The Daily Brief - Mar. 9, 2026
The latest on DHS funding, a US strike in the Pacific, and more
These are today’s top stories, delivered straight to your inbox. Read below to catch up on all the news you might’ve missed.
US Embassy Explosion
Police in Norway are investigating an explosion at the entrance to the US Embassy in Oslo, saying it was a “targeted attack.”
The incident happened early Sunday morning, around 1 a.m. local time, and significantly damaged the exterior of the building, but nobody was hurt.
Police say they believe a person placed the “improvised explosive device” (IED) there, and they released an image of the suspect that was captured by surveillance cameras. They asked people for help in identifying the person, who was seen wearing dark clothing. The image does not show the person’s face.
A US official said the IED was in a backpack. A second image of the suspect shows them carrying a backpack.
So far police haven’t identified a motive, but said it was “natural” to assume it could be connected to the US military campaign in Iran, but they are looking at all possibilities.
Service Member Identified
The Pentagon has identified the seventh US service member killed in the war with Iran. Army Staff Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington died Sunday after being wounded during an attack at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, according to a statement from the Pentagon. He was 26 years old.
Originally from Glendale, Kentucky, Pennington had been based at Fort Carson in Colorado as part of the 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade. Six other Army service members have also been killed since the US-Israel-Iran conflict began last weekend.
Kari Lake/US Agency for Global Media
A judge has ruled Kari Lake was never legally allowed to run the US Agency for Global Media, which is the federal agency that oversees Voice of America, and because of that, any decisions she made in that position are illegitimate.
VOA is a US-government funded international broadcaster that is required by Congress to publish news and information for an international audience. It was founded in 1942 as a way to combat Nazi propaganda. VOA once had programs in over 40 languages and a weekly audience of more than 354 million.
Kari Lake was a television news anchor for nearly 30 years in Phoenix, Arizona. She left the job in 2021 and ran for senate in 2024, but lost to Democrat Ruben Gallego.
Trump chose Lake to run the US Agency for Global Media, but she was never confirmed by Congress, and was not employed by the USAGM when the former CEO resigned in January 2025. US District Judge Royce Lamberth pointed to the federal Vacancies Reform Act in his decision, saying it states Lake was not eligible to become acting CEO.
The Vacancies Act has specific guidelines on who can be appointed as temporary leaders to positions in the Executive Branch. According to Congress, “As a default rule, the first assistant to a position automatically becomes the acting officer. Alternatively, the President may direct either certain senior officials of the agency or any Senate-confirmed official to serve as the acting officer.”
The Vacancies Act goes on to say, “unless a covered acting officer is serving in compliance with the law, any attempt to perform the functions and duties of that office will have no force or effect.”
Now the question is what happens to the 1400 employees Lake fired at Voice of America and USAGM. VOA’s operation has been almost entirely shut down, with just a tiny staff left, and it is only broadcasting in a few languages.
Lake said she will appeal the ruling, “The American people gave President Trump a mandate to cut bloated bureaucracy, eliminate waste, and restore accountability to government… We strongly disagree with this decision and will appeal.”
DHS Funding
The partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is entering its fourth week, and the impact has now reached airports. DHS oversees TSA, and agents have been working without pay since mid-February. Many airports are reporting staff absences, which have led to extended wait times for people hoping to get through airport security to board flights.
The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was showing security checkpoint wait times of close to an hour, while passengers at the William P. Hobby airport in Houston, Texas faced wait times of over three hours.
Democrats in Congress have refused to fully fund DHS until Republicans agree to place limitations on the conduct of federal immigration enforcement officers, who in recent months have shot US citizens, detained children, and sought to enter people’s homes without judicial warrants. The parties haven’t been able to reach an agreement on reforms and restrictions. Senate Democrats have offered a compromise that would fund all agencies under the DHS umbrella except ICE and CBP, but Republicans have blocked the measure.
“Well, we’ve offered this on the floor, and the Republicans have thus far rejected,” said Sen. Tim Kaine. “They’ve said, ‘You’ve got to fund everything or nothing.’ And we said, we’ve agreed on all the other agencies. Let’s do that. But ICE and CBP need reforms.”
Mamdani IED
Two men threw improvised explosive devices (IEDs) outside Gracie Mansion, the residence of New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, during an anti-Islam protest on Saturday. Neither device exploded, and the NYC Bomb Squad safely deactivated them.
Mamdani is the city’s first Muslim mayor, and the original anti-Muslim demonstration — called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City” — was led by conservative influencer and pardoned Jan. 6 insurrection participant Jake Lang. Mamdani and his family weren’t home at the time. The demonstration included less than two dozen people, but attracted more than 100 counterprotestors — most of them peaceful — who said they wanted to “run Nazis out” of New York.
Two counterprotesters the NYPD identified as Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, and Emir Balat, 18, were arrested after allegedly lighting and throwing the devices toward the anti-Muslim protesters. The men reportedly traveled from Pennsylvania, and police said at least one of the devices contained a homemade chemical explosive, triacetone triperoxide, commonly known as “mother of Satan.” Balat told police that he’d wanted to commit an attack “bigger” than the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, which killed three people and injured hundreds of others.
The two men told police the attack was inspired by the Islamic State, the militant Islamic group. Today, they were charged with several federal terrorism offenses, including unlawfully possessing and using a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to aid a “designated foreign terrorist organization,” ISIS.
SAVE Act
President Donald Trump said that he would not sign any new legislation until the Senate passes the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. “I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The SAVE Act would require proof of US citizenship, such as a passport or a birth certificate, in order to register to vote. It would also require states to turn their voter rolls over to the Department of Homeland Security for verification purposes.
The White House and Republican supporters of the bill say it is necessary to safeguard the integrity of US elections. They point to polls showing that a large majority of the public favors requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Democrats and other opponents of the bill counter that these requirements will make it difficult for millions of voters to exercise their right to vote, as they lack the necessary citizenship paperwork. Voting by noncitizens, something Trump has cited as a reason to pass the bill, is extremely rare.
The SAVE Act has already been approved by the House of Representatives. In the Senate, 60 senators are needed to move to a final vote on the legislation, a threshold it has failed to meet.
Some Republicans, including Trump and Senator Mike Lee, the sponsor of the bill, are urging Senate Majority Leader John Thune to require that Democrats perform a “talking filibuster” if they wish to block the legislation. This means that Democrats would have to speak continuously on the Senate floor to prevent a vote. This “nuclear option” is one that it doesn’t appear there is much appetite for, as power that is used by Republicans can be used against Republicans if they lose control of the Senate in the upcoming midterm elections.
Ecuador Boat Strike
The US military announced that it struck a suspected drug-smuggling boat in the waters of the eastern Pacific off Ecuador. Six people were reportedly killed in the attack.
Since Trump’s return to office, strikes against vessels suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific have killed at least 157 people. The administration has designated drug-trafficking groups as terrorist organizations, a status that it says allows the targets to be attacked with military force.
Previous presidents treated drug-smuggling as a criminal activity to be dealt with by law enforcement, and critics of the president’s approach argue that it violates the laws of war by targeting people who are not enemy combatants.
Ecuador is cooperating with the US in its anti-cartel activities. Last week, US Southern Command announced that the American and Ecuadoran governments had “launched operations against Designated Terrorist Organizations in Ecuador.” It did not elaborate on the nature of the operations.
Ecuador’s president was also present over the weekend in Miami as Trump announced the formation of Shield of the Americas, a coalition of the United States and some Latin American governments to combat criminal groups in the Western Hemisphere.
I had a professional career and am pretty able when it comes to getting things done; but I wonder how DJT has the time, not to mention the brainpower, to affect all of the chaos that is happening at home and around the globe. How does he come up with all of these things to do to harm others, stonewall anything he doesn't like, etc.?
So, it appears that the Dems and some Independents who caucus with them are keeping up the good fight in resisting the BS that has been transpiring in DC these past several months , so, good on ya, Guys and Gals of the center left!