After two months of conflict, neither a deadly bombing campaign nor a blockade on Iranian exports has forced Tehran to make the concessions the Trump administration is seeking. The campaign has intensified in recent weeks, targeting Iran’s oil exports and financial networks while a naval blockade has disrupted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz , a critical artery for global energy flows. U.S. officials argue the combination of military pressure and economic isolation is intended to weaken Iran’s capabilities and force it back to the negotiating table on more favorable terms. While the U.S. has killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of top military and political figures, the regime itself remains intact. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was selected to succeed him, and leadership remains firmly hardline. Aaron David Miller, a former State Department Middle East negotiator and fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, said the administration may have misjudged the type of negot...

I don’t want to hear any more about motives.  When someone engages in a mass shooting – or attempts to kill a president – they are by definition crazy.  In the case of the Washington Hilton gunman, his motive is spelled out in his so-called manifesto: He hates President Donald Trump .  Despite a background in engineering and teaching, he somehow became convinced that Trump was in cahoots with Jeffrey Epstein , calling the president a rapist and pedophile.  HOW TRUMP SURVIVES: BATTLING THE MEDIA, FORMER ALLIES AND ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS But again, who cares about motive? Anyone who would storm an event protected by the Secret Service – knowing he could easily wind up dead – is not sane.  We do this all the time, try to impose a rational framework on irrational attackers. The shooter was charged in court yesterday with attempted assassination of the president.  COLE ALLEN CHARGED IN TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN FIRST COURT APPEARANCE AFTER WHCA DINN...

ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel remained defiant Monday night, insisting his now-viral "expectant widow" joke about President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump was simply about their age.  "This was Thursday, and there was no big reaction to it until this morning, when I greeted the day facing yet another Twitter vomit storm," Kimmel said during his monologue. "I said, our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at her. So beautiful. This is from the glow. Like an expected widow, which obviously was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they were together." "It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80, and she's younger than I am. It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination — and they know that," he continued. "I've been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular, but I understand that the First Lady...

It’s often said that bad ideas start in California and make their way east. But these days, Virginia looks eager to take that crown.  The two U.S. senators from the Old Dominion aren’t just embracing gun control from Richmond — they’re trying to export it nationwide. Democrat Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner have rolled out the so-called "Virginia Plan," a package that would take 13 of the most extreme gun restrictions in Virginia law and impose them on the entire country.  In pushing this agenda, Kaine points to the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre as justification. But the facts tell a different story. A comprehensive analysis of mass shootings for more than 75 years demonstrates that 93% of mass public shootings occur in so-called Gun-Free Zones. That suggests the problem is not too many guns, but too many places where only the attacker is armed and victims are left defenseless...

King Charles III and Queen Camilla are set to travel to parts of the United States beginning Monday, with new details outlining a multi-city visit to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary of independence. The royal couple will visit Washington, D.C., New York City and Virginia from April 27 through April 30, marking King Charles’ first official state visit to the United States as monarch, Buckingham Palace announced. Queen Elizabeth II previously carried out four state visits to the U.S. in 1957, 1976, 1991 and 2007. FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP PRAISED FOR 'UNWAVERING COMMITMENT' TO BATTLE-SCARRED VICTIMS President Donald Trump, who will host the royal couple at the White House , said he is looking forward to the visit. Speaking to Fox News anchor Shannon Bream on " Fox News Sunday ," Trump said the royals' trip to the U.S. was moving forward as planned. "King Charles is coming, and he's a great guy, and we look forward to it," Trump said. ...

Donald Trump has been written off a thousand times and always managed to bounce back. He hung on when he first got in the race and was mocked as a sideshow. When the "Access Hollywood" tape came out. When his supporters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6.  He outlasted two impeachments and four criminal cases. He won reelection when that seemed like a long shot. He’s the Harry Houdini of Washington.  And on Saturday night, he survived his third assassination attempt . At a dinner that was expected to feature the president mocking the media, his calm response to being targeted by a heavily armed shooter generated enormous sympathy for him. It’s a dangerous job, he said. THE LEFT'S DEHUMANIZATION OF TRUMP IS PUSHING PEOPLE OVER THE EDGE – WITH DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES In fact, he "fought like hell" to continue with the Correspondents' Association dinner , but the Secret Service – one of whose members was shot but saved by a protective vest – insisted on clear...