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House Republicans on the Armed Services Committee released their defense budget proposal this week for fiscal year 2027, which includes more than $1.1 trillion in spending, but buried within the 500-plus-page document is a provision that one foreign policy analyst warned Friday was “unprecedented,” and could reshape the U.S. military indefinitely.That provision is titled the “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” and according to Ben Freeman, a foreign policy analyst at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, it would “provide a higher level of military-industrial integration [with Israel] than the U.S. has with any other country in the world.”Writing in a report published by Responsible Statecraft, Freeman noted that the United States and Israel “already work together heavily” on military operations and intelligence sharing. He also acknowledged that the United States “has worked closely with its NATO partners” militarily. The provision buried within the defense spending proposal, however, was “a different beast entirely,” Freeman warned.“It would fuse the U.S. and Israeli defense sectors in multiple areas vital to the battlefields of the future, like autonomous systems and cyber,” Freeman wrote. “It would also bring extraordinary Israeli influence to the U.S. beyond what it already has through the Israel lobby and its robust network of social media influencers.”The expanded Israeli influence on U.S. politics that the budget provision may clear a path for, Freeman cautioned, could become irreversible.“It would give the Israeli government the opportunity to greatly expand one of the most powerful levers of influence in U.S. politics: jobs in the U.S.,” Freeman wrote.“By expanding or starting new co-production facilities like it already has in Mississippi and Arkansas, the Israeli government could boast of providing jobs on U.S. soil, thereby securing allies among members of Congress who represent the districts where those jobs lie.”Freeman continued, “The result could well be a U.S. political system even more susceptible to the whims of an Israeli government that seemingly has no qualms about drawing the U.S. into military conflicts in the Middle East.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was criticized Friday after giving what was intended as a motivational speech to a group of Navy sailors.Hegseth joined the military personnel for a workout drill on USS Boxer, which is docked in Singapore, when he stopped to give a pep talk about the ongoing Iran war.“The president said 'Iran can either do it the right way, with a deal across the table, or they can deal with my guy on the left.' That happened to be me. But it's not me. It's you guys!” Hegseth said.People online mocked Hegseth's message to the group."The cringe level is off the charts," journalist Aaron Rupar, who has 1.1 million followers, wrote on X."Hegseth is an actor playing a Secdef in a cheesy movie," former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), a frequent Trump administration critic and veteran, wrote on X."Pete Hegseth got how many of our fellow Americans killed and injured and how many bases destroyed all because he used GROK to plan a war with Iran and then got America's A-- handed to her?" Pastor Ben Dixon, a political commentator with more than 164,000 followers, wrote on X."This is so ... stupid!" Gwilym Eades, a lecturer in human and environmental geography at Royal Holloway University of London, wrote on Bluesky.the cringe level is off the charts https://t.co/SvhS7oolvs— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 29, 2026

Three Epstein survivors confronted Rep. James Comer (R-KY) in a moment that made the GOP lawmaker visibly uncomfortable, just minutes before a closed-door interview with former Attorney General Pam Bondi was set to question her on Friday about deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.As Comer was taking questions from the press, he was forced to respond to the victims who were on Capitol Hill before the House Oversight Committee meeting. The closed-door interview was not videotaped but was expected to focus on the "sloppy rollout of the Epstein files," MS NOW anchor Ali Vitali reported."In a remarkable moment just a short time ago, a group of Epstein survivors peppered oversight committee Chair James Comer with their own questions ahead of Bondi's session," Vitali said."These people cannot be brought in under transcribed interviews. Can you ensure that they would please be brought in under oath?" Sharlene Rochard, an Epstein survivor, asked Comer.The chairman of the committee seemed surprised by the line of questioning."If you lie to Congress, it's a felony," Comer said. "So it's, you know, we're bringing them in. We're bringing people in that have never been brought in before." "Survivors' names over and over and over were exposed," Liz Stein, Epstein survivor, told Comer. "Yet we see time and time again, perpetrators names have been redacted when they shouldn't have been. Are we going to get some answers?"Comer responded. "I hope so, those are the questions we're going to ask," he said. "And you know, we're doing this. We want justice for the survivors."Vitali commented on the moment."Stunning to see them confront Comer themselves," Vitali added.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was ridiculed on Thursday after he suggested that the Nobel Peace Prize be renamed the Trump Prize after President Donald Trump, according to reports.Graham shared the idea on Fox News during a Wednesday night episode of "Hannity."Trump hasn't been shy about his desire to win the famed international prize. He's never been awarded it, but he frequently has claimed he deserves it and has been critical of the selection process, particularly when the award was given to other recipients. In 2025, he said "I deserve it, but they will never give it to me," during an Oval Office press conference, according to The Independent. In January, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado traveled to Washington, D.C. to present Trump with the Nobel Prize she won in 2025 for her work to spread democracy in Venezuela. Trump said he planned to keep the prize, although he had not won it.The internet was quick to call Graham out for his comments."Girl, stop. You’re humiliating yourself," writer and producer Andy Ostroy, who has more than 90,000 followers, wrote on X."Further proof they're in a cult," writer and scholar Dr. Allison Wiltz, who has more than 71,000 followers, wrote on X."There’s really not much to say about Lindsey anymore. He is just a sad, pathetic little man," Veterans For Responsible Leadership, a pro-democracy veterans organization with nearly 30,000 followers, wrote on X. Girl, stop. You’re humiliating yourself… https://t.co/mkMilTXZes— Andy Ostroy (@AndyOstroy) May 28, 2026

The number of goals Donald Trump set out on Feb. 28 when he launched the unprovoked attack on Iran was held up to the light by MS NOW’s David Rohde on Tuesday morning, who made clear the president's war so far has been a failure.Well beyond the Strait of Hormuz stalemate that has the Trump administration grasping for an answer, Rohde singled out five claims that the president made when he announced the attack, with only one coming to fruition -- and even that appears doubtful after this weekend's events.Speaking with “Morning Joe” co-host Jonathan Lemire, Rohde got right to the point as the producers displayed a graphic showing the administration coming up far short of its goals.“Remind us, please, about the goals that this administration first set out for this conflict and what has actually been achieved,” Lemire prompted his guest.“Look, I want to give credit to all the service members that are out there in particularly the day after Memorial Day, but this has been a disaster for this administration to have the Secretary of State [Marco Rubio], as we just saw him on his plane, trying to play down, almost trying to placate the Iranians and the American public about how this conflict has gone was extraordinary,” he began.“I looked up President Trump's speech on February 28th when he announced the war, so achieved: ‘annihilate their navy.‘ Maybe. I mean, I think that's generally true. But this morning, the New York Times has reported that there are hundreds of these speedboats and this — look, I believe the United States Navy, I don't believe the Iranians at all — if they're laying mines with one of these speedboats. That's why it was part of the attack yesterday; that's extraordinary. That shows how emboldened the Iranians are. So that's maybe achieved or partly achieved.”“And then everything else. 'Destroy their missiles,'” he continued. “The latest assessment is that 70% of Iran's missile capacity remains intact. They have knocked out some of the factories. But again, that is not an achievement. Overall, ensure the region's terrorist proxies no longer destabilize the region — That's not happening at all. That's not even part of these negotiations. And the missiles aren't either.”“Ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon,” he continued. “That's not even part of the current negotiations that will come in this 60-day second round of talks. And then, most tragically, what he said to, as he said to ‘the great people of Iran, take over your government,’ and the regime remains in place.”“So it's astonishing to me that an American president is in this position,” he concluded. “And they just, you know, this administration … just continues to mismanage this war.” - YouTube youtu.be

Middle Eastern nations that were on the receiving end of a threat from Donald Trump over the holiday weekend called his bluff because he no longer carries the weight he thinks he does.That was the claim made by MS NOW host Joe Scarborough and Washington Post columnist David Ignatius on Monday morning after the affected nations balked.Over the weekend, as Trump was boasting that an agreement with Iran was imminent, he then jumped ahead and wrote on Truth Social, “I am mandatorily requesting that all Countries immediately sign the Abraham Accords, and that, if Iran signs its Agreement with me, as President of the United States of America, it would be an Honor to have them also be part of this unparalleled World Coalition.”As the Washington Post reported, “Analysts, however, expressed doubt that the countries would agree to sign on, especially when tensions are running high amid ongoing conflicts in Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza. Official Iranian policy also calls for the eradication of Israel, and its replacement by a Palestinian state.”Scarborough jumped into the fray by saying Trump, who has been diminished in the region by the Strait of Hormuz stalemate, doesn’t have the leverage to make such demands.Stating Trump’s new Iran deal pronouncement is “starting to sound like every other BS peace deal,” Scarborough added, “And I say that I know they're talking, they think they're close, but you have the Iranians saying, no, we're never going to give up our nukes. We're going to continue putting tolls on the strait.”“And then you have Donald Trump yesterday basically holding a weak hand, actually going all in, saying, okay, Saudi Arabia, okay, Turkey, all right, all these other countries that are never going to join the Abraham Accords, the only way they're going to work is if all of you join the Abraham Accords. And the Saudis have already said, we're not going to do it. We're not going to do it without a Palestinian state. Is there a peace still? Are they really moving forward to one, or is this just more of the same?”“So, Joe, it is, as your comments suggest, a very confusing and disheartening situation,” Ignatius replied. “It's obvious to me that President Trump badly wants out of this war. He's looking for an exit ramp as hard as he can, he feels that another round of kinetic strikes will be difficult for the U.S. — for the US military it’s unlikely to easily achieve his goals.”“It will lead, inevitably, to some kind of ground invasion of Iran, which is the last thing that I think he wants. And so he has come up with a peace proposal that is so far short of the war aims that he had when he started,” he added. - YouTube youtu.be

Lack of Pfas regulations raised in parliament after Guardian revealed former Miteni plant bought by Indian companyProtests over the production of cancer-linked Pfas chemicals have spread across India, after an investigation revealed that an Italian factory shut down due to an environmental scandal was bought by an Indian company and partly rebuilt.At the end of last year, the Guardian revealed that the former Miteni plant in Vicenza had been acquired by the Indian company Laxmi Organic Industries. The factory produced Pfas and was shut down in 2018 after being linked to one of Italy’s worst environmental contamination scandals. Continue reading...

Steve Schmidt, former Republican operative, had a scathing response to the Trump administration and MAGA on Memorial Day.The co-founder of the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project described "MAGA's ultimate disgrace" and called President Donald Trump and his White House "America's most despicable men and women."He reflected on Memorial Day, the ultimate sacrifice that Americans have made serving their country around the world — and warned that there were forces trying to infiltrate the military and dishonor its reputation."And it's not abstract and it's not history, not for the families of the Americans killed in action in Iran, not for the families whose loved ones are buried in section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery," Schmidt said."The grief never abates — 26 years of war and the United States has been transformed by it," Schmidt explained. "What it has produced is a soft tyranny, an autocratic man in freedom's chair who desecrates in word, and deed and action, with every breath, the sacrifice we honor and celebrate."Schmidt described Trump's attempts to change the military and MAGA's influence. "He is a contemptuous man and a contemptible one," Schmidt added. "He is a low down, no good man, a liar, a felon, an abuser of women and children, a man who dishonors and disgraces the American military and whose attempts to transform it into a personal pretorian guard are a national obscenity. The military does not belong to Trump, and it does not belong to MAGA. It belongs to the nation. And it is made up of the nation's sons and daughters. It is our most precious resource. It is our most fragile institution. And it is being broken in half by America's most despicable men and women. We should not tolerate it."