It’s been just a couple of years since Arch Manning was arguably the most highly sought high school recruit in the nation. He decided on Austin, home of the Texas Longhorns.
When Quinn Ewers was selected in the seventh round of the NFL Draft, it opened the door for Manning to become Texas’ starting quarterback.
While Manning did show flashes during his limited playing time over the past couple of seasons, former college football coach Steve Spurrier doesn’t appear ready to buy the hype surrounding the young quarterback.
Spurrier, who coached the Florida Gators to a national championship in 1996, questioned why Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian elected to start Ewers over Manning the past couple of seasons considering Manning’s much-discussed potential.
“Most people are picking Texas to win the SEC in football,” Spurrier said during a recent appearance on “Another Dooley Noted” podcast. “They’ve got Arch Manning already winning the Heisman, too. My question is, if he was this good, how come they let Quinn Ewers play all the time last year? He was a seventh-round pick?
“You only have to ask Coach Sark how come you played that one instead of this one,” Spurrier continued. “Hopefully, he’ll say, ‘Because we thought he was better than that one.’ Isn’t that why you play one guy and not the other? Unless it was discipline, and there was no discipline or anything.”
During Manning’s time on the bench, he faced questions about whether he would leave Texas for another program that would give him an opportunity to play right away.
“It was tough. I mean, it’s tough in this age,” Manning, 19, noted when he spoke to the media in April about waiting his turn, according to The Athletic. “Sometimes it’s worth the wait.”
Manning doubled down on his commitment to the Longhorns and said he hopes to remain in Austin for the foreseeable future.
“But I hope it pays off. There’s nowhere else I want to be,” Manning said. “I want to be at Texas. I’ve got friends here. I love this place. So, I want to be the quarterback at the University of Texas.”
Manning appeared in 10 games last season, including two he started in place of an injured Ewers. He finished the 2024 season with 939 passing yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions. Manning also showed his athleticism, rushing for 108 yards and four touchdowns.
Texas defeated Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff before a thrilling overtime victory over Arizona State in the quarterfinal. The eventual national champion Ohio State Buckeyes eliminated the Longhorns from playoff contention in January.
Texas opens the 2025 season against the Buckeyes in Columbus Aug. 30.
Pledging a slate of free programs and services during his campaign for New York City mayor, democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani has propelled himself to be among the top candidates, even threatening the highly favored former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Mamdani’s campaign has gained significant traction in the New York City mayoral race. The Democratic primary election is on Tuesday, but results are not expected tonight due to the city’s ranked choice voting system complicating the balloting and vote counting.
Currently a New York state assemblyman, Mamdani has gained some recognition through endorsements from big-name figures such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. However, he has also gained notoriety in his own right due to a platform chock-full of free services that he has promised New York residents.
Mamdani has said he will fund his promised services by raising an extra $10 billion in city revenue by raising taxes on corporations and the top 1% wealthiest New Yorkers.
A look through Mamdani’s platform, available on his campaign website, lives up to his socialist affiliation and Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez‘s endorsements.
He has promised to immediately freeze rent prices for more than 2 million New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized apartments, implement free public transit, create a network of city-owned grocery stores that are “focused on keeping prices low, not making a profit” and institute free universal childcare for children from ages 6 weeks to 5 years.
He has also promised to create a New York City Department of Community Safety that he says will deploy outreach workers in 100 subway stations, expand gun violence prevention programs, and increase funding to “hate violence prevention programs” by 800%.
Mamdani has also pledged to champion a law to raise the minimum wage in New York City to $30 an hour by 2030.
Another major tenet of Mamdani’s platform is “Trump-proofing” New York City. His website states that President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement, tariffs and other policies are “tearing at the fabric of New York City.” Mamdani’s website states that he will strengthen the city’s sanctuary city apparatus by kicking ICE out of all city facilities and ending any cooperation with the agency as well as increasing legal support for immigrants and shielding their personal data.
His website further states that, as mayor, Mamdani will make New York City an LGBTQ+ sanctuary city and protect “reproductive rights.”
So, what does the bill look like for all this?
According to reporting by Politico this week, Mamdani’s campaign estimates that providing universal childcare would cost between $5 and $7 billion, his Department of Community Safety would cost up to $450 million in new spending, and the city-run food stores cost another $60 million.
Mamdani is further proposing tripling the city’s $30 billion budget to carry out his housing agenda. Meanwhile, the free buses are projected to cost the MTA roughly $900 million a year in annual revenue.
Where will the extra money come from? Mamdani’s website says that he plans to raise the corporate tax rate to 11.5%, which he says will bring in an extra $5 billion. He plans to further set a flat 2% tax on those earning above $1 million annually, which he believes will bring in an extra $4 billion a year in taxes. He has also said he will hire more tax auditors, end no-bid contracts and crack down on fine collection from “corrupt landlords” to raise an additional $1 billion.
Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
San Francisco 49ers star tight end George Kittle was getting back to regular season form on Tuesday as he took part in workouts at the annual Tight End University event in Nashville, Tennessee.
Kittle had a memorable offseason as he and the 49ers agreed to a massive four-year contract extension reportedly worth $74.6 million, with $35 million guaranteed. The deal made him the highest-paid tight, and it will run through the 2029 season — and he’s earned every penny.
He emerged as one of the top tight ends in the NFL in his season as he earned a Pro Bowl nod and a second-team All-Pro selection in 2018. From there on, Kittle has been one of the most reliable parts of the 49ers’ offense.
He had 78 catches for 1,106 yards and eight touchdowns in 2024. He has 538 catches for 7,380 yards and 45 touchdowns in 113 career games with San Francisco.
Kittle was with dozens of other tight ends, including Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce and three-time Pro Bowler Greg Olsen, as they worked together to enhance their performance on the field and strengthen their bond off of the field.
The trio established Tight End University in 2021, giving players at all levels of their careers the opportunity to “bond, collaborate with, and learn amongst their peers while participating in a variety of activities including film study, on-field drills, recovery, rehabilitation, and more,” according to the Tight End University website.
Kittle’s participation only scratched the surface of the lineup that was at the event this year.
The 18-year-old suspect in the stabbing death of Frisco, Texas track star Austin Metcalf was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday for first-degree murder.
“For weeks, my team has been presenting evidence to the grand jury. Today, I summarized that evidence, and I asked the Grand Jury to return a first-degree murder indictment against Karmelo Anthony — which they did,” Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said.
“With that indictment, the case now moves formally into the court system,” he said. “From this point forward, we’ll continue doing our part — fully and fairly — to pursue justice under the law. The trial schedule will be set by the court. But when the time comes, we’ll be ready.”
Jeff Metcalf, Austin’s father, told Fox News Digital that he is happy to see the legal process playing out, but that nothing will bring his son back.
“I am pleased that we are moving forward,” he said. “With the first-degree murder indictment, it now goes into the court system. I fully believe that justice will be served for Austin Metcalf. I look forward to the forthcoming trial. But it will never bring my son back.”
In response to the indictment, Anthony’s attorney, Mike Howard, posted a video statement on his law firm’s website.
“Today’s indictment is an expected and routine step in the legal process,” he said, adding that there is an indictment in nearly every felony case.
Howard noted that “only in a trial that the full story can be heard, and that impartial justice can be done.”
“We expect that when the full story is heard, the prosecution will not be able to rule out the reasonable doubt that Karmelo Anthony may have acted in self-defense,” he said.
Anthony is accused of stabbing Metcalf to death at an April 2 track meet in Frisco, where a dispute broke out inside Memorial High School’s tent. Anthony was a student at Centennial High School, also in Frisco. Both were 17 at the time.
The arrest report from the incident said Anthony “grabbed his bag, opened it and reached inside it” and told Metcalf, “Touch me and see what happens.”
In the next moment, a witness told police that Anthony “reached into his bag and the male took a knife out of the bag and stabbed Austin.”
The witness told the officer that Anthony deserted the scene following the stabbing. Metcalf died in his twin brother’s arms.
Anthony allegedly told the responding school resource officer, who cuffed him upon arrival at the scene, that he was protecting himself. The officer also noted blood on Anthony’s left middle finger.
One officer at the scene referred to Anthony as the alleged suspect, and Anthony made a “spontaneous statement,” according to the report: “I’m not alleged, I did it.”
After initially being held on $1 million bond, Anthony’s bond was reduced to $250,000, and he was released to home confinement. A trial date has not yet been set.
The Anthony family’s spokesperson did not immediately return a comment request.
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump’s legal defense in a major lawsuit from Harvard got a major boost from a slew of state prosecutors who formally joined his side on Monday.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led 15 other attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of Trump after the Massachusetts institution sued the administration to prevent billions in federal funding from being stripped from its coffers over its lax response to antisemitism on campus.
Bird argues there’s precedent for Trump’s actions, pointing to another popular Republican president who, in the 1980s, challenged a South Carolina college over its ban on interracial relationships.
The Trump-Harvard case, Bird said, “is not the first time the federal government has [altered] funding because a university wasn’t following anti-discrimination laws.”
“That’s exactly what’s happening here with Harvard; they’re not following anti-discrimination laws, and they’re not stopping antisemitism on campus or protecting Jewish students and Israeli students, and so, because of that, there’s a big parallel.”
Bird noted that Harvard has the nation’s largest endowment at around $50 billion, in addition to billions more in government grants that are conditional.
“One of those conditions for that type of funding is that they’re going to follow anti-discrimination-wise,” she said, adding that Iowa is relevant and now involved in the case because Iowans’ taxes fund those federal grants, and that if Harvard is allowed to let antisemitism run rampant, other colleges farther west may be able to do so to.
While Harvard has shown some improvement since Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., grilled its president and the University of Pennsylvania’s then-president last year, a clear message must still be sent that their conduct was unacceptable, Bird said.
“President Trump has shown that he is leading and he is making sure that our college campuses that are funded with taxpayer dollars will not engage in discrimination against Jewish students or against people from Israel. And so I think he has taken a strong step here. And I think the law is on his side.”
Like the Harvard case, Bob Jones — an Evangelical college in Greenville, South Carolina — saw its tax-exempt status stripped, which similarly affected its bottom line.
The original IRS policy change banning discrimination went into effect under former President Richard Nixon, but it wasn’t until 1983 that the government — then run by former President Ronald Reagan — won a similar lawsuit.
The Supreme Court ruled there that the public interest in preventing discrimination trumped any related invocation of religious freedom.
Following the Bob Jones case, then-college president Bob Jones III went on national television in 2000 to declare the university was wrong in its prior race-based policies and officially lifted the ban on interracial dating.
On its website, the college explained, “Our sincere desire is to exhibit a truly Christ-like spirit and biblical position in these areas. Today, Bob Jones University enrolls students from all 50 states and nearly 50 countries, representing various ethnicities and cultures.”
Amazon Essentials has launched its new activewear collection. The collection features an incredibly soft, breathable texture – perfect for those hot summer workouts. These fashionable fits work at the gym, in the studio, on the tennis court or at the farmer’s market.
The Tank tennis dress from Amazon Essentials features a soft fabric that is moisture-wicking and breathable, keeping you cool and comfortable. The dress has a built-in bra and shorts, making it a great pick for a day on the tennis court or the yoga mat.
These high-waist capri yoga leggings are snug in the hips and thighs, with light compression to give you the right support during workouts. The leggings feature a flat, soft waistband that stays put during workouts.
These high-waist, full-length leggings are a snug fit with light compression to keep you feeling comfortable. They also have a concealed back pocket to store your cards or keys.
These high-waist yoga leggings with contrast trim feature a contrast trim for a fashionable touch. Whether you’re working out or running errands, these leggings will keep you cool and comfy.
Try the high-waist yoga leggings with pockets from the Amazon Essentials Activewear collection. The leggings come with contouring side pockets for your phone, cards or keys. It is the perfect choice for walks and runs.
These seven-inch yoga shorts sit mid-thigh and are an excellent option for yoga classes or running errands. The shorts are crafted with a flat, soft waistband that provides gentle support without discomfort. Additionally, they feature some handy side pockets. The collection also includes five-inch yoga shorts.
Try these six-inch biker shorts with contrast trim, perfect to pair with a matching sports bra or tank top. The biker shorts are designed to rest mid-thigh for a flattering fit.
While these yoga pants are fitted through the hip and thigh, they flare at the leg for easy pairing with shoes. The high-rise sits just at the natural waist, giving these leggings an ultra-fit.
Try this bra with light support for low-impact workouts such as yoga or everyday leisure. The bra is designed to fit cups A to C, with removable cups and a bandeau neckline.
Pair this long-line padded sports bra crop tank with a pair of leggings for a cute athletic look. The tank is structured with a light support bra for A to C cup sizes.
Amid the heat wave on the East Coast, a train headed north for Boston was halted on Monday afternoon.
Northeast Regional Amtrak Train 94 was reportedly stuck in the Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel before Baltimore Penn Station toward Wilmington, Delaware.
According to a Fox 5 Washington DC report, passengers were on the stalled train for more than an hour without power or air conditioning, with only limited cell service.
The train travels between Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. – a common commute for people in the Northeast.
The passengers were evacuated from the train by 5 p.m. EST and were provided with alternative transportation options, including Train 176, which was held in Baltimore to accommodate passengers, the report stated.
When contacted by Fox News Digital, Amtrak provided the below statement.
“After a locomotive malfunction, passengers on Amtrak Train 94 were transferred to Baltimore Station and then provided train service to their final destination. Service recovery was initiated on board with snack packs and bottled water. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
Amtrak Northeast warned travelers on X to consider re-booking if they planned to ride Train 94 from Wilmington to Boston.
“Travel Advisory: For customers traveling between Wilmington (WIL) and Boston (BOS) on Train 94, please utilize the self-modify option to re-book the next available train to your destination,” the post reads.
“For assistance, please see a Station Representative or text 268725. We sincerely appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
According to Fox Weather, the northeast experienced some of the hottest temperatures seen in a century on Monday, with extreme heat warnings spanning the East Coast.
“The expansive heat dome brought temperatures above 90 degrees for more than 190 million Americans in the East, but it wasn’t just the high temperatures making people feel miserable,” Fox Weather reported. “Humidity is soaring, with dew points rising into the 70s.”
“Tens of millions of people, from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast and New England, will need to prepare for extreme heat to avoid heat-related illnesses that could arise as temperatures soar.”
Exposure to extreme heat can lead to heat-related illnesses and fatalities among the young, old and those with chronic conditions like asthma or heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA title on Sunday night by defeating a determined, gutsy Indiana Pacers squad in the deciding Game 7 of what was an excellent championship series. Obviously, the Thunder were helped immeasurably by the devastating injury to Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton in the first quarter — a blow from which Indiana never recovered.
But even with a fully healthy roster, the Pacers were facing an uphill battle — largely because the game took place inside the Thunder’s home arena, the Paycom Center, where a raucous crowd was doing everything it could to make life miserable for the road team. Every time Indiana brought the ball up the court, they were met with a wall of sound. As a result of the fired-up crowd, the referees were almost certainly going to give the Thunder a generous whistle — because NBA officials have long showed an unconscious bias towards the home team. Whenever the Thunder made two or three consecutive baskets, Indiana was at risk of getting blown out of the game — because home teams generally have a way of seizing on momentum.
Under those circumstances, it was always going to be tough for Indiana to pull off the victory — Haliburton or no Haliburton. But that didn’t stop them from lacing up their sneakers and giving a great effort. Rather than fold up their tent and go home, at least they gave themselves a chance. At least they fought.
Right now, the vast majority of national Democrats seem to think it’s better to forfeit the game rather than play on the Republicans’ home court. Because there is no getting around the fact that Republicans have the home court advantage in the American political sphere. The voters decided that in November. And that means Democrats must play on their court, or not at all. And that means showing up on the cable news network preferred by the Republican Party — Fox News.
For Democrats right now, not appearing on Fox News is tantamount to waving a white flag. In the cable news sphere, Fox News is where all the action is happening. It’s the network everyone is watching. It’s the network where every major Republican consistently appears. In President Donald Trump’s America, it’s the only cable news platform that matters.
And yet on Monday, as Democrats were screaming about Trump having launched a military strike on Iran without Congressional authorization, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) took time out to appear on the progressive MeidasTouch podcast. It was one ofnumerous appearances the most powerful Democrat in the House of Representatives has made on that platform — making clear he thinks it’s one of the most effective places to get his message out. But while that left-leaning outfit has done well to establish itself as a worthy venue for Democratic guests, it is an echo chamber — pure and simple.
This is not to say that there’s no value for Jeffries to speak to the MeidasTouch’s left-wing audience. Obviously, it’s important to keep your fan base engaged. They fill up your coffers so that you can improve your roster. They hold you accountable, making sure you’re performing at your best. And someday, when you have the home court, a fired-up fan base can help you create a difficult environment for your opponent.
But right now in the American political strata, MeidasTouch is a pep rally. Fox News is the game. And really, what’s the point of a pep rally when you’re not even playing the game?
And here’s the thing: Whether they realize it or not, Democrats already are on Fox News — but only in the form of caricatures. Their worst soundbites are played on loop. Their past scandals are dredged up repeatedly. Their most extreme members are elevated. (A search on the media monitoring service Snapstream showed Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) has been mentioned roughly twice as much on Fox News as Jeffries over the last month.) They are made to look like fools without any pushback.
If Democrats show up on Fox News, at least they will be represented by their best players rather than their benchwarmers. (Even if it’s a bit unclear who those players are, at this moment.) At least they can score a few points. At least they can look themselves in the mirror and know they tried.
A few Democrats recognize this. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) often turns up on Fox News and is a proponent of his party colleagues appearing on the network.
“If half the country is watching and we gotta win 50% plus one, how can you reach anybody when you’re not talking where they go?” Moskowitz told Axios in December.
But even those like Moskowitz who do limit their appearances to the hard news programs like the Bret Baier-helmed Special Report and the Shannon Bream-led Fox News Sunday. That’s not enough. Democrats have to suck it up and go all the way into the lion’s den. That means Jesse Watters Primetime. That means Fox & Friends. And yes, that means Hannity.
And sure, it’s likely not going to go well for the Democrats who go on those Fox News opinion shows. A host might play a soundbite that makes them look ridiculous, or they could get cut off in the middle of their argument — while the host gets the unchallenged last word. That’s what happens when you have to play on the road.
But so what? It’s better to get blown out by 50 points than to not even show up. Maybe the team will develop the character and toughness they need to win next season. Maybe a young player will hone their skills and become a star. (Pete Buttigieg, whose stature unquestionably elevated with successful Fox News hits, can attest to this — as one recent poll showed him as the top 2028 Democratic presidential contender.) Right now, only good can come from going on Fox News, because the Democratic Party has hit rock bottom.
But many in the party, like Jasmine Crockett, don’t seem to think so.
“People that watch Fox News have their minds made up about the type of rhetoric that they want to listen to,” Crockett told Axios in December. She added, “God bless those that go on there, but I don’t think that we’re really changing the minds of the people that have decided that they want to watch that bullshit.”
First off, Crockett incorrectly assumes that Fox News viewers are the only people who consume Fox News content. In a media landscape where social media clippers have become omnipresent, Fox News’s reach extends far beyond the millions of viewers watching each day on television.
But more importantly, changing minds is not the only reason to visit the unfriendly confines of Fox. It’s all about competing. It’s about showing your restless fan base that you’re going to go down swinging.
Because there is only one thing worse than being a loser — and that’s being a quitter.
American involvement in the war against Iran remains unclear. On Saturday, President Donald Trump launched an attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities. On Sunday, he talked about the possible need for regime change there. On Monday, he thanked Iran for their restrained military response, and shortly afterward announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. What will tomorrow bring? I have no idea.
But I do know that the United States must not get involved in a war with Iran. We do not need another unnecessary and costly war. We have had enough of them.
In 1964, the U.S. Congress voted, with little debate, for a Gulf of Tonkin resolution giving President Johnson the authority to escalate American military involvement in Vietnam. As a result, the U.S. expanded its presence in that country and was dragged fully into Vietnam’s civil war.
Eventually, some 2.7 million Americans served in Vietnam, and more than 58,000 died, with over 300,000 wounded. The Vietnam War devastated an entire generation. It also killed millions of Vietnamese and destabilized the region. In Cambodia, that instability gave rise to the Khmer Rouge, who oversaw a genocide that killed between 1.5 and 3 million Cambodians. The war cost U.S. taxpayers many hundreds of billions of dollars.
The Vietnam War was based on a series of lies. Years later, the U.S. government concluded that the supposed attacks that prompted the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution did not happen as reported. The so-called “domino theory” – the ideological foundation of the war – was bogus.
This was a war that never should have been fought.
In 2002, as a member of Congress, I can recall vividly how politicians and the media relentlessly beat the drum about the need to go to war against Iraq and its leader, Saddam Hussein. Over and over again, we were told that Iraq was building weapons of mass destruction, and that if we did not act quickly, nuclear weapons would soon fall on America.
Among those pushing for war in Iraq in 2002 was none other than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who testified to Congress that: “There is no question whatsoever that Saddam is seeking…nuclear weapons.” Netanyahu promised: “If you take out Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations.” President George W. Bush similarly said: “Saddam’s regime is seeking a nuclear bomb.” He argued for a preemptive attack, saying: “We cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun, which could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
The United States, against my vote in Congress, invaded Iraq and became involved in a brutal sectarian war there that lasted almost a decade. No weapons of mass destruction were ever found. The war was based on a lie – a lie that cost us 4,500 young Americans killed, 32,000 wounded, and $3 trillion in taxpayer dollars wasted. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis also died, and the entire region was destabilized for a generation.
War often has awful and unintended consequences. It should only be considered as a last resort.
We should not be at war with Iran.
First, let me state the obvious: Trump’s attack against Iran is unconstitutional. Congress alone has the authority to take this country to war, not the President. Trump, at this point, does not have that authority.
Second, nobody seriously believes that Iran is a military threat to the United States. Just a few months ago, Trump’s own Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, testified to Congress that the American intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.” There was no imminent threat justifying a preemptive attack.
Third, Benjamin Netanyahu should not be dictating U.S. foreign and military policy. Trump’s attack on Iran would not have occurred if Israel had not launched an illegal, unprovoked surprise attack on Iran on June 13th, sabotaging U.S. diplomatic efforts to address Iran’s nuclear program. In fact, Israel assassinated the Iranian official overseeing those talks. If the people of Israel support Netanyahu’s decision to start a war with Iran, that is their business and their war. The United States should not be a part of it.
Fourth, in this moment in history, the United States should not be allied with the Netanyahu government in any military effort. Netanyahu is a war criminal indicted by the International Criminal Court for starving and killing civilians in Gaza. His government is systematically destroying the Palestinian people. Israel has killed over 55,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 130,000 – two-thirds of whom are women and children.
The entire physical infrastructure of Gaza – housing, hospitals, schools, and water systems – has been almost totally destroyed. To this day, Israel continues to prevent the U.N. and other aid groups from delivering desperately-needed humanitarian aid to starving civilians, in violation of U.S. and international law.
Fifth, this war is about more than Israel and Iran. It is about the very concept of international law and preventing a world where every dispute is settled through force. Whatever you think of the brutal and authoritarian Iranian regime, Netanyahu’s surprise attack was a clear violation of international law and the United Nations Charter.
One nation does not have the right to attack another country anytime it wants for any reason. The world appropriately condemned Russia for its unprovoked attack against Ukraine. The world appropriately condemned Hamas for their unprovoked terrorist attack against Israel. Israel should be condemned for its unprovoked attack against Iran – and the United States should not be part of that illegal action.
Finally, wars are extremely expensive. At a time when the working class of this country faces major crises in housing, health care, childcare, education, climate, and other areas, we should be investing our resources in improving life for the American people, not wasting money on illegal and unnecessary wars.
Last year alone, the United States provided $22 billion in military aid to Israel. Enough is enough.
It is beyond absurd that we continue to finance Israel’s wars while neglecting the needs of our own people.
The U.S. Navy used its munitions at an “alarming rate” to defend Israel from recent Iranian strikes, a military official said Tuesday, raising questions from lawmakers about how it intends to replace and maintain stockpiles amid global threats.
Admiral James Kilby, Naval Operations acting chief, made the remark in his testimony during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Navy’s budget in Washington when Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, asked about the Navy’s available munitions to defend against global threats.
“The latest round of conflict in the Middle East utilized large amounts of munitions to defend Israel from Iranian strikes,” Schatz said. “Does the Navy currently have all the SM-3s it needs for global threats?”
“We do, sir,” Kilby responded, “but we are, to your point, using them at an alarming rate. As you know, those are missiles procured by the Missile Defense Agency and then delivered to the Navy for our use. And we are using them quite effectively in the defense of Israel.”
An SM-3, or Standard Missile 3, are missiles that the Navy uses as a defense to intercept and destroy short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.
“We need more munitions, air defense interceptors, long-range fires, artillery,” Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said during the hearing. “Recent conflict tells us we need a lot more of them.”
McConnell asked how the Navy and Marine Corps were addressing the challenge of these munitions not being produced fast enough.
John Phelan, secretary of the Navy, said this was a main concern that officials were focusing on to “get fixed.”
“We are looking at a number of different avenues, including other parties and different ways of making some of these munitions,” Phelan said. “This is a huge priority from both the secretary of defense and the president, and we are putting as much effort and time into this as we are in shipbuilding.”
