THE NEWS

On Wednesday’s edition of NBC’s “Meet the Press NOW,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) argued that President Donald Trump “needs to focus on Americans and stop worrying about China and Iran.” Duckworth said, “Americans can’t continue to suffer at the hands
The post Duckworth: Trump Should ‘Stop Worrying About China and Iran’ appeared first on Breitbart.

President Donald Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday, May 13.
The post Watch Live: Donald Trump Meets with Xi Jinping in China appeared first on Breitbart.

The Republican leader of South Carolina’s state Senate defied President Donald Trump and voted against a redistricting effort that could have slashed the state’s only Democrat-led congressional district, arguing that “South Carolina is stronger when we have a vibrant Democratic Party.”
The post Republican South Carolina Senate Leader Kills GOP’s Redistricting Effort: ‘Competition Makes Us Better’ appeared first on Breitbart.

Neocon Grandee Robert Kagan Issues Surprise Scathing Critique Of Iran War

Via Middle East Eye

Robert Kagan, one of the United States’ most prominent neoconservative voices and a long-time pro-Israel hawk, has warned that Washington is heading towards “total defeat” in its war on Iran – a setback he says “can neither be repaired nor ignored”.

Writing in The Atlantic, Kagan said the damage inflicted by the conflict cannot be reversed. “There will be no return to the status quo ante, no ultimate American triumph that will undo or overcome the harm done,” he concluded bleakly.
AFP via Getty Images

Kagan, who co-founded the neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century in 1997, helped shape a political current that pushed the US to project military power globally.

That doctrine culminated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and deeply influenced the George W. Bush administration.

He remained closely tied to that policy ecosystem, including through his wife, Victoria Nuland, who served as an advisor to the arch neoconservative Vice President Dick Cheney. For years, Kagan championed US interventionism – making his stark warning about the current war all the more striking.

In his analysis, Kagan argued that control over the Strait of Hormuz has fundamentally shifted the balance of power.

“With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in the region and one of the key players in the world,” Kagan noted.

He added that the war has not only strengthened rivals such as China and Russia but has also eroded Washington’s global standing.

“Far from demonstrating American prowess, as supporters of the war have repeatedly claimed, the conflict has revealed an America that is unreliable and incapable of finishing what it started. That is going to set off a chain reaction around the world as friends and foes adjust to America’s failure,” he said.

‘Disastrous for Israel’

Kagan warned that US President Donald Trump now has limited options to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting Washington may have exhausted its leverage.

He compared the scale of the current crisis to some of the most damaging moments in US military history, including the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the Vietnam War. Unlike those conflicts, he argued, the United States may not be able to recover from the consequences this time.

“Defeat for the United States, therefore, is not only possible but likely,” he stressed.

Kagan said Iran’s ability to counter US pressure leaves Washington with few viable paths forward without triggering severe damage to Gulf economies and the wider global system. “If this isn’t checkmate, it’s close,” he added.

He also stressed that Tehran is unlikely to relinquish its grip over the Strait of Hormuz, which he described as a powerful strategic lever.

“Iran cannot afford to let the strait go, no matter how good a deal it thought it could get. For one thing, how reliable is any deal with Trump?”

Below: a genuinely incredible scene…

The Iran war is so bad that PNAC co-founder Robert Kagan now describes Israel as a strategic liability leading the US into a quagmire
“It’s kind of like saying South Vietnam was a great ally in the fight against North Vietnam.”
Bill Kristol nods alongpic.twitter.com/qMfdmmEPMh
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) March 16, 2026
In a separate interview with PBS, Kagan extended his warning to Israel, arguing that the war could backfire on one of Washington’s closest allies.

“This war has the potential of ending in a very disastrous way for Israel precisely because the leverage in the region and the influence in the region is going to shift away from the United States and Israel and toward Iran and its supporters.”

Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/13/2026 – 23:25

Mass Casualty Event After Israeli Airstrikes On Beirut Highway

Another mass casualty event has occurred in Lebanon, as national media says that on Wednesday eight people died, including two children, when Israeli strikes targeted cars on a highway south of Beirut. 

Israeli media itself described that “The three separate airstrikes were carried out well beyond the main theater of conflict in the south, targeting vehicles on the coastal highway in an area around 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Beirut, security sources said.” The attack was reportedly carried out by drones.
EPA image

“Images showed a burnt-out car in the middle of the road and rescuers carrying a body at one of the sites, near Jiyeh,” Times of Israel continues. “On Saturday, similar strikes targeted two other cars in the same area.”

There was no immediate comment or explanation from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in wake of the bombings. Photographs of bombed-out and charred cars have widely circulated in the aftermath.

Hezbollah has meanwhile remained opposed to formal talks between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, with the Iran-backed Shia paramilitary group not participating.

The next round of negotiations are expected in Washington on Thursday, and they will be overseen by the State Department.

From Israel’s perspective, this means the ceasefire doesn’t extend to Hezbollah, and it currently has an IDF ground force inside southern Lebanon, amid tit-for-tat drone and missile strikes. 

According to the latest on evacuation orders in the south, Al Jazeera writes:

On Wednesday morning, the Israeli military issued forced displacement orders for the residents of Meiss el-Jabal, Yanouh, Burj Shemali, Hula, Debl and Aabbasiyyeh, warning that it will soon act against these six southern Lebanese villages “forcefully”.

Anyone who remains “endangers their life,” the military said, warning residents to move at least 1,000 metres (0.6 miles) away to “open areas”.

At least seven villages in the area have been subject to evacuation order, but Lebanese officials have complained that in some cases civilian areas are hit which were previously deemed safe zones.

The death toll continues to mount, per the same report:

On Tuesday, 13 people were killed in attacks on towns in the south, including two Lebanese Civil Defence paramedics, Hussein Jaber and Ahmad Noura, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.

The ministry reported that at least 380 people have been killed during the truce, bringing the total death toll since the Israeli invasion and bombardment began on March 2 to more than 2,800.

Jiyeh coastal road, south of Beirut:

Israel targets a car on the Jiyeh coastal road, south of Beirut
Follow https://t.co/B3zXG73Jym pic.twitter.com/LobCfOs4hz
— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) May 13, 2026
Iran has meanwhile insisted that the Lebanon conflict be part of any final ceasefire deal between Tehran and Washington. However, talks are at a standstill, with Iran having issued five conditions as a basis for the resumption of talks.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/13/2026 – 23:00

LA mayoral candidate exposes his communist opponent in this explosive campaign commercial. Credit: Spencer Pratt X
A month ago, no one knew who Spencer Pratt was. Today, he has the left running scared in the race for mayor of Los Angeles.
Rush Limbaugh used to say that the left will tell you who they fear. That is what we see starting to happen with Pratt’s increasingly viral campaign for mayor.
The most telling thing is that people on the left are not even arguing with Pratt’s policy positions, they are just desperately trying to discredit him. What they are trying to do is so obvious and it says much more about them than Pratt.
Here is one example. This is a tweet from one of the ‘Obama Bros.’ Jon Favreau was a speechwriter for Obama. For him to wade into this contest and try to slam Pratt in such a petty way betrays his fear.

Spencer Pratt: “Alex Jones is an American Hero!” https://t.co/PLQ0nIJmwk
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) May 13, 2026

Notice how Favreau’s attack has nothing to do with Pratt’s positions on homelessness and crime. He just thinks this is a gotcha. It isn’t.
Next up is gossip rag TMZ, which recently branched out into politics. They think they have caught Pratt in a lie about living in a trailer. Notice that they don’t go after him on policy. They’re just trying to tear him down.

Spencer Pratt has gained traction in his campaign for L.A. Mayor by showing what he says Karen Bass did to his family — forcing them to live in a trailer after his home burned down.
Though, Pratt has really been staying at the Hotel Bel-Air for more than a month. Mind you, you… pic.twitter.com/nrJPD0JdWK
— TMZ (@TMZ) May 13, 2026

Pratt fired back.

Hey guys, why don’t they wanna talk about why I need a hotel in the first place?
Karen Bass let my home burn down.
Also 6,000 of my neighbors. NBD. https://t.co/mj1QMW1NZr
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) May 13, 2026

FOX News contributor and media critic Joe Concha seems to think Pratt can win. Watch:

Joe Concha: Only People Not Voting For Spencer Pratt Are ‘Socialists And Communists,’ Mayor Bass Approval Rating At 25% After Rhetorical Beating In Last Debate pic.twitter.com/xEAdNno401
— Alexandra Datig | Front Page Index (@alexdatig) May 11, 2026

The left thinks Pratt can win. They would not be going after him if they didn’t.
It may seem like a stretch now, but stranger things have happened.
The post The Left is Already Showing That They’re Terrified of Republican LA Mayor Candidate Spencer Pratt appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The high-stakes summit is expected to cover a wide range of contentious topics, including trade, technology, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war.

U.S. President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday morning for the start of a high-stakes summit that runs through Friday.

The Hidden Cost To The American Worker From The AI Boom

Authored by Steven Edginton via American Intelligence,

While many warn that artificial intelligence itself will displace American workers, far less attention is paid to the fact that the very companies building AI are already replacing American employees with cheaper foreign labor. In many cases, though, the immediate threat to American workers is not the technology itself, but the hiring practices of the firms developing it.

In 2025, 406,348 H-1B visas were given to foreign workers in the United States, according to the latest U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data. For hundreds of thousands of Americans, that figure is a nightmare.

The H-1B visa program, created in the 1990s as a temporary work visa supposedly for highly-skilled migrants, has flooded America with millions of cheap foreign workers.

For the last few months, I have been investigating the issue of the H-1B program and its impact on Americans for a new documentary for GB News. During that process, I received a flood of messages from workers across the country describing how they were forced to train their foreign replacements, saw their jobs were sent overseas, or witnessed ethnic tribalism in hiring that shut Americans out of jobs altogether.

The largest users of the H-1B program are Big Tech companies, many of which lobby Congress aggressively against reforms that could disrupt their pipeline of foreign labor.

Tech workers in Silicon Valley, one of America’s great civilizational achievements, are now overwhelmingly foreign born. According to the 2025 Silicon Valley Inde, roughly two-thirds of Silicon Valley tech workers were born outside the United States. There are more Indian-born tech workers there than those born in California. Highly-educated tech workers from India and China outnumber those from the United States, making up 41 per cent of the workforce compared with 30 per cent.

Lawmakers should evaluate the national security implications of a strategically vital American industry becoming taken over by, and increasingly dependent on, foreigners.

But the most visceral impact of this change has been on American tech workers.

According to an analysis by Harvard economist George Borjas, H-1B workers are on average 16% cheaper to employ than their American counterparts. For each H-1B worker employers save an average of $100,000 over the six-year term of the visa. Employers then have the ability to sponsor H-1B workers for green cards, ensuring they replace American workers in perpetuity.

One Silicon Valley based employee told me she lost her job after her Indian manager forced her to hire an Indian assistant, who she was later told to train so that he could replace her. Since then, she has been struggling to find work for two years, and was forced to sell her home.

In another case, a whistleblower, who until recently worked at FedEx, said her entire team’s jobs were off-shored to India. A former Google contractor said he was told to train his replacements in the Philippines. These stories are not atypical, especially for older workers who are competing for jobs with young, cheaper foreigners.

Many have also seen ethnic tribalism in hiring. At Google one former employee said he saw Indians give other Indians confidential interview questions to help them secure jobs. Others told me similar stories, where ethnic nepotism has led to workplaces becoming hives for foreign workers who all spawned from one particular city or even village in India. One high-profile example of this can be seen in the case of Cognizant Technology Solutions, an IT consulting company founded in India. Several successful lawsuits against the company in recent years have found discrimination against non-Indian employees in hiring and promotions.

To deal with these challenges, the Trump administration has attempted to crack down on the H-1B visa. Last year a new $100,000 fee was announced which would apply to employers hiring foreign talent. While official figures on the impact on H-1B applications are not yet available, experts estimate that applications may have fallen by between 30 and 50 per cent.

However, veteran anti-immigration campaigner and lawyer Rosemary Jenks said the new fee has had little overall impact as it doesn’t apply to domestic H-1B applications. Those who convert their visas to H-1Bs, such as students, or those renewing their H-1Bs are exempt from the $100,000 charge. Jenks’ view was confirmed to me by an immigration lawyer in Silicon Valley, who said she had seen a significant increase in domestic H-1B applications.

And when it comes to foreign competition for jobs, the H-1B program isn’t the only challenge for American workers.

This week Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced it has found more than 10,000 cases of potential fraud in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. This scheme allows foreign students to work in the United States for up to two years after graduating (who can then convert their student visas into H-1Bs, and eventually green cards). ICE officials said they had found “empty buildings and locked doors at addresses where hundreds of foreign students are allegedly employed”.

Unlike the H-1B program, which requires employers to pay the “prevailing wage” for roles, those employed under OPT can be paid any wage. The result is that American graduates are competing for entry level jobs with foreigners who are willing, and able, to work for far less. As of last year, 294,253 students are in the US on the OPT program.

Some Republicans, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have called for the H-1B visa to be abolished entirely. But until Congress is willing to confront the political influence of the Big Tech lobby, America’s dependence on cheap foreign labor is unlikely to end. The irony is that while Americans are told to fear displacement by artificial intelligence in the future, many are already being displaced in the present by hiring practices of the very firms building it.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/13/2026 – 22:35

Screencap of Twitter/X video.
Today on The Five, Greg Gutfeld took aim at CNN polling, specifically their polling guru, Harry Enten. Greg pointed out that Enten’s polling swings wildly from side to side, with news favoring Democrats one day and Trump or Republicans the next. It is a valid point.
From there, he pivoted to the midterms, suggesting that no one really knows what is going to happen and saying that if Democrats were presented accurately, they would never win.
Finally, he made a point about Democrats dishonestly representing themselves with certain credentials, whether it’s doctor, veteran, or something lese.
Mediaite has a few details:
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld called out CNN’s Harry Enten on Wednesday, claiming the data guru’s constant “shock” polls were “all a scam.”
Gutfeld’s remarks on The Five came during a segment on a recent poll discussed by Enten on Tuesday, where he pointed out that Democrats have gone from voters’ preferred choice to control Congress at plus-six points in March of last year to just plus-three points now…
Host Jessica Tarlov dismissed the numbers, noting, “There is a Harry Enten clip for everything.”
Gutfeld later uncharacteristically agreed with Tarlov, calling out Enten for constantly providing “shiny objects” for both political parties to grasp at.
“I am actually going to agree with Jessica. I am tired of Harry Enten,” said Gutfeld. “First of all, we aren’t babies where we can be abruptly entranced by a new shiny object, and in this case, it’s always the everyday; it’s a shock poll, and one provides dopamine for Jessica, the next day, a shower of serotonin for Jesse [Watters].”
Gutfeld claimed that Enten benefited from the “scam,” telling viewers to ignore his numbers.
“It’s all a scam! Don’t listen to it,” he said. “You never know how things are going to turn out because Republicans don’t talk about how they vote. That’s how Trump surprised everybody.”
Watch the whole clip below:

“[Trump] has got an ally in the Democrats” @greggutfeld breaks down why the LEFT shouldn’t be so COCKY ahead of the midterms pic.twitter.com/WmUWaCMrwT
— The Five (@TheFive) May 13, 2026

The Democrats have not changed one thing since 2024. If they do somehow win back the House in 2026, expect to see an almost exact replay of what they did after winning back the House in Trump’s first term.
They have learned absolutely nothing.
The post Greg Gutfeld Blasts CNN Polling, Says if Dems Were Accurately Labeled, No One Would Go Near Them (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.