POTUS warns that starting tonight, Iran can expect shock and awe

The game is over. The talks are done. It is time to clean up the mess, or at least try to, because negotiations with what is left of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been a total failure. It is not shocking. These are terrorists and you can trust them like you can trust the scorpion carrying a frog across the stream.

After weeks of messing around with whatever is left of Iran’s government, Trump said enough. He ordered new airstrikes, a complete blockade, and announced that the United States will now charge tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

On July 13, 2026, during an interview with Hugh Hewitt on Salem Radio, the President said the U.S. would strike Iran hard that night and the next day. Media outlets and commentary have framed his remarks using the dramatic phrase “hell will rain down” or “all hell will rain down,” echoing similar tough rhetoric he has used before regarding Iran.

Trump stated: “We’re going to hit Iran very hard tonight and we're going to hit them hard tomorrow, and there's not a damn thing they can do about it.”

He described the Iranian regime and remnants of the Revolutionary Guards as “stone-cold crazy people,” “cuckoo,” “sleaze bags,” and “extremely unreliable.” He noted that a prior memorandum of understanding or test deal had failed because Iran did not honor it. He also referenced watching Iran’s nuclear situation closely and mentioned the possibility of striking sites like “Pickaxe Mountain,” a fortified underground complex near Natanz.

The U.S. has been conducting airstrikes on Iranian military targets. U.S. Central Command reported that a third consecutive night of strikes began at 4:45 p.m. ET on July 13, targeting Iranian forces to degrade their capabilities. Over 300 targets have reportedly been hit in recent days.This follows the breakdown of an earlier ceasefire reached around April to June 2026.

Trump has said the ceasefire is over. Key flashpoints include control of the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian actions against shipping, and concerns over Iran’s nuclear program and regime behavior.Trump notified Congress of the new military actions. Additional measures include a U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and charging tolls for passage.This fits a pattern of escalatory warnings from Trump throughout 2026.

In April 2026 he issued 48-hour deadlines tied to reopening the Strait of Hormuz. In June 2026 he warned that “all hell will rain down” if Iran pursued nuclear weapons during ceasefire talks. Strikes are already underway as of the evening of July 13.

The situation remains fluid, with ongoing military action, negotiations reportedly continuing in some form, and high tensions over energy routes and regional stability. Oil prices and markets have been volatile amid the developments.For the most up-to-date official information, check sources like White House statements, CENTCOM releases, or major news outlets. Developments can change quickly in this conflict.

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Man shot Monday involving ICE in Maine

In Biddeford, Maine, a person was killed on Monday in a shooting that involved agents of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The circumstances remain unclear while state authorities conduct their inquiries.

Ryan Fecteau, Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and a native of the city, posted the following on Facebook: "This morning a shooting occurred in Biddeford. A person was killed. ICE was involved. State Police and the Department of Public Safety are now on scene to gather details and would expect the FBI to investigate as well."

Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security could not be reached for immediate comment.

Biddeford police referred all inquiries to ICE, and the mayor did not respond promptly to requests for a statement. The city, with a population of more than twenty-one thousand, lies fifteen miles south of Portland.

This incident follows six days after another fatal shooting by an ICE agent, this one in Houston, Texas. There, during a traffic stop, an agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had lived illegally in the United States for more than three decades.

Protests broke out in the city's heavily Hispanic East End, where mounted police officers followed demonstrators marching under the banner "Justice for Lorenzo."

ICE stated that Salgado rammed a law enforcement vehicle with his van and attempted to run over an officer, who fired in self-defense. The agency has not yet produced evidence to support this account but this seems to be a rather common occurrence.

Three men who witnessed the shooting have challenged the official version of events, according to a lawyer representing two of them. Salgado, a father of three who worked in construction and was reportedly in the process of obtaining a work permit, has been described by relatives as the victim of an unjust killing.

These shootings occur during President Donald Trump's renewed federal effort to enforce immigration law across the country. That effort has met objections from local Democratic leaders who see illegal aliens as future Democrat voters, and the incident has prompted protests in several cities.

Enforcement of borders that have been ignored for years inevitably produces friction, and agents who confront individuals long accustomed to operating outside the law face real and immediate risks.

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Trump Announces America Will Start Collecting Toll Booth Money From World's Most Expensive Shipping Lane

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After spending weeks reminding Iran that the U.S. Navy is considerably larger than a collection of speedboats with delusions of grandeur, President Donald Trump has apparently decided it's time for the rest of the world to start chipping in [see NATO].

Why should American taxpayers foot the bill for keeping one of the planet's most important shipping lanes open while everyone else sails through like it's Costco handing out free samples?

On Monday, Trump announced that the United States will begin charging a 20% fee for cargo passing safely through the Strait of Hormuz while officially resuming America's blockade of Iran. The message was simple: if Uncle Sam is providing the security, Uncle Sam expects to see the receipt.

Trump explained the new arrangement on Truth Social, the baby brother of X.

"The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran. We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving. All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait."

That distinction is important. According to Trump, the blockade isn't aimed at the rest of the world's commerce. It's aimed squarely at the regime that keeps trying to turn international waterways into its own personal hostage situation.

He then unveiled what might be history's first "Freedom Isn't Free" surcharge for global shipping.

"The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as 'THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,' [aka GOTHS] but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World. The process and formation will begin immediately."

Some foreign governments reportedly reacted with horror after learning that military protection, unlike climate conferences, does not come with unlimited complimentary snacks.

Meanwhile, economists spent the day debating the long-term implications of a global toll booth, while American taxpayers reportedly asked the obvious question: "Wait, we're actually making other countries pay for something instead of us?"

Iran condemned the announcement as illegal, provocative, and deeply unfair, which is roughly the diplomatic equivalent of a shoplifter complaining about anti-theft cameras.

At press time, sources said the first cargo ship entering the Strait had been greeted by a U.S. sailor holding what looked suspiciously like an EZ-Pass scanner and asking, "Cash, card, or freedom?"

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Tampon Tim Walz Board Pardons Repeat Child Rapist So He Does Not Have To Face "No Future" In Laos

State Department officials confirmed this week that they have finally revoked legal status for a convicted child sex abuser from Laos after Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and his merry band of pardon enthusiasts decided the real victim here was the rapist facing deportation.

A 42-year-old illegal immigrant who admitted to repeatedly raping a child received a full pardon from Governor Tim Walz's board after the state's clemency commission decided "immigration concerns" outweighed, you know, the whole repeatedly-raping-a-child thing.

Fox News Digital obtained the documents, which show the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission voted 4-2 to spring Laotian national Tue Lue Vang. Vang had confessed to raping a girl multiple times over several years, starting when she was just 10 years old. The two commissioners who voted against it cited the "serious nature" of the crimes. The four who voted for it mostly worried about Vang getting kicked out of the country he entered illegally.

One commissioner, Zach Linstrom, explained his yes vote by writing, "Very tough case but the kids not having a father is not in the best interest of society," apparently referring to Vang's six children. Fellow yes-voter Artika Roller added, "The applicant stated the need for clemency related to immigration issues."

With that rock-solid recommendation in hand, the Minnesota Board of Pardons, featuring such legal luminaries as Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, granted Vang a complete pardon on June 10. This wiped his record clean just in time to save him from deportation.

At the time, Homeland Security Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis called it like it was: "Governor Tim Walz's decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting. These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his Minnesota sanctuary politicians are protecting," she said.

Vang had entered the United States through California in 1994 and received legal status under the Clinton administration. Between 2002 and 2004, while aged 18 to 20, he had sexual intercourse with the victim four to six times in St. Paul. The first assault occurred when she was in fourth grade.

Documents show the victim "did not understand what Vang was doing, so she let him." Later she told friends, who described her as "angry and sad." Vang once offered her $10 to stay quiet.

Ramsey County Assistant Attorney Tami McConkey strongly opposed the pardon. She pointed out aggravating factors such as the extended abuse, Vang driving the girl to his home for more assaults, and his failure to use protection. She also noted that Vang had told police, "I made a mistake, but this is a minor thing. It is a cultural thing in Thailand to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12." He further suggested the victim should be arrested too because she was equally at fault.

McConkey observed that "while Mr. Vang expresses shame and regret about what his children experience when then [sic] learn of the offense, he does not share any thoughts or insight about what the victim must have gone through."

Yet several commissioners highlighted that the victim supposedly supported the pardon. Commissioner Nadine Graves wrote, "The victim supports this pardon. His [Vang’s] wife stayed and has forgiven. He also [has] immigration concerns. He has remorse and was discharged from probation."

Graves added that Vang "retracted his prior statement about this being a result of culture. He admits this was wrong then and will always be wrong." Commissioner Perry Moriearty praised "substantial evidence of rehabilitation, remorse and acceptance of responsibility" while noting Vang "is facing deportation" and "victim supports."

In his own pardon application, Vang wrote, "I carry deep shame and regret for the harm I caused." He fretted that deportation would send him "to a place entirely unfamiliar to me, with no family, no home, and no future."Vang added, "My fear is that, if deported, my children will grow up without a father, like I did" and "I will do all that I can to be here and to protect them from the outcomes of my deportation."

Thankfully, the Trump administration was not interested in Walz's compassionate approach to foreign child rapists. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday that he had terminated Vang's legal status and removed him to Laos.

Rubio told Fox News Digital, "Americans should never have to live in fear that foreign sex predators — shielded from deportation by their own elected officials — could endanger them or their children. That's why I terminated his legal status in the United States," he continued. "Vang has now been removed from our country and will never pose a threat to any American ever again."

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Dershowitz Drops Red-Pilled Reality Check: Mamdani Should Be 'Tehran's Mayor,' Jews Who Voted for Him Are 'Idiots,'

Mamdani should be 'Tehran's mayor,' Jews who voted for him are 'idiots,' says Dershowitz

“My people, the idiot Jews, in New York, who live on the Upper West Side, who live in Park Slope, who voted for Mamdani, remind me of the 7,000 Jews who voted for Hitler," Dershowitz continued.

Jews who voted for NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani are "idiot[s]" for embracing a candidate who runs "contrary to their own identity," Jewish Harvard law professor and attorney Alan Dershowitz said on Wednesday during an appearance on former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani's show.

“That's your city! That's your city, Mayor,” Dershowitz said to Giuliani. “The same city electing Rudy Giuliani and Mamdani to the same office. It is absurd. I mean, Mamdani should be the mayor of Tehran,” he said.

Dershowitz continued, saying, “My people, the idiot Jews, in New York, who live on the Upper West Side, who live in Park Slope, who voted for Mamdani- remind me of the 7,000 Jews who voted for Hitler.”

“Seven thousand Jews formed a party in 1932 and voted for Hitler, thinking he would be good for the economy.” Dershowitz concluded, “Thank God, we have Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, and other Americans who have a lot more sense than many Jewish Americans do.”

This eye-opening chat dropped right after the US Supreme Court ruling against Trump.The two agreed that “nothing woke them up in 1932,” referring to Jews who continued to back Nazi-figures as the war began.

“You’d think they'd learn their lesson,” Dershowitz said, “but no, they vote for Brad Lander.” Brad Lander, an anti-Israel Jewish-American candidate, is the Mamdani-endorsed nominee for New York's 10th congressional district, having defeated incumbent Representative Dan Goldman in last month's primary.Dershowitz and Giuliani further discussed a wide range of issues, including birthright citizenship, transgender athletes in sports, and campaign finance limits.

The conversation comes shortly after the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s Birthright Citizenship executive order, which attempted to end “birthright citizenship,” instead opting to reaffirm “one of the country’s most enduring constitutional principles: that nearly everyone born on US soil is a US citizen.”

Anti-Zionist/anti-Semitic mayor and his signature sht-eating grin

Who Are These Battle-Tested Patriots Anyway?Giuliani, a member of the Republican Party who described himself as the tough-on-crime mayor who reshaped New York and led the city's response to 9/11, has since been permanently disbarred from practicing law for his role in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election on Trump's behalf. You know, the stolen one the media still pretends was fair and square.Dershowitz's own reputation has similarly faced scrutiny in recent years over his professional ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender. Yet the man still fights for truth and Israel while the left throws every smear in the book.

Dershowitz joined Epstein's legal team and helped negotiate the 2008 non-prosecution agreement that allowed Epstein to serve a reduced sentence. He was later named in a since-withdrawn defamation claim by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who alleged in 2015 that Dershowitz had also abused her; Giuffre dropped those allegations against him in 2022, saying she "may have made a mistake."

By 'mistake,' read 'lied.'  

Dershowitz has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged in connection with the case. Of course the usual suspects keep dredging it up whenever he dares speak common sense about radical Islamists running cities and self-hating voters handing them the keys. Classic.

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Iran attacks commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, US strikes back once again

Iran appears determined to test President Donald Trump's patience, and the U.S. military responded accordingly, as in shock and awe, Saturday night.

U.S. Central Command announced that American forces launched a third round of strikes against Iran after accusing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of attacking a commercial vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The latest escalation follows repeated warnings from Washington that attacks on civilian shipping would carry serious consequences.

According to CENTCOM, the IRGC targeted the Cyprus-flagged M/V GFS Galaxy, leaving one civilian crew member missing. The attack also sparked an onboard fire and caused extensive damage to the engine room, forcing the ship to abandon its voyage.

The strikes came as Tehran once again declared the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed after a vessel traveling what Iranian officials described as an "unauthorized route" was hit with a warning shot. That declaration only adds to growing concerns over the security of one of the world's most important maritime trade routes.

CENTCOM noted that Iran had been given another opportunity to comply with the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding after previous attacks on commercial shipping but "has again failed." The military said the latest strikes were designed to further degrade Iran's ability to threaten civilian mariners and disrupt international commerce.

The operation was carried out at the direction of President Trump, whose administration has made clear that freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz is not open for negotiation. U.S. officials continue to monitor Iran's response while maintaining an elevated military posture throughout the Middle East.

At this stage, the administration appears to be following a familiar strategy: respond with force when Iran escalates, while leaving the door open for Tehran to reverse course. Whether Iran's leadership chooses deterrence over further confrontation remains the question.

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Iran's "New" Supreme Leader, Who Is Definitely Alive And Not Just A Voice-Over From A Bunker, Vows Revenge In Unhinged Social Media Meltdown

TEHRAN - In what Iranian state media is calling a "powerful display of leadership from our vibrant new Supreme Leader," Mojtaba Khamenei took to X on Saturday morning to furiously demand payback for his father's demise, all while experts quietly wonder if the guy has been room temperature since last Tuesday.

"We pledge to avenge your pure blood and the blood of all the martyrs of these two [recent] wars by taking revenge against the criminal, disgraceful murderers. This vengeance is what our nation is demanding, and this must definitely be done," Khamenei wrote, or at least someone with access to his account wrote while the actual Mojtaba was presumably busy decomposing.

The 86-year-old Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei met his end on February 28 in joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes that turned his compound into a very expensive parking lot. His gay son, now supposedly in charge, followed up with another gem. "The criminal, disgraceful murderers of the martyred Leader, whose names are fully documented from the highest to the lowest ranks, will carry their dream of a peaceful death in bed to the grave," the new supreme leader allegedly added in his social media screed.

Iran rolled out the official funeral pageant for Ali Khamenei last week, with state media breathlessly claiming that more than 40 million people showed up to weep [by pulling out their nose hairs], wail, and pretend this was all very organic.

Mojtaba, or his social media intern, made sure to thank the crowd. "I extend my heartfelt gratitude for the incredible, enemy-shattering, and historic turnout of tens of millions of people across Iran and Iraq," he wrote. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is playing a lively game of "Is Mojtaba Even Breathing?"

Mojtaba while he was clearly alive along with his "adoring followers"

Western intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they do not want to get vaporized by a regime that may or may not still have a functioning head of state, described the new ayatollah as "looking remarkably still these days" and "possibly enjoying a very long nap."

Global oil demand in 2026 is set to decrease for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, due largely to impacts from the Iran war, but U.S. demand continues to increase, according to an International Energy Agency (IEA) report published Friday. While global production fell by an average of one million barrels per day (mb/d), U.S. consumers actually gobbled up more oil, increasing usage in the second quarter of 2026, according to the report.

Despite gas prices surging 50% since May, U.S. consumers bucked global trends to keep buying. “Even though it’s a really political price that people pay a lot of attention to, if you are in the higher quintiles of income in the U.S., you might grumble about it, but you’re not really driving less just because of that increase in prices,” Daniel Sternoff, senior fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, told the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, back in Tehran, the mullahs are reportedly still arguing over whether to prop Mojtaba up with wires like a weekend at Bernie's sequel or just admit the whole supreme leadership thing is now being run by a WhatsApp group.

Either way, the revenge plot thickens. Or at least the Twitter account does.

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Marco Rubio Cleans Up Tim Walz's Latest Gift to Criminal Illegal Aliens

If there were an award for making ICE's job as difficult as possible, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz would have to clear some shelf space for the awards he received as a fan dancer.

The governor who never seems to meet an illegal alien he doesn't want to protect found himself at the center of another stunning controversy after helping pardon a convicted child rapist just before he was set to be deported. Fortunately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stepped in and did what Walz apparently would not, make sure the predator was sent packing.

In an exclusive report, Fox News Digital said that Rubio revoked the legal status of Tue Lue Vang, an illegal alien scumbag from Laos whose clemency from Walz and Minnesota's Board of Pardons threatened to derail his removal from the United States.

"Just weeks ago, a foreign child rapist was freed to once again endanger America's children after receiving a pardon from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz," Rubio said. "Tue Lue Vang admitted to committing heinous crimes against a 10-year-old girl in Minnesota. He attempted to pay his victim for her silence and dismissed his acts of child abuse as a 'minor thing.'"

That is the man Walz's pardon board decided deserved another chance. But another chance at what? Hunting for another innocent child to brutally assault? And this governor has a daughter of his own, so he obviously is incapable of having empathy for the child's parents, much less the child.

According to court records, Vang was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct after repeatedly raping a 10-year-old girl between 2002 and 2004. Following his arrest, he reportedly told investigators that "it is a cultural thing... to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12."

It's also a cultural thing for child rapists to be 'taken out' in American prisons.

Apparently, somewhere inside Minnesota's ever expanding progressive compassion manual, someone forgot to include a chapter titled "Don't pardon convicted child rapists."

Rubio continued his criticism of Walz's disgusting decision.

"Just days before he was scheduled to be deported, the Minnesota Governor pardoned him, setting him free to endanger American families once again," Rubio lamented.

Instead of accepting that outcome, Rubio took action.

"Americans should never have to live in fear that foreign sex predators shielded from deportation by their own elected officials could endanger them or their children."

"That's why I terminated his legal status in the United States," he continued. "Vang has now been removed from our country and will never pose a threat to any American ever again."

Let him get his culture on in Laos.

That statement sounds remarkably like what government is supposed to do.

Walz's anal retentive face

The pardon itself was not Walz acting alone. Minnesota's Board of Pardons, made up of Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, approved the clemency on June 10 after receiving a recommendation from the nine member Minnesota Clemency Review Commission.

The commission even congratulated Vang in writing.

"Being granted a pardon is a notable achievement and a reflection of the work you have done since your conviction," a CRC member said in a letter to Vang informing him of his clemency.

One has to wonder what exactly qualifies as a "notable achievement" these days. Evidently, in Minnesota's political class, serving time for repeatedly raping a child and avoiding deportation earns a congratulatory letter instead of a one way ticket home.

The Department of Homeland Security certainly was not impressed.

"Governor Tim Walz's decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting," DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said. "These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his Minnesota sanctuary politicians are protecting."

The Democrats would vote for Hitler if he ran against a Republican.

Rubio ultimately ensured that Walz's pardon would not become a permanent shield against immigration enforcement. Vang has now been deported and barred from returning to the United States.

The episode also was not an isolated incident. In May, Walz and the same pardon board granted clemency to another illegal alien from Laos, this one a convicted armed robber, just before he too faced deportation.

Minnesota voters may eventually have to decide whether their governor's version of "mercy" is really just another word for putting criminals ahead of the safety of law abiding Americans, all for the sake of politics.

Thank you for following Brain Flushings. Please take time to simply check out the sponsors on this page--it's one way to support my work and you don't need to purchase anything to do so. Of course, you can Buy Me A Coffee if you want to support me directly. And finally, don't be afraid to subscribe if you enjoy the blog--it's free, and worth the cost.

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