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Friday Afternoon News Update: Chaos in Iran, Courts, Congress, and More – 6/5/26It's been quite the Friday
Hi all, Ben here. We finally made it to Friday! Let me get you caught up on everything we’re tracking before you head into the weekend. First, thank yous are in order. The MeidasTouch Network has officially surpassed 10 MILLION views on YouTube alone. And that's not all: the MeidasTouch Podcast is once again the #1 podcast on the YouTube Podcast Charts. We are so grateful for your support and never take it for granted. Not for one second. Thank you. Ok, now to the top stories we are tracking today: Top Stories Today:
Before I go any further, if you haven’t yet joined as a paid subscriber, consider doing so now by clicking here to support our work. This is how we grow. And if you’re already a Meidas+ paid Substack subscriber, thank you for supporting pro-democracy media. We’re making this update free for everyone to read. The Iran Situation Is Going Nowhere FastIran has declared negotiations with the United States completely dead. They say every messaging channel has been severed. Iran says talks were already fully deadlocked because the U.S. refused to release $24 billion in frozen funds without demanding nuclear concessions in return. Iran also pushed back on a report from Al Arabiya claiming it had agreed to transfer enriched uranium to a third country, calling it flat-out incorrect and saying nuclear discussions are not even on the current negotiation agenda. This is where we are. And it’s getting harder by the day to track what’s actually happening militarily because CENTCOM has become completely unreliable. The posturing on both sides, quite frankly, makes it extra difficult to know what is actually going on at any time. But that’s why we take a look at the hard data, independent reporting, and do our best to cut through the noise to bring you what is really going on. Iran’s Navy is now claiming it fired warning shots, Qadir missiles and Shahid Danaye drones, at two U.S. destroyers in the Sea of Oman, and that both warships retreated toward the Indian Ocean. Iran also claims the USS Tripoli amphibious assault ship was forced to leave the area, with a warning that longer-range missiles will be used if U.S. ships return. CENTCOM’s response was a flat denial, stating via X that Iranian forces did not attack or fire at U.S. Navy warships and that doing so would constitute a gross ceasefire violation. Here’s my problem with that: we have video from Iran’s Navy showing where the shots and drones were fired in the direction of the U.S. destroyers. Maybe they weren’t direct hits. Maybe they were warning shots exactly as Iran described. But CENTCOM just saying “false, didn’t happen,” when we watched something similar play out with the Kuwait strikes earlier this week, is not credible anymore. Remember when CENTCOM said Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Kuwait caused no damage, that every drone and ballistic missile had been intercepted, and then we saw the footage of both the Kuwaiti airport and the U.S. air base there having been directly hit? This is a pattern now. The politicization of our military command is genuinely dangerous. Speaking of things CENTCOM probably didn’t intend to reveal: they released what they called a photo from an “undisclosed location in the CENTCOM area of responsibility” showing a Michigan Air National Guard F-16 being refueled mid-air at night. The only problem is Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah is clearly visible in the background. So much for undisclosed. Our planes are just... loitering over the UAE apparently, which I’m sure the Gulf states appreciate. There’s also a significant report that deserves more attention: the main U.S. air war command center in the region, the Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, was directly hit by Iranian missiles early in the conflict and severely damaged, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. A secondary facility in South Carolina had to be activated to fill the gap. This is not a small thing, and it largely hasn’t been covered with the prominence it deserves. And then there’s the JD Vance situation. Israeli intelligence sources, reported by the Jerusalem Post, are accusing Vance of leaking a Mossad plan to deploy Kurdish forces against Iran directly to Turkish President Erdogan. Erdogan, whose red line is any Kurdish military presence near Turkey’s borders, then lobbied Trump to kill the operation — and Trump vetoed it. Vance’s press secretary denied the report, calling it categorically false. But this accusation is coming from Israeli intelligence sources. That feels notable. Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov also weighed in today. Lavrov argued the U.S. attack on Iran was designed to prevent the normalization of Arab-Iranian relations, called the framing that Iran “must” open the Strait of Hormuz absurd given that it was open without incident until February 28th, and warned that the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei — who had maintained a fatwa against building nuclear weapons — may ultimately push Iran’s leadership toward reconsidering that position. He’s not wrong that the fatwa was real and that Khamenei enforced it. The consequences of this war are going to extend far beyond what the Trump administration appears to have gamed out. A Golden Age for Who, Exactly?The May jobs report came out this morning — 172,000 jobs added, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics (after Trump ousted previous leadership for reporting jobs numbers he didn’t like) and unemployment holding at 4.3%. Then Trump went on Truth Social to whine that stocks should be going up, not down, on the news. His National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett went on Fox News to explain that Wall Street “just doesn’t understand” that the Trump economy is creating a golden age. Hassett then went on C-SPAN and was asked a simple question: has China started buying American farmers’ products, as the administration promised? His answer: “Um, I’d have to get an update on that.” On gas prices, now in month four of being elevated, Hassett called it a serious issue but assured everyone the pain would be “temporary.” We are nearly 100 days in. At what point does “temporary” become something else? And then there’s the Strait of Hormuz. Hassett’s solution, offered on CNBC while WTI crude sat at $91.95, was essentially: even if the Strait stays closed forever, we’ll build some pipelines into the Red Sea. The New York Times headlines on today’s economic numbers, in my opinion, show how public perceptions can be easily skewed by corporate media. When Biden’s economy added 266,000 jobs in May 2021, the Times headline read “Job Growth Slowed in April, Muddling Expectations.” Today, for 172,000 jobs, a smaller number, the headline reads “172,000 Jobs Added in May as U.S. Labor Market Upswing Continues,” with the subheader touting “vigorous, strong” signs for the economy. The double standard is not subtle. Meanwhile, forecasters are now projecting the U.S. will hit the $41 trillion debt ceiling as soon as late winter. Treasury could use extraordinary measures to delay default for a few months after that, but the clock is running.
The DOJ Just Argued It Can Demolish the Statue of LibertyIn an appeals court argument over the White House ballroom construction, Trump’s DOJ argued that the federal government has the right to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty, and that once the demolition is complete, no court would have standing to stop it or remedy it. Judge Millett asked the DOJ directly: if the government moves fast enough to destroy the Statue of Liberty before anyone can get an injunction, the people whose ancestors saw it as their first glimpse of America — nothing can be done? The DOJ’s answer: “I think that’s right, yes.” They also argued the ballroom construction cannot be stopped by courts even if the administration openly violated the law to build it, because it’s too far along now and only Congress can intervene. And while this argument was happening in court, Trump posted a selfie video of himself golfing. Essentially, their argument is that if they break something quick enough, nothing can be done to stop them. Let’s see what the courts think about that. Senate Jams Through Reconciliation In the Dead of NightSenate Republicans passed their $70 billion reconciliation bill funding ICE and Customs and Border Protection in a 52-47 vote after an all-night vote-a-rama. Senator Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to vote no. The bill contains no limits on Trump’s “weaponization fund.” Every amendment to restrict it failed. The House takes it up next week. On a different note, the House did pass the bipartisan Ukraine Support Act, 226-195, providing $8 billion in military financing loans, an additional $1 billion in security assistance, and major new sanctions on Russia. Eighteen Republicans broke with Speaker Mike Johnson, who had privately urged his conference to vote no, to get it across the line. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister called it an important step forward. However, the Senate is not expected to take it up, and Trump would likely veto it anyway. Wouldn’t want to upset his buddy Vlad. Courts Push Back on Immigration OverreachA federal judge in Rhode Island issued a 135-page ruling striking down a sweeping set of Trump immigration policies, finding that they had placed immigrants in what he called “indeterminate legal limbo” driven by anti-immigrant sentiment the government is legally forbidden from acting on. Judge John J. McConnell Jr. found that USCIS had imposed an indefinite pause on immigration benefit processing for nationals of 39 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East — blocking asylum applications, work permits, green cards, and citizenship petitions. The freeze was put in place following the November shooting of two National Guard members in Washington by an Afghan national. Over six months later, the judge found, many of the affected individuals still have no work authorization, no legal status, and no ability to make any plans for their lives. Good News! NYC Sets a RecordHere’s a piece of genuinely good news. New York City has recorded its fewest murders and shootings in the first five months of any year in the city’s recorded history, under Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Lots of people tried to downplay the lower crime numbers by saying the cold weather in the earlier months of the year was to thank. Can’t make that excuse anymore! Albania Is on Fire Over the Ivanka-Kushner ProjectProtests have now entered yet another night in Albania over Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s luxury resort project on protected land. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama went on camera to dismiss the demonstrations as a “hybrid war against Albania” and to wave off suggestions that the project has anything to do with Netanyahu or with relocating Palestinians. Whether you believe him or not, the protests are real, they’re growing, and they represent exactly the kind of global backlash that Trump’s brand of corruption inspires wherever it touches down. That’s it for now. Check back later for more. Thanks again for all your support, and remember to add the MeidasTouch Podcast on your favorite audio platforms. It really helps (and it’s free)! Invite your friends and earn rewardsIf you enjoy Meidas+, share it with your friends and earn rewards when they subscribe. |
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