Originally published March 20, 2026 for our weekly Issue of Mindful Intelligence Advisor. Subscribe to get weekly issues.
Recapping Trending, World, U.S., Political, Market, Culture, Sci-Tech News from March 13-19, 2026
Here are the TOP 10 NEWS TAGS for this Time Period:
- Iran War
- DNC Criminal Media
- Judgefare
- Wokeness
- Abortion Watch
- 2026 Elections
- Voter ID
- DNC Insurrection
- AI Watch
A. TRENDING
- AS ECONOMY BUCKLES UNDER IRAN WAR PRESSURES, THE TARGETED REGIME IS RUNNING OUT OF LEADERS, BUT NOT THREATS – The Islamic Republic of Iran managed to launch a major attack on Qatar’s oil fields that will take years to repair. It is promising to step up its attack on the oil infrastructures of its neighbors. Israel has responded by striking some of their oil fields, a move President Trump appears to disapprove of. As leaders are appointed, they are killed, with two top leaders killed this week alone. The new Supreme Leader is reported to be effectively non-functioning.
While Iranian street soldiers continue to kill and intimidate citizens, they themselves are coming under increasing drone attacks. The pressure to finish the war mounts as the continued shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz is leading to spikes in oil prices and other knock down effects. A coalition of 6 nations has committed to join America’s efforts to open and police the Strait of Hormuz. The nations include Japan, the United Kingdom, and France.
The most alarming news may be the return of the aircraft carrier Gerald R Ford to Greece after a laundry fire broke out that took 30 hours to put out and destroyed 600 bunks. This means the Iran operation is now only supported by one U.S. aircraft carrier. The extent of the damage has not been reported by the Pentagon. The length of its repair was not given, nor was it made clear if the carrier’s escort ships will remain in theater.
GO DEEPER ON IRAN WAR
- SAVE ACT REMAINS STALLED IN SENATE, BUT NOT KILLED – Attempts to kill the SAVE Act, a bill that would make it mandatory for voters to show photo ID to vote and end request-only mail-in voting (what we refer to as mass mailer voting), has failed in the Senate, with a 51-49 vote keeping the bill alive. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) appears ready to simply offer the bill for an up-or-down vote, without forcing the Senate to vote on changing the filibuster rule to require a verbal, rather than a procedural action.
Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) is proposing the Republicans pass the measure as a budget resolution bill, making a simply majority vote in the Senate sufficient to pass the bill. Efforts by the Democrat press to demonize the bill have failed to move the needle of support, with 80% of the country as a whole supporting requiring photo ID for voting. A new tactic is to claim the bill is an unfunded mandate, placing a price tag on election integrity.
The GOP Texas Senate candidates have reached the point of no return in their race. This means the offer made by AG Paxton to withdraw from the race is no longer possible. Paxton offered to drop out of the race if Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) does everything he can to assure the SAVE Act. Now, that option is no longer on the table due to withdrawal deadline passing.
GO DEEPER ON VOTER ID
- EU COURT COMPELS ALL MEMBER STATES TO “RECOGNIZE” TRANSGENDER IDENTITIES – The highest court in the EU, the Court of Justice of the European Union, has ruled that all 27 members states of the union must allow all citizens to have photo ID that matches their “lived gender.” The ruling is sure to bring the differences between progressive globalism and traditional Europeanism to a head.
GO DEEPER ON WOKENESS
- FBI RAN ROUND RIVER CAMPAIGN TO DISCREDIT CLAIMS OF BIDENS’ UKRAINE CORRUPTION – Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) claimed in a press release that the FBI ran a disinformation campaign in 2020 to protect the Biden family from potential prosecution. This operation was called Round River. It was so secret not even the then FBI Director, Bill Barr, knew of its existence.
Grassley claimed, “in August 2020, FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Brian Auten opened an assessment which was used by a FBI Headquarters (‘FBI HQ’) team to improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation and caused investigative activity to cease.”
- EPSTEIN WAS A FINANCIAL BOUNTY HUNTER FOR THE U.S.? – Jeffrey Epstein was officially a U.S. government agent according to a memo released among the Epstein Files. The claim comes from an unsigned memo that states, “At some point in time, Jeffrey Epstein worked for the United States government as a financial bounty hunter. He has retained significant political connections with both Israel and the United States.”
The memo’s credibility comes from another part of the note recommending further information about Epstein from other federal agencies. It also accuses Epstein of violating child exploitation and sex offender traveling laws, The memo gives more credence, though not a smoking gun, to the claim Epstein was a government agent.
GO DEEPER ON EPSTEIN FILES
- JUDGES SET FIRE TO TRUMP AGENDA IN A SERIES OF BRUTAL RULINGS – Mostly Biden-appointed Judges have shut down numerous major Trump policies, including freezing federal funding, shutting down Voice of America, halting DEI investigations of progressive schools, stopping ICE detention facilities from opening, and more.
In the wake of a slate of questionable rulings, SCOTUS Chief Judge John Roberts has encouraged what we consider insurrectionist rulings (with some exceptions) by Democrat activist judges while shaming any critique of what we consider these many grossly egregious rulings.
GO DEEPER ON JUDGEFARE
- CUBA TOTTERS ON DISSOLUTION, BUT LEADER REMAINS DEFIANT AS RUSSIA, MEXICO RUSHES TO ITS RESCUE – Russia is sending oil tankers to Cuba to rescue it from its crippling energy crisis that has left the island in a blackout condition. As dissent grows from within, the Trump administration hints it could take Cuba whenever it wants to. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel responded that any act of aggression “will clash with an impregnable resistance.” Mexico has just announced plans to attempt to “come to Cuba’s aid,” sending a relief supply flotilla and promising to figure out how to get oil the communist country.
GO DEEPER ON CUBA WATCH
- DEMS HOLD FIRM ON DHS SHUTDOWN AS NATION FEELS GROWING EFFECT – The Democrat Party is continuing to refuse to support any DHS funding bill until ICE is “reformed” to the point of being feckless at removing illegal aliens. Lines grow in airports, and TSA agents are starting to call in sick, not wanting to work without pay (even though they will receive their pay when the shutdown ends). National security concerns have been heightened in lieu of a slew of recent Islamist attacks on American soil. The DNC media continues to protect the Democrat Party from being blamed for the shutdown, choosing instead to blame Republicans.
While the Senate works to push through a new DHS head, Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), the White House is claiming it has attempted to negotiate with the Democrats but has received no response. They released a letter to the Democrats, offering concessions on five points, expanding body-camera usage, limiting civil immigration enforcement activities at “sensitive areas,” improving DHS detention facility oversight, enforcing visible officer identification, and NOT deporting U.S. citizens.
The letter claims, “The Administration has worked in good faith to again reach bipartisan agreement on full funding for the entire Department of Homeland Security and institute common–sense operational improvements to federal immigration enforcement operations that enhance the safety of American communities. Democrats must stop holding the safety and security of the American people hostage and move forward with fully funding DHS.”
GO DEEPER ON DHS FUNDING
- PAKISTANI AIR STRIKE ALLEGEDLY KILLS 400 IN AFGHANI HOSPITAL – The Taliban government of Afghanistan is accusing Pakistan of striking a drug rehab facility in Kabul that killed 400 plus people. Pakistan has been engaging in air strikes just inside the border of Afghanistan, allegedly targeting terror camp it says have been used to attack Pakistanis. After a global backlash, Pakistan has pledged to suspend air operations, for now.
GO DEEPER ON PAKISTAN AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT
- BIDEN ADMIN INTEL UNCOVERED CHINA’S EFFORTS TO HELP THEM WIN IN 2020, SO THEY BURIED THE EVIDENCE – The Biden administration’s own intelligence community uncovered evidence China was attempting to influence the U.S. election in 2020. They were working to help President Biden win. The degree to which they were successful can be debated, but what cannot be debated is that the intelligence community quickly buried the evidence in bureaucratic language games that allowed Chinese interference to be classified as something other than what it actually was.
Analytic ombudsman Barry Zulauf produced a report in 2021 that claimed, “China analysts appeared hesitant to assess Chinese actions as undue influence or interference. These analysts appeared reluctant to have their analysis on China brought forward because they tended to disagree with the Administration’s policies, saying in effect, I don’t want our intelligence used to support those policies.”
GO DEEPER ON 2020 ELECTION FRAUD
- THE MAN WHO RESIGNED IN OPPOSITION TO THE IRAN WAR WAS ALREADY UNDER FBI INVESTIGATION – The now-former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, resigned over existential opposition to the war in Iran. He claimed Iran posed no serious threat to the U.S. and that Israel somehow tricked the U.S. into attacking Iran in the first place. His hyperbolic language is strong evidence that suggests he is an activist, not a dispassionate analyst. We assume he is pushing an agenda, a Progmerican agenda, not fact
ED.NOTE: This is not an endorsement of the war, even if we hope for a quick American victory.
Further evidence of that assumption comes from the now-emerged claim Kent was under FBI investigation for potentially leaking classified intelligence. The story claiming he was under investigation was published one day before his resignation, giving the story more credence.
In response to questions about Kent, the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt claimed only that there are ongoing investigations into leakers. She also claimed Kent was NOT part of the intelligence briefings leading up to the Iran War, undermining his credibility regarding the knowledge of the decision-making process that led to the war.
GO DEEPER ON JOE KENT RESIGNATION
B. HEADLINES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
- CHINA’S NEW ETHNIC UNITY LAW READS LIKE NAZI LAW – China’s National People’s Congress approved a new law called the “Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress.” The law aims to harmonize the country’s 55 state-recognized ethnic minorities with the Han majority. The law was passed on March 12 and was signed into law by Chairman Xi. The law takes effect on July 1st.
It is feared that the law will be used to further crack down on these minorities, leading to more genocidal pogroms such as were carried out against the Uyghurs (and are still going on). Some of the tactics of the past include forcing minority groups to have more abortions, taking children and raising them as Han, and banning the use of the minority group’s languages and artistic traditions.
GO DEEPER ON CHINA ETHNIC UNITY LAW
- 9TH CIRCUIT BLASTED BY OWN JUDGE FOR RULING THAT ALLOWS MEN IN RELIGIOUS WOMEN’S SPACES – After the U.S. 9th circuit court ruled religious groups cannot keep trans men out of women’s spaces, they receive a fiery dissent. 9th Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke began his dissent with the phrase, “This is a case about swinging d#%ks.”
He then added, “The fact that the religious owners of a traditional Korean, women-only, nude spa are prohibited by law from preventing a naked adult male, who remains sexually attracted to women, from exposing himself to thirteen-year-old girls tragically illustrates the sick and twisted consequences of erasing sex as a coherent legal category
My distressed colleagues appear to have the fastidious sensibilities of a Victorian nun when it comes to mere unpleasant words in my opinion yet exhibit the scruples of our dearly departed colleague Judge Reinhardt when it comes to the government trampling on religious liberties and exposing women and girls to male genitalia. That kind of selective outrage speaks for itself.”
GO DEEPER ON TRANSGENDER IDEOLOGY
- AI GURU SUGGESTS AI WILL BECOME A UTILITY – OpenAI CEO and AI pioneer Sam Altman is suggesting AI will become like your utilities. He said, “People buy it from us on a meter and use it for whatever they want to use it for. We see a future where intelligence is a utility like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter and use it for whatever they want to use it for.”
GO DEEPER ON AI WATCH
- FBI STILL PURCHASING YOUR LOCATION DATA, KASH PATEL CONFESSES – Apparently, the FBI is still buying your location data from 3rd party providers, data that can be used to track you. FBI Director Kash Patel admitted to the practice in a Senate Hearing. He was asked by Senator Ron Wyden (R-OR) if the FBI was still engaging in the practice. Patel responded, “We do purchase commercially available information that is consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act — and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us.”
- NEA TRAINING ANTI-AMERICAN INSURRECTIONISTS, NOT TEACHERS – The National Education Association recently held a training session called “Advocacy and Free Speech Rights for K-12 Education” that seeks to establish the oughtness of woke ideology as the oughtness of human life. This action is sectarian in nature, which is troubling given the nature of the organization. It is one of the largest teachers’ unions in America, with over 3 million teachers. The question is not if the organization crossed the line into political activism, but what, if anything will be done about it.
GO DEEPER ON DNC INSURRECTION
- MINNESOTA TEACHERS’ UNION SPENDS TIME, MONEY COORDINATING TERRORIST ATTACKS ON ICE AGENTS – According to an investigation by Defending Education, a teachers’ union called “Minneapolis Families for Public Schools (MFPS)” has been coordinating an initiative to effectively help teachers organize resistance to ICE arrests of illegal aliens.
The “initiate” is called “TakeAction Minnesota.” On the website, they claim “We will teach and demonstrate resistance tactics that can be replicated elsewhere, leaving no community undefended. We hope to force an end to ICE’s unprecedented siege of Minnesota — and further the movement to abolish ICE altogether while we do it,”
Rhyen Staley, research director at Defending Education, stated “The teachers unions continue to prove they are rotten apples that only care about far-left street activism, to the detriment of educating children. Teachers and community groups should be dedicating time to improving learning outcomes for students, not creating strategies and lists of people to attempt to thwart law enforcement.”
GO DEEPER ON ANTI-ICE TERROR ATTACKS
