THE WAR ROOM: President Trump renewed his threat yesterday to destroy Iranian electrical plants, oil wells, the Kharg island oil terminal,  “and possibly all desalinization plants!” if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately opened for shipping.

  Trump has made such threats before and backed off, now claiming that “America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran.” He has claimed that the US has already effectively achieved regime change by killing two tiers of leaders, leaving a third tier he says he believes he can deal with.

  Overnight Trump posted video of explosions from US 2,000 pound bombs.

  Although Trump claims the US doesn’t use or need the oil out of the Persian Gulf, the cutoff of supply has sharply raised prices for oil and gasoline around the world. Twenty percent of the world’s oil passes … or doesn’t … through the Strait of Hormuz. The price of oil briefly hit $116 a barrel yesterday, up about $30 from the pre-war price. Gasoline in the US has risen about $1 a gallon, now at an average of $4.

  As proof that Iran is not giving up, a drone hit a loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker in the port of Dubai, setting it on fire. Firefighters were reported to have doused the flames but there was a lingering possibility of an oil leak.

  The Iranian Parliament is also discussing a plan to charge a toll for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Right now, about 2,000 ships are stranded in the area, unable to move through the strait. 

BIRTHRIGHT: The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments tomorrow about the legality of President Trump’s executive order that would end birthright citizenship … US citizenship for anyone born in the country regardless of the citizenship of their parents or why they are in the country.

  “Birthright Citizenship is not about rich people from China, and the rest of the World, who want their children, and hundreds of thousands more, FOR PAY, to ridiculously become citizens of the United States of America,” Trump said in a social media post.

  Birthright citizenship is embedded in the 14th Amendment passed in 1868 just after the Civil War. Trump argues that, “It is about the BABIES OF SLAVES! We are the only Country in the World that dignifies this subject with even discussion.”

  He wrote, “The World is getting rich selling citizenships to our Country, while at the same time laughing at how STUPID our U.S. Court System has become (TARIFFS!). 

  By one estimate, if birthright citizenship is struck down it would result in about 255,000 babies a year born in the US who would ultimately be deportable.

  The thing to watch for is that the Supreme Court is dominated by literalists and the amendment does not specifically grant citizenship to babies born to parents in the country illegally. 

TO THE MOON, ALICE: Four astronauts are in the countdown for tomorrow’s scheduled launch of the first mission to the moon since 1972. The three Americans and one Canadian would blast off atop the gigantic Artemis II rocket and take one loop around the far side of the moon without landing on it.

  The Artemis II is 322 feet tall and weighs 5.75 million pounds filled with fuel and would be capable of sending a 60,000 pound payload to the moon. It’s a little shorter than the Saturn V from the late 60s and early 70s.

  If the mission succeeds it would make way for actual moon landings in years ahead. The aim would be to explore the moon and possibly mine it for resources like frozen water for later space missions, and helium-3 for future fusion power plants.

GET ON LINE: Transportation Security agents began receiving back pay yesterday on orders of President Trump. Many returned to work and eased the long lines at airports.

  For how long and how often the TSA employees will be paid is an open question. Democrats continue to block funding for the department of Homeland Security and Republicans refuse demands to regulate the professional behavior of immigration enforcement agents. 

INFINITE SCROLL:

— Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Monday a bill that would rename the Palm Beach International Airport to the “President Donald J. Trump International Airport.” It still has to be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration but what are they chances they would say “No”? 

— President Trump released video of his planned presidential library in Miami that would include two gold statues of himself and a golden escalator.

HOOP DREAMS: The women’s final four is set for Friday: South Carolina v. UConn and Texas v. UCLA.

THE SPIN RACK: The Army is investigating why an Apache gunship helicopter hovered in what appeared to be a salute to MAGA musician Kid Rock in front of his home near Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. A second chopper also took a turn in front of the waving Kid Rock. — NBC News stalwart Peter Alexander is leaving the network in evident frustration with being overworked and under-appreciated for promotion to a major anchor slot. He’s going to a morning show on MSNOW after 22 years with NBC, 15 of them at The White House. — The remains of d’Artagnan, a swordsman made famous by French writer Alexandre Dumas in his novel The Three Musketeers, may have been found under the flooring tiles of a church in the Netherlands near the battlefield where he died more than 350 years ago. D’Artagnan … a real person … was one of what were actually four musketeers in the novel.

BELOW THE FOLD: In a good old fashioned heist, thieves grabbed three paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse from a museum near the city of Parma in northern Italy. The three stolen paintings are “Fish” by Auguste Renoir, “Still Life with Cherries” by Paul Cézanne, and “Odalisque on the Terrace” by Henri Matisse.

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