UPDATED WED, APR 15 20266:39

S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite close at fresh records as traders look past Iran war fears: Live updates

Sean Conlon

Lisa Kailai Han

The S&P 500

and Nasdaq Composite

rose to new all-time highs on Wednesday, building on the week’s strong gains as investors remained hopeful about the Iran war potentially ending soon.

The broad market index gained 0.80%, ending at 7,022.95. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.59% to 24,016.02, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average

shed 72.27 points, or 0.15%, to close at 48,463.72. Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed at records, with the tech-heavy index posting an 11th day win streak and the broad market benchmark notching its 10th positive session out of 11.

Stocks have been riding high this week on the possibility that a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran could materialize. The S&P 500, which fully recovered from its Iran war losses on Monday, has risen 3% this week. The Nasdaq and Dow, meanwhile, have added nearly 5% and more than 1% week to date.

“The setup coming into [the war] was that market participants had de-risked to a degree in anticipation that maybe things might get bad, and then as that seems like it’s maybe less of a likelihood, they’re needing to buy,” said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments. “People don’t want to miss out on an up market.”

President Donald Trump offered more hope to investors that the war may not last much longer, saying in an interview with Fox Business Wednesday that the Iran war is “very close to over” and claiming once again that Iran wants to “make a deal very badly.”

A second round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran is under discussion, a White House official told CNBC Tuesday. Nothing has been officially scheduled yet, noted the official, who asked not to be named to discuss the administration’s internal plans.

“Is there going to be a deal that will allow the Strait of Hormuz to open up and there to be less rhetoric on stopping the flow of goods? The market seems to be saying that it thinks there will be,” Martin said.

Broadcom

was a key winner of Wednesday’s session, rising 4%. This comes on the heels of Meta Platforms extending its partnership with Broadcom to deploy custom chips using the chipmaker’s technology.

4 HOURS AGO

S&P 500, Nasdaq finish at fresh records

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite finished Wednesday’s session at record levels.

The broad market index gained 0.8% to end at 7,022.95, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.59% to 24,016.02. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 72.27 points, or 0.15%, to 48,463.72.

— Sean Conlon

5 HOURS AGO

Nasdaq’s rally drives fastest momentum reversal in decades

The NASDAQ Composite

has surged into overbought territory Wednesday, with its RSI rising above 70 just 11 trading days after the index closed oversold on March 30. What stands out is the speed of the reversal: moves from oversold to overbought typically take several weeks or longer. At just 11 trading days, this is the fastest such swing in the data going back to the early 1980s.

RSI, or relative strength index, is a widely used technical indicator that measures the speed and magnitude of recent price moves, with readings below 30 typically considered oversold and above 70 overbought. Analysts sometimes use RSI to identify potential reversal points.

The move has coincided with a sharp 11-day rally in the index,its first such rally since November 2021. The index is up 15% over that period, its best 15-day period since March 2022.

(War makes money!)

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/14/stock-market-today-live-updates.html

CSPAN

@cspan

Protestors interrupt Office of Management & Budget Dir. Russell Vought's testimony before House Budget Cmte. chanting "PEPFAR saves lives, spend the money!"

11:04 AM · Apr 15, 2026

·

25.8K

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https://x.com/cspan/status/2044431733802602677?s=20

US Senate votes 52–47 to block limits on Iran strikes

5 hours ago

Updated: 23:02 GMT+1

The US Senate voted 52–47 to block a resolution aimed at preventing further US strikes on Iran without congressional approval

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202604152944

US Senate Republicans block resolution to limit Trump’s Iran war powers

6 hours ago

US Senate Republicans voted down a resolution aimed at limiting President Donald Trump’s war powers against Iran.

A majority of the Senate backed Trump’s military campaign, voting to block a Democratic-led measure that sought to halt hostilities unless authorized by Congress.

The tally stood at 51–47 to block the war powers resolution, with nearly all Republicans opposing it, as voting continued.

Netanyahu says Israel aligned with US on Iran and ready if fighting resumes

6 hours ago

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s objectives are aligned with those of the United States on Iran and that the country is preparing for the possibility that fighting could resume.

“Our American allies keep us constantly updated on the contacts with Iran. Our objectives are aligned,” Netanyahu said.

“In light of the possibility that the fighting may resume with Iran, we are prepared for any scenario,” he added.

US targets Iran-linked network with counter-terror designations

6 hours ago

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added 3 individuals, 17 entities and 9 vessels to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list under counter-terrorism and Iran-related sanctions authorities.

OFAC said some of the targets are linked to Iranian networks associated with Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, while others were designated under authorities related to Hezbollah financial sanctions.

Entities sanctioned include firms registered in the United Arab Emirates, India, the Netherlands and the Marshall Islands, while several oil and gas tankers were also added to the sanctions list.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202604159900

Virginia Gun Grab Backfires as Firearm Sales Skyrocket Ahead of Democrat Ban Push

Old Dominion patriots are sending Richmond a message as background checks surge and gun stores report massive spikes in sales.

BIG LEAGUE POLITICS

APR 14, 2026

Virginia Democrats are learning the hard way that when you threaten the Second Amendment, law-abiding Americans do not roll over. They arm up.

A proposed assault weapons ban and a broader slate of anti-gun bills in Virginia have triggered a major surge in firearm sales across the commonwealth, with background checks nearly doubling compared to the same month last year. The spike is the clearest sign yet that Virginians see exactly what is happening in Richmond and are refusing to surrender their rights without a fight.

According to the figures cited in the report, the FBI logged 79,846 background checks in Virginia in March, up sharply from 47,069 in March of the previous year. Gun shop owners say the increase is even more dramatic on the ground, with some reporting business volumes several times higher than normal as customers rush to buy firearms before Democrats can impose more restrictions.

At Knight and Pawn in Henrico County, owner Ben Goldberg said every time Democrats push gun legislation, sales explode. Another retailer, Stateside Tactical, reported selling dramatically more firearms each day as concern spreads over the anti-gun agenda moving through the legislature.

And Virginians have every reason to be alarmed.

The Democrat package includes legislation targeting so-called “assault firearms,” new restrictions on carrying firearms in public, and efforts to open the door for lawsuits against gun manufacturers. Supporters of these bills claim they are about safety, but gun rights advocates see the effort for what it is: a coordinated campaign to chip away at the constitutional rights of ordinary citizens while empowering the government to tighten its grip.

That is why this sales boom matters. It is not just a market trend. It is political blowback.

Virginia gun owners are sending a message that they do not trust the ruling class to decide how much freedom they are allowed to keep. Instead of accepting the Democrats’ latest power grab, they are responding with the most American answer possible: exercising their rights in overwhelming numbers.

Gun rights activist Philip Van Cleave summed it up bluntly, warning that the real goal of the anti-gun movement is civilian disarmament. That view appears to be shared by thousands of Virginians who are looking at Richmond and deciding they had better act now while they still can.

This is the same pattern Americans have seen again and again. The Left claims it wants “commonsense reform,” but its real objective is always more control. More bans. More bureaucracy. More power for the state and less freedom for the individual. And every time they push too far, they remind patriotic Americans why the Second Amendment exists in the first place.

In that sense, Virginia Democrats have managed to achieve the exact opposite of what they intended. Their crusade against gun ownership has not weakened the gun culture in the commonwealth. It has strengthened it. Their anti-gun offensive has turned into one of the most effective firearm sales campaigns imaginable.

The lesson is simple. The right to keep and bear arms is not a privilege handed down by politicians in Richmond. It is a constitutional guarantee, and Virginians are showing they are willing to defend it.

https://bigleaguepolitics.substack.com/p/virginia-gun-grab-backfires-as-firearm

VA needs to impeach the Governor asap before she destroys the country. She an ex CIA agent, all of them should be banned from holding office.

Virginia GOP Unleashes Volunteer Army to Crush Democrat Gerrymandering Scheme

Republicans scramble to stop a last-minute power grab that could lock Democrats into control for years.

BIG LEAGUE POLITICS

APR 11, 2026

Virginia Republicans are ramping up a statewide grassroots operation to stop Democrats from hijacking the Commonwealth’s congressional map in what critics are calling one of the most brazen power grabs in modern political history.

Democrats in Virginia are pushing a proposal that would radically redraw the state’s congressional lines and hand the Left an overwhelming advantage in the U.S. House delegation. If approved by voters on April 21, the map would reportedly transform Virginia’s current 6-5 Democratic split into a staggering 10-1 Democrat majority.

Backed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger, former President Barack Obama, and a flood of Democrat money,the effort is being sold as “fair maps.” But Virginia Republicans say it is exactly the opposite: a naked partisan gerrymander designed to lock conservatives out of power and disenfranchise huge swaths of the state.

While Democrats dominate the airwaves with big-money ads,Republicans are fighting back the old-fashioned way: boots on the ground.

Jeff Ryer, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, told the Daily Caller that Democrats keep escalating their spending, which is why Virginians “can’t move without seeing Barack Obama on television.”But despite the financial disadvantage, Republicans believe their volunteer-driven ground game can stop the Left’s scheme.

That effort now stretches across all 124 local Republican unit committees in Virginia. Volunteers are knocking doors, making phone calls, sending postcards, distributing mailers, and planting yard signs urging voters to reject the amendment. The Republican National Committee is also holding regular strategy calls and has divided the state into six regions with field coordinators helping organize the statewide push.

Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, now serving as co-chair of Virginians for Fair Maps, has been travelingacross rural Virginia to rally opposition. He said the enthusiasm on the ground is unmistakable.

Grassroots activist John Reid has also become one of the most visible public faces of the anti-gerrymandering fights, attending events across the state and warning that rural Virginians stand to be among the most abused and politically erased if the amendment passes.

Republicans are focusing their efforts where turnout can make the biggest impact, rather than wasting resources trying to match Democrat spending in Northern Virginia media markets.

National Republicans are also beginning to engage more directly, with Speaker Mike Johnson expected to travel to Virginia for a fundraising event and rally.

Even with Democrats enjoying a massive fundraising edge, VirginiaRepublicans say they are seeing signs of momentum. According to the report, early voting numbers have reportedly rattled some Democrats, while Spanberger’s approval numbers are already showing weakness.==

The battle over Virginia’s maps is shaping up as a test case for whether the Left can use money, media, and carefully crafted languageto sell voters on an extreme redistricting overhaul that would cement Democrat power for years to come.

Republicans, however, are betting that grassroots energy and voter outrage can still beat the machine.

(https://bigleaguepolitics.substack.com/p/virginia-gop-unleashes-volunteer

(The VA elections problem should now be very clear with Conservatives, never vote for a Democrat and especially a radical democrat that was in the CIA.)

RFK Jr. Recalls the Time He Was ‘Cutting the Penis Out of a Road Killed Raccoon’

Willa Pope Robbins

Apr 15th, 2026, 7:47 pm

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy has added another tale to his lengthy list of odd animal carcass interactions.

The secretary has told a number of odd stories about his dealings with animals, including the viral Central Park bear cub bombshell, where Kennedy admitted he was responsible for staging the shocking scene of a dead cub in New York in 2014, after he picked up the bear, which he said a woman had hit with her van.

The then-presidential candidate drew massive headlines with the admission, made just before The New Yorker was set to publish an article revealing his involvement in the incident.

But Kennedy’s involvement with road kill did not stop with the bear. In New York Post writer Isabel Vincent’s new book RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise, Kennedy himself recounts another interaction with a dead animal– this one somehow even more shocking.

“I was standing in front of my parked car on I-684 cutting the penis out of a road killed raccoon, thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be,” said Kennedy in the book.

The HHS secretary made this stunning comment in relation to his brother Douglas Kennedy and cousin Bobby Shriver. It seems Kennedy was focused on discussing his thoughts surrounding family relationships, rather than the odd setting in which those thoughts occurred.

Kennedy claimed he took the genitals to “study them later,” noting that “my kids waited patiently in the car” while he collected the raccoon’s penis.

His affection for roadkill had previously been well documented. Kennedy toldreporters in the wake of the bear cub story that “I’ve been picking up roadkill my whole life.”

“I have a freezer full of it,”he added.

The secretary also previously faced a federal investigation after he beheaded a whale with a chainsaw in 1994, reportedly decapitating a whale carcass he found on a beach near Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.His daughter, Kick Kennedy, claimed her father used a chainsaw to remove the whale’s head, later strapping the head to the family minivan for the five-hour drive to New York. The probe was later dropped.

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/rfk-jr-recalls-the-time-he-was-cutting-the-penis-out-of-a-road-killed-raccoon/

Sonia Sotomayor Says She Apologized To Brett Kavanaugh for ‘Hurtful Comments’

Michael Luciano

Apr 15th, 2026, 6:33 pm

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she apologized to Justice Brett Kavanaughfor some remarks she made last week.

Sotomayor attended an event at the University of Kansas Law School on April 8, where she referenced a ruling by the Supreme Court in September. In that case, the Trump administration filed an emergency petition seeking to overturn a district court ruling that prohibited federal immigration agents from detaining and questioning people based on their race, ethnicity, language, or presence at a particular location.The high court sided with the Trump administration, with the three liberals dissenting. Kavanaugh offered the lone explanation for the ruling among the conservatives on the court.

“Moreover, as for stops of those individuals who are legally in the country, the questioning in those circumstances is typically brief, and those individuals may promptly go free after making clear to the immigration officers that they are U. S. citizens or otherwise legally in the United States,”he wrote in a concurrence that was widely derided by liberals, who referred to such detentions as “Kavanaugh Stops.”

“I had a colleague in that case who wrote, you know, these are only temporary stops,” Sotomayor said at last week’s event. “This is from a man whose parents were professionals. And probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour.”

Kavanaugh’s father was a lawyer and the head of a trade association. His mother was a schoolteacher and later a judge.

In a statement to several media outlets on Wednesday,Sotomayor said he regretted her remarks and that she apologized to her colleague.

“I made remarks that were inappropriate,” Sotomayor said in the statement. “I regret my hurtful comments. I have apologized to my colleague.”

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/sonia-sotomayor-says-she-apologized-to-brett-kavanaugh-for-hurtful-comments/

100-year-old B-17 turret gunner knighted by France

Claire BarrettApr 14, 2026 at 11:53 AM

At 18 years old, Staff Sgt. Phillip “Bruce” Cook flew 35 missions as a ball turret gunner in a B-17 Flying Fortress, tasked with fighting for air supremacy over occupied Europe. Now, more than 80 years after his last mission, Cook has received France’s highest military award becoming a Knight of the Legion of Honor.

The 100-year-old South Carolina native received the National Order of the Legion of Honour on April 9 from Anne-Laure Desjonquères, the French consul general, who noted“Mr. Cook, you are a true hero — your example gives us inspiration for the future and your legacy provides a moral compass for generations to come.”

First established by Napoleon Bonaparte in May 1802, The Order is the highest decoration in France and is divided into five degrees: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand Officier (Grand Officer) and Grand Croix (Grand Cross).

Roughly 10,000 Americans have been awarded France’s highest distinction, with most recipients being World War II veterans who played a role in liberating France.

“There is no way that I can even attempt to explain the feeling,” Cook said at the ceremony. “As far as I’m concerned, I am so unworthy. I want to be a representative of the people who didn’t come back. They are the ones who paid the real sacrifice.”

For three years, from 1942 to 1945, daylight bombing runs by the 8th’s Flying Fortresses over Nazi Germany unleashed 697,000 tons of bombs.

Of that total, more than 47,000 were from the 8th.

Of that 47,000, the 379th Bomb Group — of which Cook was a part of — dropped 26,459 tons.

The effort to pry the claws of the Third Reich from Europe was met with deadly resistance, prompting torturous contemplation of one’s own mortality while being confronted with casualty totals that, by war’s end,would exceed 115,000 personnel from the U.S. Army Air Force.

Despite such odds, Cook told the WWII Veterans History Project,“Anytime I got in that plane and we took off, I told myself that I’m coming home. That was my attitude.”

Enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943, Cook had dreams of becoming a P-38 fighter pilot. However, according to Cook’s account in the WWII Veterans History Project,he washed out of cadet training for what the Army called a “negative attitude regarding military aviation.”

Undeterred, the slender, 138-pound Cook found his way back to aviation, this time as an aerial gunner in the belly of the four-engine bomber.

“To me that was the most comfortable place in the plane. I was accustomed to that. I fit in it pretty good,” Cook told ABC 25 Columbia.

Flying with the of 524th Bomb Squadron, 379th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force out of Kimbolton, England, Cook participated in the bombings of enemy rail yards, airfields, factories, communication centers, synthetic fuel factories, rocket sites and enemy troop concentrations within France, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Holland.

According to the South Carolina legislature,the 379th’s combat record “was the most successful of all the 8th Air Force heavy bomber groups. The unit held records as far as bomb tonnage dropped … and exceeded all other United Kingdom-based Bomb Groups in the total number of missions flown, carrying out 330 missions between May 1943 and May 1945.”

Cook participated in the air cover during the Battle of France, bombing enemy positions from Normandy through the breakout at St. Lo, as well as during the Battle of the Bulge and the Allied assault across the Rhine River into Germany.

“We would bomb just about anything that would disrupt the [German] war effort,” he explained to the Veterans Project.

Cook flew his last mission — his 35th — on Feb. 16, 1945, and was discharged in October of that year.The veteran returned home to Lexington, South Carolina, where he ran a jewelry store for more than 20 years before his retirement in 1983.

“The Lord’s just been good to me,” said Cook at the ceremony last Thursday. “I have really enjoyed life, and I just thank the Lord for what he’s done for me.”

Claire Barrett is an editor and military history correspondent for Military Times. She is also a World War II researcher with an unparalleled affinity for Sir Winston Churchill and Michigan football.

https://www.navytimes.com/veterans/military-history/2026/04/14/100-year-old-b-17-turret-gunner-knighted-by-france/