Economic war pressures Iran’s trading partners
After the 60-day memorandum of understanding with Iran concluded without any successful peace agreement being made, President Donald Trump threatened an “economic D-day,” which he described as the “MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY!” Few specific details of these new sanctions have been released, but they warn any nation against trading with Iran. China has done the most trade, including buying upwards of 90% of Iran’s oil exports. Cutting off trade with Iran would have minimal negative economic impact on China; however, Beijing’s support for the Islamic regime is more about geopolitical positioning. Meanwhile, other nations with significant trade ties to Iran include India, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. For its part, the UAE has joined the U.S. in sanctioning trade with Iran, but the other nations may be harder to get on board.

American woman joins ISIS, plans bomb attack
“Material support is 20 years in prison; I already Googled it,” said 35-year-old Jessica Bowie upon being arrested. “I know I’m going to jail.” Around five years ago, Bowie converted to Islam and began posting anti-American messages on social media, including her support for the 9/11 attacks. FBI field agents in Albany, New York, identified her as a threat and initiated a sting operation. Bowie confessed to an FBI informant that she had been seriously contemplating a bomb attack on the New York State House, a couple of miles from her home. From mid-July, informants pretending to be sympathizers worked with Bowie, providing her with an inert explosive and receiving updates on her efforts to scout out the building. On Wednesday, Bowie was arrested outside of a McDonald’s.

Pentagon threatens university funding due to ties to China, Russia, and Iran
The Pentagon has asked the leadership of 30 universities to review their academic collaborations with China, Russia, and Iran. The DOD threatened to cut federal funding to said schools if they do not comply. Many of these schools are highly elite, including Harvard, MIT, and Johns Hopkins. This is a necessary step to eliminate risk and maintain security in institutions most open to foreign influence. Many of these same universities are part of large government research projects. Our universities comprise some of the most important lines between American and foreign influence, and those influences must remain beneficial.

Dr. Heidi Overton tapped to lead FDA
The previous head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Marty Makary, resigned in May. President Trump announced Dr. Heidi Overton as his replacement. Overton has medical experience and already served in the Trump administration during Trump’s second term, but to be confirmed, she must gain approval from a critical, narrowly Republican-led Senate. Overton has supported Trump’s health priorities and vaccine claims, has spoken against abortion pills, and will likely remove the FDA rules that make those pills easily accessible. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote on social media that Overton has “exceptional judgment, professionalism, discipline and an unwavering commitment to the American people.”

AR-15s and abortion
New Jersey Democrat Governor Mikie Sherrill signed another law protecting abortion. This one prevents extradition of those responsible for killing unborn babies. However, signing it was clearly not enough. “In the past four years,” she lamented, “13 states … have enacted total abortion bans. It’s easier to get an AR-15 in the United States than it is to get an abortion.” That statement is untrue — far more Americans live in states where they are prohibited from buying so-called “assault weapons” than live in states where they can’t abort their babies. Worse, Sherrill alludes to the delusion that rifles kill more people than abortions do. The real numbers: In 2024, rifles of any type were used to kill 401 people. That same year, abortion claimed the lives of more than one million babies.

Thanks to Trump’s border policies, cartels’ smuggling revenue has dropped significantly
Ever since President Trump successfully closed the border, the cartels’ smuggling business has been starving. FinCEN, formally known as the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, tracks bank reports of suspicious transactions tied to human trafficking. During the Biden administration, an average of 7,000 reports were flagged each quarter, but in the last half of 2025, fewer than 2,000 were flagged per quarter. Immigrants often pay up to $20,000 to be smuggled into the U.S., with the cartels taking a significant cut. FinCEN scrutinizes bank transactions that are “outside of customers’ usual patterns, where money was sent to locations along common migrant routes, or where there weren’t verifiable connections between the sender and receiver,” reported The Washington Times. Sometimes the customer even admits to the bank that they are paying to smuggle a friend or relative. Border security and the disruption of transnational criminal organizations have been among the biggest successes of the Trump administration.

Atlanta Dem mayor blasts DNC for rejecting the city for presidential convention
The Democratic National Committee removed Atlanta from the shortlist of hosts for its next presidential convention. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens accused the DNC of abandoning black voters and Southerners, while also reminding the DNC that Atlanta was recently ranked the best city to host the World Cup. “For the DNC to not even include Atlanta in the shortlist means that the DNC does not consider Atlanta or Georgia relevant to the past, present, or future of the Democratic Party,” he wrote. Dickens felt that the party’s decision insulted the South. However, the DNC recently rearranged its presidential nomination calendar to prioritize racial diversity, with South Caroline first in the lineup.

Arday whistleblower suspended
The race hustlers continue stoking controversy over Jason Arday’s life and death. Instead of suspending Arday for the extensive plagiarism and fabrications that enabled him to assume his professorship at Cambridge University, Nathan Cofnas, the academic who exposed Arday’s lies, has been suspended. Ghent University placed Cofnas under investigation “for discriminating against Arday.” Cofnas explained in an op-ed that he has become the scapegoat, and that the real culprit is DEI within the university system. He revealed that Cambridge had been aware of Arday’s plagiarism since 2023, and that administrators were even “tipped off” by another academic who told them of his “propensity for fabulations.” Instead of letting him down gently, the university covered it up. Cofnas has long rejected DEI and promoted “race realism” and treating people as individuals, which makes him an easy target for the media and others to accuse him of “racism.”

More heresy from Talarico
Texas Senate Democrat candidate James Talarico identifies as a “Presbyterian Christian.” Yet his religious views say otherwise. Recently, a sermon he preached in 2023 came to light. In the sermon, which he titled “God Is Not Christian: Confronting Christian Nationalism,” Talarico rejected the exclusivity claim that Jesus is the only way to God, as recorded in the Gospel of John. “There are so many pathways to the sacred,” he asserted, later adding, “God is not a Presbyterian. God is not a Christian. God is not a noun at all. God is a verb. God is not a being. God is being self. God is love, and that’s why Jesus is against anything that gets in the way of that love between neighbors, including religion.” Apparently, Talarico rejects the fundamental Christian doctrine that holds the Bible to be the inspired word of God.

USS Abraham Lincoln heads home
Following CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper’s visit and promise to send the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier home following 250 days at sea, the Lincoln is officially heading home. On Wednesday, the USS George Washington arrived in the Middle East to relieve the Lincoln, which is expected to reach San Diego in a few weeks. Reports of deteriorating conditions are “completely misrepresented,” according to War Secretary Pete Hegseth; however, the ship was scheduled to end its deployment in May. The Lincoln left port on November 21 and has not visited a port since December — an unusual circumstance that has exacerbated an already long nine-month deployment.

Headlines

• Fourth Circuit strikes down South Carolina’s restrictions on absentee ballots (Jonathan Turley)

• Seattle Times writer quits over spiked Sophie Cunningham column (NY Post)

• California’s new tire rule could cost more and risk safety (Washington Times)

• Ukraine’s “Equalizer” bomb aims to blow up reliance on U.S., European weapons (Fox News)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, Jacob Geoffrey, Hudson Baldwin, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.