American Journalist Snatched Off the Street in Baghdad

American journalist Shelly Kittleson was kidnapped in broad daylight in Baghdad on Tuesday. The Iraqi Ministry of Interior stated that Kittleson, who has covered the Middle East for various outlets, was taken by “unknown individuals.”

“Security forces immediately launched an operation to apprehend the perpetrators, acting on precise intelligence and through intensive field operations, tracking the kidnappers’ movements. The pursuit resulted in the interception of a vehicle belonging to the kidnappers, which overturned as they attempted to escape. Security forces were able to arrest one of the suspects and seize one of the vehicles used in the crime,” the ministry reported.

The investigation to find the remaining perpetrators, and to free Kittleson, is ongoing.

Kittleson has written extensively for outlets like BBC World, Politico, Al-Monitor, and Foreign Policy. She was awarded the Premio Caravella award in Italy in 2017 for her war zone reporting.

“We are deeply alarmed by the kidnapping of Al-Monitor contributor Shelly Kittleson in Iraq on Tuesday,” Al-Monitor said in a statement. “We call for her safe and immediate release. We stand by her vital reporting from the region and call for her swift return to continue her important work.”

Senator Ted Cruz is jet-setting in tough times again.

TMZ spotted the Texas politician at the airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Tuesday, protected by a security detail composed of police officers, even as TSA agents aren’t being paid thanks to a partial government shutdown.

Like several other Republican senators, Cruz hightailed it out of Washington, D.C., over the weekend, first heading to Houston before swinging by the CPAC convention in Dallas. His Florida trip is only the latest time Cruz has decided to take a vacation instead of looking out for his constituents.

In January, Cruz headed off to sunny Laguna Beach, California, as a major winter storm was set to hit Texas. Last July, Cruz was sightseeing in Athens during Texas’s deadly floods, and five years ago, he earned the moniker “Cancún Cruz” for heading to Mexico rather than sticking around to help with relief efforts as many in his state lost electricity during catastrophically low temperatures.

At least 246 people in Texas lost their lives during that winter storm in 2021, but Cruz doesn’t appear to have learned to at least try to act like he cares. Since many TSA agents aren’t being paid, travelers are dealing with long security lines across the country and the Trump administration has deployed ICE agents to stand around in airports and do nothing except intimidate immigrants.

Meanwhile, negotiations on how to resume funding the Department of Homeland Security and at least attempt to reform ICE are going nowhere. Cruz and fellow Republicans don’t seem all that concerned as they head to more relaxing destinations.

The Daily Mail has reported that Bryon Noem—husband of the proudly anti-LGBTQ former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem—likes to dress in drag as a large-breasted woman in his spare time. Mr. Noem has not exactly denied the report. 

The piece, published on Tuesday, asserts that Noem was an active buyer and participant in the online “bimbofication” community, where he confessed he was into “huge, huge ridiculous boobs” according to one model, and allegedly sent at least $25,000 to different members of said community. The Daily Mail obtained multiple messages and selfie photos of a man who does look exactly like Mr. Noem donning fake breasts and pursing his lips.

According to messages seen by the conservative British tabloid, Bryon, under the  pseudonym “Jason Jackson,” had extensive text and audio contact with one model.

“How are your boobs?” he asked the model. “Would you ever go bigger?” When she sent him a topless photos of her breasts, “Jason” replied with his own, stuffing two large balloons in a crop top. 

“You turn me into a girl,” he said. “Should I put on leggings?” The PayPal account tied to the pseudonym shows multiple payments to the model between $500 and $1,000.

“He’d say, ‘I love my wife, I want to get better,’” the model said. “Then he’d disappear, come back, and start again.” 

Bryon didn’t deny any of the photos or messages when The Daily Mail reached out to him. But he did deny endangering national security or making any comments about his wife. 

This development is deeply ironic given how homophobic and transphobic the bulk of the GOP is. Bryon’s actions are the kind of thing Republicans crusade against—and only expect godless liberals to do, not strong conservative fathers married to former Trump Cabinet members. 

The last time Bryon was in the news was when his wife was repeatedly questioned about her alleged affair with Corey Lewandowski while he sat right behind her at a congressional hearing.

Spokespersons for former Secretary Noem told The New York Post that she is “devastated” and “blindsided” by the news. 

Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail that he would sic his deportation agenda on the “worst of the worst,” but that has not been the case.

Approximately 63 percent of the people arrested in Minnesota between December and February had no criminal record whatsoever, according to arrest data obtained by the Deportation Data Project.

During that period, federal agents cuffed more than 3,700 Minnesota residents, according to the dataset. But the numbers may still be higher: In early February, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo claiming that agency officials had arrested more than 4,000 individuals in the state, emphasizing that the detainees included “murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members and terrorists.”

Just one in three of the arrestees actually had either a pending criminal conviction or pending charges, reported MPR News. The arrest data did not identify the exact charges against each individual.

The majority of those arrested in Minnesota were noncriminal immigrants. They were detained for civil immigration violations, such as overstayed visas, which have historically been handled through immigration courts in the U.S.

Some of the people arrested who had criminal histories were already incarcerated and taken directly from jail, rather than arrested during the street operations of ICE or CBP agents, reported MPR. Many of those taken from jail had not yet been convicted.

A similar story played out halfway across the country in Maine, where just 11 of nearly 200 people detained by Trump officials in January actually had a criminal record, according to federal data obtained Monday by the Bangor Daily News. The numbers suggest that the Trump administration made it a priority to target noncriminals: Roughly 80 percent of those arrested were detained on noncriminal immigration violations.

The Trump administration has repeatedly attempted to justify the mass arrests, insisting that the targets of their violent purge were horrific career criminals and that those protesting Washington’s overreach were domestic terrorists.

After agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in early January—the first of two U.S. citizens to be killed by federal forces occupying Minneapolis—White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt feigned confusion over the public backlash, playfully suggesting that she didn’t understand what the big hubbub was over the sweeping arrests.

Leavitt claimed that the people the administration was removing were “heinous murderers and rapists and criminals” who nobody in the country would want in their “neighborhood, in [their] community, around [their] children, and around [their] families.”

Months later, it’s clear that the Trump administration’s peremptory narrative was a lie. Just a fraction of the arrests were criminals in any sense of the word, while the vast majority were normal people living and working in Minnesota and Maine.

Donald Trump’s administration will bar green card holders (read: legal, permanent residents) from receiving small business loans, threatening to further unravel the U.S. job market.

The Small Business Administration has barred green card holders from receiving SBA loans and will expand that policy to SBA-backed loans from private companies starting in April, the Associated Press reported Monday. Additionally, any business that is even partially owned by a green card holder will no longer be eligible for a small business loan.

Speaking at CPAC Saturday, SBA administrator Kelly Loeffler touted the end of “DEI lending” to “foreign nationals.” Of course, the individuals affected by the policy change are not foreign nationals but legal permanent residents who may have lived and worked for their entire lives in the United States.

The SBA’s blatantly racist policy is an extension of the administration’s nativist preference that is making the country poorer.

Immigrants are more likely to start businesses than those born in the U.S., and nearly half of Fortune 500 companies in 2025 were founded by immigrants or their children. SBA loans are an essential resource for foreign-born entrepreneurs because they typically accumulate low interest and do not require a strong credit history.

This policy will undoubtedly wreak havoc on state economies that rely on immigrant-run businesses. For example, 99 percent of new jobs in California come from small businesses, and immigrant entrepreneurs account for 40 percent of the state’s economy.

As part of the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on immigrants—both legal and undocumented—the SBA’s new policy threatens to further unravel the U.S. job market, which has reached its lowest hiring levels since April 2020.

ICE agents will be staking out Marine Corps graduation events to find undocumented immigrants in the recruits’ families.

NBC News reports that REAL IDs, U.S. passports, or U.S. birth certificates are now required to access Marine bases as part of heightened security measures following the war in Iran. Anyone who travels to Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island in Beaufort, South Carolina, for graduation and family days this week without such documentation could be detained.

“Increased force protection measures” at the recruit depot means that “federal law enforcement personnel will be present at installation access points to conduct enhanced screening and lawful immigration status inquiries during recruit family and graduation days,” the Parris Island website states.

Graduation at Parris Island is on April 3, and family members are invited to visit the base beginning April 1 as recruits complete their 13-week boot camp. During their training period, Marine recruits aren’t allowed to see their families. This is the first time that federal agents will be there for immigration enforcement.

“While the Marine Corps routinely coordinates with federal partners on security matters, this is the first time in recent memory that federal law enforcement agencies have supported base access operations at Parris Island in this capacity,” a spokesperson for MCRD Parris Island told NBC.

The Department of Homeland Security contradicted the message, with a spokesperson telling NBC that “ICE will not be making arrests at the basic training graduation in Paris Island, SC.”

That’s not surprising, considering that sending ICE agents after the family members of military recruits is not a good look. But the Trump administration doesn’t normally care about where it sends its violent ICE agents, who can now be found at schools, churches, and even emergency rooms.

The Trump family has unveiled its AI-concept art plans for the Trump Presidential Library—a gratuitously ostentatious skyscraper in the middle of Miami that may feature at least two massive gold statues of the president. There will be massive outdoor patios with palm trees, full-size planes and fighter jets inside, a large ballroom, a replica of the Oval Office, and of course gold everywhere and on everything.

“FIRST LOOK: The Donald J. Trump Presidential Library is officially here. Over the past six months, I have poured my heart and soul into this project with my incredible team at [The Trump Organization],” Eric Trump wrote Monday evening on X. “This landmark on the water in Miami, Florida will stand as a lasting testament to an amazing man, an amazing developer, and the greatest President our Nation has ever known. These images have never been seen by the public—until today. Enjoy!”

While no presidential library is some unassuming little building, most of them are nowhere near as gaudy as this one plans to be. And while these libraries are supposed to serve as archives and historical centers, it’s clear that this is just another monument to Trump—if the massive golden idols of himself didn’t make that abundantly clear.

“A golden statue in a temple where the faithful gather to worship their idol,” historian Rutger Berman wrote sarcastically. “But enough about the Book of Exodus—here’s Trump’s Presidential Library!”

Aside from the idolatry, the timing of this message—in the midst of the war of Iran, while Trump has his lowest approval ratings ever—couldn’t be more tone-deaf. Recent polling from Nate Silver shows President Trump with a brutal -17.4 net approval rating.

Trump voters across America are walking back their support for the president.

Conservative opposition to the war in Iran has poured into the pro-MAGA network Real America’s Voice. On Monday, host Jack Posobiec spent nearly 10 minutes reading mail from people who claimed they were walking away from the president over the unpopular military operation.

The letters included criticism that the war was “wasting tax dollars,” would likely halt the “likelihood of [Republican] success in the midterms,” and was a “complete betrayal and flip-flop” of Donald Trump’s “no new wars policy.”

“Cannot dispute the fact that the U.S. and Israel have clearly won this operation,” a viewer named Chuck said. “However, if there is a regime change that excludes the Ayatollahs and basically returns Iran to pre-1979, it will have been a loss. We can’t continue bombing campaigns every two years, wasting tax dollars.”

Other writers were more blunt, penning that the war is “the stupidest thing ever,” “the worst thing Trump has done,” and is “destroying MAGA.”

A good chunk of the letters focused on the economy and the soaring price of gas due to the various attacks on the Middle East’s oil reserves and processing equipment.

“Gas is $4 a gallon,” a viewer wrote.

“This economy will tank,” wrote another.

The ramifications of the war were “hurting the very people that Trump has fought for,” according to yet another disappointed viewer.

“I voted for Trump, and I want my vote back,” wrote one former supporter. Another noted that this campaign was “the opposite of what I voted for.”

“I’m going independent, but will likely never vote again,” one Republican wrote in a letter to the network.

So far, more than 1,937 people have been killed in Iran, including dozens of political leaders, according to Al Jazeera. At least 13 U.S. soldiers have also lost their lives in the war, and more than 300 have been wounded. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted Monday that the conflict would be resolved in the coming weeks, though military officials have indicated that the war could rage for months or even years.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Colorado’s ban against so-called “conversion therapy,” finding that it was discriminatory to the viewpoints of people who want to torment LGBTQ+ people.

In an 8-1 ruling in Chiles v. Salazar, the court sided with Kaley Chiles, a licensed counselor who claimed that Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy violates her First Amendment rights to free speech.

“Colorado’s law banning conversion therapy, as applied to Ms. Chiles’s talk therapy, regulates speech based on viewpoint, and the lower courts erred by failing to apply sufficiently rigorous First Amendment scrutiny,” the ruling, written by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, stated.

Gorsuch argued that Chiles’s talk therapy was not subject to restrictions on conduct, and claimed that the law’s targeting of health care professionals “changes nothing.”

“Her speech does not become conduct just because the State may call it that. Nor does her speech become conduct just because it can also be described as a ‘treatment,’ a ‘therapeutic modality,’ or anything else. The First Amendment is no word game,” he wrote.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson filed the lone dissenting opinion, in which she argued that the court had ignored the context in which Chiles was practicing speech. “Chiles is not speaking in the ether; she is providing therapy to minors as a licensed healthcare professional,” Jackson wrote. Therefore, Chiles was subject to the same regulation that any state exercises over medical practices.

“In concluding otherwise, the Court’s opinion misreads our precedents, is unprincipled and unworkable, and will eventually prove untenable for those who rely upon the long-recognized responsibility of States to regulate the medical profession for the protection of public health,” Jackson wrote.

Speaking from the bench Tuesday, Jackson called the decision “wrong as a matter of precedent, first principles, and history.”

More than 20 states have enacted some form of ban on so-called “conversion therapy.” Major medical organizations have unanimously said that these “therapies” are not only ineffective and unsupported by scientific evidence, but can do immense psychological harm to gay and transgender patients.

The high court’s ruling could have broader implications. By siding with Chiles, the court has suggested that sexual orientation and gender identity are mutable traits, setting them apart from other protected “suspect classifications” such as race and religion that receive the highest judicial scrutiny when challenged in court. This could signal significant reversals for LGBTQ+ rights in future cases.

This story has been updated.

Donald Trump is going nuts that U.S. allies are refusing to join his war on Iran.

Italy has denied the U.S. permission for military aircraft to land at the Sigonella ​air base in Sicily before going to the Middle East, saying that it did not seek authorization and failed to consult Italy’s military leadership in accordance with the treaties that govern ​the use ​of U.S. ⁠military installations.

On Tuesday, Poland also rejected a U.S. request for the country to send a Patriot missile battery to the Middle East to help intercept Iranian missiles. Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz posted on X, “Our Patriot batteries and their armaments are used to protect Polish airspace and NATO’s eastern flank. Nothing is changing in this regard, and we have no plans to move them anywhere!”

Trump took to Truth Social Tuesday morning, ranting and complaining about the countries who don’t want to assist his ill-advised bombing campaign on Iran. In one post, he said that anyone who can’t get jet fuel because the Strait of Hormuz is closed should get it themselves.

“All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT,” Trump posted. “You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil! President DJT.”

A few minutes later, Trump whined about how France wouldn’t let U.S. supply planes to Israel fly over its airspace.

“The Country of France wouldn’t let planes headed to Israel, loaded up with military supplies, fly over French territory. France has been VERY UNHELPFUL with respect to the ‘Butcher of Iran,’ who has been successfully eliminated! The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!! President DJT,” Trump continued.

Trump is only bellyaching because he unilaterally started an offensive war without consulting U.S. allies or following international law. Naturally, most countries don’t see the consequences of the war as their responsibility, especially considering that the many U.S. military bases in the Persian Gulf are supposed to guard against threats to oil and gas infrastructure. Trump’s demand for other countries to “do it themselves” raises the question of why the U.S. even has those Gulf bases to begin with.

All of these countries are a part of NATO, which is above all a defense treaty organization, not one that engages in offensive wars with shifting explanations and goals. Poland, for example, needs its Patriot system to defend against Russian attacks. Trump can’t start a war and then complain that other countries won’t sacrifice to clean up his mess.