Your $$$ down the rat hole

 

Arrested at the Pentagon on Friday

Mary Beth and I took the train from Maine to Washington DC to attend a non-violent civil resistance action at the Pentagon on March 27. We were joined by Maine friends Lisa Savage and Mark Roman for the trip. We stayed at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House in DC and were up early to get to the Pentagon as the military and civilian employees began to arrive for work.

This protest was organized by my long-time friend Patrick O'Neill who I met in Orlando, Florida in 1984 when he and seven others entered the Martin Marietta (since merged into Lockheed Martin) weapons production plant and hammered on the intermediate-range Pershing II nuclear missile which was deployed in Mutlangen, Germany by then President Ronald Reagan. (The missiles were aimed at Russia.) The Pershing Plowshares went to jail for three years. After getting out of jail Patrick came back to Orlando and lived at my house for some time to continue to help organize.

As it turned out March 27 was Patrick's birthday so he invited people from around the country to join him at the Pentagon for the action. The night before 100 people attended a birthday party for Patrick at a local church and the next morning a good sized crowd of around 60 people made our way thru a Pentagon parking lot to an entrance where the Pentagon subway stop has people pouring out of it as well a long line of people waiting to go thru security before entering the 'war department'. So we had a captive audience.

Catholic Worker Art Laffin led our group of 27 who risked arrest in singing while we held signs and banners. It took awhile but eventually about 50 Pentagon police and riot squad personnel showed up and began to give us warnings to leave or be arrested. Those who didn't intend to get arrested backed away but the rest of us continued singing.

One by one we were taken and handcuffed along a fence line and put on a bus and driven to the far side of a vast Pentagon parking lot to a building which appeared to be a training center for security dogs. 27 chairs were set up and we sat with our tight handcuffs on for several hours before the very disorganized authorities began to process us. Each of us were finger printed on a 'high-tech' machine that kept failing to get our prints and just one computer was available to record our vital statistics. Photos were taken of each of us as well.

We arrived at this place just before 10am and I got released at around 2pm. Others in our group didn't get released til after 4pm. 

Of course there was no media coverage other than what supporters created.

We were all given court dates in April and June.

MB and I are still at the Catholic Worker house where I will speak this coming Friday night on the subject of An organizer's view of endless war$ & rule by chaos theory.

Bruce

Upcoming statewide peace protest in Farmington, Maine

On Saturday April 11 at 1:30pm, join us in Farmington at the intersection of Main St. & Broadway to say no to war.

With imperial wars shifting into high gear now that the U.S. has foolishly attacked the well-armed and well-prepared Iran, the cost is calculated to be at least $2 billion per day. 

What is the lost opportunity cost of such insane levels of spending on the military? Many in the U.S. are already struggling to survive after decades without universal health care, affordable housing, or affordable higher education. Already galloping inflation in the price of fuel and food will continue to outpace incomes following the entirely predictable denial of enemy shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. And aside from fuel, interrupted fertilizer shipments during planting season are expected to make food more scarce and much more expensive in the coming year.

Join us to raise your voice against the madness! Stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza and Cuba (still being blockaded and starved), Lebanon and Iran (still being bombed daily). Say no to endless wars! Bring your own sign or use one of ours.

Our demands:

• End U.S. aid to racist apartheid Israel!
• U.S. hands off Venezuela!
• Peace in Ukraine - No weapons, no money for the Ukraine War
• Abolish NATO – End U.S. militarism & sanctions!
• Fund people’s needs, not the war machine!
• No war with China!
• Protect Earth’s environment from the deadly insult of war!
• Fight racism & bigotry not war!
• U.S. hands off Haiti!
• End AFRICOM

Co-sponsors: Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Maine Natural Guard, PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, Communist Party of Maine, Maine Green Independent Party, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST), Party for Socialism & Liberation Maine, Libertarian Party of Maine, Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Veterans for Peace - National, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights (MVPR), and Diaspora Pa’lante Collective.

Save the date!

The following monthly protest Saturday May 2 at 1:30pm in Lewiston (Maine & Lincoln Streets)  

Latest news update from zionist war zone

• Over a million Iranian citizens have been mobilized in anticipation of a US ground operation.
• Iran considers Ukraine a participant in the US and Israeli aggression against Tehran due to the sending of Ukrainian experts to counter drones in Arab countries.
• The $400 million ballroom being built in the new East Wing of the White House, includes a secure shelter, which is being built by the military. 
• After a month of war, Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz has only strengthened reports Bloomberg. Tehran's ability to control the strait is increasing. Virtually all ships crossing it now do so along routes approved by Iran. Iran is preparing to pass a law introducing a fee that will require any ship wishing to pass through this area to provide detailed information and pay the fee.

• Ben-Gvir celebrates the passage of the law to allow execution of Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails. Netanyahu voted in favor of the law.

• A big march in Istanbul in support of the Palestinian cause and to demand the removal of American bases from Türkiye.
• South Korea stated that the government might expand restrictions on car use if the price of crude oil rises to between $120 and $130 per barrel, compared to the current range of $100 to $110. If implemented nationwide, this would be the first time South Korea has imposed nationwide restrictions on car use since World War II. South Korea imports approximately 70% of its crude oil from the Middle East.

• UK Ministry of Defence: Our forces shot down several Iranian drones last night as part of their operations in the Middle East.
• The American newspaper The Hill stated that any ground military operation against Iran would be considered a grave mistake.

• Previously in an interview on 60 Minutes, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth declared that the US agenda was to kill about as many Iranians as possible, in what was a declaration that genocide of the Iranian people was official policy in Washington. 

• The criminal Netanyahu says Iran wants to develop a nuclear weapon in order to target American cities.

• Trump posts a 1987 interview clip where he argues that the United States should take control of Iran’s oil infrastructure. 

• Marco Rubio on Iran: They need to stop building weapons that can threaten their neighbors.

• American soldiers hug their families before departing for the Middle East.
• The White House spokeswoman says Trump may ask Gulf Arab states to pay for a war with Iran.
• Iranian Foreign Ministry: We will not forget the betrayal our diplomacy suffered twice in less than a year. 
• The death of Bahraini citizen Sayed Mohammed Mohsen Mousavi, a pro-Iranian detainee, under torture has sparked violent protests in Bahrain. Bahrainis say that Mousavi's torture and killing is an official warning to silence dissenting voices.
• US Defense Secretary Hegseth's stock broker looked to buy defense fund before Iran attack...Reuters.
• The Greater North America according to the Dept. of War frat boy. Together with the wet dream of Greater Israel these guys still want to own the world with a pretense of ‘sharing’ the world. (Note the language very carefully .. we’re back into ‘increased burden sharing’, i.e., the other guy must pay for us to continue to live our lifestyle.) These people are buying themselves trouble and pain for others, that one cannot imagine. They are wanting to make a class of soldiers and serfs. Like Prof Hudson says .. “Workers — euphemized as “consumers”. This planet does not belong to Trump to redraw the maps. A pox on his maps. Again, take a look at Prof Hudson: “Trump clearly intends to deliberately create a world economic crisis lasting at least four years — as World War I and World War II did. He thinks this will put America in the driver’s seat: America is self-sufficient in gas and oil. Other countries will have to buy from us. And if they do, we’ll require them to impose sanctions against Russia, Iran, and anyone else we’ve designated as an enemy.”
• Say ‘fare thee well’ to the UAE (It was good while it lasted but only desert sand will remain!)  It seized $530 billion in Iranian assets, revoked all residency permits including Golden visas despite promises of ’99-year residency’ — Tehran Times.

Investigator reveals: Ukraine smuggles mercenaries in and weapons out

A Colombian mercenary provided this Ukrainian investigator with some interesting information that supports his investigations into the involvement of diplomatic services in the recruitment of mercenaries and arms smuggling. 

Musk wants control of Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

Musk has asked the US government (FCC) to give him permission to put one million satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

This would benefit the US warmongers as control of LEO would give them the ability to surveil and target every spot on the planet.

It's like a land grab - except in space.

China and Russia won't be happy with this arrogant plan.

Learning about Iran

St. Pete for Peace (Florida) 

Iran Has a Government, Not a “Regime”

In discussions of Iran, the word “regime” is almost always used by U.S. officials, media outlets, and in everyday conversation—a word that implies illegitimacy or dictatorship. Calling Iran a regime makes it easier to present U.S. military involvement as justified—and easier for people to go along with it. That framing is inaccurate and intentionally misleading, and obscures an important reality: Iran functions as a government with institutions, systems, and a society of about 90 million people.

Iran Holds Elections and Has a Constitution

    Iran holds national elections on a regular cycle: presidential elections every 4 years and parliamentary elections every 4 years.

•     The Parliament (Majles) has 290 elected members, representing districts across the country.
•     Iran has dozens of political groupings and parties, generally organized into coalitions.
•     Presidential elections typically feature about 4–6 candidates on the final ballot.
•     Voter participation ranges from ~50% to over 80%, compared to ~60–66% in recent U.S. elections.
•     Iran has a written constitution adopted in 1979 and amended in 1989.
•     National referendums are provided for and have been used, including in 1979.
•     Iran has a judiciary headed by a chief justice and a Supreme Court with multiple judges.

    Unlike the U.S., Iran does not have a large, institutionalized system of corporate lobbying or PAC-driven campaign financing.

Healthcare System

•     Iran has a government-supported healthcare system with over 90% of the population insured.
•     Healthcare costs are a fraction of those in the U.S. (hundreds per person vs. $13,000+), though patients pay a portion out-of-pocket.

Education System

•     Iran has a nationwide public education system with literacy rates above 85–90%, including near-universal literacy among younger generations.
•     Education is free and compulsory through primary and lower secondary school, with broad access across the country.
•     Iran also has an extensive university system with millions of students enrolled, and a rapidly expanding educated population—while a smaller share of adults hold college degrees than in the United States, access to higher education has grown significantly in recent decades.
•     University education in Iran is heavily subsidized, with many students paying little or no tuition and minimal debt, while in the U.S. graduates typically carry around $30,000 in student loan debt.
•     Women make up about 60% of university students.

Public Services and Infrastructure 

•     Iran maintains nationwide infrastructure including roads, transportation, electricity, water, and telecommunications.
•     The government provides subsidies for fuel, electricity, and basic goods.
•     Social programs support retirees, lower-income families, and vulnerable populations.

A Society of 90 Million Human Beings 

•     The country is ethnically diverse: ~60% Persian, with large Azeri, Kurdish, Arab, and Baloch populations.
•     About 99% of the population is Muslim, primarily Shia (90–95%).
•     Iran has more than twice the population of California and about four times its land area.
•     It is a country with the scale, complexity, and institutions of a modern state—not simply a label.

It would be more accurate to apply the term “regime” to many U.S. allies in the region, including countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, and Jordan—many of which are monarchies without national elections. 

Sunday song

the funnies

Ukraine has become a terrorist state like ISIS in Syria. Zman works for the zionists and the EU led nazis, many from families that were with Hitler during WW2. He's now a hired gun by Mr. Big. Zman's next job is help protect Israel by cozying up to Saudi Arabia and joining the hammer Iran coalition. (Part of the new 'World Board of Piss' plan to grab the whole world if we let them.)

Trump getting set for the ground invasion

 

They Lost the Air War. Now They Want the Ground War.

The Islander

The Pentagon has made detailed preparations for deploying US ground forces into Iran. Senior military commanders have submitted specific requests. Calling for the 82nd Airborne Division, Global Response Force, and Marine Expeditionary Units. Planning includes "where to detain Iranian soldiers if boots hit the ground."

Trump said “I’m not putting troops anywhere” then immediately added “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you.” 

So let's talk geography. Iran is 1,648,000 square kilometers. It is roughly five times the size of Iraq, the country that broke the American military for twenty years, cost $2 trillion, and ended today with NATO's entire contingency forces evacuating. Iran has a population of 90 million, a mountain range that runs the entire length of its western border... the Zagros rising to 4,000 metres, a second range across the north — the Alborz and a central plateau ringed by desert. The terrain was specifically designed by geography to destroy conventional land invasions. Ask every empire that tried.

82nd Airborne Division on its way to Middle East — CBS. GI's are tools in the mega-gamble by the western oligarchy in the futile attempt to remain in control of the collapsing colonial project.

The US has already spent roughly $2 billion per day on this war. Hegseth and Trump are begging Congress for another $200 billion in emergency funding. The administration previously floated a worse case 4-6 week timeline. Wave 80 from Iran, the Strait is still locked to the West. The USS Ford is in Crete with a "laundry fire" as pretext for retreating to safe waters. And they’re now planning a ground invasion of the largest, most mountainous, most heavily armed nation in the Middle East.

Vietnam was 331,000 square kilometers and no nuclear neighbours. Afghanistan was 652,000 and they lost after 19 years and 4 trillion dollars. Iraq was 438,000 and it never ended. Iran is 1.6 million with Russia to the north, China as its primary trading partner, and a population that just watched America bomb their schools and hospitals for three weeks.

But sure....The 82nd Airborne. That’ll do it.

“No, I’m not putting troops anywhere.” Right, Donald. Very strongly said. Tremendous denial. The best denial. Nobody denies like this president… Nobody.​​​​​​​​​​​​ 

America's #1 lie: 'Free elections in the USA!'

 

She spells it out quite clearly and with the appropriate level of rage....

Iran well dug in

• Part of Iran's missile complex lies beneath a granite mountain in Yazd, at a depth of approximately 500 meters. The most powerful bunker-buster bomb in the US, the GBU-57 MOP, can penetrate more than 60 meters of concrete, but this site is located at a depth of about 440 meters. The complex contains several tunnel entrances on different sides of the mountain and an internal railway system. The rock is approximately 300 million years old and significantly stronger than reinforced concrete. 
• Gas in Phoenix, Arizona now at $6.49 a gallon.
• More than 600 schools across Iran have been destroyed or damaged, resulting in the death or injury of more than 1,000 students and teachers. The aggressors, who arrogantly shout "no mercy, no respite" and threaten Iran with attacks on vital infrastructure, have targeted hospitals, ambulances, medical personnel, Red Crescent relief workers, oil refineries, water sources, and residential areas. 
• The arguments for a ground attack on Iran are becoming increasingly absurd. US Vice President J.D. Vance claims that Iran was planning to use 'nuclear suicide belts' and kill tens of thousands of people, and therefore, it should be attacked.
• Meanwhile, over a million Iranian citizens have been mobilized in anticipation of a US ground operation Operation Mehr. According to information published in numerous foreign newspapers, citing several members of Congress, an attack on Iran may occur in the near future.

Blast from the past: The final warning

Residents in India’s Jammu & Kashmir donate to Iran

RT

Residents in India’s Jammu and Kashmir union territory have launched a notable show of solidarity with the people of Iran as the war with the US and Israel continues.

Across the region, people are donating gold, cash, copper utensils, and other valuables, an RT India correspondent reports from the ground.

Multiple collection camps have been set up in the valley, mainly in Shia‑dominated areas, where residents of all ages – including children as young as seven – are parting with personal belongings in an unprecedented show of support.

Kashmir was a major center of mass demonstrations in India mourning the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US‑Israeli strikes. Jammu and Kashmir has an estimated Shia population of around 1.5 million, or roughly 10-15% of the region’s total. Yet the solidarity with Iran is now coming from all sections of society.

Tucker with an Israeli politician

 

Tucker and former Interim President of Israel Avraham Burg on how close we are to the end of times. 

Watch the full conversation here

The Islander

Iran does not trust the US, negotiations are a project of the "third lie" to cover up a ground invasion - Tasnim News Agency 

🔻For Iran, it is obvious that the US statements about negotiations are just a project of the "third lie", and the Americans are pursuing several goals under this cover: 

1. To deceive the world, showing themselves as supposedly peace-loving and wanting to end the war; 

2.  To keep oil prices low around the world; 

3. To gain time to prepare for a new aggressive operation in southern Iran with a ground invasion. 

❗️If before the 12-day war, Iran doubted the results of negotiations and the US commitment to agreements, then after the 12-day war, it completely does not believe in Washington's sincere desire to negotiate at any moment. 

The Americans started the war both during the 12-day war and now - in Ramadan, conducting negotiations, and this time they are preparing the ground for a new crime under the cover of lies about negotiations. 

Exposing the zionists

 

A brave man. 

When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you are being ruled by criminals.

Europe key to US ops in Iran

Another very interesting piece from the WSJ. These details have been available through OSINT sources but it's a good roundup showing how key Europe is to US operations against Iran:

• The central command center for US operations against Iran is within Ramstein Air Base in Germany (unsurprising)
• US drone operations are conducted from there as well
• Ramstein is increasingly being used as a hub by the Americans. Military transport aircraft, in particular, land there and took off for the Middle East, including several Boeing C-17 Globemaster III (77.5 tons of load) and Lockheed C-130 aircraft (20 tons).
• American media reported that F-16 fighter jets had been transferred from US Spangdahlem AFB, Germany to the Middle East. According to the trade magazine Air and Space Forces, they are to be used in Iran to combat air defenses. BBC reported that the base is now operating “around the clock.” 
• Sigonella air base (intensified cargo aircraft movements and the deployment of US reconnaissance aircraft, including a P-8A Poseidon operating toward the Eastern Mediterranean) and MUOS (provides global secure communications for US Navy and allied forces) in Niscemi, both in Sicily (Italy)
• American aircraft stationed in Spain have been relocated to France and Germany after the Spanish government denied the use of the Morón and Rota air bases for attacks on Iran
• Bomber aircraft sorties out of bases in the UK like RAF Fairford
• Refueling operations are based out of Aviano Air Base in Italy and Tubé Air Base in France
• Lajes Air Base in the Azores (Portugal) is serving as a major logistical hub, with dozens of aircraft stationed there at various times during the conflict
• RC-135 Rivet Joint spy planes are operating out of Souda Bay in Crete
• Unspecified "logistics and intelligence assets" are being hosted by Romania

The piece paints an amusing picture of European attitudes towards this. Keir Starmer's justification for overcoming his reticence to allow the US to base out of British facilities in the initial wave of strikes is that bomber operations are now "defensive" in nature. 

Merz has said publicly that this "isn't [Germany's] war," but he has no choice but to allow US operations out of German air bases due to pre-existing legal agreements. 

Meloni has spun Italian involvement as minor because only refueling missions are flown out of Aviano. Similarly, French defense minister Vautrin said, “a refueling aircraft is a gas station, not a fighter jet."

These technicalities may work on the European public, but it's difficult to imagine they'll work on the Iranians.

Let's focus not on what Trump says, but on what he does.

These are the U.S. military units recently deployed to the Middle East against Iran.

• 160th SOAR (Night Hunters): An elite helicopter unit that secretly inserts and extracts special forces, often at night, using skilled pilots and modified aircraft.
• 75th Airborne Brigade: A light infantry force for rapid raids, airfield seizures, and close-quarters combat missions against high-value targets.
• Delta Force (1st SFOD-D): A top-tier counterterrorism and hostage rescue unit focused on high-risk, precision missions targeting high-value individuals.
• 1st Special Forces Group (1st SFG): Operates primarily in the Asia-Pacific; trains allied forces, conducts unconventional warfare, and supports insurgencies or partner militaries.
• 5th Special Forces Group (5th SFG): Focused on the Middle East; It specializes in counterterrorism, unconventional warfare, and advising local forces.
• US Navy SEALs: Special operations focused on the sea—raids, reconnaissance, direct action, and covert missions from the sea, air, or land.

But for what mission?

• Islands within or near the Strait of Hormuz—Small but strategically important islands used by Iran to control shipping lanes. US special forces could quickly seize them to reopen the strait.
• An island outside—Iran's main oil export terminal. Seizing or destroying it would cripple Iranian oil revenues.
• Iranian nuclear facilities or other high-value sites—Potential raids to destroy stockpiles of enriched uranium or related infrastructure.  

Cuban history lesson by Professor Zenkus

Prof Zenkus  @anthonyzenkus

Cuba 1950s was a Mafia-controlled Epstein Island where women were forced into prostitution by organized criminals who promised poor women from the countryside work as dancers or maids. At one point upwards of 30,000 Cuban women were exploited in the sex trade. 

1950s Cuba, run by the American Mafia led by Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano and Santo Trafficante, Jr. in conjunction with dictator Fulgencio Batista and backed by the CIA - was a decadent paradise for US elites; business moguls, politicians and celebrities who went to Havana to partake in gambling as well as sex parties often arranged by the Mafia, giving the mob blackmail to guarantee allegiance from investors and US politicians alike. 

One of Castro's first moves after the revolution was to make prostitution illegal. And instead of punishing sex workers and trafficking victims, the revolutionary government offered them re-education and job training.

Needless to say, the "customers' weren't happy when Castro and the revolutionaries from the mountains stormed into Havana on New Year's Eve 1958 and sent the mob and Batista packing.

Danger of Kessler Syndrome in LEO

The Kessler Syndrome is the idea that filling Earth’s orbit with too many satellites will inevitably cause failures to occur, leading to a cascading series of collisions that eventually distributes a layer of debris across the entire orbit, making it impossible to reach space from our planet. 

According to new research, we’re actually closer to this scenario than we thought. 

If this happens much of the Earth will go dark.

Nations ignore this at our own peril. 

Lula drops the truth bomb

Lula speaks the truth that Washington, Israel and the global Epstein class don't want to hear.

Time for us all to get real. 

Quotable quotes from the war zone

• Israeli submarine shot the ballistic missiles toward Diego Garcia according to Russian and Chinese satellites. Another false flag operation by Israel - like the drone attack on Cyprus which later was confirmed as launched by Israel .
• Former US State Department Chief of Staff, Colonel (retired) Lawrence Wilkerson, reveals a shocking statement about Rumsfeld: "As you know, this isn't fiction; it's pure fact. One day, as I was told—I didn't hear it myself, but the source was reliable—Rumsfeld stormed out of his office, threw his papers on the floor, and said: 'I'm not in charge here; Mossad is.'" Wilkerson indicates that former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (under George W. Bush) believed that the Israeli Mossad, not he, effectively controlled the Pentagon's decisions. This statement reopens the debate surrounding "Israeli influence" within the US military establishment, amidst the current war with Iran, which many believe is driven by Israeli pressure. 

• Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "There are no talks between Tehran and Washington. The U.S. president’s statements are part of attempts to lower energy prices and buy time to implement his military plans. Yes, there are initiatives from regional countries to de-escalate, and our response to all of them has been clear: we are not the party that started this war, and all such requests should be directed to Washington." 

• After 24 hours out of the 42-hour deadline Trump set to destroy Iran’s power plants, the fool now states again: "I have ordered all military strikes against Iranian power stations and energy infrastructure to be postponed for five days."

• How many U.S. troops will Trump get killed in this war? How many in Iran will die at the hands of the US-Israel?

• Walla (citing a senior Israeli official): "Any U.S. withdrawal at this stage of the war, while Iran controls traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, would amount to a strategic surrender, and such a move would make U.S. allies—especially the Gulf states—hostages in the hands of the Iranian regime."
• Israeli media: "The healthcare system in Israel is preparing for a scenario of a prolonged power outage."
• Hebrew Channel Kan reveals that the Israeli army has begun opening missile and bomb stockpiles, established 50 years ago for any confrontation with Egypt before the peace and normalization agreement, to use them in bombing Iran and the current war.
• The New York Times: Israel played a role in organizing violent riots in Iran on January 8–9, 2026, which claimed the lives of around 3,000 people, and were presented in the West as democratic protests. Mossad hoped this would prompt the United States to take military action, convincing President Donald Trump that strikes on Iran would quickly topple the regime.
• Advisor to the President of the UAE Union asks: "Where is the Arab League when we face brutal Iranian aggression? Where are the major Arab countries?" He is the same one who supports armed militias in Libya, Sudan, and southern Yemen, and has contributed to the destruction of these countries.
• Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak: "Israel, at the political level, does not know—or does not want to know—how to end the war. They don’t know how to end wars." 

• According to reports, Iran’s oil production has reached its highest level since 1978, before the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The country is also selling crude oil at the highest prices in its history.  
• A British court has heard evidence that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) “misled” its audience during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. The evidence was presented as part of documents in a case being heard by a UK employment tribunal, in which five journalists of Arab origin accuse the BBC of discrimination and of unfairly dismissing four of them for refusing what they described as racist and discriminatory practices within BBC Arabic service.

• Defense analyst Jack Buckby warns that the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier faces a potential 12-to-14-month maintenance period after being sidelined by a March 12 'laundry room fire'. Currently docked at Souda Bay, Crete, the supercarrier has completed a grueling nine-month deployment supporting over 7,000 strikes against Iran.
• Israel built the only military prison in the world designated for children. Children are subjected to beatings, torture, and rape on a regular basis. Conviction rates in courts reach 99.7%. This applies only to non-Jewish children. 
• The Houthis (Yemen) have officially declared war on the USA on the side of Iran. ”We will strike American ships in the Red Sea. This war is a war of the entire Muslim umma”, the organization stated. 
• The President of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Qalipaf: "Iran is fighting for humanity, the world is either with Gaza and against the criminal regime or stands with the Epstein class and the killing of children, and there is no place for neutrality."
• Fox News: The cost of a war with Iran could reach $200 billion for the United States.
• American Automobile Association: The average gasoline price has increased by 33.2% since the start of the military operations in Iran. 
• It's not about two political parties opposing one another, now it is simply the 'billionaires against the people'.

U.S. government & war corporations cheat Malaysia

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says in an interview:

In 2004, Malaysia purchased eight F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets from the United States, which were among the most advanced aircraft at the time. The value of this deal exceeded $640 million.

After receiving the aircraft, Malaysia formed a team of experts and engineers to conduct a detailed study of their features and combat capabilities.

👈 The Malaysian experts discovered that the aircraft was transmitting every flight's information to a US military base, such as:

- Flight altitude
- Speed
- Location
- Route
- Mission details
- And the pilot's communication with the ground control room

Not only that, but the aircraft's operating system and autopilot feature could also be controlled from the US base. This means that if a US officer on the ground simply presses a button, the aircraft's route can be changed, it can be crashed, or even the target of its attack can be altered.

When Malaysia tried to modify the aircraft's operating system, the United States and manufacturer McDonnell Douglas strongly objected. They even threatened to stop supplying parts and maintenance, and impose restrictions.

Even when Malaysia requested specific parts to activate certain capabilities of the aircraft, the company rejected that as well.

Ultimately, Malaysia realized that it had bought aircraft that could not be used in actual combat without US approval.

This issue is not limited to Malaysia alone; many Arab and Muslim countries face the same reality.

The lesson is clear: Until a nation develops its own defense technology [and sovereign foreign policy], it will remain dependent on others."

~ (Source: TV interview on Al Jazeera with Mahathir Mohamad)

See more on this story here

Blackstone attempt to take over public utilities

Private equity giant Blackstone is trying to buy New Mexico’s largest utility provider. 

The Public Service Company of New Mexico serves over 500,000 people. 

Blackstone would make billions and execs would make millions, while the 40% of PNM customers in poverty get screwed.

What is next? Public transit, water systems, sewer systems, public parks, and more.

Corporations are out to own everything across the nation (and world)....they will bleed these public entities and leave the taxpayers with virtually nothing. It's high-tech led neo-feudalism. 

China sends massive aid to Cuba

China has reportedly sent around 30,000 tons of rice to Cuba as part of an emergency food aid program.

The goal?

To help ease ongoing shortages and support millions of people facing economic hardship.

Officials described the move as a sign of longstanding ties and cooperation between the two countries.

The rice will be distributed for free across the island, offering relief during a time when access to basic food supplies has become a growing concern due to the increasing hostile US military naval blockade of Cuba. 

As China, Russia, Mexico and others attempt to help Cuba will the Pentagon move to stop them?

Can the US afford to keep escalating globally in order to vainly save its crashing colonial project which only benefits the 1%?

Help from Italy

Aid from American people

 Mexico delivers and Cubans are deeply grateful for the solidarity

Fairford air base in UK protested for hosting U.S. bombers/Another MQ-9 shot down

 

Watch four heavily armed B-52 and B-1 strategic bombers launch from England for West Asia, as a U-2 spy plane prepares for  surveillance ops. This is RAF Fairford (near Oxford) at its busiest during major US military Operation Epic Fury. 

Children's clothes have been hung at RAF Fairford in anti-war protests in memory of the school children killed in Iran.

The base is being used by U.S. bombers and other aircraft involved in the war with Iran - although the British government said it did not support the initial attack on Iran, it has allowed the U.S. to use its bases for what it described as 'defensive measures'.

Footage shows the crash of another American MQ-9 drone after it was shot down by Iranian air defenses above Bushehr, Iran. 

The US military has lost 12 MQ-9 Reaper drones during the US-Israel war on Iran, according to US officials cited by CBS News, marking one of the most significant equipment losses of the war. 

The total cost of the lost aircraft is estimated at more than $360 million. 

MQ-9 Reaper drones are unmanned aerial vehicles used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, as well as precision strike operations.

These MQ-9 losses prove that Trump's claim that Iranian air defense has been destroyed is just one more Pentagon lie.

Sunday song

US-Israel can kill them fast or they can kill them slow

 

The US/Israel struck Andimeshk’s hospital in Iran with bombs. 

Illegal war.

Trump says he wants to liberate the Iranian people.
Come out into the streets and overthrow the 'regime'.

The only 'regimes' I see are in Washington and Tel Aviv.

They target hospitals,
schools, residential blocs,
water treatment facilities

and more civilian targets.

Yes they just love 
the people in Iran.

The killers from US-Israel
love to see the people bleed.
They love to see them dead.

They are genocidal maniacs,
posing (not so effectively)
as lovers of 'democracy'.

The only way to change things
is for the pedophile empire
to collapse.

I'm cheering for Iran.

Anyone who goes to fight
against Iran (Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, Iraq)
are suckers.

An American MQ-4C drone took off from Station Sigonella base in Italy and is conducting reconnaissance patrols near Iran’s coast. 

US bases in Europe

and beyond are involved.

Ramstein, Wiesbaden,

Fairford in the UK.

Diego Garcia in the 

Indian Ocean.

The list is endless.

Yes Trump just loves

the Iranian people so much.

Bruce 

Craig Murray: Joy at Death & Destruction

Attack around Enghelab Square in Tehran on March 3. (Tasnim News Agency, Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY 4.0)

Consortium News

By Craig Murray

The United States and Israel are both reveling in inflicting the maximum possible death and suffering on Iran. 

After the genocide in Gaza, on a far larger field in Iran, those in power in Israel and the U.S. have a lust to kill and they revel in impunity. 

The Epstein Files reveal the same dynamic. We live in a society where those who obtain power wish to exercise it in the cruelest possible ways against the most defenceless. 

It appears to be a feature of late Western capitalist society, where sociopathic tendencies are essential to obtaining power in a society which rejects altruism and cooperation as concepts and promotes competition, self-love and ruthlessness. 

Iran is showing commendable fighting spirit, but American military power should not be underestimated. They have the ability to destroy Iran from the air, to obliterate the institutions of the state and all of the key civilian infrastructure. Electricity, water, healthcare, education, administration, policing all can be knocked out just as they were systematically in Gaza and — on a scale insufficiently recalled — in Iraq. 

Trump is already asking Congress for $50 billion to fund the operation and replenish stocks. The scale of destruction Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu envisages will cost at least half a trillion dollars from the U.S. Treasury. But there is nothing that can stop them. 

I witnessed close up over five months the 80 to 100,000 homes destroyed in Lebanon by Israel in the last three years. We have all seen what they did to Gaza. The notion they cannot do this to Iran is simply wrong. It requires a colossal effort of will, a mania for killing, a vast amount of money and the depletion of the U.S. arsenal. But they can do it. 

Only political action by the peoples of the West against their leaders can stop it.

Iran and its allies have been the only physical opposition to the creation of Greater Israel. If the physical destruction of Iran is achieved, Greater Israel will be established at pace.

One of the world’s greatest civilisations will lie in ashes, covering millions of corpses, but none of that will prevent the extraction of oil.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. secretary for war, simply comes over as a Nazi thug. He plainly is enjoying this as much as Netanyahu, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir or Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. He has gloatingly promised “Death and destruction from the sky, all day long.” He repeatedly signals ever-escalating bombing.

The Iranian Red Crescent has listed the bombing destruction as of March 7. By then it included:

• 5,535 civilian residential units
• 1,041 commercial units
• 65 schools
• 14 hospitals and medical centres
• 13 Red Crescent Society bases

By contrast, there has been no credible claim that Iran has inflicted widespread civilian damage. It has very tightly targeted specific facilities — collateral damage seems almost entirely confined to debris from intercepted drones and missiles.

But we know the U.S.-Israel axis targets hospitals and medical facilities. It is proven beyond doubt in Gaza, and I witnessed it in Beirut.

In gloating about U.S. military superiority, Trump advised Iranian civilians: “Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere.”

Yet they are deliberately bombing residential buildings, exactly as in both Lebanon and Gaza. Trump is attempting to terrorise Iran into “unconditional surrender.”

At the 1815 Battle of Waterloo — an epic, large-scale and unmissable event — approximately 15,000 people died on the field of battle (more died later of wounds in an age before antibiotics). You are supposed to believe that the Iranian government in January killed twice as many demonstrators as died at Waterloo. This using only small arms and despite the complete lack of visual evidence of killing on anything like that scale.

At the same time you are supposed to believe that tens of thousands of tonnes of the highest explosives have been dropped into the centre of cities all across Iran but that these are “precision attacks” killing very few civilians.

It is obvious nonsense.

AI targeting only adds a new layer of dystopia to an entirely vicious and unnecessary war. The indifference of the Western media to the slaughter of 175 Iranian school girls leads to really difficult questions about the type of society the West has become. Racism is just the beginning of the problems.

The effort to coerce the Kurds into yet again fighting for the U.S., only to be abandoned when no longer deemed helpful, is reckless in the extreme. It is bound to lead to further war and fragmentation in Iraq. The repercussions in Turkey are potentially extreme — and possibly may jolt Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from his complacent furthering of the U.S-Israeli agenda.

Civil war is close in Lebanon. The traitorous Zionist regime of Lebanese President General Joseph Aoun has no forces capable of taking on Hezbollah; but the other Zionist puppet al-Jolani [Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa] has concentrated forces on the border with the Bekaa Valley ready to attack Hezbollah from the East while Hezbollah fight Israeli invading forces in the South. French President Emmanuel Macron has indicated he may send troops and armour to assist Aoun.

This entire conflict sounds like a dreadful regional disaster in which millions could die – and it is. But to the U.S. and Israeli Zionists, the prospect of a devastated region is precisely what they wish to achieve to facilitate Israeli expansion and American seizure of resources.

There is an urgent need for regime change – in the West. The only way for this carnage to stop is for the people of the West to remove their Zionist-controlled ruling classes.

~ Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010. His coverage is entirely dependent on reader support. Subscriptions to keep this blog going are gratefully received.