Bookmarks 2026-03-11T19:14:22.470Z
by Owen Kibel
34 min read
Bookmarks for 2026-03-11T19:14:22.470Z
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Windows 12 could be the tipping point that finally pushes you to Linux - here's why | ZDNET
Added: Mar 11, 2026Windows 12 could be the tipping point that finally pushes you to Linux - here's why
Site: ZDNET
Some rumored Windows 12 features could frustrate users and be the reason Linux finally starts looking better.
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Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet: BWV 212. 1. Sinfonia â 2. Aria. Duetto "Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet" (Arr. for cello and percussion by Bo Wiget) | YouTube Music Added: Mar 11, 2026
Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet: BWV 212. 1. Sinfonia â 2. Aria. Duetto "Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet" (Arr. for cello and percussion by Bo Wiget)
Site: YouTube Music
Bo Wiget & Peter A. Bauer
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Another Linux distro has dropped KDE Plasma, and I'm not surprised to see why | ZDNET
Added: Mar 11, 2026
Another Linux distro has dropped KDE Plasma, and I'm not surprised to see why
Site: ZDNET
The rolling release distro switches to Niri, a scrollable, tiling compositor that's better than you'd think. See why.
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Linux distros are quietly abandoning their own desktops for KDE Plasma, and I get why
Added: Mar 11, 2026Linux distros are quietly abandoning their own desktops for KDE Plasma, and I get why
Site: XDA
It's just that good.
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Nancy Guthrie 2013 Segment, Ben vs. Piers, and Charlie Kirk's Mission of Dialogue, w/ Kolvet & Neff - YouTube Added: Mar 11, 2026
Charlie Kirk's Mission of Dialogue, Ben vs. Piers, and Nancy Guthrie 2013 Segment, w/ Kolvet & Neff
Site: YouTube
Megyn Kelly discusses a shocking uncovered Today show segment from 2013 showing Nancy Guthrie in her bedroom, the details it could reveal about the items in ...
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NYC Jewish communal groups sound alarm over Mamdani's latest controversies | The Times of Israel
Added: Mar 11, 2026NYC Jewish communal groups sound alarm over Mamdani's latest controversies | The Times of Israel
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NASA's DART planetary defense mission reveals asteroids hurling 'cosmic snowballs' at each other | Space Added: Mar 11, 2026
NASA's DART planetary defense mission reveals asteroids hurling 'cosmic snowballs' at each other
Site: Space
"At first, we thought something was wrong with the camera."
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THIS IS TOTAL BETRAYAL
Site: YouTube
BUY CAST BREW COFFEE TO SUPPORT THE SHOW - https://castbrew.com/Become A Member And Protect Our Work at http://www.timcast.comHost:Tim Pool @Timcast (everywh...
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Nick Clegg Doesnât Want to Talk About Superintelligence | WIRED Added: Mar 11, 2026
Nick Clegg Doesnât Want to Talk About Superintelligence
Site: WIRED
After leaving Meta last year, the former deputy prime minister of the UK is charting a new path in the AI industry that has nothing to do with AGI.
Since Clegg left Meta in January 2025, days before Donald Trumpâs return to the White House, the former deputy prime minister of the UK has been relatively quiet about what he plans to do next. That is, until this week, when he announced his appointment to the board of two AI companies: British data center firm Nscale and education startup Efekta. Efekta, a spinout of Swiss company EF Education First, sells an AI-based teaching assistant thatâs meant to adapt to a studentâs abilities and send progress reports to their teachers. The aim is to replicate the type of one-to-one instruction that isnât feasible in a traditional classroom setting. The platform is currently used by around 4 million students, predominantly in Latin America and Southeast Asia, the company says. The hope is that Clegg will draw from his experience in politics and tech to counsel Efekta as it expands into new territories. When we met at EFâs office in West London last week, Clegg said he believes the classroom will be among the first settings to be radically improved by AI. But he was less cheerful about the politics of the AI race, which he says will further concentrate power in Silicon Valley. He voiced equal frustration with the âpesky Brussels bureaucratsâ that he claims have knee-capped European AI founders as with the Big Tech elites that have prostrated themselves at Trumpâs feet. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity. WIRED: Nick, on the spectrum from AI doomer to booster, where do you fall? Nick Clegg: I somewhat disregard both kinds of hype. Saying that AI is going to destroy life as we know it by next Tuesday is as much hype as saying itâs the most powerful thing to have happened to the human being since the invention of fire. I have a real aversion to hype on both sides. Itâs usually propagated by people who have something to sell or want to overstate the power of their own invention. The reason there are these wild gyrations in the way people talk about the technology is that itâs both very versatile and very stupid. It is exceptionally powerful for certain thingsâlike codingâand exceptionally useless for many others. I think thatâs why we struggle to talk about it. I think it has to do with the uncanny quality of some interactions with AI. We always do this, as human beings. We call it artificial, then spend a lot of time anthropomorphizing it. Thatâs the way we refract experiences to make them comprehensible. But itâs a fundamental mistake. What attracted you to the education sector? How do you expect AI to reshape the practice of teaching? Iâm completely convinced that immersive, online teaching can have very considerable benefits to pupils. We all know that every child has different abilities, learns at different paces in different subjects, in response to different teachers. The dream of personalizing education has always eluded educatorsâand for very good reason. Itâs very difficult to provide attention as a teacher to every pupil. I think the secret sauce that AI provides is that it really allows for adaptive, interactive personalization. Why Efekta, specifically? Its focus is on very big, underserved markets in Latin America and Southeast Asia, and so on. There are chronic teacher shortages across those parts of the world. I think its product has a profound democratizing effect. In theory, a kid sitting in a provincial town in rural Brazil should be able to receive the same responsive interaction with the Efekta AI teacher as someone living in Mayfair. Is anything lost by the introduction of AI to the classroom? Will we end up with a generation of students who use chatbots as a crutchâto draft essays, solve problems, and so on? Theyâll do that, anyway. Trying to shut out AI from schools is senseless. Itâs about how you incorporate AI into education. Bad teachers will use it badly, and good teachers will use it very wellâas they did whiteboards and calculators. But weâre talking about a more fundamental change. Iâm asking what it might mean for students not to develop foundational skills. If you go back to the time when calculators were invented, [people thought that] kids are never going to be able to do mental arithmetic. But that didnât turn out to be the case. It will have an effect, of course. But I think the net effect should be positive in terms of educational performance. Children are probably uniquely vulnerable to the kinds of dangers associated with chatbots. How do you think about those risks? Of course there are perilsâparticularly, vulnerable adults and children becoming emotionally dependent and invested in a relationship with something that has an avatar, humanoid presence in their lives. At a societal level, we should take a very precautionary approach. I think you should have clear age-gating on how agentic AIs are made available to young people. Like Australiaâs social media ban for under-16s? Thereâs no point in having a ban if you canât measure peopleâs age. Thatâs where policymakers rush to catch headlines about bans and donât quite think through the quite-difficult stuff. Unless you want all these platforms to, what, hold everyoneâs passport details? My view for a long time has been that the only way to do that is through the choke points of iOS and Android, at an [app store] level. But in principle, I think you should take a similarly precautionary approach. The susceptibility to becoming highly emotionally invested in and perhaps unduly influenced by your relationship with a kind, patient, 24-hour voice whoâs listening to you all the time is a very real one. I donât think itâs a risk at all with the kind of products that Efekta produces, though. Even though the AI is literally assuming the role of the teacher? Well, noâbecause it is not. These agentic AIs produced by companies like Efekta are not going to have some sort of surreptitious midnight relationship where they say all sorts of ghastly things to a pupil. Itâs a teacher-controlled experience. You spent almost seven years at Meta. In that time, AI became the frontier technology. Iâm curious how your experience at Meta colored your perspective on the opportunities, the risks, and limits of AIâand the quest for superintelligence. If you ask three people at the same organization what superintelligence is, youâll get three different answers. I get the impression that everyone in Silicon Valley has to say theyâre within touching distance of artificial general intelligence or superintelligence, because thatâs the way to attract the best data scientists. I find it difficult to grapple with a concept as hand-wavy as that. The main thing that occurs to me is the power paradox. You have these technologies that empower us as individuals, but also dramatically increase power in the hands of a very small number of people on the West Coast of the US and in the tech sector in China. It was ever thus with Big Tech, because of the network effects of social media. But because of the physics of large language models [LLMs]âhow unbelievably expensive it is to build the infrastructureâthis bifurcation of power is just going to become more and more extreme. And if this LLM paradigm carries on, itâll be an increasingly small number of players. Thereâs going to be a shakeout at some point, because you canât keep spending 130 billion quid a year just on AI infrastructure. The swim lane weâre in at the moment feels like such an imbalance of individual empowerment on one hand and extraordinary globs of agglomerated power on the other. It poses really big dilemmas for us all. You tried to address the concentration of power at Meta with the Facebook Oversight Board. Do you think it has been effective at governing the companyâreining in its worst impulses? I think theyâve done a great job. Whatâs the clearest example? Theyâve made a number of binding content decisions which the company has had to implement. I know very well, because the teams that used to work for me would complain about it bitterly. I think itâs very cool that a company voluntarily tied its hands like that. Is it the Supreme Court that some commentators want, that could clip Mark Zuckerbergâs wings completely? Well, probably not. But it was never designed to be that. It was designed to be the final recourse for edge decisions about content moderation versus free expression. Where I am disappointed is that I had hoped when I helped set it up that youâd have other platforms buying into it by this stage. You hoped that other platforms would replicate the model? Yepâit hasnât become a blueprint. Thatâs partly because thereâs been this massive sea change in attitude toward content moderation in the US post-Musk takeover at Twitter. Then, thereâs this rather infantile tendency for the MAGA crowd to call any content moderation an act of censorship, which is a ludicrous distortion of the truth. They fetishize the word âcensorshipâ for their own purposes. Thatâs probably discouraged a lot of the other players. Zuckerbergâs position on content moderation appears to have changed quite drastically in the period since you left. Meta has swapped independent fact-checkers for crowdsourced moderation. It has in some respects. But in theory, thereâs nothing wrong with crowdsourcing the approach to misinformation if you can make it work at scale. I don't think anyone should romanticize the idea of independent fact-checkers. They can only skim a tiny amount of content off the top. In America, whether you like it or not, close to half the population thought that fact-checkers were somehow ideologically biased against them. If one party or another thinks the edifice you created is diametrically opposed to their worldview, youâve got a problem. Do you think the change is a reflection of the climate under the Trump administration? The climate has changed utterly in the United States. Clearly, Silicon Valley and the folk in DC have found content moderation a very convenient stick to beat pesky Brussels bureaucrats. There may be plenty of other reasons [to do that]âthe AI Act, in particular, is a ludicrous act of self-harm. But every democratic jurisdiction has its right to decide on the boundary between content moderation and free expression. The amount of self-serving political rhetoric around this is astonishing. If you speak to people in parts of America, they think the US is the only country that has ever understood the virtue of free expression. They attach a hallowed status to the First Amendment, as if ancient democracies in Europe have no idea what it is to draw the right balance. Itâs become a highly politicized thing. You saw that with the lineup of all the tech bros at the inauguration, all the endless ring-kissing at Mar-a-Lago. Clearly, theyâve decidedâI guess for the protection of their businessesâto align with the current US administration. The fact Silicon Valley has done a total volte-face and is now immersed in politics is a huge change, and only time will tell whether it makes sense for them. Iâd be extremely skeptical about free-expression advocates in the US that say âonly the Europeans do heavy-handed regulation.â What do you call what theyâve done to Anthropic, other than about the most heavy-handed regulatory assault on a company you could possibly imagine? Not even the most dirigiste, interventionist Brussels bureaucrat would go that far. You really think the EUâs approach to AI amounts to self-harm? Itâs an almost classic, textbook example of how not to regulate. The initial drafts were published two or three years before ChatGPT burst onto the scene. They had no idea what technology they were seeking to apply this legislation to. How is someone who has had any hand in developing an underlying foundation model supposed to be held responsible for any subsequent downstream and customized use? It obviously doesnât work. Itâs a total betrayal of a whole class of really, really smart European entrepreneurs who want to build world-beating companies. It infuriates me, because the same people will pontificate about asserting European sovereignty and making sure that weâre not all dependent on American and Chinese technology. Itâs about the worst way to guarantee our sovereignty. If not through tight regulation, how would you suggest we deal with the risks of unfettered AI development? Iâve become such a keen advocate of open source, because itâs about the best way to ensure that these technologies are properly democratized and you donât have this oligopolistic power of a very small number of proprietary models running the show. In the irony of ironies, Chinaâthe worldâs largest autocracyâis doing the most to facilitate democratized access to these tools through open sourcing. Whether by accident or design, depends who you speak to.
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Musk unveils joint Tesla-xAI project 'Macrohard', eyes software disruption | Reuters Added: Mar 11, 2026
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Piet le Roux on X: ""total transformation"" / X Added: Mar 11, 2026
Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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(PDF) A Short Dictionary of Astronomical Daffy-nitions Added: Mar 11, 2026
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Scoop: U.S. asks Israel to halt strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure Added: Mar 11, 2026
Scoop: U.S. asks Israel to halt strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure
Site: Axios
The strikes blanketed Tehran in toxic black smoke and acid rain
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President Trump Delivers Remarks, Mar. 11, 2026
Site: YouTube
Hebron, KY
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Explain how the supernova "chirp" proves magnetars power explosions. - Google Search Added: Mar 11, 2026
Google Search
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Elon Muskâs Chilling Warning about the Next Election Goes Viral
Site: YouTube
Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" shares a DM clip of Elon Musk giving a warning to Senate Majority Leader John Thune if he fails to ensure the passage of the...
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America's Biggest Ally Isn't In NATO | Victor Davis Hanson
Site: YouTube
It's rare for the U.S. to have a capable ally, but Israel is just that. While the so-called big powers of NATO donât have the air capability or the will to c...
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Gemini Embedding 2 Hands-on in 8 mins!
Site: YouTube
Today weâre releasing Gemini Embedding 2, our first fully multimodal embedding model built on the Gemini architecture, in Public Preview via the Gemini API a...
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2 NEW Secret Models đ just dropped!
Site: YouTube
Let's look at the newly dropped secret models on OpenRouter - rumours that one of it could be Deepseek V4!Hunter Alpha - Stealth Model 1https://openrouter.ai...
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Eliana Johnson on Left Wing Media, DC Corruption, and the Downfall of College Campuses | KMP Ep.30
Site: YouTube
Get an insider's unfiltered take on the DC swamp from the Editor-in-Chief of the Free Beacon, Eliana Johnson! She calls out the WOKE indoctrination gripping ...
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CNN Repeatedly Botches Story of Attempted NYC Bombing | National Review Added: Mar 11, 2026
CNN Repeatedly Botches Story of Attempted NYC Bombing | National Review
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Pity the developers who resist agentic coding | InfoWorld Added: Mar 11, 2026
Pity the developers who resist agentic coding
Site: InfoWorld
Theyâre passing up the thrill of a lifetime. At least they have experienced the joys of actually writing code.
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A mega-deal to end the war Added: Mar 11, 2026
A mega-deal to end the war
Site: The Hill
In exchange for Iranâs acquiescence, the world should offer something transformative and generous.
Much attention has focused on how the current war with Iran began â not so well argued, not necessarily so legal. But the real question is how it ends. Although President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do not inspire much confidence about their intentions, there is an achievable blueprint for an outcome that could leave the world a far better place. Unless the conflict produces a strategic outcome that actually solves the underlying problem, it will merely be remembered as another costly episode in the long and destabilizing history of Middle Eastern chaos. And there is a whopper of an underlying problem here. For decades, Iran has built a system designed to spread revolution across the Middle East while maintaining a theocratic police state at home. It pursued nuclear capabilities, developed increasingly sophisticated ballistic missiles, and armed a network of proxy militias from Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen. This has kept the region on tenterhooks and occasionally in flames. Without Iran, there would probably have been no Oct. 7. The Obama administration's 2015 nuclear deal attempted to constrain Iranâs nuclear program in exchange for economic relief, but it did little to address the broader architecture of missiles, militias and revolutionary ideology. Trump walked away from that deal in 2018 â a foolish move which, coupled with no other effective measures, enabled Iran to resume enrichment. The result is the situation today: a confrontation that many observers fear could spiral into an ever-wider war, but that also presents a rare opportunity to permanently dismantle the threat Iranâs regime poses to the region and to its own people. That objective should be uncompromising: Iran must permanently abandon the pursuit of nuclear weapons, dismantle its long-range missile program and end the financing and arming of militias across the region. The goal should not be Iran's humiliation or destruction as a nation. The Islamic Republic may even survive in some form. What should not survive is the system that allows it to continue causing such harm. A settlement that includes carrots should therefore also require an end to clerical vetting of presidential candidates and a restoration of genuine authority to Iranâs elected institutions, above all the presidency and parliament. This need not mean total regime overhaul, such as the immediate abolition of the office of supreme leader. In fact, when Ali Khamenei was elevated in 1989, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani helped shape a constitutional order that strengthened the presidency which he then assumed. He appears to have imagined a system in which elected institutions would wield the main governing power while the supreme leader would stand more as a symbolic or balancing figure. That is not how things ultimately evolved â Khamenei instead became one of modern history's most diabolical despots. But the precedent shows that a more republican version of the system would not be completely alien to Iranâs own political history. These reforms should be part of a package presented by the broadest possible international coalition. And it should be paired with a powerful set of incentives. It should be a "deal" â the kind of thing Trump appreciates. In exchange for Iran's acquiescence, the world should offer something transformative and generous. All sanctions should be lifted. Iran should be welcomed into regional trade arrangements with Gulf economies and possibly others. The country should have full access to global markets, capital and technology. Diplomatic relations should normalize. Formal peace treaties, if Iran wishes, would be on offer. More controversially, the leadership of the current regime should be offered a form of political amnesty, allowed to keep their wealth and step aside without fear of international prosecution. In authoritarian systems, that kind of âgolden bridgeâ has often been the only way to facilitate meaningful change. Such an approach may seem generous toward a regime responsible for decades of repression at home and violence abroad. But the objective of strategy is not justice or moral satisfaction â it is a better future and an end to violence. There is an appetite for change. Freedom House ranks Iran among the most politically restrictive states in the world, comparable to countries like North Korea and Syria in the bottom tier of the index. Its GDP per capita is only about $4,000 to $6,000, far below most of its Gulf neighbors, about one-tenth of Israel's, and well below the global average. Living standards have been heavily eroded by persistent economic instability. Inflation has regularly hovered in the range of 30 to 50 percent in recent years â among the highest in the world. But under better circumstances, Iranâs vast oil and natural gas reserves â among the largest in the world â could attract large-scale investment and joint energy projects with Gulf partners. Current trade between Iran and Gulf states is roughly $25 billion annually, much of it indirect or routed through intermediaries. Under open conditions, that could plausibly double or triple. For the Iranian people, the improvement would be spectacular. One path leads to continued isolation, economic stagnation and endless confrontation with the outside world. The other leads to reintegration into the global economy and the possibility of normal political and economic life after decades of revolutionary isolation. The protests that have shaken Iran in recent years suggest that many citizens are already keenly aware of that choice. Would the remnants of the regime agree? Few would predict it, but with almost their entire leadership gone, the skies controlled by enemies, their navy sunk, their people despising them, they are not in the strongest bargaining position. More violence may be needed to convince them, but an offer should be made. For the U.S. and its allies, the logic is equally clear. If the war fails to produce such a transformation, it will only have reinforced the cycle of hostility that has defined relations with Iran for 47 years. Israel has also seen its standing badly undermined not only in Europe but also in U.S. public opinion. It must shift back toward a paradigm of peace. Indeed, a peace treaty between Israel and a new Iran would be an excellent goal to strive for. It is a vision for the future, to be sure â but if the international community plays its cards right, that future could be years away rather than decades. Trump has a chance to do something truly great. Dan Perry is the former Cairo-based Middle East editor and London-based Europe-Africa editor of the Associated Press, the former chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem, and the author of two books.
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Ask Questions Later | Dan Perry | Substack Added: Mar 11, 2026
Ask Questions Later | Dan Perry | Substack
Analysis of geopolitics, economy, and society, mostly by Dan Perry, former Cairo-based Mideast Editor and London-based Europe-Africa Editor of the Associated Press. Supporting reason, culture and the liberal order now beset from all sides. Click to read Ask Questions Later, by Dan Perry, a Substack publication.
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Why Kristi Noem aide Corey Lewandowski thought he could do âwhatever the fâk' he wanted at DHS Added: Mar 11, 2026
Exclusive | The untold reason Kristi Noemâs alleged lover Corey Lewandowski did âwhatever the fâk I wantâ at DHS
Site: New York Post
Embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noemâs top aide and alleged lover Corey Lewandowski bragged that he could do âwhateverâ he wanted as a powerful federal official, sources told The Post.âŚ
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Ro Khanna faces primary challenge, Silicon Valley backlash over wealth tax
Site: The Hill
{beacon} Technology Technology â The Big Story Ro Khanna faces primary challenge, Silicon Valley backlash over wealth tax Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), once championed by Silicon Valley, iâŚ
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We Might Understand How the Cosmos Works Before We Understand How Life Works | by Avi Loeb | Mar, 2026 | Medium Added: Mar 11, 2026
We Might Understand How the Cosmos Works Before We Understand How Life Works
Site: Medium
In his Critique of Judgment (1790), Immanuel Kant famously asserted that âthere will never be a Newton of the blade of grass, because humanâŚ
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Mars seems to play a direct role in triggering ice ages on Earth - Earth.com Added: Mar 12, 2026
Mars seems to play a direct role in triggering ice ages on Earth from 140 million miles away
Site: Earth.com
Researchers uncover how Mars affects Earthâs orbit, offering new insight into the planetary forces behind ice ages.
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The Ignorant Pundits Hitting Hegseth over Steak and Lobster for the Troops | National Review
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DRONE ATTACK WARNING
Site: YouTube
Visit http://truegoldrepublic.com/tim or call 800-628-GOLDSUPPORT THE SHOW BUY CAST BREW COFFEE NOW - https://castbrew.com/Join - / @timcastirl Hosts: Ti...
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Trump's Economy Tour, Man Arrested Outside WH, Bondi Makes Move Over Safety Concerns: AM Update 3/12
Site: YouTube
President Trump tours manufacturing facilities in Ohio and Kentucky, promoting his economic agenda while weighing in on the Iran conflict and escalating his ...
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Tucker Carlson stars as villain at GOP antisemitism confab, with Vance the unspoken question mark | The Times of Israel
Added: Mar 12, 2026
Tucker Carlson stars as villain at GOP antisemitism confab, with Vance the unspoken question mark | The Times of Israel
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Ted Cruz, Tucker Carlson reignite feud over Iran war - POLITICO Added: Mar 12, 2026
Ted Cruz, Tucker Carlson reignite feud over Iran war
Site: POLITICO
Cruz called Carlson a âdemagogueâ spreading antisemitism, days after Carlson called him and others who trust Israeli intelligence âdumbos.â
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ITS COLLAPSING
Site: YouTube
This was always expectedWar in the middle east and political tribalismBecome A Memberhttp://youtube.com/timcastnews/joinThe Green Room - https://rumble.com/p...
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Donald Trump's war in Iran fractures MAGA media
Added: Mar 12, 2026Trumpâs war in Iran fractures MAGA media
Site: The Hill
President Trumpâs war in Iran has sparked a heated fight in conservative circles, pitting some of Trumpâs most ardent supporters in the media against GOP lawmakers who are backing what criticâŚ
President Trump's war in Iran has sparked a heated fight in conservative circles, pitting some of Trumpâs most ardent supporters in the media against GOP lawmakers who are backing what critics argue is a conflict pushed by Israel but unpopular with the American people. Among the loudest opponents of the war in its early days have been Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, a pair of former Fox News hosts who left traditional media in recent years to build media companies of their own by catering to an audience of primarily Trump supporters. Carlson, a frequent critic of Israel, reportedly personally lobbied Trump against attacking Iran, while Kelly has cast the presidentâs push for regime change there as a mistake he will come to regret. On her show Tuesday, Kelly aimed her ire over Iran at Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Fox Newsâs Sean Hannity, who are both close to Trump and loudly supportive of regime change in Iran. âI mean, Sean Hannity is Lindsey Graham by a different name. It's amazing to me to watch them cheerlead this. I mean, we've got seven U.S. personnel dead. We've got a girls school â 175 young girls dead, in Iran, and there's serious dispute â we'll get into who's behind that,â Kelly said. Trump has suggested Iran was responsible for the school bombing, despite mounting evidence that it was a U.S. missile attack. Graham has often stepped beyond the White House in his statements about the war, threatening foreign countries that remain on the sidelines of the war and warning âweâre going to blow the hell out of these peopleâ in Iran during an appearance on Fox News this weekend. Kelly on Tuesday called Graham âa homicidal maniac.â âIt was obscene,â she added. âWho does he think he is? No one elected him as president.â The criticism comes as Trump has suggested heâs looking to end the conflict, on Monday calling it an âexcursionâ that would end âvery soon.â While he said the U.S. had largely destroyed Iranâs military and eliminated its leadership, he also said there was more to do. The president responded directly to earlier pushback from Kelly and Carlson, saying they are ânot MAGAâ and insisting their comments are not indicative of how his effort in Iran is landing with the American public. âShe was critical of me for years, and I didnât lose. I won all three times by a lot,â Trump said of Kelly during a recent interview last week, adding, âMAGA wants to see our country thrive and be safe,â and expressing confidence his supporters âlove what Iâm doing.â Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), one of Israelâs loudest defenders in Congress, separately attacked Carlson, a pundit he sparred with last summer during a wide-ranging interview focusing largely on tensions between the U.S. and Iran. âThere is a group of isolationist folks on the right. It is a small group, but they are loud and vocal. And Tucker Carlson has now all but declared war on President Trumpâs foreign policy,â Cruz said on an episode of his âVerdictâ podcast. âTucker continues to go to new lows and new lows. The more Tucker Carlson attacks Donald Trump, the more fringe he gets.â Other mainstream pundits and online influencers have also pushed back on the presidentâs efforts in the Middle East. Popular podcaster Joe Rogan, who endorsed Trump before the 2024 election and has since criticized the president over a host of issues, pushed back on arguments coming from the likes of Graham and Cruz, calling them âinsane.â âI mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? He ran on âno more wars, end these stupid, senseless wars,â and then we have one that we canât even really clearly define why we did it,â Rogan said this week. âIt just doesnât make any sense to me, unless weâre acting on someone elseâs interests, like particularly Israelâs interests.â Longtime conservative pundit Ann Coulter has also been critical of the war, saying the school bombing came during a war that "does not make one American safer," questioning the Trump administrationâs stated goals in Iran and pointing to low public support for the fight. Still, other major voices on the right have defended U.S. military operations in Iran. The editorial board of Rupert Murdochâs Wall Street Journal this week urged the president against stopping the campaign due to âshort term economic discomfortâ as oil prices skyrocket, while Fox News hosts like Hannity and Brian Kilmeade have pushed hard-line positions on the war. Kilmeade this week has echoed Trumpâs calls that oil tankers transporting fuel to the West should âshow some gutsâ and travel through the Strait of Hormuz, while urging the U.S. military to seize Iranâs Kharg Island, a crucial oil exporting hub. A Republican political operative warned that pushing back on Trump comes with risks for figures like Kelly and Carlson. âMost MAGA supporters arenât for a war in Iran, but they have grown up with Iran being a problem for America for decades. And this White House had to sacrifice selling the war in exchange for the element of surprise,â the operative told The Hill on Tuesday. âHow these pundits react can be frustrating for Trump but also a great political antenna. He loves taking the fight back to people who say things about him in the media. Tucker has probably lost a lot of credibility in the White House, but I think Megyn Kelly will eventually find another issue to pair up with him on pretty clearly.â
