MMN Editor

The administration’s new budget proposes huge cuts in essential programs for public health and the environment to make way for increaes in the military and policing.

The IEA projected that global oil demand will decline by 80,000 barrels per day this year, reversing its earlier forecast of a 640,000 bpd increase.

Bitcoin price approaches $75,000 level with $200 million in shorts at risk of liquidation, rising open interest and shifting volatility dynamics in focus.

Irish Patriots Are Fighting Back

Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker,

So you say you want a revolution?  Well, take a look at what’s happening in Ireland right now.  Tens of thousands of farmers, truckers, and other fed-up “normies” are taking to the streets of Dublin to protest fuel taxes, mass immigration, and poverty-inducing “climate change” policies.  For the most part, corporate news propagandists in both Europe and North America are intentionally ignoring the combustible situation.  Just when I had begun to think that all the “fighting Irish” had moved to America, the Old Country has started to show signs of life.  Perhaps there are still a few irascible pugilists willing to bash heads and take on the globalist empire after all.

Speaking of irascible pugilists, Irish slugger Conor McGregor issued a bit of an ultimatum to the ruling class after the government mobilized the military and sent tanks to intimidate the protesters: “One wrong move by government here, and you will see, at the very least, 250k Irish people descend on the capital in a blink.  They must step down, there is no other way.”  Declaring war against ordinary Irishmen isn’t a good look for an Irish Deep State that can’t be bothered to guard its borders from hordes of invading foreigners.  While McGregor and his compatriots are out feeding protesters in the streets, the Irish government is hiking taxes on those who can least afford to pay them.  “One wrong move” could spark a revolution. 

Perhaps that’s why — after an initial show of force — Ireland’s globalist government appears to be trying to settle things down.  Reports on the ground say that police officers have remained friendly with protesters.  Some have suggested that Irish authorities are wary of following in the footsteps of Canada’s former prime minister, Justin Trudeau, when he exercised martial law powers to seize the bank accounts of and jail “Freedom Convoy” truckers protesting coercive COVID “vaccination” mandates.  On the other hand, a lot of the Irish protesters have also described a sense that many of the law enforcement officers patrolling the streets appear to be on their side.  If that’s the case, then Ireland’s political class may be worried about the effectiveness of siccing the military on a broadly-backed citizen uprising.  

Although few people saw the present brouhaha coming, Ireland makes a natural “ground zero” in the war between Big Government globalists (aka, the “international rules-based order” club of World Economic Forum totalitarians) and ordinary citizens willing to defend their nation’s sovereignty and their own personal freedoms.  For two decades, the globalists have been taking over Ireland and stripping it for parts.  As a country that once took pride in its meaningful traditions, customs, family loyalties, and Catholic heritage, Ireland has been one of the globalists’ favorite targets for conquest.  If the “multicultural” atheists could convert Ireland into another globalist outpost devoid of religious or civilizational allegiances, they knew that they would collect a valuable scalp in their war against the West.  Sadly, the globalists have been largely successful.  By transforming a conservative, staunchly pro-life, Catholic nation into a “woke” re-education zone embracing abortion, “trans” surgeries for children, open borders, Islamic supremacy, and the fetishization of “diversity,” the World Economic Forum’s “Borg” hive mind gutted one of the most culturally rich nations on the planet and mounted Ireland’s head on globalism’s wall of slaughtered states.  

Two months ago, free speech defenders Lorcán Price and Graham Linehan testified before the House Judiciary Committee concerning the mass censorship operation being run through the expanding Big Tech enclave in Dublin.  There are over 32,000 NGOs in Ireland receiving billions of dollars in U.S. and E.U. grants meant to help shape public opinion.  These organizations — one for every 155 Irishmen — represent the “information warfare” army that supports Europe’s globalist policies.  Over 70% of Irish legislation is copy-and-pasted from bureaucratic edicts originating in the European Union.  These laws include special incentives for illegal immigrants who arrive on Ireland’s shores.  They also include “hate speech” laws that have been used to criminally prosecute Irish citizens who object to foreigners raping and murdering their children.  The NGO-E.U. takeover of the Irish political system this century has drastically reshaped the country.

Once Christian Ireland now has constitutional protections for gay “marriage” and abortion up to a baby’s birth.  Two years ago, Ireland’s globalist cabal nearly succeeded in removing all mentions of “women” from the national constitution, as well as nearly redefining “family” as a “durable relationship.”  The Irish government continues to attack Ireland’s Catholic history, going so far as to depict Catholic saints as pagan goddesses in shameless acts of historical revisionism.  Globalists continue to rename historic institutions due to ludicrous accusations that Irish clergymen and scholars had ties to slavery and “white supremacy.”  As Irish writer Roger Berkeley sorrowfully observes, “Ireland shows what happens when elites, bureaucracies, and ideology override national identity.”

Wherever they conquer, modern globalists prefer to implement blunt-force “divide and conquer” tactics that pit parts of society against each other.  Women versus men.  Young people versus families.  “Green energy” fanatics versus small businesses.  Islamic supremacists versus Christians.  “Multiculturalism” versus Western civilization.  Non-whites versus whites.  Globalists succeed wherever they are able to stir up so much domestic strife that nobody pays attention to the cultural, economic, and political agendas being enforced upon the invaded countries.  After targeting Ireland for destruction and subverting its traditional culture, globalists appeared to have taken over the island for good.  

However, when an outside force conquers a nation, there’s always an inherent risk that forced subjugation sparks a rebellion.  When those being gradually enslaved begin to believe that they have nothing else to lose, the ruling class has real problems.  Despite the corporate news media’s best attempts to cover up what is going on in Ireland, the current protests against “climate change” taxes and mass immigration suggest that the natives are growing restless.  What happens next isn’t entirely clear.  

What is clear is that ordinary people in nations across the West are becoming aware of the information war that has long been waged against them.  For decades, they have been conditioned to believe false things: “Diversity is our strength.”  “Islam is a religion of peace.”  “Trans-women are real women.”  “Sex is a social construct.”  “Man-made climate change is killing the planet.”  “New taxes will save the planet.”  “Christianity is hate speech.”  “Hate speech is a violent crime.”  “Free speech requires government-moderated censorship.”  “National sovereignty is fascist.”  “Families promote white supremacy.”  “Merit is white supremacy.”  “Math, home ownership, mowed lawns, and punctuality are all forms of white supremacy.”  “Equal rights require ‘Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity.’”  “Unelected bureaucrats protect democracy.”  “NATO must protect non-NATO Ukraine.”  Et cetera ad infinitum.  

Perhaps globalism’s lies have become too numerous for the average Westerner to ignore.  Or perhaps globalists’ hubris has grown too grating for the average Westerner to tolerate.  Either way, there is a growing movement of people dedicated to defending Western civilization from the pernicious cancer of godless, multicultural, “woke,” and totalitarian globalism.  Because globalists control the corporate news media, these people are disparaged as “populists.”  In truth, they are Western citizens committed to national self-determination, the preservation of individual rights, and protections for personal liberty.  

Globalists call the will of the people “populism” and the will of bureaucrats “democracy.”  But when enough people decide to fight back against the bureaucrats, the spirit of revolution hangs in the air.  Perhaps that’s what we’re seeing right now in Ireland — a fresh reminder of Thomas Jefferson’s observation that no “country can preserve its liberties” if its “rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance.”  After all, the “tree of liberty must be refreshed … with the blood of patriots and tyrants.  It is its natural manure.”

Tyler Durden
Tue, 04/14/2026 – 06:30

France’s President Emmanuel Macron is facing renewed criticism for his lack of support for President Donald Trump’s war against Iran and demands to include Lebanon in the current ceasefire as historic talks between Israel and Lebanon are set to begin Tuesday.The historic meeting brokered by President Trump between Lebanon, a former French mandate, and Israel will take place at the ambassador level as hopes for an agreement evolve ­— most noticeably without French involvement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to host both nations’ ambassadors.The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel’s government requested that France be excluded from the talks. An Israeli official told the paper that “France’s conduct over the past year – including initiatives aimed at limiting Israel’s ability to fight in Iran, and a complete lack of willingness to take concrete steps to help Lebanon disarm Hezbollah – has led Israel to view France as an unfair mediator.”IRAN’S TERROR PROXIES FROM IRAQ-TO-LEBANON SAY READY TO RESPOND TO US-ISRAEL ATTACKSOn Monday, Hezbollah chief Naim ​Qassem on Monday ‌called on the Lebanese government to ​cancel the ​Tuesday meeting in Washington, while ⁠describing the talks as pointless. In ​a televised ​speech, Qassem said the ‌armed ⁠group will continue to confront Israeli attacks on ​Lebanon.Hezbollah violated a ceasefire to enter the war on its patron, Iran’s side, in March when it launched rockets into Israel after the U.S.-Israel joint attack on the Islamic Republic began, still Macron has demanded Israel stop attacking Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure in Lebanon.Israeli Brig. General (Res.) Yosef Kuperwasser told Fox News Digital that Macron was “working against the best interests of the Lebanese state and government. This is a very problematic direction.” He accused Macron of “taking the side of Hezbollah and normalizing Hezbollah because he is focused on “narrow interests.”IRAN THREATENS TO END CEASEFIRE OVER HEZBOLLAH’S EXCLUSION FROM TRUCE DEALThe former head of research for the Israel Defense Forces’ Military Intelligence Directorate, Kuperwasser, added that the “Americans want us to engage with the Lebanese along with the military [in Lebanon]. Our expectations are very similar. We want to see Lebanon do something about Hezbollah, something real, not just issue statements and pledges. We believe we have helped them by weakening Hezbollah militarily since they decided to launch missiles on March 2. If there is a breakthrough, Lebanon has a lot to gain,” but said it has to “disarm Hezbollah.”Macron has faced accusations over the years that he has normalized Hezbollah. His government, in contrast to Germany, the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Austria and many other Western and non-Westen countries, refuses to designate Hezbollah’s entire organization a terrorist entity. France has classified Hezbollah’s “military wing” a terrorist organization but declined to ban its “political wing.” Hezbollah considers itself a unified movement without branches.The French politician François-Xavier Bellamy, who is a member of the European Parliament for the Republicans Party, said last week on French television that “France must stop normalizing Hezbollah.” Macron sparked outrage in 2020 when he reportedly held a private conversation with a top elected Hezbollah official, according to the Paris-based daily Le Figaro.Edy Cohen, an Israeli security expert on Hezbollah, who was born in Lebanon, told Fox News Digital, “France is forced not to come out against Hezbollah in order to legitimize its involvement in Lebanon.”A French diplomat told the Times of Israel that “what we are hoping for is not a ticket to the meeting, but that Israel stops its offensive on Lebanon.”When asked if France would pressure Lebanon to recognize Israel as a state, Pascal Confavreux, a spokesman for France’s Foreign Ministry, told “Fox News Sunday” that, “Iran has to stop terrorizing Israel through Hezbollah because Hezbollah chose to bring Lebanon into a war which is not Lebanon’s war… Lebanon has to be included in the ceasefire, something that we are pushing diplomatically,” He continued that we are in favor of direct talks between Lebanon and Israel.It is not known if France asked for a seat at the talks. Fox News Digital sent multiple press queries to France’s embassies in Washington D.C. and Tel Aviv.IDF UNCOVERS HEZBOLLAH WEAPONS STASH INSIDE HOSPITAL IN LEBANONOn Saturday, Macron again pushed his desire for a ceasefire and wrote on X that he had discussions with Iran’s President Massoud Pezeshkian on Saturday: “I stressed the importance of full respect for the ceasefire, including in Lebanon. France extends its full support to the actions of the Lebanese authorities, who alone are legitimate to exercise the sovereignty of the State and decide the destiny of Lebanon.”Walid Phares, an expert on Lebanon and the region, told Fox News Digital that while the talks are important, problems exist. “It is at ambassadors’ level, which means it is not destined to reach a top level of decision-making.”He added, “Strangely, the Lebanese president and prime minister declined to invite the Lebanese foreign minister to the Washington talks, provoking a representation by Israel, also at ambassadorial level, showing that Hezbollah still has a strong influence on the Lebanese government. The militia is being rejected by the population on the ground and fears a meeting in D.C. would ostracize Hezbollah further.”Sethrida Geagea, a member of parliament from the Lebanese Forces party, posted on X ahead of the Israel-Lebanon talks an open letter to Nabih Berri, the powerful speaker of the Lebanese Parliament and leader of the Shiite Amal Movement. She issued indirect criticism of Hezbollah and its terrorist army within the state. Geagea appealed to Berri to unify the Lebanese to be “protected by a single army.”Without naming Hezbollah, her letter stated that young Shiites have been plunged into war that has nothing to do with them and the conflict is really about an Iranian decision to retaliate for the joint U.S.-Israel war that assassinated the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, on February 28.The State Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital press query.Reuters contributed to this report.

The Justice Department released a report Tuesday alleging the Biden administration weaponized federal law by selectively prosecuting pro-life activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, following a review of more than 700,000 internal records.DOJ officials said prosecutors coordinated with abortion-rights groups to track activists, sought harsher sentences for pro-life defendants and, in some cases, withheld evidence or tried to exclude jurors based on religion.”This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

Oracle clawed back some of this year’s losses tied to fears of AI disruption, posting its best day since last September.On Monday, the cloud company’s shares jumped 12.7% to $155.62 after Oracle pitched AI tools for utilities at its Customer Edge Summit in Austin, a corner of the AI market where the promised payoff is easier to measure.Oracle’s Utilities Opower platform helped residential utility customers save $369 million in 2025, the company said in materials released Monday. On its website, the cloud-services giant says the product has delivered 3 billion personalized communications, 100 million high-bill alerts and 41 terawatt-hours of energy savings from 2009 through May 2025.But more than just AI, Oracle was pitching utility plumbing.Oracle said the new tools are designed to help utilities handle routine problems more efficiently, from billing issues to grid disruptions. The pitch was straightforward and aimed at companies looking for practical fixes.Power-hungry AIThis comes at a time when utilities are being squeezed from both directions – customers still care about affordability, while the AI boom is driving a new scramble for electricity.U.S. power consumption hit a record in 2025, and the Energy Information Administration expects fresh records in 2026 and 2027.Data centers could consume 9% to 17% of U.S. electricity generation by 2030, according to an EPRI analysis published in February.In that context, software that promises better management of infrastructure and logistics starts to look less like a niche product and more like part of the industry’s survival kit.Being part of SaaSFor Oracle, the bounce also came with some baggage.Even after Monday’s rally, the shares were still down about 21% this year and roughly 54% below their September 2025 closing high.In February, the company said it expected to raise $45 billion to $50 billion in 2026 through a mix of debt and equity to build more cloud capacity.Oracle also got a lift from improving investor sentiment Monday, as the broader market saw hope in a future peace deal between Iran and the U.S.Software stocks went into selloff mode this year after shockwaves from the Citrini report sparked concerns that AI could render some SaaS business models obsolete.In recent months, though, tech executives have called those fears “overblown.”Related: Oracle stock dividend under threat amid massive AI push

Reason These wasteful boondoggles add up. So do the programs that many Americans insist are important but refuse to reform.

Azzi Fudd is reuniting with her old UConn Huskies teammate, Paige Bueckers, as the Dallas Wings took her first overall in the 2026 WNBA Draft on Monday night.And Fudd comes in with a historic payday in the league.After a new collective bargaining agreement was inked between the league and the players’ association last month, Fudd is set to make $500,000 in her rookie year – a massive pay bump compared to the $78,831 Bueckers earned last season as the WNBA Draft’s first overall selection.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMThis comes as the salary cap for WNBA teams also jumped from $1.5 million in 2025 to $7 million, which also brought in the first-ever million-dollar contracts. From league veterans to newcomers in the Draft, the game’s best are getting paid.While Fudd will be certainly happy to see her paychecks, she’s also excited to make her impact with the Wings and within the WNBA.PAIGE BUECKERS MAKES WNBA HISTORY IN OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION, SPARKS VET GETS LAST LAUGH”I’m not really sure I have words to describe that feeling what that meant,” Fudd said after being drafted, via ESPN. “I don’t think it’s fully sunk in. It’s nothing I could have imagined. The feeling of sitting with my family, with Morgan (Valley), hearing your name called, go up there. Such a surreal feeling.”Fudd was also excited while discussing her reunion with Bueckers.”Paige is an incredible player, everyone knows that,” she explained. “She’s someone that makes playing basketball with easy.”With Fudd taken, the Minnesota Lynx locked in Olivia Miles out of TCU – Fudd’s biggest competition for that first overall pick. But Miles isn’t missing out on the payday, as she’s slated to make $466,913 as the second overall pick.Center Awa Fam Thiam from Spain went to the Seattle Storm and will get a $436,016 salary for the 2026 WNBA season. Then, national champions Lauren Betts (Washington Mystics), Gabriel Jacquez (Chicago Sky) and Kiki Rice (Toronto Tempo) rounded out the top six.UCLA also broke UConn’s record of having four players drafted in the first round, which was set in 2002 by the Huskies. Angela Dugalić rounded out the bunch after Washington took her ninth overall, keeping her with Betts as they enter the league.Another notable name was LSU guard Flau’Jae Johnson, who was taken eighth overall by the Golden State Valkyries, but she was traded to the Storm for the rights to Marta Suarez from TCU. The Storm had taken her with the first pick of the second round. The Valkyries also received a 2028 second-round pick in the deal.Overall, every drafted player who makes a team entering the regular season will make more than any WNBA player did during the 2025 season, with a minimum salary of $270,000 that sits higher than last year’s maximum salary of $249,244.Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

WNBA player Brianna Turner faced social media backlash after she wrote an op-ed expressing her displeasure with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) policy to keep men out of women’s sports.Turner, who recently signed a contract with the Las Vegas Aces after playing professionally in Australia, wrote in USA Today that she didn’t believe the new policy the IOC implemented actually protected the women’s sporting events.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMThe IOC said it would use genetic testing to ensure that women’s events only feature females. Turner accused the IOC of using the new policies to “scapegoat” transgender athletes while ignoring “real” issues regarding women in sports.”Policies that single out transgender women and athletes with intersex variations do not protect women’s sports. They manufacture a scapegoat while the real challenges to women’s sports go unaddressed: unequal funding, limited access to training and facilities, pay disparities, male-dominated leadership, gender-based violence and harassment across race, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity,” Turner wrote on Friday.She also denied the IOC’s argument that the new policy is being enacted to make sure that female sports are safe and fair, claiming there were no biological advantages in transgender athletes.WNBA PLAYER OPPOSES NEW OLYMPICS TRANSGENDER POLICY, SAYING THEY DO ‘ANYTHING BUT’ PROTECT WOMEN”In more than 15 years of organized basketball, I’ve played with and against people who are transgender and undoubtedly people with intersex variations, and I’ve never experienced any unfair advantages. I saw these players as my fellow athletes, not my enemies,” Turner wrote.She concluded by demanding that the IOC do not use women athletes in efforts to “shame or exclude” transgender athletes.Turner received a torrent of social media responses to her critique of the IOC.Turner’s op-ed followed similar response from former U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe and Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Sue Bird.”We already know that biology, as much as we want it to be just nice and clean and tight and perfectly in one category and another, it’s not,” Rapinoe said earlier this month. “We know that. So, now what we’re doing is subjecting everybody, all women and all people who are identifying as women to this really invasive testing that only to me says like, ‘Oh we’re just trying to whittle it down to a certain type of woman.’ Is that what we’re doing? That’s really the whole game here.”Bird said the IOC policy was akin to “fearmongering.”Turner is set to play with the Aces this season. She was with the Indiana Fever in 2025 and the Chicago Sky in 2024 after spending the first five seasons of her career with the Phoenix Mercury.There are no known transgender athletes competing in the WNBA.Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.