tehran of Cash
Iranâs free-market rial closed Tuesday at 2.548 million per U.S. dollar, a new low after breaching 2.2 million on Sept. 2 and about 1.14 million a year earlier. The slide tracks a U.S. naval blockade that has kept Iranian crude from Chinese ports for nearly two and a half months, plus secondary sanctions and a Treasury crackdown on illicit finance announced in August. Central Bank Gov. Abdolnaser Hemmati put year-on-year inflation at 83.8 percent in September, down a sliver from 84.4 percent in August, while households report selling belongings to cover food and medicine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the squeeze an economic cataclysm. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said indirect talks on reopening the Strait of Hormuz had grown more serious and warned of a âdoomsday warâ if pressed.
