The White House has installed a statue of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus on its grounds, in US President Donald Trump's latest bid to recognize the controversial historical figure. 

A new series of polls has revealed that the popularity of US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is drastically plummeting and the plunge is to such a level that it has even astounded the data guru of CNN television news network Harry Enten.

"He is going over like a lead balloon, not just overall, but especially with independents," Enten said as he reviewed new polling data from Quinnipiac and Yahoo.

He added that past US secretaries of war, at a time of armed conflict, tended to be very popular.

According to the new polling data, Hegseth's net popularity currently hovers at around -15 overall and -28 among independent voters per Quinnipiac.

Yahoo's poll yielded even lower figures, with Hegseth netting -18 in popularity, and a staggering -33 among independents.

The Russian government does not resort to obscene language in contacts with other countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

The Financial Times reported last week that French President Emmanuel Macron’s advisers, Emmanuel Bonne and Bertrand Buchwalter, had secretly visited Moscow in February for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aide, Yuri Ushakov.

According to an unnamed European diplomat who spoke to the outlet, Macron’s representatives asked for the EU to be included in peace talks between Russia, the US, and Ukraine, but the meeting ended with Ushakov telling the visitors: “Sorry, actually, no we don’t [have to], f**k you’.”

Asked to comment by Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin on Sunday, Peskov replied: “No, none of us ever uses foul language to refer to anyone.”

What if Trump’s apparently chaotic thought processes and intuitive decision making are all a blind, a charade? What if we are really witnessing, in the Middle East and more widely, a carefully constructed plan with very definite objectives? 

Has Trump in fact “planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway”, while flinging the chaff of apparent chaos? I realise that this is not intuitive, but bear with me…

Craig Murray: Seeing Trump Clearly

It’s comforting to see Donald Trump as a buffoon, to accept the facade he presents of a blustering and ill-educated ignoramus who does not understand the world of geopolitics. But that is nonsense.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s invocation of a holy Christian war in Iran and his comparison to the Crusades is astounding but typical (“How Trump and his minister of war ignored the lessons of history”, March 21). President Donald Trump and his acolytes are frequently citing Christian values, but their actions and policies are commonly, distinctly unChristian. Perhaps the most ridiculous aspect of this is that Hegseth doesn’t seem to know the Crusades ultimately failed. Rowan Godwin, Rozelle

More than 200 US troops have been wounded in the Middle East since the US and Israel launched the war with Iran on February 28, a US Central Command spokesman said on Monday, as the conflict continues to rage across the region.

More Than 200 US Troops Have Been Injured in Iran War

According to CENTCOM, US troops have been injured in Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE

by Dave DeCamp | March 16, 2026 at 4:58 pm ET | Iran

US President Doanld Trump has proclaimed the “death of Iran,” adding that now, “the greatest enemy America has is the Radical Left, Highly Incompetent, Democrat Party!” Meanwhile, Iranian missiles continue to rock Israel.

Strikes on the cities of Dimona and Arad in Southern Israel have left 36 people hospitalized, including 19 children. Visiting one of the sites, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “miracle” that no one was killed and urged residents to shelter when they hear a warning siren.

At least 1,444 people have been killed and 18,551 injured by US-Israeli attacks on Iran since February 28, Iran’s Health Ministry has said. Retaliatory strikes have claimed 18 lives in the Jewish State and 13 at US bases in the region.

Here are the latest developments:

... President Donald Trump threatened on Saturday evening to strike power plants in Iran unless the Strait of Hormuz is reopened within 48 hours. Iran has kept the crucial waterway closed to most shipping since the outbreak of the war on February 28.

Trump issued his ultimatum after failing to convince other NATO members to help the US police Hormuz, while strikes on Iran’s naval bases and warships did not restore navigation.

Earlier on Saturday, Iran struck the southern Israeli city of Dimona, home to a large nuclear city, which is believed to be a part of Israel’s long-rumored nuclear weapons program. Iranian state TV said the missile barrage was a response to the strike on one of Iran’s key nuclear sites in Natanz. 

The US is planning an invasion of Kharg Island, and Mohammad Marandi goes off on the bounty on his head placed by Israel for exposing the truth and discusses why the planned invasion will end in catastrophe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwT1egTQdME&t=24s

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Im9bDWAoaQ

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I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE BLACK DOG INSTITUTE HAS FOR BREAKFAST, BUT I HAVE THE FEELING IT IS WRONG ON ITS ASSESSMENT OF DEPRESSION IN TEENAGERS. BUT WHAT DO I KNOW... YES BAD SLEEP AND HAVING TROUBLE AT HOME ARE NO HELP TO ACHIEVE HAPPINESS...

BUT THERE ARE VERY VERY VERY STRONG FACTORS THAT ARE AT THE CORE OF THE PROBLEM. BAD SLEEP AND TROUBLE AT HOME ARE OFTEN ONLY SIDE-EFFECTS, NOR CENTRAL CAUSES...

SO WHAT ARE THE MAIN CAUSES:

A) DISCOVERING THAT ONE HAS BEEN LIED TO SINCE CHILDHOOD: THE SUBJECTS ARE NUMEROUS, FROM RELIGION TO POLITICS AND BEHAVIOURAL ACTIVITIES. THIS CONTINUES WITH SOCIAL MEDIA WHICH MIGHT BE ATTRACTIVE, BUT ENDS UP DISTURBING OUR SLEEP PATTERNS.

B) SEX: SEX IS NATURAL BUT MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, TEENAGERS ARE ILL-INFORMED OR MAL-INFORMED ABOUT IT. RUTHLESS PEDDLERS SELL PORN AS A WAY TO HELP... IT'S DESTRUCTIVE.

I wanted to use a portrait of Che Guevara, the heroic guerrilla fighter, as my logo, and I made a mistake. I used Trump, the orange-clad pedophile.

Ugh!

Cuba, a “failed state in decline,” constitutes an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States, claims Trump, who is considering a friendly takeover of the island — or maybe not. It doesn't matter, because they are truly at their wits' end. They have no more energy. They have no more money. They are in a critical humanitarian situation.

In truth, it is not Cuba's military or economic power that they fear, but the force of its example.

The best thing to do is read this article:

From Trump to Putin [NUPE*], the narratives leaders tell themselves shape global conflict – and the war in Iran shows the consequences when belief overrides reality.

If the worst calculations are correct – that it will take many years for Australia and the world to recover from the economic fallout of the US and Israeli war on Iran – then the US will have done more harm to the so-called free world than China or any other ‘unfriendly’ nation is ever likely to have done in the foreseeable future.

George Browning

How did this happen? Why did this happen?

US President Donald Trump has gloated over the death of Robert Mueller, a key figure behind the Russiagate probe, stating he will no longer be able to “hurt innocent people.” 

Mueller, who led the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013, passed away on Saturday, aged 81. Between 2017 and 2019, he was a special counsel overseeing the probe into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and related issues, including alleged ties between Trump and Moscow.

Shortly after the news of Mueller’s death broke, the US president took to his Truth Social platform to openly celebrate the occasion.  

“Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” Trump wrote.

The major parties have learned to control the narrative at the expense of courage, with policy reduced to fragments, slogans, and lines tested for survival, not truth. Andrew Brown on why Labor is no longer the party of reform. Part 3 of 6.

Political retreat does not arrive with a speech or a surrender. It is learned. Then it becomes instinct.

Kabuki politics. Style over substance, controlling the narrative

by Andrew Brown

Governments study their environment the way an animal studies an electric fence. First, they test it. Then they flinch before touching it. Eventually, they do not need the shock. They carry it inside themselves. What passes for caution is often nothing more than internalised fear.