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Big business pulls back from LGBTQ corporate rankings in dramatic one-year slide
The nation’s biggest companies are increasingly stepping back from publicly sharing their diversity, equity and inclusion policies, marking a sharp break from recent years.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2026 Corporate Equality Index, released in February, found a 65% drop in Fortune 500 participation, with 131 companies submitting information for evaluation this year, down from 377 in 2025.
Dustin DeVito, head of research at the conservative watchdog 1792 Exchange, called the decline "shocking," in an interview with Fox News Digital.
He said this year was the first time that Fortune 500 CEI corporate participation has "plummeted" by double digits, after he said it plateaued in 2025.
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"But this year, it's totally fallen apart," DeVito said.
HRC says the drop in submissions does not necessarily mean companies are abandoning workplace inclusion policies altogether.
"Instead, the decline in submissions reflects a shift in how employers are approaching transparency in the current environment," the report says. HRC also said policy implementation among companies that did participate was "sustained or increased" across the criteria measured from 2025 to 2026.
The report says 534 companies earned a perfect score for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion policies in this year’s index.
DeVito questioned the group’s transparency, noting that HRC did not identify the companies that received perfect scores in the body of this year’s report or list individuals serving on the HRC Business Advisory Council, as it had done in past reports.
He also said the report no longer shows the same level of detail on company profiles about the policies companies submitted for review, which he argued shields companies from scrutiny.
"They’re upset that companies are not being transparent, yet they’re also contributing to the lack of transparency," DeVito said.
He pointed to the Cracker Barrel rebrand controversy last August as an example of how consumer backlash to DEI policies has hurt major companies in recent years. He noted that during that time, the company faced more scrutiny after news broke that a former executive at Cracker Barrel went on to serve on the HRC Business Advisory Council.
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1792 Exchange, which tracks corporate activism and advocates for more politically neutral business practices, says that despite the decline in participation, some underlying DEI workplace policies have remained in place.
The group noted that this year's index shows 72% of Fortune 500 companies offer transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits. DeVito said this year’s CEI also expanded certain transgender-care coverage requirements for companies seeking a perfect score.
Even so, many corporations have moved away from DEI language in public communications in recent years. Gravity Research reported in November that "the term ‘DEI’ fell 98% across Fortune 100 communications." The report analyzed more than 1,000 corporate documents from January 2023 to May 2025.
That shift has unfolded as the Trump administration has cracked down on DEI programs in the private sector. In January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to "end illegal DEI discrimination and preferences" while directing federal agencies to take steps to encourage private sector companies to end illicit DEI policies through regulatory actions, investigations, litigation or other means.
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Several companies, including Starbucks, Nike and JPMorgan Chase, have also faced lawsuits alleging their DEI hiring practices are discriminatory.
According to 1792, at least 26 companies have publicly retreated from participating in the Corporate Equality Index, including Tractor Supply Company, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, Nissan, Walmart, McDonald’s and Target.
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HRC President Kelley Robinson said in the report that while it remains illegal to discriminate against LGBTQ+ workers, she noted in the group's report that "pressure from the federal government has been unprecedented, rolling back protections, publishing executive orders and threatening investigations for diversity and inclusion work."
"It's in this context that some companies have pulled back from this work," she added.
The Human Rights Campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Fox Business' Eric Revell, Elizabeth Heckman and Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.
Sarah Ferguson’s 'fall from grace' deepens as York strips title under Epstein-linked scrutiny
Sarah Ferguson’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein are casting a longer shadow over her public legacy, as the City of York moved swiftly to strip the Duchess of York of a ceremonial honor in a rare, unanimous vote.
Ferguson's honorary Freedom of the City of York was stripped by the city's council in a unanimous vote on Thursday, the BBC reported. The move comes after Ferguson's friendship with Jeffrey Epstein was exposed in investigative files released by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Royal experts claimed the removal, although mostly ceremonial, cemented a dramatic shift in how Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's former wife is viewed by the British. Once known for her charisma and public appeal, Ferguson's past associations with Epstein are now overshadowing decades of public service.
"While not unprecedented, stripping royal titles is rare," Helena Chard told Fox News Digital. "Andrew was the first person to have the Freedom of the City of York revoked, making this a significant move. It is largely a ceremonial honour and will not change Andrew and Sarah's lives. However, it highlights their fall from grace, their reputational damage, diminished status and, considering they were the former Duke and Duchess of York, the removal of the titles is a big deal. It certainly highlights that actions have consequences."
The City Council's debate over whether to remove Ferguson's honorary title was "shockingly brief," according to one royal expert. Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital the whole ordeal "actually took less than 10 minutes" and is "totally unheard of."
"They all wanted to ‘draw a line’ to protect the city’s reputation," she added.
The Freedom of the City in Britain is largely symbolic rather than a serious appointment, but it still amounts to "another slap in the face" for Ferguson, Ian Pelham Turner told Fox News Digital. The royal expert claimed Ferguson is "so traumatized by the derogatory events recently" that the vote is unlikely to have much impact on her.
Fordwich explained that the council acted on behalf of the public, calling the move the "most damning condemnation."
"Needless to say, no one is speaking up on behalf of the disgraced former York couple nor Sarah Ferguson," she said. "No one is stepping up with any objection to this move nor to redeem them, as they are too entwined with the revolting Epstein scandal. This is York making a totally clean break from the despicable couple."
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Meanwhile, King Charles and Prince William seem focused on protecting the monarchy as this all plays out.
"They've stripped Andrew of his titles and are distancing the royal family from controversy, indicating a strategic approach, focusing on a more streamlined and controversy-free image," Chard said.
William was "totally right" to oust the couple from royal life, Fordwich added.
"His focus has always been preservation of the monarchy," she added. "There will be no further public contact with the former York couple."
Other cities or organizations could take cues from York and reconsider their ties to former Prince Andrew and Ferguson, as recent developments unfold and the royal family continues working to separate itself from controversy.
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Neither former Prince Andrew nor Ferguson have a future within the monarchy, according to Richard Fitzwilliam. The royal expert predicted a bleak path forward for Mountbatten-Windsor but noted Ferguson could get away with writing a memoir.
"He has had no popular support for years," Fitzwilliam told Fox News Digital. "He was, as the world knows from that ghastly photograph taken in the back of the car, recently arrested for misconduct in public office and several police forces are reportedly investigating further. There is pressure on their daughters Beatrice and Eugenie too."
"The monarchy faces a serious crisis. It can't respond easily as the Epstein files are released in a haphazard way," he added. "The Palace is therefore perpetually on the back foot and if it ends up in court, it would be a cause célèbre."
Fox News Digital has reached out to Ferguson's reps for comment.
Russia allegedly sharing satellite intelligence on US bases with Iran, world leader claims
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russian reconnaissance satellites have recently imaged key U.S. and allied military facilities across the Middle East, raising concerns about potential targeting, after returning from a high-stakes trip to Gulf countries now under Iranian attack.
Zelenskyy’s remarks come as Ukraine deepens its role in the region, sharing intelligence and defense expertise with Middle Eastern partners facing Iranian missile and drone strikes.
In a March 28 post on X, Zelenskyy said he had been briefed that Russian satellites photographed multiple strategic sites "in the interests of Iran," including bases and critical energy infrastructure across the Gulf.
"Everyone knows that repeated reconnaissance indicates preparations for strikes," he wrote.
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According to Zelenskyy, the surveillance occurred over several days in late March. On March 24, Russian satellites reportedly captured imagery of the U.S.-U.K. military facility on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. The following days included Kuwait International Airport and parts of the Greater Burgan oil field, as well as Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
Additional sites imaged on March 26 included Saudi Arabia’s Shaybah oil and gas field, Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base, and Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, one of the largest U.S. military installations in the region.
Some of the locations identified by Zelenskyy, including places in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, have been targeted in recent Iranian attacks, though it remains unclear whether the satellite imagery he described was directly used in those operations.
The warning follows Zelenskyy’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan, where he discussed security cooperation and shared intelligence with regional leaders.
In an interview published Monday by Axios, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had provided Middle Eastern partners with information about Russian support for Iran, including potential targeting assistance.
"I think Russia is supporting Iran directly, 100%," Zelenskyy told Axios. "The same format of sharing satellite images like they did in the case of Ukraine."
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Ksenia Svetlova, an associate fellow at Chatham House, said recent developments point to increased cooperation in that space. "There is more cooperation in everything that has to do with intelligence," she said, citing reports that Russia has provided Iran with "a target list, basically, through their satellites, American targets, but also air targets in the Gulf."
Svetlova added that such support enables Russia to assist Iran without deploying troops or equipment.
"They are doing for the Iranians whatever they can without spending money, spending troops, or spending equipment," she said.
The White House has not confirmed the intelligence-sharing but said it is not impacting U.S. operations.
"Nothing provided to Iran by any other country is affecting our operational success. The United States military has struck more than 11,000 targets and destroyed more than 150 Iranian naval vessels, leading to their missile attacks and drone attacks decreasing by 90%. The terrorist Iranian regime continues to be crushed by the full might of the most lethal fighting force in the world," White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told Fox News Digital.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also downplayed concerns about Russia’s role, telling reporters Friday: "There is nothing Russia is doing for Iran that is in any way impeding or affecting our operation or the effectiveness of it."
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Lt. Gen. Richard Newton (Ret.), a former U.S. Air Force assistant vice chief of staff, said the reports should not come as a surprise.
"The latest reports that Russia provided essential imaging intelligence to the Iranian regime to target a U.S. air base in Saudi Arabia should surprise no one. Putin is our adversary who can't be trusted."
"We should avoid a direct conflict with Moscow," he added, "but there must be consequences for Russia aiding and abetting the Iranian regime that harms American military personnel and our assets.
Russia has not publicly responded to Zelenskyy’s claims. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Russian government and the Iranian mission to the United Nations for comment and did not receive responses in time for publication.
Carrie Filipetti, executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition and a former senior State Department official, told Fox News Digital the reports reflect a broader and growing threat.
"There is no clearer signal that Russia is a dangerous adversary than the continued reporting that Russia is providing intelligence targeting Americans to a regime currently engaged in combat against the United States," Filipetti said.
"American service members' lives are at continued risk because of Putin's war machine," she added, warning that Washington must act to "hold the Russian regime accountable and prevent future American deaths."
Zelenskyy has also questioned ongoing discussions about easing sanctions on Russia.
"There must be pressure on the aggressor. And lifting sanctions is certainly not pressure," he wrote.
WATCH IT: Speaker Johnson hears from Uber driver on ‘no tax on tips’ benefit: ‘big difference’
Ahead of Tax Day, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is spotlighting a new tax break enacted by Republicans last year that is boosting millions of Americans' take-home pay.
Bob Mitchell, an Uber driver from South Florida, recently gave Johnson a first-hand account detailing how the "no tax on tips" deduction allowed him to claim a 20% larger refund compared to last year, according to a video obtained by Fox News Digital.
"I usually get a very nice return. And I was shocked. Even my accountant was shocked," Mitchell told Johnson after delivering an Uber Eats order to his office.
"This is going to make a big difference," he continued, adding that the new deduction put more money in his pocket to manage expenses such as his children’s tuition.
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Mitchell is one of more than 3.5 million Americans that have claimed the "no tax on tips" deduction so far this year, according to data released by the Treasury Department.
The new deduction was among a flurry of tax benefits enacted by President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July 2025. Every Democratic lawmaker voted against the measure, citing the legislation’s reforms to Medicaid and food assistance programs.
Republicans notably made the tax break retroactive, allowing tipped workers to claim the deduction for the 2025 calendar year.
Under the legislation, individuals who receive qualified tips can deduct up to $25,000 annually through 2028. The deduction gradually phases out for individuals making over $150,000 and married couples earning more than $300,000.
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In the video, Johnson called the "no tax on tips" deduction one of the "greatest achievements" of Trump’s second term so far.
"We wrote the working families tax cuts for lower- and middle-class earners; that’s where I come from, those are our people," the speaker said. "And it’s going to benefit those folks."
It's stories like Mitchell’s that Republicans hope will put a human face on their tax relief efforts ahead of November's midterm elections.
President Trump first floated a tax break for tipped workers while on the campaign trail in 2024.
Republicans are also highlighting new tax breaks for overtime pay and seniors as part of their messaging on the economy.
Roughly 45% of tax filers have claimed at least one deduction passed by Republicans through their 2025 tax and spending cut law, according to the Treasury Department.
Despite the "no tax on tips" deduction’s popularity, various Democratic-led states have declined to implement the tax code change, citing impacts on revenue. Republicans passed legislation in February overruling a D.C. City Council ordinance that would have blocked new tax breaks for tipped workers and those working overtime from going into effect.
Republicans’ tax messaging push comes as the party faces headwinds over the economy and inflation, though recent polling shows that Americans still favor the GOP over Democrats on those issues.
Three-quarters of voters say the economy is in bad shape, according to a Fox News poll released in March. The same survey also found that 71% of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of inflation.
Supreme Court could end the radical transgender agenda in our schools
Early in March, the United States Supreme Court in Mirabelli v. Bonta dramatically shifted the balance of power between the ideologically driven bureaucrats running America's public schools and the parents and students they are to serve. The court was unmistakably clear — as it was last year in Mahmoud v. Taylor — parents possess the fundamental right to raise and educate their children. Period. Schools should not facilitate a student's "gender transition" without parental notification and consent.
Just days after Mirabelli, the left-leaning Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously held in Anderson v. Crouch that West Virginia's decision to exclude sex-change surgeries from Medicaid coverage did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Relying on the Supreme Court's landmark 2025 decision in United States v. Skrmetti, the Fourth Circuit found West Virginia's Medicaid program did not discriminate on the basis of sex but was a medical-based policy applied equally to both sexes seeking certain treatments for gender dysphoria.
The court further held that Medicaid did not discriminate on the basis of a person's claimed transgender status: a person — even one claiming to be transgender — could still receive coverage for a hysterectomy to treat uterine cancer, but not for the same procedure to treat gender dysphoria.
The ruling in Anderson is monumental. Unlike Skrmetti, which addressed only bans on medical treatments for gender dysphoria in children, Anderson applies to adults, as well. This decision is also a harbinger of the inevitable collapse of the destructive, ideological regime in public education that forces women to share bathrooms, locker rooms and athletic competitions with men.
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After all, policies mandating that intimate spaces and sports be separated on the basis of biological sex apply equally to both sexes — precisely the logic the Fourth Circuit endorsed in upholding West Virginia's Medicaid exclusion.
These policies do not single out individuals who claim to be transgender. No student, regardless of motivation, should use a locker room, bathroom or play on a sports team designated for the opposite sex. A boy who seeks access to the girls' bathroom because he fears bullying is subject to the same rule as a boy who wants to use the girls’ room because he believes he is a girl.
To be sure, common-sense policies dictate separate bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams for males and females, just as West Virginia's Medicaid restriction in Anderson is based on sound medical policy that states have a legitimate evidence-based interest in controlling Medicaid costs and ensuring medical necessity that is not driven by sex discrimination.
Also telling is the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision less than one year ago in Roe v. Critchfield. That appellate court, hardly a bastion of judicial conservatism, — held that Idaho's law requiring students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their biological sex violated neither the Equal Protection Clause nor Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.
These important decisions have not been issued in a vacuum. Before the end of June, the Supreme Court will hand down its decision in West Virginia v. BPJ, which squarely presents the question of whether a state violates the Equal Protection Clause or Title IX by separating sports teams on the basis of sex.
The smart money says the court will answer in the negative and may well signal, directly or indirectly, that restrooms and locker rooms can likewise be separated on that basis. Such a ruling would be more than welcome, as it would empower states to pass legislation protecting women's sports and private spaces without the perpetual threat of litigation from the ACLU and allied advocacy organizations.
Nevertheless, a favorable Supreme Court decision, while a major blow to the transgender agenda in public schools, may not end the war for common sense. Instead, solidly blue states will likely continue to impose policies that eviscerate student privacy and safety, even though they can no longer credibly claim that federal law compels them to do so.
Indeed, parents and students will continue to see situations like the one in New Richmond, Wisconsin, where school administrators told girls that if they were uncomfortable sharing a bathroom or locker room with a member of the opposite sex, the girls should be the ones to find a private alternative.
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Fortunately, the Trump administration has taken enforcement action against school districts across the country — including New Richmond and several districts in Northern Virginia — on the grounds that their policies constitute sex discrimination under Title IX.
But federal enforcement alone will not be enough to end this state of affairs once and for all. Students and their families must seize the changing legal landscape and apply maximum pressure. Students and parents must be ever vigilant, challenge school policies, and be willing to take school districts to court for violating sex-based rights guaranteed to students by the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX.
Parents hold the cherished right to parent their children, and children don’t surrender their rights when they walk through the school doors. The time to win this fight is now, and the opportunity has never been greater.
Destroy the regime’s power without occupying Iran: A smarter war plan
The U.S.-Iran war has been underway for a month now. It is increasingly difficult to distinguish real strategic and military expertise from politicized opinion, speculation and narrative. Too many people jump immediately from where we are today to a full-scale ground invasion. They assume the only option is for U.S. forces to seize Tehran, secure nuclear material by force, destroy a supposed million-man army and then get pulled into another decades-long nation-building effort or fight a Maoist-style insurgency. That is not analysis. That is shallow thinking rooted in outdated and often biased mental models of war.
President Trump has signaled a 10-day pause on strikes against Iran’s energy infrastructure, now extended to April 6. We are days into that timeline. But the real question is not what has been done. The real question is what options remain.
It is a given that CENTCOM and Israel will continue systematic attacks on Iran’s military system. Iran entered this war with thousands of ballistic missiles, hundreds of launchers, a dispersed drone enterprise, a layered naval capability in the Gulf, remnants of a nuclear enrichment program and a military industrial base built for redundancy and survivability. That system is being destroyed. But it is not yet eliminated.
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At the same time, Israel is targeting something far more important than just military capability. It is targeting the regime’s ability to rule once the bombs stop falling. That means hunting and eliminating political and military leadership. It means degrading the Basij, the regime’s internal enforcement arm. It means targeting checkpoints, intelligence nodes and internal security infrastructure.
This is not just tactical action. This is strategic pressure applied simultaneously against Iran’s means and its will. Its ability to fight and its ability to govern are being targeted at the same time. That is how you coerce behavior change without occupying a capital.
It is important to anchor any discussion in the stated strategic objectives. As articulated by senior U.S. leaders, the objectives of Operation Epic Fury are: destroy Iran’s missile arsenal and its ability to produce more, dismantle its navy and its ability to threaten global shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
While regime change has been mentioned and questions have been raised about whether it would be good or bad, it is not the declared U.S. objective. Behavior change is. The current regime has been given pathways, including diplomatic proposals, to alter its course. That matters because it shapes the options available. This is not about occupying Tehran. It is about paralyzing the regime, destroying its capabilities, and forcing it to accept new terms.
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If the regime collapses under the combined weight of military pressure and its own economic fragility, the United States can still achieve its objectives in a fundamentally different strategic environment. But regime collapse is not required to succeed.
From here, the range of options expands, not contracts.
One option is to strike the regime’s economic center of gravity. Kharg Island handles roughly 85 to 90% of Iran’s oil exports, often between 1.5 and 2 million barrels per day. That oil is the regime’s primary source of hard currency. Seize it, disable it, or destroy export capacity, and you do not just hurt the economy. You paralyze the regime’s ability to fund its military, sustain patronage networks, and maintain internal control.
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This matters because the regime has already shown signs of fragility under economic pressure. The January 2026 protests were driven by inflation, banking instability, and the inability to provide basic services, including severe water shortages affecting millions in Tehran. There were even discussions about relocating the capital due to an inability to provide potable water. The regime responded with mass violence, killing over 32,000 civilians in one of the most brutal crackdowns in its modern history. Therefore, economic pressure is not theoretical. It has already brought the regime close to the edge.
Another option is to target the national power grid. Iran’s electricity system is concentrated around major urban hubs. Precision strikes on key substations and transmission nodes can create cascading outages across entire regions. Tehran goes dark.
The regime would be in immediate trouble without power. Command and control, surveillance, communications and internal security coordination all depend on it. Precision strikes on key substations and transmission nodes can create cascading outages without total destruction of infrastructure. The U.S. has demonstrated that capability in past conflicts.
Cyber operations expand this further. Iran has repeatedly shut down internet access to control its population. That capability can be reversed. Disrupt regime command networks while enabling connectivity for the population through external systems. Information becomes a weapon. Control of narrative, coordination, and awareness shifts away from the regime.
The Strait of Hormuz remains decisive terrain. Roughly 20% of global oil supply, about 20 million barrels per day, flows through it. Iran’s strategy has long been to threaten and manipulate that flow.
One option is to move from deterrence to control. Seize or neutralize key islands. Experts have long identified Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands as critical terrain controlling access to the Strait. Qeshm Island, sitting along the northern edge, hosts IRGC naval facilities, missile systems and surveillance infrastructure. These positions enable Iran’s anti-ship missile coverage, fast attack craft operations and maritime coercion. Controlling or neutralizing these islands would fundamentally alter Iran’s ability to contest the Strait.
Iran has also built a "toll booth" system in the Strait. The IRGC has created a de facto system where ships must be approved, routed through Iranian-influenced lanes, and in some cases pay millions for safe passage. Reports indicate fees reaching up to $2 million per tanker, selective approval based on political alignment and designated transit corridors near Larak Island under regime control.
The United States and Israel have the capability to systematically dismantle this system. Target the leadership directing it. Destroy the coastal radar, ISR nodes and command centers enabling it. Eliminate the fast attack craft, drones and missile batteries enforcing it. Break the system and you break Iran’s ability to turn a global choke point into a regime-controlled revenue and coercion mechanism.
A related option is to interdict Iranian oil exports at sea. Iran exports roughly 1.5 to 2 million barrels per day, much of it through sanctions evasion networks. Stop and divert tankers. Enforce inspections and seizures at scale. This is already happening at a limited level. Scaling it drives regime revenue toward zero. No revenue means no missiles, no proxies, no repression, no functioning state.
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Other options shift inward. Iran’s population is over 85 million, young, urban and repeatedly discontent. Available polling, protest patterns and observable unrest all suggest that well over 50% of the population opposes the regime, and possibly much higher. This is not a solid or stable base of power. The January 2026 protests are a clear signal of that underlying pressure.
Until now, civilians have largely been told to shelter. That could change. Messaging, corridors and psychological operations could begin to separate the population from the regime’s control mechanisms.
That can be paired with support to internal resistance. Air resupply of weapons, communications and intelligence directly to resistance groups that may or may not exist. Iran has multiple internal fault lines, ethnic, political and regional, that have historically produced opposition and unrest. When external pressure aligns with internal resistance, regimes fracture faster, or at least the pressure on the regime increases significantly.
At the same time, strikes can continue expanding beyond traditional military targets. The regime’s control system is a network: leadership, IRGC headquarters, Basij units, police, intelligence services and repression infrastructure. Target those nodes, and you accelerate the erosion of centralized authority.
History shows pressure creates fractures. Military leaders hedge. Intelligence services fracture. Political elites reposition. Defections occur. Working with defectors multiplies effects far beyond what strikes alone can achieve.
There is also much we do not know. We do not have full visibility into where the regime is strongest or weakest. But indicators matter. Reports of attempts to expand mobilization, including lowering recruitment thresholds to as young as 12, suggest stress. That is not the behavior of a confident regime.
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None of these options exist in isolation. They can be combined.
Destroy Iran’s missile arsenal and production capacity. Dismantle its navy. Continue degrading its nuclear program. Deny its ability to project power beyond its borders. At the same time, paralyze decision-making by targeting leadership and command systems. Apply pressure across military, economic, informational, and political domains simultaneously.
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Attack the regime’s means and its will at the same time. Not sequentially. Simultaneously. The objective is to impose multiple dilemmas, more than the regime can handle. Force it into reactive survival. Stretch its decision cycles. Overwhelm its ability to coordinate and control.
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War is not a checklist. It is the alignment of ends, ways, and means under conditions of uncertainty. Options can be sequenced, layered or applied simultaneously.
The United States has not run out of options. It has plenty it has not used, many that no one is talking about or that none of us can fully imagine without access to far more than what exists in the public domain, but could.
Lastly, be careful of analysts who speak in certainties or rely on surface analogies. Iran is not Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq. It is not 1968, 2002, or 2003. The context of each is fundamentally different. The political objectives, from regime behavior change to regime survival, are different. Past wars involved nation building, attempts to create democracy, prolonged fights against insurgencies and enemies who enjoyed sanctuary outside the operating environment. Those are not the same conditions or objectives at play here. The geography, technology, intelligence and regional dynamics are different. The options available today are far broader and more precise against the objectives.
We know a lot about what has been struck. We do not fully know what remains. More importantly, we do not know what decisions will be made next by either side. That uncertainty is not a flaw in analysis. It is the nature of war.
MORNING GLORY: President Trump is on the cusp of a historic achievement
If President Donald Trump oversees the toppling of the ruling regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, his achievements will rank with the greatest of those of any post-World War II president. That’s just an objective fact. If you don’t understand that fact, you haven’t been paying attention for more than 40 years.
So much of the commentary on the battle between the U.S. and Israel against Iran and its proxy terrorist groups has been filtered and refiltered through deeply biased "news outlets" that the public could be excused for losing sight of the main plot line.
That is, simply put: Iran is as evil a regime as exists on the planet and, given that it is run by religious fanatics with a peculiar theology rooted in end-times eschatology and "resistance" up to and especially including martyrdom, it is a uniquely dangerous regime. It cannot be allowed to have weapons of mass destruction or an arsenal of conventional weapons sufficient to deter normal regimes from stopping it from obtaining WMD, especially nuclear weapons.
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Every president since George W. Bush has explicitly stated that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons for the reasons stated above. Whether all the presidents since W meant what they said, they all said it. President Trump said it, too, but he alone had the will to order the American military, in concert with our Israeli ally and now our Gulf allies, to demolish the Iranian nuclear weapons program as well as the forest of missiles built by the mullahs to protect that nuclear weapons program.
In the days since protests against the regime erupted in late December, the fanatics atop Iran have proven to anyone with even an elementary grasp of world affairs that it is a uniquely malevolent regime. Not only did it proceed to begin to rebuild its nuclear weapons program after Operation Midnight Hammer, it accelerated its production of the missile array intended to deter a second such mission.
Not only did Ayatollah Khamenei not get the message from last June’s destructive strikes, he did exactly what an unbalanced fanatic would do: Double down on getting the nukes while at the same time racing to build a missile arsenal to deter a second Midnight Hammer attack. The old and now dead tyrant did exactly the opposite of what a rational ruler atop a rational regime would do after last year’s blows, and he did so while also ordering the murder of tens of thousands of his own citizens in January.
The regime also bared its fangs when, after the U.S. and Israeli began the latest effort to tame the rabid beast of a regime, it responded by firing ballistic missiles wildly at everyone and everything it could reach. With a schoolyard bully’s emotional intelligence, first Ayatollah Khamenei and then his successors — whoever they might be — ordered up actions guaranteeing an all-out effort to destroy the regime’s ability to procure nukes or missiles. It’s so self-destructive a behavior as to qualify as regime suicide. The U.S., Israel and the Gulf allies have thus set about "finishing the job," which means, simply, permanently deterring the Iranian lust for nukes, missiles and terrorists.
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Iran has been pounded for a month now, and it may be another month or two before there is only rubble left to bounce there. Nevertheless, left-wing "journalists" especially insist on seeing this as just another opportunity to try and tear down Trump. The absurdist theater of another round of "No Kings" rallies this past weekend helped everyone watching delineate the world into two camps: the serious and informed versus the unserious, ill-informed or, to put it as simply as possible, dumb-as-dirt folks when it comes to rogue regimes which threaten the here and now, the near term and the long term future of the world.
Iran’s rulers proved themselves to be crazy and fixated on acquiring nuclear weapons. For the people who previously chose not to see the brutality of the regime, the regime helped all but the resolutely blinded to see how evil the regime is. The "Trump Derangement Syndrome"-afflicted people have seen their illness now manifest in the inability to distinguish between the purely evil and existential threat that Iran posed to the entire world from the actions of a popularly elected president who is as unlike an authoritarian as to surrender his favorite weapon for any regime not named Iran — tariffs — to the United Stated Supreme Court. "Kings" do not defer to the authority of an independent judiciary, but of course Trump has, again and again.
The result needed in the war has not yet been achieved. But if President Trump delivers it, only his critics incapable of basic objectivity will deny the significance of his order to take down the regime that has bedeviled the world for almost a half century.
Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show" heard weekday afternoons from 3 PM to 6 PM ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh drives Americans home on the East Coast and to lunch on the West Coast on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6 p..m ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996, where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting. This column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.
'Pioneer Woman' reveals simple omelet trick to cut breakfast prep time as expert raises concerns
You've heard of cooking steaks sous vide, but one beloved chef says a similar method works for eggs — and tried it herself.
Ree Drummond, the Food Network host also known as the "Pioneer Woman," recently cooked an omelet in a plastic bag placed in simmering water.
"I am really excited to try this," Drummond said in a YouTube video posted March 18.
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The celebrity chef began by using a heat-safe plastic bag and preparing the ingredients.
"The good news is I'm not making a huge commitment by just making one omelet in a bag," she said while chopping a tomato. "It's nice to experiment with things like this before you really go whole hog."
After cracking the eggs into a bag, Drummond began to whisk them together with a fork.
"I sure don't want to pierce a hole in the bag," she said in the video. "And then everything just goes in — the peppers, tomatoes, some grated cheese, some thin deli ham."
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During the process, Drummond said, "I gotta tell you, I love it already."
"I love the idea of making a bunch of these the night before," she said. "It would make the cooking process go so much faster than tending to a skillet. All right, here goes nothing. Drop the bag right into simmering water."
After removing the bag from the simmering water, the chef admired the omelet and said she was "so intrigued."
She went on, "I'm gonna set it down and just let it cool off a little bit. It is mighty hot."
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She continued, "My dream is that this thing falls right out of the bag. … Ah, it looks amazing," Drummond added, impressed. "Wow, it's just so moist and perfect. I think it could use just a little garnish."
There were mixed reactions posted in the YouTube comments section.
"Cooking in plastic bags ... eish!" one person wrote.
"Looks super but are the eggs in the middle all the way done?" another questioned.
A third user wrote, "The traditional way is easier, faster and less mess."
Others thought the trick seemed promising.
"My sons learned this in Boy Scouts. We have them pretty often. ... They're good and no mess, or dishes to wash," one mother commented.
Another said, "Love these, been making them for years."
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The egg-cooking method is convenient but imperfect, California food scientist Rachel Zemser said.
It would take a skilled chef or scientist to get the egg consistency "just right," Zemser told Fox News Digital.
"If the temperature is too high, or if the egg is cooked too long, then the egg will become rubbery as the proteins will tighten up and squeeze out all the extra moisture," she said.
The result, Zemser noted, would be a "rubbery egg in the bag."
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"If the temperature is lowered, or cooking time adjusted, this can be perfected to create the ideal textured omelet," she said.
For those who'd like to try it, Zemser suggested cooking the dish sous vide (French for "under vacuum") at 167 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
"That would prevent the proteins from binding up tightly, squeezing out the water and drying out the egg, making it rubbery," she said.
"Adding ingredients like fat or cream can prevent the egg protein matrix from binding up so tight and keep the omelet softer and smoother during the cooking process."
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The eggs wouldn't brown or caramelize, but that might not make a difference depending on tastes, Zemser said.
"No caramelization could be a good or bad thing depending on the consumer," she said. "Some people like some cooked brown notes on their eggs, others do not — so it's a preference thing."
Zemser also cautioned that, while not an expert on microplastics, cooking food in plastic bags may not be for everyone.
"I would imagine that some people may have concerns about microplastics leaching into food," she said, noting that issues typically arise at higher temperatures, such as boiling.
Fox News Digital reached out to Drummond for comment.
Why Trump faces an agonizing decision on obliterating Iran’s oil supply if he can’t get a deal
In case you blinked and missed it, President Donald Trump is back to threatening Iran.
And that seems to undercut the idea that his envoys are having very good talks, through intermediaries, with the Iranians.
Just look at the tone of his Truth Social posting yesterday:
"The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran. Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched.’ This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime’s 47 year ‘Reign of Terror.’"
Does that sound like someone who believes he’s close to an agreement?
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I don’t think Trump wants to bomb the hell out of Iran’s energy facilities. He’s fully aware of how that would escalate the war and keep the U.S. mired in the conflict for many months at a minimum – a worst-case scenario for a man who campaigned against entanglement in foreign wars.
That’s why he extended his deadline by 10 days, to try to work out some compromise with what remains the world’s leading terror state. It’s hard to feel an ounce of sympathy for these murderous dictators who are responsible for so many thousands of deaths, including those of their own people.
The president told the New York Post yesterday that the administration has been dealing with Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Ghalibaf, saying we’ll find out within a week "whether he is someone America can truly work with."
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters yesterday, "I hope journalists in this room are wise enough not to take[the word of] an Iranian regime that has repeatedly lied about our country, about our values, about everyone in this room, frankly, for nearly five decades."
From the point of view of Iran, which was invaded by British and Soviet forces during World War II, all the regime has to do is survive and then claim victory.
The president is in something of a box. He clearly wants to end our military involvement in Iran, but can’t be seen as backing down on his threats.
Trump, at a minimum, needs two things. One is an agreement he can sell as limiting Iran’s ability to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. The other is ending Tehran’s blockade of "hostile" powers using the Strait of Hormuz, which has choked off 20 percent of the world’s oil traffic.
With the president moving tens of thousands of troops into position in the Middle East, he certainly has the boots he needs for a sustained attack.
Trump is, as everyone knows, paying the price at home. The stock market has plummeted, shrinking the retirement accounts of millions of Americans. The cost of living, led by soaring gas prices, keeps rising after an election that was focused on "affordability."
And the president’s standing has nosedived among young men, many of whom want no part of this war or feel they were misled about foreign wars.
Meanwhile, Iran’s military machine has been decimated, but it still has the ability to inflict damage with cheap drones. Over the weekend, one such drone injured at least 10 American service members at a Saudi air base, two seriously, and others have caused damage in Israel, killing at least 20 people.
The New York Times says "there has been little apparent progress in the negotiations. Iran has denied holding substantive talks with the United States and has rejected the Trump administration’s conditions as unreasonable. The war has raged on, drawing in much of the Middle East, sending oil and gas prices skyrocketing and fracturing Mr. Trump’s political support at home."
The Wall Street Journal reports the president "is weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran, according to U.S. officials, a complex and risky mission that would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer." While "considering the danger to U.S. troops," Trump is "open" to the idea "because it could help accomplish his central goal of preventing Iran from ever making a nuclear weapon."
Trump is no stranger to shifting rhetoric. After vowing to block any oil shipments to Cuba, Trump let a Russian tanker through, saying it doesn’t matter because the island’s economy is collapsing anyway. An alternate take: He wanted to avoid a confrontation with Moscow while heavily focused on the Mideast.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth says the "hate-Trump" press is constantly playing up negative news. While the coverage has indeed been overwhelmingly pessimistic, I don’t know how else the latest exchanges between Washington and Tehran could be reported.
Hegseth, a decorated Army veteran, is taking heat for his repeated emphasis on Christianity, including, as The Washington Post notes, bringing clergy from his small Christian denomination to preach at the Pentagon.
The other day, talking about the war, Hegseth prayed for American troops to bring "overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy … We ask these things with bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ."
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It sounds rather melodramatic to say so, but we are at a critical turning point. Either some kind of deal is made, face-saving or otherwise, or an aerial assault is unleashed upon Iran that prolongs the war and raises the prospect of an Iraq-style quagmire.
If the Iranian leaders were rational, they’d want to avoid further obliteration. But I’m not sure they are. They are maddeningly phony negotiators who deserve whatever they get. But the consequences of an all-out bombing for America, and the president himself, could be just as severe.
Florida county's Democratic Party chair accused of hitting man in head with bullhorn at 'No Kings' protest
The chair of the Hernando County, Florida, Democratic Party was arrested for allegedly hitting a man in the head with a bullhorn during a "No Kings" protest over the weekend.
Brian Stewart, 63, was charged with simple battery and booked into the Hernando County Jail after the incident on Saturday. He was released later that day, jail records show.
Deputies responded at around 10:30 a.m. to the intersection of Mariner and Cortez boulevards, where Stewart allegedly struck a disabled veteran — identified as Thomas Michta in police reports — in the head with a bullhorn. The incident occurred as demonstrators in Hernando County and across the country protested against the Trump administration's policies, according to WTSP.
Michta told deputies he was walking through the protest when he and Stewart became involved in an argument, the outlet reported.
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The man accused Stewart of striking him during the dispute and reported being in pain, with a visible lump on his head, according to an arrest affidavit, WTSP reported.
Deputies spoke to a witness who said he observed a fight during the protest.
According to the affidavit, video footage captured by the witness and reviewed by deputies showed Stewart using a bullhorn to hit the man in the head and push him in the chest.
After reviewing the video, the witness statement and Stewart's own admissions, deputies said they developed probable cause to believe Stewart intentionally hit the man and caused bodily harm, the affidavit says.
Stewart is scheduled to appear in court on April 27.
The Florida Republican Party called for Stewart to be removed as chair over the incident at the protest.
"Violence and political intimidation have no place in our state, and Floridians deserve better than mere silence from Democrat leadership. Nikki Fried must immediately remove Brian Stewart from his position of leadership in the Florida Democrat Party!" Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power said in a statement to WTSP.
The Florida Democratic Party and the Hernando County chapter said in separate statements that they "condemn violence."
"We have been made aware that our Chair, Brian Stewart, was arrested after responding to a provocation from a local agitator who threw a drink on him and yelled obscenities at community members during a protest," the Hernando County Democratic Party said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Hernando County Democratic Party for additional comment.