The Trump administration denounced CNN on Thursday for airing a portion of the new Iranian supreme leader’s public statement, the second time in three days that he’s targeted the network for reporting on how the regime is responding to the American attacks.
The attack illustrated the care news outlets must take in reporting during wartime, and the responsibilities of American journalists to report the perspective of countries its government views as enemies. It also exposed inconsistencies. The message of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei during his first public statement since he succeeded his father, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, was widely available elsewhere.
The White House said on social media that “fake news CNN just aired four straight minutes of uninterrupted Iranian state TV, run by the same psychotic and murderous regime that prided itself on brutally slaughtering Americans for 47 years.”
Earlier CNN interview criticized by Trump’s communications leader
Two days earlier, White House communications director Steven Cheung took issue with CNN anchor Erin Burnett’s interview with Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian nuclear negotiator. Burnett asked Mousavian what he had been hearing about the Iranian government’s interest in having talks with the United States. There wasn’t much, he said.
“Ever notice how CNN just regurgitates quotes and unverified information from Iranian terrorists?” Cheung wrote on X. “Total disgrace. They have become the murderous Iranian Regime’s version of Pravda,” he said, referring to the official newspaper of the former Soviet Union.
CNN did not address Cheung’s statement but did respond to the White House attack on Thursday. It noted that CNN, Sky News and Al Jazeera also showed portions of the ayatollah’s statement live.
“The world is watching with anticipation which direction this war will take,” CNN said. “Purported remarks from Iran’s new supreme leader are a critical component in helping audiences understand where this conflict is heading and were aired for their obvious news value.”
Other news outlets, including The Associated Press, sent out alerts on what Khamenei said. His vow to keep up attacks on other Arab countries in the region and plans to choke off the world’s oil supply were headlines. The New York Times led its website with a story on the speech in its immediate aftermath, later writing that the speech “was an early indication of how the new supreme leader would approach the war, as well as how he would lead the country.”
CNN has long been a favored target of President Donald Trump, dating back to his first term. It’s a particularly vulnerable time for the network with Paramount Global’s agreement to purchase CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, raising questions about its future editorial independence.
CNN showed a news anchor reading a portion of Khameini’s remarks in Farsi, with an English translation. It did not air them in full. After the speech, correspondent Nick Paton Walsh gave a debrief to anchor Kate Bolduan, noting how the non-appearance of the leader — reportedly injured in an air attack — was as important as what he said.
“We were waiting to see the face of the man to have proof of his health and survival,” Walsh said, “and they’ve not met that moment. Instead, a handwritten message, it seems, that mostly reiterates things we kind of already knew.”
A social media message board for Iran’s point of view
The Tech Transparency Project has reported that several Iranian leaders and institutions maintain verified accounts on X, formerly Twitter, owned by Trump ally Elon Musk. CNBC said Thursday that Khamenei has one of them, and an X account with his portrait posted the text of his remarks, available in Farsi and in an English translation.
Even though Khamenei’s father is dead, an account with his portrait was active on Thursday, mainly reposting messages from his son. “The revenge we have in mind is not just because of the martyrdom of the illustrious Leader of the Revolution,” read one message posted Thursday. “Every member of the nation martyred by the enemy is a separate case that demands we seek revenge.”
X is officially blocked in Iran, though many use a virtual private network to bypass restrictions. A message sent to the platform on Thursday was not immediately returned.
There’s a long history of journalists seeking interviews with world leaders, even when they are regarded as enemies of the United States. Most notable was “60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace’s interview with Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979, when that country was holding Americans hostage.
Thursday’s remarks by Iran’s new supreme leader were absolutely newsworthy and legitimate for CNN to air them, said Jane Ferguson, a veteran international correspondent and founder of the journalism platform Noosphere. It’s not the job of government leaders to pick apart what CNN is reporting, she said.
“We’ve always faced this,” she said, about when reporters interview leaders or other figures hostile to American interests. “This has been a bit of low-hanging fruit for awhile.”
Historian Douglas Brinkley of Rice University said that it’s unfair for CNN to be singled out in this instance. He, too, believes it is newsworthy to learn what leaders of an adversary are thinking, but it’s important to make sure that journalists are careful.
“You have to be leery of being used as a propaganda tool by the Iranian regime,” he said. “On the other hand, knowing what the enemy is saying and looking for a sign of a peace offering or a nuance is important … It’s a difficult balance.”
A US military refueling plane crashed in Iraq, killing 6. Here’s what to know
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — All six crew members of a KC-135 refueling aircraft supporting operations against Iran are dead, the U.S. military said Friday, after their plane crashed in western Iraq.
The U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said the crash followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace,” and that the other plane landed safely.
The crash brings the U.S. death toll in Operation Epic Fury to at least 13 service members, seven of whom were killed in combat. About 140 U.S. service members have been injured, including eight severely, the Pentagon said earlier this week.
Here’s what is known so far about the tanker, which is the fourth publicly acknowledged U.S. aircraft to crash during the war against Iran:
Cause of crash not immediately known
The U.S. Central Command said all six crew members on board the crashed KC-135 have been confirmed dead. It said the circumstances of the crash are under investigation but that the loss of the aircraft was “not due to hostile or friendly fire.”
A U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the developing situation, said the other plane involved was also a KC-135. Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., wrote on X that the other plane landed safely in Israel.
Yang said it would be rare for a refueling tanker to be downed by enemy fire because such operations are usually conducted in the rear of combat zones.
The crash came after three U.S. F-15E fighter jets were mistakenly downed last week by friendly Kuwaiti fire.
The KC-135 is a long-serving tanker plane
The KC-135 Stratotanker is a U.S. Air Force aircraft used to refuel other planes in midair, allowing them to travel longer distances and maintain operations longer without landing. The plane is also used to transport wounded personnel during medical evacuations or conduct surveillance missions, according to military experts.
Based on the same design as the Boeing 707 passenger plane, the tanker has been in service for more than 60 years, supporting the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as well as allied aircraft, according to an Air Force description. The aging plane is set to be gradually phased out as more of the next-generation KC-46A Pegasus tankers enter service.
Despite upgrades over the years, the KC-135s’ age has fueled concern about their reliability and durability.
“The last of these planes were produced in the 1960s,” said Yang Uk, a security expert at South Korea’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies. He added that the transition to the KC-46A has progressed more slowly than expected.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the Air Force last year had 376 KC-135s, including 151 on active duty, 163 in the Air National Guard and 62 in the Air Force Reserve.
A basic KC-135 crew has three people: a pilot, co-pilot and boom operator. Nurses and medical technicians are added in aeromedical evacuation missions.
Refueling typically happens at the back of the plane, where the boom operator is located. A fuel boom is lowered to connect with fighters, bombers or other aircraft. On many of the planes, the boom operator works lying face down while looking out of a window on the underside of the plane.
Some KC-135s can also refuel planes from pods on their wings. The tankers also have room to carry cargo or passengers if needed.
Refueling tankers could play an increasingly important role if the Iran war drags on, as U.S. aircraft may need to fly longer missions to pursue Iranian forces retreating deeper into the country, said Yang.
Past accidents
KC-135s have previously been involved in several fatal accidents. The most recent occurred on May 3, 2013, when a KC-135R crashed after takeoff south of Chaldovar, Kyrgyzstan, while supporting the war in Afghanistan.
In that crash, the crew experienced problems with the plane’s rudder, according to a U.S. Air Force investigation. While they struggled to stabilize the plane, the tail section broke away and the plane exploded midair, killing all three crewmembers onboard.
The most serious mid-air collision involving the plane happened in 1966, when a B-52 bomber carrying nuclear bombs struck a tanker near Palomares, Spain.
The accident caused the tanker to crash, killing four onboard. The disaster led to an extensive decontamination effort to clean up nuclear material dispersed when conventional explosives in the hydrogen bombs detonated after hitting the ground.
Yeah, I've been seeing the issue as well. I'm still trying to nail down the cause; every time I take out one issue, it seems there's another.
The bulk of the most recent (the last year+) issues were a result of bots & crawlers on the site overwhelming the Who's Online table and crashing it. I can't actually stop them from doing that (they have to choose to respect my bots.txt file), so I'm left with trying to manage it and keep that table cleared and clean, which I have tasks set up to handle this.
In the end, I may have to just transition the site to different software, but I really do not want to do that, ever.
Another day, another muslim trying to kill Jews on US soil. Thanks Joe. So far, it looks like he was a crappy shot, I hope that holds up.
I wonder how CNN will frame this? I'll help. Former National Guardsman's sunny day changes drastically when he reached Jewish University.
Biden wasn't president in 2016.
Here's how they "framed it".
Terror suspect in deadly Old Dominion shooting in Virginia was subdued by students, officials say
When a convicted ISIS supporter stepped into an ROTC classroom at Old Dominion University on Thursday and opened fire, the group of students inside barely hesitated before leaping up to subdue their attacker.
I think the Browns thought Njoku would have been extended by now but couldn't come to terms in 2025 when they visited him in Miami. Then Harold Fannin came along.
Not necessarily. I read a little thing that he's waiting for the market to dry up and specifically for another tackle to get paid, then start responding. That article said $25MM/yr is what he's after minimum. Lots of buyers, few viable tackles. We'll see how it shakes out.
Donald Trump Gifted Matching $145 Shoes to His Closest Advisers After Guessing Their Shoe Sizes: Report
Top White House officials are "afraid not to wear" the shoes gifted to them by the president, according to one staffer
President Donald Trump has reportedly found a way to unite his top advisers during a controversial moment in his presidency: matching shoes.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, March 9, that the president has taken to gifting his top Cabinet members and political allies pairs of his favorite dress shoes. The footwear, from an American brand called Florsheim, reportedly cost just $145 a pair and are paid for by the president himself, according to the outlet.
“All the boys have them,” one female White House told the Journal.
It seems to be true. In recent photos, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff have all been seen wearing matching shoes.
“It’s hysterical because everybody’s afraid not to wear them," another female official said.
Other recipients of Trump's favorite shoes reportedly include Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, White House communications director Steven Cheung, deputy chief of staff James Blair and speechwriter Ross Worthington, as well as Fox News personality Sean Hannity and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Trump, 79, has also reportedly developed an affinity for guessing the recipient's shoe size in front of them before he orders their pair.
"He asks an aide to put in an order and, a week later, a brown Florsheim box arrives at the White House. Trump sometimes signs the box or attaches a note of gratitude, according to people familiar with the ritual," the Journal reported.
According to a recent photo of Rubio, however, the president's guessing may be slightly off. Following the reporting on Trump's shoe shopping, an image of the secretary of state went viral, showing him seemingly wearing loose Florsheim dress shoes with a noticeable gap between his heel and the back of the shoe.
Trump's preoccupation on the shoes being worn in the White House didn't come out of nowhere. Back in December, Vance recounted a "behind-the-scenes" Oval Office moment he said he would "never, ever forget."
The vice president told right-wing commentator Benny Johnson that he, Trump, Rubio and another unnamed politician were discussing a serious policy issue — until Trump abruptly shifted the conversation to their footwear.
"The president kind of holds up his hand and says, 'No, no, no, hold on a second. There’s something much more important. Shoes,' " Vance recounted. Trump then "peers over the Resolute Desk" and declared, "Marco, JD, you guys have s----- shoes. We gotta get you better shoes."
Trump then allegedly asked the men in the room for their shoe size. When one unnamed politician answered "7," Vance said, Trump apparently "leaned back in his chair and joked, 'You know you can tell a lot about a man by his shoe size.' "
Maybe trump is trying to prepare himself for life after the presidency. In stead of a guess your weight booth at the fair he will open up a guess your she size booth?
And BTW- Florsheim shoes are primarily manufactured in China, India, Cambodia, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.
If your doc let's you use the Miralax, by all means do it. The other preps are God awful like the others have said. I had a new doc the last time and I had to do the Go Lytely prep. I actually puked...it was worse than that chemical tasting stuff.
Well according to PFF his run blocking grade was worse than Blake Whiteheart's last year who was our #3 TE. We will be Stoll's 4th team in 6 years this coming season. MEH
I think he means that he will be removed from office but that will never happen. To impeach a president, which pretty much amounts to an accusation only needs a majority vote in order to move forward to the senate. To remove a president from office takes a two thirds majority vote by the senate. That's not going to happen.
I look forward to hearing his name because reading it I have no idea how to pronounce it. Until then I will just refer to him as Leeeeroooyyyy Jeeeeennnnkinssss!
If he plays closer to 2024 and previous years we make out like bandits. If he plays like 2025 - then we got a downgrade for a very small price difference.
Can but hope.... I do like speed and physicality. He and MG coming off the same side, MG stunting to the inside and Williams looping around, would be a dangerous combo.
Watch out for a record in 2026 for QB release time against the Browns...I don't know what that record is, but every coordinator should be scheming for that game right now.
I don’t hang out with Mensa intellectuals, so wrong room for me too.![[Linked Image from u.cubeupload.com]](https://u.cubeupload.com/FATEmustard/SINKHOLE.jpg)