Though President Donald Trumps vice grip on right-wing culture helped push him to the presidency not once but twice, his war in Iran may have pushed away some of the most powerful voices in the so-called MAGA media, including podcaster Joe Rogan.
Rogan is among the growing list of conservative political pundits who have taken a stance against the war in Iran. On the March 10 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan and his guest, journalist Michael Shellenberger, discussed Trumps motivations for the war, with Rogan calling out the presidents hypocrisy.
It just seems so insane based on what he ran on, Rogan said. I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? He ran on No more wars, end these stupid, senseless wars, and then we have one that we cant even really clearly define why we did it.
When Shellenberger pushed back, saying Trump specifically ran on the promise of no endless wars, Rogan replied, Theyre all endless.
Though Rogan endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, hes since been a frequent critic of the president.
The war in Iran has specifically been a sticking point for several right-wing media moguls: Tucker Carlson reportedly personally lobbied Trump against going to war. Ann Coulter posted on X, saying the war does not make one American safer. Matt Walsh said on social media that the conflicts messaging is to put it mildly, confused. Megyn Kelly spoke out against the war on her own show, saying, Weve got seven U.S. personnel dead. Weve got a girls school175 young girls dead, in Iran.
Trump has a simple counterargument for Republican voices turning against him: those people, he says, are not truly MAGA.
MAGA wants to see our country thrive and be safe, Trump said in a recent interview with independent journalist Rachel Bade. And MAGA loves what Im doingevery aspect of it . . . This is a detour that we have to take in order to keep our country safe and keep other countries safe, frankly.
About Kelly specifically, Trump said, She was critical of me for years and I didnt lose. I won all three times by a lot.
But the controversy may not be as bad for Trump as it looks on paper. As a Republican political operative told The Hill, conflict with pundits can make for a great political antenna.
[Trump] loves taking the fight back to people who say things about him in the media, the operative said. Tucker has probably lost a lot of credibility in the White House, but I think Megyn Kelly will eventually find another issue to pair up with him on pretty clearly.
Meanwhile, Trumps diehard fans dont seem swayed by the backlash. A recent poll from YouGov showed that 91% of MAGA supporters approve of Trumps handling of the war in Iran, with Republicans in general not far behind with 83% approving.
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling situation in Iran?MAGA Supporters Approve: 91% Disapprove: 6%Republicans Approve: 83% Disapprove: 11%YouGov/Economist | 3/5-9 https://t.co/1V2jnLCOxO pic.twitter.com/QX1lY2mnb5— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) March 10, 2026
For years, B2B marketers have chased a familiar formula: more leads equal more opportunities. Build the list, blast the message, and chase the pipeline.
Yet despite better data, smarter tools, and growing investment in performance marketing, many organizations are still challenged when it comes to driving measurable revenue impact.
The problem isnt reachits relevance. Most performance strategies were built for individuals, not buying groups.
Modern B2B decisions are made by large, diverse groups of stakeholders spanning departments, seniority levels, priorities, and generations. And while most marketers now acknowledge this reality in theory, their engagement strategies havent yet evolved to match it.
Instead of orchestrating personalized, multi-channel experiences across the entire buying group, too many organizations still treat demand generation like a numbers gameemailing long lists of contacts with one-size-fits-all messaging and hoping something sticks.
But it rarely does, and its quietly undermining performance marketing results.
Buying groups are bigger and more diverse
The rapid evolution of enterprise technology, from AI-driven platforms to automated systems and cloud-based infrastructures, has increased both the cost and complexity of purchasing decisions. As solutions become more strategic and more integrated across the business, leaders are bringing more voices into the room.
According to Gartner, B2B purchases now involve five to 16 people across as many as four functions all coming to the table with different perspectives, needs, and pain points. Finance evaluates risk and ROI. IT scrutinizes security and integrations. Operations focuses on implementation. Executives assess strategic impact. End users care about usability and experience. There is no single buying group member with unilateral authority. And the more expensive and transformative the purchase, the larger the committee and the longer the sales cycle.
Research consistently shows that consensus-driven buying is the norm and that deals stall when buying groups cant align internally. Yet many campaigns still revolve around a single decision maker persona, as if everyone else is merely observing.
When marketers ignore the diversity of stakeholders, their individual behaviors, and group alignment needed, they dont simplify the journey; they create friction.
Next generation decision-makers are changing the game
Layer in generational change and buying group complexity multiplies.
Millennials and Generation Z now account for the majority of B2B buyers. Forrester research indicates that together they make up 71% of the buying group. While this generational transition has always been inevitable, its impact on B2B purchasing is now impossible to ignore. These buyers were raised in a fully digital environment and approach evaluation, trust, and decision-making differently than their predecessors. Technology is part of the equation, but the shift runs deeper than platform preference; its about mindset.
Unlike previous generations who relied heavily on analyst briefings and direct sales interactions, Millennial and Gen Z buyers gather information across streaming platforms, podcasts, online communities, Slack groups, review sites, and AI-powered tools. These less obvious channels are increasingly shaping decisions long before buyers ever visit a brand site or fill out a form.
Millennials and Gen Zers are also more collaborative. Decisions are rarely top-down mandates, but instead consensus-driven conversations happening across group chats, internal threads, and cross-functional working sessions.
For marketers, this fundamentally changes performance strategy.
You cant rely on gated content and outbound email alone or optimize solely for qualified lead volume. You can no longer assume that the economic buyer is the only one shaping the outcome.
Modern account-based marketing (ABM) strategies must reflect the way professionals now discover, validate, and champion solutions. You must meet them across channels, deliver value without friction, and build credibility long before a sales conversation begins.
Performance marketing must orchestrate, not blast
In this current reality of expanded buying committees and invisible influence networks, performance marketing can no longer afford to optimize for isolated lead capture. It must optimize for buying group momentum.
This requires a fundamental shift from channel execution to orchestration, from campaign bursts to sustained, coordinated engagement, and from single-touch attribution to account-level impact.
Orchestrating personalized, synchronized experiences across entire accounts means aligning messaging by role, channel, and stage to ensure every stakeholder receives the information they need, when they need it.
A modern, multi-channel performance strategy blends intent data-driven targeting across known stakeholders, always-on digital engagement that sustains visibility, emerging ABM channels like connected TV and audio to reach decision-makers beyond traditional feeds, role-specific content journeys tailored to stakeholder priorities, and real-time optimization informed by account-level buying signals.
This coordinated presence ensures that influence spreads across the buying groupnot just to one contactaccelerating alignment and reducing deal friction. Stakeholders dont just see your brand; they experience it as relevant, credible, and aligned to their specific role in the decision.
This is how performance marketing evolves from chasing contacts to driving consensus. Success is no longer measured by how many leads enter the funnel, but by how effectively engagement spreads across the buying group.
The question performance marketers must answer
As B2B purchases are further shaped by cross-functional committees, digitally native stakeholders, and influence networks, the real question is whether your strategies have adapted.
If your focus still revolves around generating as many individual leads as possible, youre optimizing for a version of the buyer that no longer exists and measuring activity at the edges of a decision while ignoring the group dynamics that determine whether a deal moves forward.
Buying groups dont convert because one person clicked. They convert when multiple stakeholders build shared confidence.
The shift B2B performance marketers must make isnt tacticalits philosophical. Driving that kind of momentum demands coordinated relevance across roles, sustained presence in the channels where influence takes shape long before a sales conversation, and measurement models built around how consensus formsnot simply how many forms are completed.
The brands that outperform in this environment wont have the largest databases or the lowest cost per lead. Thell understand a simple truth: Performance isnt driven by individuals. Its driven by buying group alignment that only happens when you create clarity and confidence across the entire ecosystem of decision-makers shaping a deal.
Keith Turco is CEO of Madison Logic.
Calling all pizza loversso, yes, everyoneyour dream job awaits.
Pizza Hut is hiring someone to eat free pizza for an entire year. Not only that, but the company will pay you $31,415.92 to do so. Math aficionados might notice that the Pizza Hut salary is actually the first seven digits of pi. Pizza Huts hiring of a Hut Crust Connoisseur comes ahead of Pi Day on March 14.
The $31,415.92 is a significant jump from the 5,000 ($6,700) that Pizza Hut Delivery offered for a UK-based Chief Crust Taster in 2021.
But then it pales in comparison to Wendys $100,000 offer for a similar job last week.
Still, its not a bad deal. Heres everything you need to know about Pizza Huts new Hut Crust Connoisseur role.
What does being the Hut Crust Connoisseur entail?
Pizza Hut announced the Hut Crust Connoisseur position alongside a new platform called, fittingly, Hut Crust, celebrating the chains recognizable crusts. Its also launching a new crust, the Garlic-Parm Hut Blend.
The company is pitching the Hut Crust Connoisseurs role as guardian of the Hut Crust platform.
This isnt a role where you need to know what synergy means, you just need to love Pizza Hut. Youll taste, test, and review our crust innovations, Pizza Hut states.
Be prepared to create content, though.
According to the fine print, Pizza Hut will pay you the $31,415.92 and provide two $260 Pizza Hut gift cards upon making a specified number of videos/posts and other deliverables as set forth in a contract.
How do you apply to be the Hut Crust Connoisseur?
Interested in being the companys Hut Crust Connoisseur? There are a few steps youll have to take:
Purchase and try Pizza Huts new Hand Tossed with the Garlic-Parm Hut Blend crust finisher
Film a video reviewing the new Hand Tossed with the Garlic-Parm Hut Blend crust finisher
Go to www.pizzahutcrust.com and complete the online entry form
Answer two application questions
Follow the prompts to submit your entry
Pizza Hut also has specific guidelines for the entry video, such as being in English and under 60 seconds, with the applicant appearing on camera and saying Hut Crust Connoisseur.
The company will judge all entries based on:
Creativity & Originality (35%)
Food Passion & Personality (50%)
Social Presence & Comfort with Sharing (10%)
Practical Fit (5%)
Entry is available to any resident of the United States aged 21 or over. However, individuals living in Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. territories and possessions are not eligible.
You can apply for the position from now until Wednesday, March 25, at 5:00 p.m. ET. The contests full rules are available here (including a notable class action waiver). Judging will likely occur around Friday, April 10.
Pizza Hut is facing hurdles
Like many restaurant chains, Pizza Hut has struggled in the face of reduced consumer spending and rising operating costs. In February, the chain announced that it would close about 250 underperforming U.S. locations in the first half of 2026. That figure represents about 3% of its locations nationwide.
In 1960, 72% of adults were married, and over 90% would go on to marry. HR policies and management practices back then catered to nuclear families with a lone, male breadwinner.
Today, dual-career couples and working mothers are common, largely due to the growth of women in the workforce in the second half of the 20th century.
To recruit and retain talent, businesses have expanded family-friendly policies by offering flexible work hours, paid parental leave and subsidized child care. These are much-needed improvements, though many employers still lag in offering them.
Today, another demographic shift also demands employers attention: the growing share of the workforce that is single particularly those without dependents. About 1 in 3 American adults havent gotten married by midlife.
More adults arent married
The workplace has always included recent grads, never-married professionals, divorced empty nesters and widowed retirees. But these categories now represent a far larger share of the labor force than they did a generation ago and people move in and out of them throughout their lives.
As a behavioral economist and business school professor, I study what I call the Solo Economy how institutions and markets are adapting, or failing to adapt, to this shift.
Workplace policy is one area where the gap is especially wide.
A growing mismatch
Today, 46% of U.S. adults are unmarried. Half of these unmarried Americans arent interested in dating. Population forecasters project that about 25% of millennials and 33% of Gen Z will never marry.
Around 29% of U.S. adults live alone the most common household type in the country. Compare that to 1960, when the median age of first marriage was 20 for women and 22 for men, and single-person households were relatively rare.
The average age of getting hitched for the first or only time has risen by nearly a decade since then to 28.4 for women and 30.8 for men.
And yet, many HR policies have not adjusted to this new normal. Of course, theres a word for this: amatonormativity. Its the assumption that marriage and family are the ideal relationship model.
Amatonormativity underpins more than 1,000 legal benefits for married people, from tax breaks to Social Security payments. These disparities extend into the workplace when family-friendly policies dont take the needs of the family of one into account.
In one survey, 62% of single workers reported feeling treated differently from married colleagues with children and 30% said the disparity reinforced the message that their lives mattered less.
I believe that employers can do better by singles with no kids at home without putting anyone at a disadvantage.
Scheduling can seem unfair
Workers with spouses or who are raising children have real obligations that deserve support. But too often, single employees without dependents are expected to pick up the slack by working on holidays, traveling more for their jobs and taking vacations at less desirable times.
My manager asked me to take on an extra responsibility, saying she couldnt ask the teacher who handled it before because she has four boys, Sarah Brock, founder of Sarah Bee Talent, posted on Linkedin. I felt like my life didnt have the same value because I wasnt raising a family. Brock received hundreds of similar stories in response to her post.
Researchers have found evidence that confirms these patterns: Single, childless employees are more often expected to travel, work longer hours and take less desirable vacation times than their married colleagues.
Krystal Wilkinson, a British human resource management professor, has written about finding that children and child care are considered far more legitimate reasons for placing boundaries on work than engaging in hobbies, fitness or dating. Even with policies such as unlimited paid time off, singles may hesitate to take vacations, fearing that their managers will see their reasons for taking time off as illegitimate.
Better benefits for married employees
Employee benefits often favor married workers not by design, but by default.
The total compensation package is typically worth more for a married employee dong the same job as a single one. A 2021 Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 95% of large employers extend health coverage to employees spouses, with employers subsidizing part of the cost. This is entirely reasonable but single employees typically receive no equivalent value in return.
This gap extends to many life insurance policies, retirement plan features, wellness programs and employee assistance programs.
Leave policies reflect a similar pattern. The Family and Medical Leave Act grants up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a parent, child or spouse. Bereavement leave is typically limited to deaths of members of your immediate family. Yet singles without kids at home often have broader support networks that include their close friends and members of their chosen family whom current policies dont recognize. This tends to be especially true within the LGBTQ+ community.
The issue isnt that married employees receive too many benefits. Its that the system was built for one kind of lifestyle and hasnt kept pace with how many people live today.
What employers can do
Employers can close these gaps without taking anything away from married employees and in many cases, benefit everyone with these approaches.
Flexible benefits: A cafeteria-style model lets employees allocate a budget based on their own needs, covering everything from child care to gym memberships to pet insurance. Netflix already does this by offering up to US$16,000 per employee yearly to cover medical, dental and vision premiums regardless of marital status with unused portions partially refundable.
Broader leave policies: Bereavement leave could cover close friends. Employees might exchange one type of leave for another, based on need.
Fair scheduling: Rather than assuming single employees are more available, companies can adopt first-come, first-served vacation systems with seniority breaking ties. Or companies could adopt a points-based system, giving every employee an equal budget to bid on preferred time slots ensuring those who value certain dates most get priority, regardless of relationship status.
Inclusive language and culture: Small changes signal who belongs. When employers use wording like you and your loved ones instead of you and your family in their communications with their staff, it acknowledges relationships beyond traditional structures.
Organizational values: Just as companies affirm diversity in age, gender, sexual orientation and ethnicity, they can explicitly commit to valuing employees regardless of relationship status.
A simple test
If employers want to see whether any of their personnel policies could put their married or single employees at a disadvantage, I suggest they use this litmus test: Would this policy harm a married employee who gets divorced? If so, the policy needs to change.
Many people shift between singlehood and partnership throughout their lives due to breakups, divorce and the death of their spouses or partners. A workplace built for a family of one is built for everyone wherever they happen to be in their life journey.
Peter McGraw is a professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Colorado Boulder.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The dispute between Anthropic and the Department of Defense is quickly becoming a broader test of how far the government can go in policing AI companies policiesand how much support those companies can rally from the wider research community.
A fair showing of top AI researchers had already signed a public letter backing Anthropic. Now 37 of them have taken a more formal step, signing an amicus brief filed with the court Monday.
The filing underscores how the clash is evolving from a narrow contract dispute into something bigger: a test of whether the government can effectively blacklist an American AI company for setting limits on how its technology is used. The outcome could shape how much independence AI companies have to impose safety guardrails, especially when those limits collide with national security priorities.
The group behind the amicus brief includes Google chief scientist Jeff Dean, along with 19 researchers from OpenAI and 10 from Google DeepMind. The researchers filed the brief in their personal capacities, not as representatives of their respective companies.
The brief is intended to support Anthropics lawsuit against the government. Anthropic is suing for harms incurred from the Pentagon naming the company a supply chain riska designation normally reserved for companies in adversary countriesmeaning that the AI company can no longer do business with the government or its contractors.
The Defense Department (or the Department of War, as it now calls itself) was angered by Anthropics refusal to drop its policies against the use of its AI for targeting autonomous weapons and for synthesizing data from the mass surveillance of U.S. citizens.
In the suit filed Monday in a federal district court in San Francisco, Anthropic called the DoDs designation “unprecedented and unlawful” and alleged that the government is retaliating against the company for exercising its First Amendment rights. Anthropic believes it could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in business.
The amicus brief argues that the Pentagons move could affect not just Anthropic but the broader AI industry.
We wanted to make sure we were arming the court with an understanding of the industry’s perspective, Nicole Schniedman, a Protect Democracy attorney whose name appears atop the brief, tells Fast Company. Its critical [that] the brief acknowledges that the use of this authority by the defense department is extraordinarily concerningit is unprecedented to label a domestic [company] a supply chain risk for taking a stand on safety guard rails.
The brief was filed on the researchers behalf by the AI for Democracy Action Lab at the nonprofit Protect Democracy, which describes itself as a nonpartisan, anti-authoritarianism group.
Schniedman characterized the group of signees as a convergence of different stakeholders who both saw the urgency and just what’s at stake . . . with this escalation and threat tactics that Anthropic has been encountering, and what it means for our democracy to have a private company that is putting forward pretty widely aligned-on industry best practices and guard rails around two very high-risk and concerning applications of AI.
The industry support for Anthropic seems to be expanding. Microsoft filed a separate amicus brief in support of Anthropic with the court on Tuesday. The tech giant urged the federal court to grant Anthropic the temporary restraining order it requested, which would delay the DoDs supply chain risk designation while the court hears the case.
Microsoft, Google, and Amazon AWS, the three biggest cloud services providers, have all said they will continue distributing Anthropic models through their platforms, though not for defense-related work.
Schniedman says that the Defense Department has yet to clearly explain why it considers Anthropic a national security threat. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseths announcement on X of the Pentagons intent made no attempt at a legal argument. Earlier in the day President Donald Trump said in an angry Truth Social post that government agencies should cease all use of Anthropics technology, but he didnt go so far as to call Anthropic a security threat. Nor did Hegseth present a legal argument in the formal letter he sent to Anthropic last week making the supply chain risk designation official.
As more AI companies and researchers line up in support of Anthropic, the chance of a major rift between the tech industry and the Trump administration increases. Many tech industry titanspeople like Marc Andreessen, David Sacks, Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, Tim Cook and Jensen Huangsupported Trumps bid for reelection in 2024 and have continued their support, including financial support, during his second term. In return, they expected four years of minimal government oversight as the industry rolled out trillions of dollars in AI infrastructure and services.
Perhaps the Trump administration thought that, since Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei didnt fund Trumps campaign or attend his inauguration, it was OK to label the company woke and then set out to seriously harm its business. After all, other Trump-supporting AI companies like OpenAI, xAI, and Google were ready to provide their AI models to the Pentagon. OpenAI signed its new Pentagon contract just days after Anthropic was ejected.
Still, the administrations treatment of Anthropic has now drawn in major AI researchers, cloud providers, and some of the industrys largest companies. What might have been a narrow contract dispute is starting to look more like a test of how much leverage the government has over the companies building the next generation of AI systems.
Iran attacked commercial ships on Wednesday across the Persian Gulf and targeted Dubai International Airport, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich region as global energy concerns mounted and American and Israeli airstrikes pounded the Islamic Republic.Two Iranian drones hit near Dubai International Airport, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates and the world’s busiest for international travel. Four people were wounded but flights continued, the Dubai Media Office said.Iran’s joint military command announced it would start targeting banks and financial institutions in the Middle East. That would put at risk particularly Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, which is home to many international financial institutions, as well as Saudi Arabia and the island kingdom of Bahrain.Earlier, a projectile hit a Thai cargo ship off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, setting it ablaze. Authorities are searching for three missing crew members from the Mayuree Naree after 20 were rescued by the Omani navy, according to Thailand’s Marine Department.Meanwhile, an assessment from Israeli intelligence said it believed Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was wounded at start of the war.An Israeli intelligence official and a reservist with knowledge of the situation spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media. They gave no details on the nature of the injuries.The 56-year-old Khamenei the son of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not been seen since succeeding his father on Monday. His father and wife both were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the conflict.Separately, Kuwait said its defenses downed eight Iranian drones and Saudi Arabia said it intercepted five heading toward the kingdom’s Shaybah oil field.Iran has effectively stopped cargo traffic in the narrow strait through which about a fifth of all oil is shipped. It has also targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations, aiming at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end their strikes.The U.N. Security Council was to vote later Wednesday on a resolution sponsored by the Gulf Cooperation Council demanding Iran stop attacking its Arab neighbors.Witnesses reported continuous airstrikes hitting Tehran after Israel said it had renewed its attacks. Explosions were also heard in Beirut and in southern Lebanon after Israel said it was hitting targets connected to Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
Israel launches new strikes on Lebanon
The attacks set a building ablaze in central Beirut’s densely populated Aicha Bakkar area, engulfing the top two floors. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said four people were wounded.Other Israeli strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon killed 14 people, and a Red Cross worker also died Wednesday of wounds sustained Monday, when his team was hit by an Israeli strike while they were rescuing people from an earlier attack.Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that 570 people have been killed in the country since that latest fighting began. Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel after the United States and Israel began the wider war with their surprise bombardment of Iran.
Iran launches multiple salvos at Israel and Gulf Arab nations
Israel warned of Iranian attacks and sirens rang out in Tel Aviv and elsewhere, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed six ballistic missiles launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base, a major U.S.- and Saudi-operated facility, and intercepted two drones over the eastern city of Hafar al-Batin.The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, run by the British military, reported an attack on a container ship off the United Arab Emirates, saying the “extent of the damage is currently unknown but under investigation by the crew.” Another ship was hit by a projectile in the Persian Gulf, it said. The crew was reported safe.The ship attacks follow intense American airstrikes targeting Iranian navy assets and the port city of Bandar Abbas on Tuesday.The Iranian threat against financial institutions did not identify any specifically. It came after a Tehran location of Bank Sepah, the state-owned financial institution sanctioned by the U.S. over funding its armed forces, came under attack early Wednesday, killing staffers there, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.At the United Nations, the Security Council was to vote Wednesday afternoon on the Gulf Cooperation Council resolution, according to three diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement.The draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, condemns Iran’s attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan. The measure calls for an immediate end to all strikes and threats against neighboring states, including through proxies.It would be the first Security Council resolution considered since the start of the war on Feb. 28.
Oil prices stay high on fears of prolonged shipping disruption
Oil prices remained well below Monday’s peaks but the price of Brent crude, the international standard, was still up some 20% Wednesday from when the war began, and consumers around the world are already feeling the pain at the pump.Germany and Austria said they are releasing parts of their oil reserves following an International Energy Agency request for its members to release 400 million barrels to help temper energy price spikes.The largest-ever previous collective release of emergency stocks by IEA member countries was 182.7 million barrels, in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Japan also said it will release some of its reserves starting Monday.The U.S. military said Tuesday it had destroyed 16 Iranian minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz, though U.S. President Donald Trump said in social media posts that there were no reports yet of Iran mining the passage.If the strait is mined, it could take at least weeks to clean it up once the conflict is over.Some tankers, believed linked to Iran, are continuing to get through the strait making so-called “dark” transits — meaning they aren’t turning on their Automatic Identification System trackers, which show where vessels are. Vessels carrying sanctioned Iranian crude often turn off their AIS trackers.The security firm Neptune P2P Group said Wednesday there had been seven ships pass through the strait since March 8. Of them, five were linked to Iranian-associated shipping, it said. In ordinary times the strait typically sees 100 ships or more transit daily from the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman.Meanwhile, the commodity-tracking firm Kpler said Iran has restarted crude exports through its Jask oil terminal on the Gulf of Oman. A tanker loaded roughly 2 million barrels at Jask on March 7, it said.In addition to the 570 killed in Lebanon, Iran has said that more than 1,300 people have ben killed there and Israel has reported 12 people dead.The U.S. has lost seven soldiers while another eight have suffered severe injuries.
This story has been corrected to fix an earlier misspelling of Mojtaba Khamenei’s first name.
Associated Press writers Sally Abou AIJoud, Giovanna Dell’Orto, Jamey Keaten, Jintamas Saksornchai, Kirsten Grieshaber and Edith M. Lederer contributed to this story.
Jon Gambrell and David Rising, Associated Press
Long security lines snaked into baggage claim areas and parking garages at some U.S. airports this weekend, a possible indicator of more widespread travel problems as the latest government shutdown drags on.That kind of disruption, while not yet widespread, is not a concern that typically surfaces at San Francisco International Airport, the largest of nearly two dozen U.S. airports where screening checkpoints are staffed by private contractors under a little-used federal program that allows airports to outsource security screenings while maintaining TSA oversight.Because contractors’ pay comes from a federal contract, it often continues even when the government shuts down.“The money’s already been allocated, the payments have already been made, and that continues without interruption,” SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told The Associated Press. “That is a very nice place to be.”The contrast draws attention to a long-running debate in the aviation industry: Can private contractors operating under TSA oversight provide a stopgap and shield airport security operations from the political impasses that can disrupt U.S. air travel?Some aviation experts see the TSA screening program as a potential model for keeping security lines moving with fewer disruptions during shutdowns. At SFO, that system helped maintain screening operations during last year’s record 43-day shutdown, Yakel said.But critics caution that privatization is not a silver bullet and could introduce new risks. The union representing federal screeners argues that moving operations to private companies could erode job protections and reduce pay and benefits for workers already facing high turnover amid demanding conditions.
How the program works
TSA’s screening partnership program allows airports to use private security companies chosen by the federal government to run checkpoints while TSA retains authority over procedures and oversight. The agency says private security screeners receive the same security background check and must meet the same medical requirements as prospective federal security screeners.In addition to SFO, other participating airports include Kansas City International Airport, Atlantic City International Airport and Orlando Sanford International Airport.The vast majority of the nation’s roughly 400 commercial airports, meanwhile, rely on federal screening officers employed directly by TSA. During shutdowns, those workers must continue reporting for duty even though they stop getting paid a dynamic that has historically led to higher absenteeism and slower-moving checkpoints the longer a shutdown lasts.The current partial shutdown affects only the Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA. Democrats in Congress refused to fund the department over objections to its immigration enforcement tactics. The lapse marks the third shutdown in less than a year to leave TSA workers temporarily without pay and once the government reopens, to have to wait for backpay.Those disruptions can ripple through the travel system, cascading problems across already crowded flight schedules. The strain is especially acute this time of year as airlines and airports brace for what they expect will be one of the busiest spring break travel seasons on record.
San Francisco’s airport is a ‘litmus test’
Aviation security expert Sheldon Jacobson, whose research contributed to the design of TSA PreCheck, said the program’s success at SFO, a large international airport, shows that privatization “is something that needs to be explored.”SFO is among the top 15 busiest airports in the U.S. when measured by passenger traffic. A major hub for international travel, it is the second-busiest airport in California behind Los Angeles International Airport.“It’s operated just as well as any other airport,” Jacobson said, adding that SFO’s multiple concourses and status as a hub for United Airlines demonstrate that even large-scale operations can be managed effectively under this model. “If SFO is the litmus test for delivering this privatized product, then many other airports can do it, too.”Jacobson noted that most airports currently using the program are smaller, but “the scale issue should not be a limiting factor,” and he called for a broader conversation on how such options could deliver government services efficiently and benefit travelers.“Of course TSA would have oversight. It’s not like they’re freewheeling on their own,” he said of privately contracted screeners. “We might as well use a government shutdown that affects air travel as an opportunity to begin that discussion.”
Why TSA’s union opposes the private model
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA officers, has long opposed privatization.“We will never advocate for any privatization of any federal employees. We don’t believe that’ll work,” Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the TSA union’s bargaining unit, said in a brief phone call this week.In a blog post on its website, the union argues it could weaken accountability for aviation security one of the reasons Congress chose to federalize airport screening after the Sept. 11 attacks.The union also warned that private companies could face pressure to cut costs in ways that affect training, staffing levels and employee benefits. Relying on contractors, the union says, could create inconsistencies between airports if different companies operate checkpoints across the country, potentially complicating oversight of a system designed to maintain uniform national security standards.“We have to remember the TSA was created in the wake of 9/11 when there were no security standards or very minimal security standards,” said airline industry analyst Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research Group. “The TSA came around, they established very stringent airport screening security requirements, which exist to this day.”Others say there are simpler ways to address the shutdown problem.Industry groups including the U.S. Travel Association, Airlines for America and the American Association of Airport Executives are urging Congress to pass legislation that would ensure aviation workers are paid regardless of the government’s funding status.“Every time Washington fails to fund the government, these essential workers pay the price. So do travelers. So does the economy,” Geoff Freeman, U.S. Travel Association’s president, said in a statement. “That is why America’s travel industry has come together, because this workforce is too important, and the stakes are too high, for this to keep happening.”
An unintended benefit of outsourcing screeners
Republican lawmakers have pushed in recent years to dismantle the agency entirely and replace its screening functions with private contractors overseen by the federal government.Last year, two GOP seators introduced the “Abolish TSA Act,” which would phase out the agency and transfer oversight to a new office charged with aviation security. Supporters of the long-shot legislation say privatized screening could be more efficient and less vulnerable to shutdowns.TSA leadership has signaled an openness to discussion. Speaking at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing last year, Ha Nguyen McNeill, a senior official performing the duties of TSA administrator, said “nothing is off the table” regarding potential privatization.“If a new privatization scheme makes sense, then we’re happy to have that discussion to see what we can come up with,” McNeill said. “It’s not an all-or-nothing game.”At SFO, officials say its screening model was adopted more than 20 years ago for reasons unrelated to government shutdowns. But with shutdowns in recent years growing longer and more disruptive, the airport says its arrangement has revealed an unintended benefit: fewer staffing disruptions at checkpoints.“The benefits, I think, are compelling,” Harteveldt said. “The real issue is making sure that any vendor, any partner to the TSA, upholds the strict standards that TSA has established and works with TSA to ensure that screening remains efficient and finds ways to make it even better.”
Associated Press video journalist Haven Daley contributed.
Rio Yamat, AP Airlines and Travel Writer
The hits keep coming for fans of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.
According to a new court filing from a major franchisee, three additional Popeyes restaurants have permanently shut their doors, bringing the total number of store closures associated with the franchisee’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings to at least 20.
The franchisee, Sailormen Inc. of Miami, Florida, sought Chapter 11 protection earlier this year, citing diminished foot traffic and high inflation. In January, it closed 17 Popeyes restaurants in Florida and Georgia as part of the bankruptcy process, Fast Company previously reported.
The additional three restaurants disclosed this week are all based in Georgia. According to a March 10 filing from Sailormen, all three were closed before its January bankruptcy petition. The company is now seeking to reject the leases on the three properties.
Before its bankruptcy, Sailormen operated over 130 Popeyes restaurants.
It was not immediately clear how many jobs have been lost as a result of the 20 store closures. At the time of its petition, Sailormen said it employed just over 3,300 employees, the vast majority of whom were hourly workers.
It’s also unclear if additional restaurants will close. Sailormen did not respond to requests for comment.
Which Popeyes restaurants have closed?
According to a March 10 court filing, the following three Popeyes stores have closed:
1817 Glynn Ave, Brunswick, GA 31520
628 W Parker St, Baxley, GA 31513
419 S Church St, Homerville, GA 31634
The closures are in addition to 17 restaurants in Florida and Georgia that Sailormen said it closed in January.
Why is Popeyes struggling?
Restaurant Brands International (RBI), parent company of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, has downplayed Sailormen’s bankruptcy, stating that its underperforming locations are not indicative of the fried chicken chain’s appeal or its performance within the broader fast food market.
However, Popeyes has arguably failed to keep pace with fast-growing chicken chains like Wingstop and Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, both of which are popular with Gen Z.
Last month, RBI reported that Popeyes sales were down almost 5%, its fourth consecutive quarterly decline. In an earnings call, CEO Josh Kobza outlined plans to revive the brand with improved marketing and in-store coaching at low-performing locations.
Popeyes had just under 3,200 locations in the United States and more than 5,400 globally as of December 2025.
Fast Company will be back in Austin, Texas this March 1316 for its 13th annual Fast Company Grill at South by Southwest.
Hosted at Cedar Door Patio Bar & Grill in downtown Austin, attendees can expect four days packed with engaging programming, networking opportunities, activations and raffles, delicious food and drinks, live musical performances, and exclusive parties.
We have a compelling lineup of speakers joining us, including:
Ben Cohen, Cofounder, Ben & Jerrys
John Stamos, Actor, Producer, Author, and Chief Innovation Officer, Zeam
RJ Scaringe, Founder and CEO, Rivian
Lana Condor, Actor, Pretty Lethal
Maddie Ziegler, Actor, “Pretty Lethal
Jen Zeszut, Cofounder and CEO, Goodles
Elyse Cohen, Chief Impact Officer, Rare Beauty; President, Rare Impact
Phoebe Gates, Cofounder, Phia
Sophia Kianni, Cofounder, Phia
Andy Pearson, VP of Creative, Liquid Death
Anthony Wood, CEO, Roku
Stef Strack, Founder and CEO, Voice in Sport
David Lafitte, President and CEO, Tecovas
Prashanth Chandrasekar, CEO, Stack Overflow
Amy Webb, CEO, Future Today Strategy Group
Throughout the event, well host happy hours featuring live music performances from talented up-and-comers, including the winner of The Voice Season 28 Aiden Ross, former American Idol contestant Maurice the Music, Latin R&B artist Henao, and Josh Abbott of the eponymous Texas-based band.
For the first time ever, Fast Company is partnering with Texas A&M University to present In Good Company on March 16, a day of programming that recognizes and celebrates companies making an outsized impact in their respective sectors.
In partnership with live illustration company Secret Walls, Texas A&M will also bring to life an interactive art experience at the Fareground Austin parking lot, across the street from the Fast Company Grill. Attendees are invited to collaborate on the projecta custom design for a flagship mobile clinic to be used by BUILD, a Texas A&M student organization focused on deploying mobile care to those in needwith a renowned muralist.
If youre not already a Fast Company premium subscriber, nows a good time to sign up in order to receive fast-tracked access to the Fast Company Grill, specialty cocktails, and the ability to enter a daily raffle for exciting prizes from Dagne Dover, SharkNinja, Homecourt, and Tecovas.
Speaking of Tecovas, Fast Company Premium subscribers are also invited to a a special afterparty at the Western apparel brands South Congress store on March 15 for cocktails, live music from country singer Cory Cross, custom iron branding and hat shaping, and discounted in-store shopping. Spots are limited, so be sure to sign up now.
To register for the Fast Company Grill, visit our event website.
A special thanks to Fast Company Grills sponsors: Texas A&M, Adobe, Bristol Myers Squibb, Capital One Business, IHG Hotels & Resorts, National Cryptocurrency Association, PwC, and Solo Stove.
See you in Austin!
President Donald Trump plans to visit Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday to argue that his policies can steady an economy facing shock waves from the war on Iran and to try to defeat one of the few congressional Republicans who has dared to defy him.In Cincinnati, the Republican president is touring Thermo Fisher Scientific, a pharmaceutical company. There, he’ll tout efforts to lower prescription drug prices, a key part of his attempts to show his administration is focused on making the cost of living more affordable for many Americans ahead of November’s midterm elections.After that, Trump will visit a logistics packing facility in nearby Hebron, Kentucky, part of the district of Rep. Thomas Massie. Trump is backing a primary challenger to Massie.The trip presents a test of Trump’s ability to cleanse his party of those who oppose him but also to try to stay on an economic message increasingly strained by the military action launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran. He’ll be “talking about the economy, which is, of course, the utmost importance to him,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.Polls showed that Americans were increasingly wary of Trump’s handling of the economy even before the conflict with Iran began, and fighting there has derailed Trump’s messaging, as the low gas prices he once bragged about are now surging and stocks that had set record highs have slipped.Employers also cut an unexpectedly high 92,000 jobs in February, and revisions trimmed another 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls which the White House had previously hailed as “blockbuster.”None of that has stopped Trump from continuing to insist the country is booming and blaming the Democrats for everything else.“They’re the one that caused the problem,” he told a House Republican meeting in Florida on Monday. “But we’re really bringing down prices big.”Democrats offer a sharp contrast to Trump’s depiction of the nation, arguing that costs remain high for many Americans more than a year into his second term and that families are still struggling under his policies.
Trump’s affordability tour meets his opposition to Massie
After Democrats won the Virginia and New Jersey governors’ races in November, the White House announced that Trump would travel the country to show that he’s taking kitchen table issues seriously and reassure voters nervous about still-rising prices and economic growth.Since then, the president has made stops in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas though his speeches sometimes have been more focused on his own political grievances than his plans to try to help lower everyday costs around the country.This trip, however, marks the first time this primary cycle that Trump has sought to keep promises to punish members of his own party who oppose him on key issues. The president has endorsed Ed Gallrein, a farmer, businessman and retired Navy SEAL, who is running against Massie in Kentucky’s Republican primary on May 19. Trump and Gallrein will appear together on Wednesday.Massie is an outspoken Trump critic who opposed the White House-backed tax and spending measure and bucked Trump by pushing to have files related to the sex trafficking investigations into Jeffrey Epstein released. He’s also opposed the U.S. strike on Venezuela that toppled then-President Nicolás Maduro and, most recently, the war in Iran.“This isn’t America First,” Massie posted on X on Sunday, blaming the war for causing gas prices to jump.
Will Weissert, Associated Press
