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Happy Friday, Wake Up Right fam! Back from an unplanned two-day hiatus – just in time to check in before the weekend.
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⬇️ Legal immigration cut 50% under Trump
💵 5 million Trump accounts for kids have been opened
🏥 Trump nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz for CDC Director
🐴 Ford Mustang debuts on this day in 1964 at World's Fair
🛐 42% of men under 30 say religion is very important, 30% of women
📈 Trump approval avg: 41.5% approve, 56.2% disapprove
Strait brinksmanship
President Donald Trump's blockade of Iranian ports has brought the Strait of Hormuz – the chokepoint for 20% of the world's oil – to a near-total standstill. But the target may not only be Tehran…
Set the table: Trump ordered the blockade on Sunday after peace talks collapsed. Iran was letting only its ships and allies cross untouched – so Trump's message was simple: everyone passes, or no one does.
The details: U.S. Central Command says 14 Iran-tied tankers have been forced to turn around in the first 72 hours, with a Chinese-owned sanctioned tanker among those caught trying to slip through. Not a single shot has been fired.
800 vessels are stuck in the Persian Gulf, including 300+ oil and gas tankers
Pre-war traffic was 130+ ships per day through Hormuz.
The firepower: The U.S. has assembled one of the largest naval deployments in the region in decades to enforce the blockade.
3 carrier strike groups: USS Gerald R. Ford, USS Abraham Lincoln, and USS George H.W. Bush
2 Marine amphibious assault ships, including the USS Tripoli – essentially small aircraft carriers capable of putting Marines aboard any vessel that refuses to turn away.
10 Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers patrolling the Gulf of Oman
10,000 service members deployed across the operation
Plus space and undersea assets providing surveillance
LOLZ: Iranian Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi threatened to respond by blockading the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and the Red Sea. The only problem… Iran's navy, in Trump's words, is "completely obliterated” with more than 90% of its fleet at the bottom of the ocean.
Playing chicken: Both sides are betting the other blinks first.
⏰ Iran's clock: Tehran was exporting 2 million barrels a day during the war. Analysts say it can endure a full halt for just two to eight weeks before curbing production — risking permanent damage to its oil fields.
⏰ America's clock: A prolonged halt could send global fuel prices soaring, piling onto 12 million barrels a day already disrupted. Tehran is betting pump pain forces Trump to fold first.
The China angle: Beijing is Iran's biggest oil buyer, and on Monday, Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun struck a defiant tone, declaring: "The Strait of Hormuz is open to us."
In reality… A sanctioned Chinese-owned tanker masked its location for 10 days and slipped through Hormuz on Monday night, but was then forced to U-turn back to Iran after running into the blockade.
China chokepoint: Beijing relies heavily on oil from the Strait of Hormuz. And it has reportedly been pressuring Iran to negotiate with the U.S. in order to end the U.S. blockade.
Big picture: Hormuz isn't the only chokepoint Trump has locked down. He just seized effective control of Venezuelan oil exports [another top supplier to China] and inked a deal with Indonesia, giving Washington major sway over the Strait of Malacca, the shipping lane that carries the bulk of China's seaborne imports. Most of the major arteries feeding the Chinese economy now run through a valve Trump controls.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping sits down with President Trump next month, he'll have a much weaker hand than he had six months ago.
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Young men are finding God
A new Gallup poll shows young American men are turning back to faith at a striking rate – flipping a decades-old gender gap and rejecting the left’s long-held belief that the U.S. is trending secular and progressive.
The numbers: The share of men under 30-years-old calling religion "very important" jumped from 28% to 42% in just two years, according to Gallup data released this week. That puts them on par with middle-aged and older men – groups that have historically been more religious.
Butts in pews: And they’re not just talking the talk. Monthly church attendance among young men also climbed, from 33% in 2023 to 40% in 2025.
What about the ladies? Young women haven't budged – only 30% say religion is "very important," making them now the least religious women of any age group.
For decades, women have been more religiously engaged than men.
Church attendance by party: The partisan divide here is stark.
Young Republican men: 52%, up from 40% in 2019
Young Democrat men: 26%, down from 40% in 2000
The data isn't just in polls: Bible sales are at a 20-year high. The YouVersion Bible app hit 150 million installs in 2025 – a 50% increase from 2023.
Charlie’s influence: It’s probably no coincidence that the young conservative men who grew up listening to conservative figures like the late Charlie Kirk have found their way back to God. Before his death, he shared the message:
“Find yourself back to church … that will reorient your life. Do what the church tells you to do: Find a woman, marry her, provide … have more kids than you can afford.”
Big picture: Recently, a tweet went viral, describing a packed Sunday Mass in Manhattan as "the hottest club in NYC right now." When church is packed in far-left hellscapes line NYC, that’s signal – not noise.
[Source: Daily Wire, Gallup]
📜 A nearly 900-page DOJ report examining 700,000 internal records found that the Biden administration engaged in "biased enforcement" of the FACE Act against pro-life activists, with 97% of all FACE Act cases since 1994 targeting pro-life advocates despite the law being written to protect abortion clinics, pregnancy centers, and churches equally. Read more.
☮ Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, President Donald Trump announced. Read more.
🤡 Ten Republicans joined with Democratic House members on Thursday to pass a resolution that seeks to protect 350,000 Haitians from deportation. Read more.
🚨 Former Democratic Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax committed suicide after killing his wife early Thursday during a messy divorce. Read more.
🚛 The Trump administration is witholding $73.5 million in federal funding from New York state for failing to revoke an estimated 33,000 illegally issued commercial driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Read more.
📉 A Chinese national and former Indiana University researcher pleaded guilty to secretly smuggling bacteria into the U.S. by concealing them inside a shipment falsely labeled as women’s underwear. Read more.
💩 Rama Duwaji, the wife of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has apologized for controversial social media posts praising Palestinian terrorists and using racial slurs. Read more.
🆘 DHS employee Lauren Bullis was shot and stabbed while walking her dog by a foreigner named Olaolukitan Adon Abel, who was naturalized under the Biden regime and had prior convictions for sexual battery, assault with a deadly weapon, and battery against a police officer. Read more.
🏈 NFL reporter Dianna Russini resigned from The Athletic after photos of her and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel getting cozy surfaced. Both are married. Read more.
🎟️ Live Nation was found guilty of illegally monopolizing the ticketing market for major U.S. concerts, and over 30 states are now expected to push for a breakup of the company. Read more.
💰 Billionaire Miriam Adelson donated $40 million to Republican super PACs. Read more.
🔥 Yet another historic church was torched in Canada – a parish built in 1893 – adding to at least 33 churches burned since 2021, with fewer than 4% of cases resulting in charges. Read more.
🏛 The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts voted to advance a 250-foot-tall triumphal arch set to cement President Trump’s legacy in the nation’s capital. Read more.
🎥 Lib streamer Hasan Piker told Yale students the fall of the USSR was "one of the greatest catastrophes of the 20th century" and predicted the American empire would "inevitably fall.” Watch.
📰 This story is a reminder that the devil is among us: Jurors are brought to tears as 7-year-old Athena Strand’s last moments are played in court. Read. Her killer faces the death penalty. He deserves worse.
🎥 If you see a frumpy lib crying today, it's probably because Sydney Sweeney brought back her controversial “good jeans” for another ad campaign with American Eagle. Watch.
🎥 Hans Zimmer, known for film scores in Interstellar and Dark Knight, pauses concert to say “F*** Trump.” Watch.
🎥 Dr. Oz reveals Trump's theory about Diet Coke preventing cancer. Watch.
🎥 U.S. military sinks drug boat in the Pacific, kills 3 cartel members. Watch.
🎥 Stuntman climbs to the top of the Vegas Sphere. Watch.
🎥 The White House unveils Trump's 250-foot Triumphal Arch. Watch.
🎥 Wtf... pilots heard meowing and barking on Air Traffic Control. Watch.
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