Hormuz Blockade Sends Gas Prices Higher, ICE Halts Vehicle Stops After Shootings, Remembering Lindsey Graham | Your News Talk America | July 15, 2026

Your News Talk America

Show Notes · July 15, 2026

9:00 · Did Google and Apple Bury the Platner Story?

MRC Free Speech America says its data caught Google News and Apple News suppressing negative coverage of Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner while amplifying negative framing of Trump backed primary candidates. When pressed, Google broke its usual silence to publicly dispute the research.

According to MRC, Google News promoted zero stories about Platner's scandals while he was useful in the polls, and it counted 112 hidden articles from conservative outlets such as Fox News.
On the other side of the ledger, MRC says 28 of 37 Google News stories tracking Trump backed primary candidates carried doom or threat to democracy framing, with conservative news visibility squeezed to roughly 2 percent.
When caught, MRC says Google trashed the research and hid behind the excuse of personalized algorithms.
MRC point of view: the idea that checking the platform once a day happened to miss the one window where negative Platner news was allowed to surface insults the intelligence of every consumer and investor.

Sources: MRC Free Speech America special report · Fox News coverage

Guest: Michael Morris, Director, MRC Free Speech America · Bio

9:20 · Oil Jitters as the Hormuz Blockade Returns

A reestablished naval blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz has oil markets on edge, with warnings that unleaded regular could climb toward $4 a gallon within days.

Energy analyst Saul Kavonic of MST Marquee told CNBC that hopes for a quick reopening of the Strait were premature, and warned that the reimposed blockade put the conflict back on an escalatory path. He said oil could retest $100 if the current intensity holds for weeks, and head higher if regional oil infrastructure is targeted.
Where do world and U.S. oil inventories stand right now, and should drivers be worried?
Iran may be undermining its own future Hormuz shipments as competitors build safer alternatives due to come online within two years.
Trump has tried to preserve Iran's oil business for a post regime nation, but those customers may have already moved on by the time the regime falls.

Sources: OilPrice.com · CNBC

Guests: Sam Romain, Chairman, Americans for Energy Dominance (site) · Kenny Stein, VP Policy, American Energy Alliance (site)

9:45 · Brain Injury Recovery and World Brain Day

10:00 · Maine's Democratic Scramble, the SAVE Act, and the Blanche Hearing

With Graham Platner out of the Maine Senate race, Democrats are scrambling to field a replacement. Platner ended his bid after a sexual assault allegation, which he denies, and a controversy over Nazi imagery. The RNC weighs in on that race, on election integrity litigation, and on this week's confirmation hearing for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

After Platner's exit, the Maine Democratic Party is assembling a nominating convention to pick a replacement before the July 27 deadline to face Republican Senator Susan Collins.
The RNC points to the Supreme Court's ruling in Watson v. RNC and the Court's decision to take up an Arizona proof of citizenship case, and argues the 9th Circuit ruling strengthens the case for the SAVE America Act's photo ID and proof of citizenship requirements.
This Wednesday and Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee holds confirmation hearings for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Does the President need to win over Americans skeptical of his claims of fraud in the 2020 election during his speech Thursday night?

Guest: Kristen Cianci, Northeast Regional Communications Director, Republican National Committee

10:20 · Religious Liberty in the States: Arkansas Takes the Lead

First Liberty Institute's fifth annual Religious Liberty in the States index, the only comprehensive comparison of how all 50 states protect religious liberty through law, ranks Arkansas first for the first time. Why does state action matter when the Constitution already protects religious liberty?

Arkansas scored 89.2 percent to top the ranking, followed by Tennessee at 85.0, Florida at 76.9, Montana at 71.3, and Illinois at 70.4.
Arkansas and Tennessee are the first states to earn an excellent rating, meaning each has adopted at least 80 percent of the protections the report considers.
The 2026 index evaluates 50 legal protections grouped into 20 safeguards, spanning education, health care, family law, economic life, and religious practice, and this year it added three new items.
Arkansas rose from sixth in 2025 after enacting new conscience legislation, and Tennessee climbed from tenth after adopting a medical conscience law.

Sources: Religious Liberty in the States index · First Liberty announcement

Guest: Dr. Paul D. Mueller, Associate Director, Religious Liberty in the States project

10:30 · Trump's Election Speech and the Citizens Vote Amendment

Ahead of Trump's Thursday night speech on the 2020 election, Jack Tomczak of Americans for Citizen Voting explains H.J. Res. 152, the U.S. Citizens Vote Amendment, and why he argues Congress could act on the biggest election integrity issue right now.

Trump is set to speak Thursday night about vulnerabilities he says he has uncovered in the 2020 election, including concerns about voting machines.
H.J. Res. 152, the U.S. Citizens Vote Amendment, would amend the Constitution to make clear that only U.S. citizens may vote in federal elections, closing a state loophole that could let a state extend federal voting rights to noncitizens.
Tomczak's argument: Republicans are complaining about cracks in the boat while leaving a much larger hole wide open, and Congress should close it while it still has the chance.

Sources: Reuters · H.J. Res. 152 text

Guest: Jack Tomczak, VP of Outreach, Americans for Citizen Voting

10:50 · Inflation, the New Fed Chair, and Unemployment Insurance

Was yesterday's CPI report a clear inflation signal, or noise driven by rising oil prices? Plus an early read on new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh and the state of unemployment insurance.

Reading the latest CPI against renewed energy price pressure, is inflation sticky or transitory?
Kevin Warsh now leads the Federal Reserve. What do we make of his early tenure and his signals on rates?
What is the current state of unemployment insurance in the United States?

Source: AIER, A Safety Net Full of Holes

Guest: Thomas Savidge, Research Fellow, American Institute for Economic Research

11:00 · Iran's Energy Card, a New Iraqi Government, and Remembering Lindsey Graham

Iran took heavy losses in its war with the United States and Israel, but has leaned on its Hormuz blockade for economic leverage, a strategy the Washington Examiner reports has a short shelf life. Foreign affairs reporter Brady Knox joins to break it down, and to reflect on the sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham.

Will it be easier or harder for Iran to reestablish the port blockade?
Trump told Fox's Trey Yingst he has had direct conversations with Iran's negotiators, though not with the ones firing on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
The new Iraqi Prime Minister al-Zaidi visited the White House in a public display of a renewed U.S. and Iraq relationship, which Knox notes is not good news for the IRGC.
Beyond Patriot missile batteries licensed to Ukraine, did anything else of substance come from Zelensky's attendance at the NATO summit?
And the loss of Senator Lindsey Graham, a leading foreign policy hawk, and what his death means for U.S. foreign policy.

Sources: Washington Examiner: How long can Iran play the energy card · Iran's leadership after the war

Guest: Brady Knox, Foreign Affairs Reporter, Washington Examiner

11:20 · ICE Pauses Vehicle Stops After Fatal Shootings

After fatal shootings in Maine and Texas, ICE has been told to halt most vehicle stops, a move now under review at DHS.

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations paused most vehicle stops nationwide, except for serious criminal targets, after fatal shootings in Houston and Biddeford, Maine. Officials describe it as a temporary pause for additional training.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin issued the directive after Maine Senator Susan Collins urged him to cease nonurgent vehicle stops.
Why are protests forming over the shootings, given the risks these stops pose to officer safety, and is more training the answer?

Guest: Todd Bensman, Senior Research Fellow, Border Security and Immigration Center, The Heritage Foundation

11:30 · The MAHA Agenda, SSRIs, and Serious Mental Illness

Manhattan Institute fellow Carolyn Gorman, drawing on a recent post on X, asks whether Secretary Kennedy's push to rein in psychiatric overprescribing would help or hurt Americans with untreated serious mental illness.

Kennedy wants to curb overprescribing of psychiatric medication, particularly SSRIs for anxiety and milder disorders.
Agencies outside HHS working on homelessness have pushed for more treatment for psychotic disorders. Gorman argues the two aims are not necessarily contradictory.
Her frame: with SSRIs the problem is excessive demand, while with the seriously mentally ill the problem is that there is not enough demand for the care people need.
What looks like policy incoherence may instead be a long latent debate finally surfacing over the direction of mental health policy.

Guest: Carolyn D. Gorman, Fellow, Manhattan Institute · @CarolynGorman_

11:50 · Iran Talks, a New Iraq, and Israel in Syria

A former deputy spokesperson at the office of the Director of National Intelligence on the state of Iran negotiations, the renewed U.S. and Iraq relationship, and whether Trump is pressing Israel to leave Syria.

Trump's account of direct talks with Iran's negotiators, and the gap between those negotiators and the forces firing on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
The new Iraqi Prime Minister al-Zaidi's White House visit and what a renewed U.S. and Iraq relationship signals.
Is Trump pressuring Israel to get out of Syria, and if so, why?

Guest: Dr. John Marshall Callahan, Professor, Institute of World Politics, and former deputy spokesperson at the office of the DNI · Bio

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