MMN Editor

President Donald Trump has now laid out a potential off-ramp to end the United States’ strikes against Iran. Trump said Monday that the two countries have had “productive conversations” in recent days, hinting at a possible resolution to the conflict in the upcoming days or weeks. This announcement comes in the third week of the military operation, which would fit Trump’s predicted four- to six-week timeline to close the conflict. ‘POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES.'”I AM PLEASE TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST,” Trump said in a Truth Social Post.Trump also indicated that the United States would be scaling back key aspects of its military campaign while peace talks continue through the week.RELATED: Joe Kent resigns from Trump admin, says Israel forced US into Iran conflict Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty ImagesThis de-escalation comes after Trump threatened Saturday to “hit and obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which has constrained much of the world’s oil supply. “BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WHICH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAIN IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS,” Trump said. Trump notably did not address Israel’s role in the conflict, raising questions about whether the ally may go rogue again. Last week, Israel launched strikes against Iran’s gas fields, which prompted retaliatory strikes that hit a portion of Qatar’s liquid natural gas fields. Trump addressed the strikes in a Truth Social post Wednesday, saying that the United States had no foreknowledge of Israel’s strikes that notably led to military action against another American ally in the region. This is not the first time Israel has complicated the United States’ attempts to broker peace in the region. RELATED: Trump’s hilarious response after intel reportedly tells him Iran’s new supreme leader might be gay Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesIn the lead-up to Trump’s 20-point peace plan to resolve the war between Israel and Palestine, Israel launched strikes targeting senior Hamas leadership in Doha, Qatar. Trump said the decision was made entirely by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu without American foreknowledge. Trump acknowledged and praised the deaths of Hamas leadership as a “worthy goal,” but criticized Israel for “unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a Sovereign Nation and close Ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker Peace.” Trump later made Netanyahu call and apologize to Qatar’s prime minister just 20 days after the strike that killed a Qatari security officer, violated the country’s sovereignty, and threatened peace talks. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The Ethereum treasury firm led by Thomas Lee now has increased its buying pace for three consecutive weeks even as unrealized losses mount.

Iran Phones Russia Immediately On Heels Of Trump’s Announcement Of US-Iran Talks

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held talks with Sergei Lavrov quickly on the heels of President Trump early Monday having claimed Washington and Tehran had “very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities” – as the war is in its fourth week.

Moscow appears to be moving to position itself as a broker, with Russia’s foreign ministry announcing that FM Lavrov called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities and a political settlement that takes into account the legitimate interests of all parties involved, above all Iran,” in a call initiated by Tehran.
AFP/Getty Images

The Kremlin followed this by its spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating negotiations should have begun “yesterday” – adding that “this is the only way to effectively ease the catastrophically tense situation in the region.”

Trump had on Saturday unveiled a time-specific ultimatum which threatened to “obliterate” Iranian power plants if Tehran refuses to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The clock is ticking on the 48-hour timeline, and it’s unclear how the Trump-touted Tehran-Washington contacts will impact that (contacts which Tehran has denied).

As for the Kremlin, Peskov also warned against strikes on nuclear infrastructure following reported attacks on Natanz nuclear facility, stating: “We believe that strikes on nuclear facilities are potentially extremely dangerous … Therefore, the Russian side, taking an extremely responsible stance on this issue, has repeatedly voiced its concerns.”

The risk is no longer theoretical given that Russia’s state nuclear firm Rosatom and the International Atomic Energy Agency had confirmed a projectile strike on the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, marking a dangerous new phase where nuclear sites are no longer off limits.

This in turn resulted in Iran for the first time targeting Dimona, home to Israel’s major nuclear reactor and research complex. But there’s no indication it suffered any direct hits.

“Dimona, where the second missile hit, is perilously close to Israel’s main nuclear reactor and research site. Iranian state media said the strike targeted the nuclear facility in retaliation for an attack on an Iranian nuclear enrichment site at Natanz, though the IDF has said it was unaware of that operation,” NBC reports.

“The International Atomic Energy Agency said that no abnormal off-site radiation levels had been observed following the strikes, though it urged all sides to exercise restraint near nuclear sites,” the report added.

At this point it’s anything but clear whether Trump’s announcement of talks will lead to an actual slowdown or pause in fighting. Here’s how Russia’s RT framed Iran’s stance:

Iranian sources, however, have told state media that no negotiations have been held with Washington, even through intermediaries. The Iranian Embassy in Afghanistan has stated that Trump “backed down” after Iran’s “firm warning” that it would retaliate to strikes on its energy infrastructure by attacking power plants across the region.

On Sunday US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told “Meet the Press” that Washington must “escalate to de-escalate” in the Iran and Strait of Hormuz situation. However, Washington never seems to be able get to the “de-escalate” part.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 03/23/2026 – 09:00

Katie Ledecky has proven to be an American powerhouse in the pool all by herself.She’s the most decorated female Olympian in history with 14 total medals, including nine gold. She also has a record 18 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. It’s safe to say that she knows a thing or two about representing Team USA on the world stage.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMThe 29-year-old Stanford grad was asked in an interview with “60 Minutes” what she learned about the U.S. while representing her country.”What I’ve learned over time as a member of Team USA is that we are a nation of strivers that embraces competition of all sorts,” Ledecky said. “We are a very prideful nation in how we compete. Where that striving and competitive spirit, when harnessed correctly, brings out the best in us and shows us the best of the human spirit.”I’ve learned that sports tests our determination, our resilience and our discipline. Sports teach us every day that anything is possible. That when we try and give our best effort, that we can overcome obstacles.”SUPER BOWL CHAMP, 66, LOOKING TO MAKE US FLAG FOOTBALL TEAMLedecky recalled going from town to town for swim meets in different local communities when she was growing up.”And what I’ve seen in so many different communities is that sport in America is at its best when its joy and fun, and yes, its challenges, bring us together,” she added.She will be pushing to solidify herself as a member of Team USA once again for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.Ledecky won gold medals in the 800-meter free and 1,500-meter free at the Paris Games in 2024. She also won a silver in the 4×200-meter free and a bronze in the 400-meter free.Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

“security screening at denver airport” by danjo paluska, CC BY 2.0
Senate Democrats have given the world a sneak preview of how they will manage the government if they return to power by effectively shuttering Homeland Security of all mission-critical operations because of a policy disagreement over how ICE, which is housed under the agency, handles deportations of illegal aliens.
The strategy to obstruct DHS operations has become a microcosm for Democratic leadership: at one and the same time, malevolent and incompetent.
Its malevolence is exhibited in the fact that deportations operations are being used as the putative basis for suspending funding indefinitely for the agency.
Its incompetence is on full display in the fact that ICE, the one agency that DHS Democrats hate the most, remains funded and active due to the One Big Beautiful Bill, which allocated hundreds of millions in funds to the subagency separate and apart of the yearly appropriations bills.
The policy of strict immigration enforcement, which has overwhelming and indeed, even bi-partisan support among broad swaths of the electorate, was a core part of President Trump’s re-election campaign.
The Biden years demonstrated the utter destructiveness of a runaway, open-borders immigration policy – which had the effect of unleashing tens of millions into the interior, including dangerous criminal organizations, which have been directly or indirectly responsible for claiming the lives of millions of Americans.
The fentanyl epidemic is directly linked to Joe Biden and Barack Obama’s reckless open borders policies, which used demonizing rhetoric against anyone who asserted that national sovereignty and the protection of American interests is virtuous for the health, safety, and welfare of the nation.
As a result of that culture of admonishment, which Obama dressed up in flowery rhetoric, suffused in self-righteous indignation, America’s southern border was opened to the world.
Naturally, who entered from that policy were the most pernicious drug traffickers, gangbangers, and terrorist sleeper cells – which infiltrated the country by the millions, destabilizing the rule of law and eroding public trust in the process.
Quality of life in America, measured in real terms, from wages to public infrastructure to institutional safety and trust, only worsened appreciably.
Our elections became discredited because there was no way to check who wound up on voter rolls, and indeed, who exercised the franchise – a problem that got worse and worse with each passing election.
Tens of millions of unaccountable non-citizens springing up in communities across the nation made a near-impossible challenge for authorities to keep track – leaving an outsized burden on local municipalities that were already ill-equipped to manage the headcount.
And this was all by design: a feature not a bug of a policy that was intentionally driven to make Democrats the supermajority party in power, bolstered for all time by a virtually limitless supply of alien newcomers.
When the President ran on a policy of closed borders and mass deportations, first in 2016 and then again with a vengeance in response to the Biden catastrophe in 2024, it sent shockwaves across the political establishment, sending Washington into a collective tailspin.
Harvesting dollars and votes through illegal aliens was – aside from waging wars – one of the biggest for-profit businesses in the nation’s capital and had been for decades.
That a President had ascended to power on a platform directly opposed to this prerogative was, in their eyes, unforgivable.
However, because the policy – and administration that ran on it – enjoyed unprecedented momentum, the Democrats were forced underground, resorting to extra-political means, like the power of the purse, to backchannel their disfavoritism towards a policy their fellow countrymen by and large supported.
And so, we arrive at the current predicament, the chaos at airports nationwide spawned by a Congress unwilling to pledge funding to an agency whose most critical task is the fulfillment of the President’s immigration enforcement policy.
The Democrats have in their hubris and arrogance waged war directly on the American people.  The policy of not funding DHS harms the agents of TSA, who must endure weeks without reliable pay.
This has led many of them to stop showing up to work entirely, or outright resigning, despite having a requirement by law to do so given the essential nature of their tasks, because of the demoralization campaign by the Democrats.  Those to whom they serve, travelers and airports, are then made less safe.
But overburdened workers, contending with a significantly reduced workforce and deferred payment, must continue their jobs anyway.  This has caused lengthy lines at airport checks, sometimes contributing to hours-long delays in major transportation hubs, exacerbating a broader crisis of missed flights, cancellations, and stressful experiences.
The policy is reminiscent of the Democrats’ sadistic treatment of ordinary Americans during the covid pandemic.
Even among TSA civil servants, which are a core voting bloc for the Democratic Party being government workers after all, they are subjected to harsh and inhumane treatment.
Though on the surface ostensibly counterintuitive, upon deeper inspection it makes a good deal of sense.
As we so easily recall, the Democrats, whenever put in charge of government operations, allow their incompetence to inflict maximum harm upon the population overall.
It does not matter how terrible the repercussions of their policies are, prudence always and everywhere takes a backseat to ideological rigidity.  Better to crash an economy or sink a nation than face public humiliation by admitting one’s mistake.
To make matters worse, airlines themselves are struggling with the Iranian conflict overseas.
Already oil is topping $100 a barrel, with some major airlines forecasting that oil prices could reach as high as $175 per barrel soon.
This has impacted all travel, both foreign and domestic.  And with no clear path towards re-opening the Strait of Hormuz in sight, the larger war effort figures to compound preexisting domestic challenges, especially if the war proves to be longer-lasting than once prognosticated.
Even though Homeland Security may have a new Secretary as early as Monday evening, with Senator Markwayne Mullin scheduled for an imminent floor vote, the ongoing dilemma of DHS only being partially funded will persist.
Even with a resolution to the short-term funding problem, however, the deeper problem of one of America’s two main political parties being in active rebellion against what is arguably the second most important executive branch agency is unsolved – portending bleak implications for the long-term safety of the nation.
The post Democrats Hold Air Travelers Hostage By Keeping DHS Unfunded appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) is taking a beating in 2026.The cruise giant’s stock closed at $24.94 on March 19, signifying that conditions are not ideal for one of Wall Street’s most prized cruise stocks. However, one of the biggest names on Wall Street, Morgan Stanley, seems to believe that the reaction is overblown.The analyst upgraded the shares to overweight after a sharp pullback from recent highs, Investing.com reported. The bank’s new $31 price target implies about 24% upside from that close, even after it slashed earnings forecasts.That is where the analyst call becomes notable. Morgan Stanley maintains that the risks remain. However, Morgan Stanley believes that right now the trade-off does not make sense anymore. The sell-off now looks bigger than the likely damage to the business.Why Carnival Cruise Line stock suddenly looks more interestingMorgan Stanley’s thesis makes a lot of sense.Carnival’s stock is down more sharply than the firm’s cuts to projected earnings. The bank said Carnival’s roughly 28% drop from peak is now well ahead of its reductions to fiscal 2026 and 2027 EPS estimates. That is why the veteran analyst now sees a more attractive risk-reward setup.Related: Oil shock sends blunt message on stock market inflation riskThe stock’s value is also starting to look less demanding for a company that just had its best year ever. Carnival reported $26.6 billion in 2025 revenue, $3.1 billion in adjusted net income, and $7.2 billion in adjusted EBITDA. It said its 2026 booked position remained in line with 2025’s record levels at historically high prices in constant currency.What bulls see in Carnival right nowA stock down and out from recent highsA Wall Street upgrade, despite slashed estimatesA price target that still implies double-digit upsideRecord 2025 revenue and adjusted EBITDAHistorically strong booked prices going into 2026Carnival’s business is still holding up, but risks remainAt this point, the narrative begins to take a more complex turn.Carnival’s operating backdrop is not as negative as the stock chart suggests. The cruise stock exited 2025 with a net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA ratio of 3.4x. Its 2026 advanced booked position, on the other hand, stayed in line with record levels from 2025 at prices that were historically high. The company’s 2025 results revealed that it has already booked about two-thirds of next year’s capacity at historically high prices.But Morgan Stanley still highlighted real pressure points.The 3 biggest risks for Carnival stockMacro volatility: Cruise stocks could come under pressure due to geopolitical or economic fears, even before bookings materially weaken.Softer European demand: Morgan Stanley cut its fiscal 2026 net revenue yield assumption by 100 basis points to 2.0%.Fuel-price sensitivity: The bank said every $10-per-barrel move in oil affects fiscal 2026 EPS by about 5%.However, there is cause for quiet optimism. Morgan Stanley noted that early checks show no widespread cancellations yet. More importantly, Carnival’s exposure to the Middle East is limited.

Carnival Cruise Line stock gets a rare Wall Street upgrade after a painful plunge.StockPlanets/Getty Images

Why Morgan Stanley thinks the rebound case is realThere is a lot of background to the bank’s bullish turn.Morgan Stanley analyst Jamie Rollo believes Carnival’s sell-off is not something to get worried over, especially considering the history of such sell-offs. More Oil and Gas:Energy giant sends blunt $20 billion message on dividend growth147-year-old oil giant just raised dividend 4% in 2026Top energy stocks to buy amid Venezuela chaosThe analyst says these usually lead to rebounds ranging from roughly 40% to 120%.It doesn’t guarantee that history repeats, but it does explain why a big-time firm like Morgan Stanley is willing to upgrade the stock during troubling macroeconomic times.Why the rebound thesis has tractionCarnival already reflects the bad macroeconomic news floating around.Earnings estimates came down, but not nearly as much as the share price.Carnival is still basking in the spotlight after record annual results.Bookings and pricing are not collapsing.If macro fears, especially those about the Middle East crisis, subside, Wall Street sees a good setup.Carnival still has one balance-sheet problem investors can’t ignoreCarnival’s recovery story is real. However, investors cannot overlook the debt load.Its 2025 annual report shows $2.6 billion in current debt and $24.0 billion in long-term debt as of Nov. 30, 2025. Even with leverage improving, the execution will matter a lot. If fuel prices stay high or drop more than expected, that debt burden could quickly become a bigger part of the story.What comes next for Carnival stockWith the upgrade now in the books, all eyes are on first-quarter 2026 earnings on March 27, giving investors a near-term catalyst to test Morgan Stanley’s call.What Carnival Cruise Line investors should watch nextWhether the company reaffirms strong 2026 demandBooking comments for North America and EuropeAny change in how much people spend on boardAdvice on fuel costsHow management talks about pricesFor now, the setup is simple. Carnival is down sharply, but it caught an upgrade at the right time and is still pointing to historically strong booked pricing after a record year. For traders, that is a definite disconnect between fundamentals and the stock’s market movement, which is something to consider if you are looking to play this one.Related: Wall Street just gave Devon Energy investors a big surprise

A survey released over the weekend reveals a stark divide in American public opinion over the Iran War.

When 49 senators vote for a proposal, and 41 vote against, does that mean the proposal ‘fell flat’?

Proposed bitcoin-for-bitcoin acquisition of Moonshot and Never Say Die would triple the company’s holdings and expand institutional scale.

“We Are Deeply Saddened”: OnlyFans Owner Leonid Radvinsky Dead At 43

The billionaire owner of adult content platform OnlyFans has died after a long battle with cancer, according to Bloomberg, citing a statement from the company.

Leonid Radvinsky died at the age of 43, according to the company, which added, “We are deeply saddened to announce the death of Leo Radvinsky. He passed away peacefully after a long battle with cancer.”

Radvinsky’s death raises new questions about the platform’s future ownership, especially since he reportedly placed his majority stake in a trust in 2024.

According to his website, Radvinsky donated to several charities, including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, West Suburban Humane Society, and EB Research Partnership.

Radvinsky studied economics at Northwestern University and by 2018 had bought a majority stake in OnlyFans and helped transform the video content platform into an adult-content subscription business’ powerhouse that reshaped how women monetize their bodies.

OnlyFans was founded in 2016 and exploded in popularity during the Covid pandemic. Some of the latest data from 2024 showed the website had 4.6 million creators, 377 million fans, and $1.4 billion in revenue.

In a separate report by platform search engine OnlyGuid, Americans spent an estimated $2.6 billion on OnlyFans in 2025.

A little less than one year ago, OnlyFans’ parent company, Fenix International Ltd., was reportedly in talks to sell the video platform at an estimated $8 billion valuation.

None of these talks resulted in a completed sale, at least publicly confirmed.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 03/23/2026 – 08:40