Rufino Tamayo Perro aullando (Howling Dog) 1960
https://twitter.com/MichaelARothman/status/2041721663679819901?s=20 https://twitter.com/MichaelARothman/status/2041722116316524603?s=20
https://twitter.com/JoshHall2024/status/2041871511913459923?s=20 From 10 years ago I would LOVE to dee this contradicted. https://twitter.com/MrWhiplash_/status/2041865575354245423?s=20JD Vance:
— Clash Report (@clashreport) April 8, 2026
I wasn’t even aware that Zelensky had said that he was going to send private soldiers to Orbán’s residence until yesterday.
Viktor actually told me that, and then I went and looked it up.
I almost couldn’t believe it’s true, but it’s true. It’s completely… pic.twitter.com/nNsFw3vHzE
They’re meeting on Friday afternoon in Islamabad. Before then, anything can and will happen. Testing the waters.
• Tanker Passage Through Hormuz Halted As Iran Accuses Israel (ZH)
S u m m a r y :Read more …• The Hegseth/Caine presser as expected declared ‘victory’ in Iran while Gen. Caine emphasized the ceasefire is a “pause” but US forces remain “ready to resume combat.” Pentagon is trying to put a bow on Operation Epic Fury. NYT: 10-point plan might differ between Tehran & Washington.
• US, Iran agree to meet for first direct talks in Islamabad Friday, Pakistan PM Sharif announces. Situation fragile given that Iran is threatening to hit Israel again over IDF’s massive Lebanon airstrikes.
• Iran meanwhile demands stiff fees for ships passing through Hormuz during the ceasefire, and says it holds the final authority on which vessels get to pass. Tehran leaders have asserted ‘victory’ for Iran, amid positive international reaction to the ceasefire.
• The first two ships since the ceasefire was announced have crossed the Strait of Hormuz after Iran said it will demand that shipping companies pay tolls in cryptocurrency. Hours later, Fars announces a halt to ships’ passage. This as IDF pummels Lebanon.
• Saudi Arabia’s vital East-West oil pipeline carrying crude from the Gulf to the Red Sea for export has been attacked at a pumping station, oil rises on the news. There’s been sporadic attacks on other Gulf states too. Kuwait sees key energy, water sites hit.
* * *
Differing Versions of the 10-point Plan?
This is alarming and surreal, and doesn’t bode well for what’s already a very shaky ceasefire holding, via the NY Times:
A White House official says that the 10-point peace plan that Iran publicly released on Wednesday differs from the plan that Trump said was a workable basis on which to negotiate. The official declined to elaborate on the differences but said Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, was expected to clarify at a 1 p.m. briefing.
There’s talk of Kushner, Witkoff, and maybe Vance going to Pakistan for planned Friday meeting with Iranian side. Key Energy Sites Hit in Kuwait, Despite Ceasefire Kuwait’s ` Interior Ministry is condemning fresh Iran attacks, reporting “severe material damage” at ` several vital facilities of the ` Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Also water desalination plants have been hit. “The ministry said fire broke out at some of the attacked sites, which include oil facilities, three power stations and water desalination plants,” Al Jazeera reports.
Oil Transit through Hormuz Halted Again: FARS Iran’s Fars News agency reports that oil tankers passing through Hormuz have been stopped after Israel’s “ceasefire breach.” This as Iranian officials are warning of resumed missile launches on Israel for what’s happening in Lebanon (see below). There’s currently contradiction and confusion over whether the Pakistan-mediated Iran ceasefire deal extends to Lebanon. Pakistan says yes, Iran says yes, while the US and Israel say no. Tehran appears willing to apply its leverage. Oil jumps on initial ‘breach’ rumblings.. .
Ii there an alternative for the petrodollar?
• The Petrodollar Breakdown is Real (GoldFix)
After reading a Bloomberg opinion piece deconstructing the Petrodollar stresses currently manifesting from the war with Iran the following became apparent. The longstanding financial arrangement in which the United States underwrote stability in the Middle East in exchange for Gulf states recycling dollar revenues into US Treasuries has fractured. What functioned for decades as a reinforcing loop between energy flows, dollar demand, and sovereign financing is now under strain. The framework traces back to the 1974 agreement engineered under Henry Kissinger, in which Saudi Arabia priced oil in dollars and reinvested surpluses into US assets, primarily Treasuries. Other Gulf states followed, while the United States provided security guarantees and maintained the broader geopolitical order.Read more …
A Circular System of Energy and Capital
The system operated with internal consistency. Oil-importing nations paid in dollars; those dollars accumulated in Gulf economies; and surpluses were recycled into US government debt. This loop supported US borrowing conditions and reinforced the dollar’s reserve status. That structure depended on two continuous processes: surplus generation through energy exports, and reinvestment into US assets. Both are now disrupted.
Fracture Point One: Importers Liquidate Treasuries
Following the escalation of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, foreign central banks have shifted into sustained Treasury selling. Holdings at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York declined by roughly $82 billion over five consecutive weeks to $2.7 trillion, the lowest level since 2012. At the same time, yields diverged from historical crisis behavior. The 10-year Treasury yield rose from 3.9% to above 4.4% instead of falling under safe-haven demand.“Foreign official sectors are selling US Treasury bonds.”
The mechanism reflects currency defense. Oil-importing economies such as Turkey, India, and Thailand face rising dollar-priced energy costs alongside weakening domestic currencies. Stabilization requires dollar liquidity, sourced through Treasury sales.Dollar Demand Turns Defensive
Dollar demand remains present, yet its form has shifted. Central banks are accessing liquidity through liquidation rather than accumulation. Treasuries function as a funding tool under stress rather than a passive reserve asset. A system built on steady accumulation behaves differently when forced into periodic selling.Fracture Point Two: Exporters Unable to Generate Surplus
Historically, higher oil prices increased Gulf revenues, reinforcing demand for dollar assets. This relationship has broken down. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has constrained exports across Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, with production cuts of roughly 10 million barrels per day. Qatar’s declaration of force majeure on LNG exports following strikes on Ras Laffan further highlights the disruption. Without export flows, surplus petrodollars do not form. The loop requires both income generation and reinvestment capacity. Both are impaired.
“This could be the Golden Age of the Middle East.”
• Nobody Knows What Will Happen Next (Rabo)
Yesterday, the US and Iran threatened to, respectively, “destroy Iranian civilisation” with “new tools” and other countries in the Gulf with old ones. Ahead of the 8PM deadline that Trump had set for “Bridge and Power Plant Day,” US and Israeli forces reportedly already destroyed some bridges and other infrastructure. Washington and Tehran struck a last-minute, two-week ceasefire – provided that the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened. Notably, this was after China leaned on Iran to listen to interlocutor Pakistan, according to the New York Times. That key intervention underlines the global nature of this war beyond energy and related exports, and how it is resolved.Read more …
Markets are trading this as a TACO Tuesday. Brent futures are down 14% at the time of writing, Asian equity markets rallied, and futures pricing suggests the same will happen when European and American markets open. And bets of near-term rate hikes evaporated as the truce ends days before major central banks next reconvene to recalibrate their policy stance. 10-year German Bund yields fell 18bp (!)on the open. Yet, this short-term truce is not a peace deal, and is anyone willing to sail through the Strait as long as the conflict isn’t fully resolved? So, today’s reprieve will be followed by at least two weeks of extended uncertainty – and possibly longer, if both sides agree to extend the negotiations.Moreover, there is a world of difference between Iran having blinked under US military threats, which would be a huge win for Trump and the US, and the US having blinked in the face of Iranian resistance and oil prices, which would be a massive 1956-style geostrategic defeat for Trump. In the immediate aftermath of the ceasefire, both headlines and missiles kept flying. Iran hit Israel and a GCC energy site. The US said “an” Iranian 10-point plan is a “workable basis on which to negotiate” (might we have an intractable public version and a more pliable private one to save face?), while Iran’s foreign minister is “considering” the directly opposed 15-point US plan.
And, returning to shipping, Iran claimed it will still take tolls from Hormuz with Oman, adding that only 10-15 ships per day can pass, a tiny fraction of normal flows. Is that the “full reopening” of Hormuz that the US set as a precondition?
Subsequently, an unsubstantiated report claimed that Iran has agreed to most US conditions, including: a permanent commitment not to possess nuclear weapons; handing over enriched uranium to the IAEA; allowing the IAEA to monitor all nuclear infrastructure; a complete halt to uranium enrichment within Iran; reducing the range and number of missiles; immediately ceasing support for militias and proxies in the region; ceasing attacks on regional Gulf energy facilities; reopening the Strait of Hormuz immediately and unconditionally; the lifting of all sanctions imposed on Iran; eliminating the mechanism for reimposing UN sanctions; and US support for the Bushehr nuclear power plant, provided it is under direct American supervision.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has stated, “The current negotiations are a national negotiation and a continuation of the field, and it is necessary for all people, elites, and political groups to trust and support this process, which is under the supervision of the Leader of the Revolution and the highest levels of the system, and to strictly avoid any divisive comments.” Trump claimed “total and complete victory”, and posted that it’s a “big day for World Peace”, the US will be “helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz,” while Iran can “start reconstruction,” and the US will be “loading up with supplies of all kinds, and “just “hangin’ around” in order to make sure everything goes well,” where “This could be the Golden Age of the Middle East.”
So, the fog of war is still in place even if the fighting might have stopped for now. Nobody knows what will happen next, but the possible spectrum is clear:
Everything involves China.
• China Facilitated US-Iranian Ceasefire – AP (TASS)
According to the news agency, Beijing initially tried to act through intermediaries, including Islamabad, Ankara, and Cairo. After that, Chinese officials directly contacted Iran. China directly contacted Iran to persuade Tehran to agree to a temporary ceasefire with the US, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported. According to the report, Chinese officials were in contact with the Iranian government to facilitate the ceasefire. Beijing initially tried to act through intermediaries, including Islamabad, Ankara, and Cairo.Read more …
US President Donald Trump said a bilateral ceasefire between the United States and Iran will be in force for two weeks. The decision is “subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the complete, immediate, and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif invited US and Iranian delegations to Islamabad on April 10 for further negotiations. US Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, businessman Jared Kushner, are expected to take part in the planned peace talks with Iran in Pakistan’s Islamabad, CNN reported.
Press TV is Iranian.
• US Suffered Major Strategic Defeat In Failed Isfahan Operation (Press TV)
Information obtained by Press TV regarding the recent operation by the US-Israeli coalition in the central Isfahan province reveals a major strategic defeat for the enemy. US President Donald Trump’s frantic threats in the past few days to target Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, are a direct consequence of the heavy defeat suffered by the US forces in the Isfahan operation. The failed raid was carried out after the enemy conducted extensive aerial reconnaissance operations in the days leading up to the attack, according to the exclusive information. During those initial infiltration and reconnaissance missions, the US and possibly the Zionist regime lost a significant number of aircraft, including at least one A-10 Thunderbolt II and two Black Hawk helicopters.Read more …
The information obtained by Press TV reveals that “zero hour” for the failed Isfahan operation was set during a secret meeting at the White House under the direct supervision of the US president himself. It has now become clear that this operation had no connection to the claimed rescue of a downed F-15 fighter pilot, a narrative initially pushed by American officials. Instead, evidence examined and confirmed by Press TV indicates that the real objective was to infiltrate and attack one of Iran’s nuclear facilities in Isfahan. The landing site for C-130 transport aircraft, chosen based on previous reconnaissance, was an abandoned airstrip located dangerously close to one of these nuclear sites.The Americans miscalculated, believing that Iran’s air defense would be unable to confront the aircraft involved in the operation. However, Press TV learned that the deployment of numerous US aircraft occurred while the Iranian Armed Forces were in full alert, waiting for them. In fact, American special forces fell directly into a trap set by Iranian forces. The Iranian Armed Forces, including the Army, Law Enforcement (Faraja), the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and local popular forces, initially did not show a serious reaction to the landing of the first C-130, which was carrying dozens of special forces commandos. Evidence shows this aircraft veered somewhat off the runway while landing at the abandoned dirt airstrip.
Minutes later, a second C-130 aircraft approached, carrying specialized vehicles, several MH-6 Little Bird helicopters, and other support equipment. At that moment, Iranian forces on the scene targeted the second aircraft before it could land, turning its normal landing into an emergency one. Two Black Hawk helicopters also arrived shortly after. It was at this moment that the aircraft, helicopters, and commandos who had disembarked from the first plane became perfect targets for the Iranian Armed Forces. After the special forces realized they had fallen into the trap, the White House situation room made a critical decision: the main operation to infiltrate the nuclear site was changed into a desperate rescue operation for the dozens of US commandos trapped under Iranian fire.
The Americans immediately sent several smaller aircraft to extract their forces, barely managing to gather the individuals and withdraw them from the deadly situation. The rescue operation was conducted so hastily that some soldiers and officers abandoned their equipment, including, according to the evidence possessed by Press TV, the identification document of an American officer left behind in the area, to save their lives. After the commandos were evacuated, American fighter jets established a line of fire with a 5-kilometer radius to prevent Iranian forces from approaching the abandoned C-130s at the airstrip. The jets also carried out heavy bombing of their own equipment to prevent it from falling into Iranian hands. I
n this failed operation, US special forces did not even have the chance to fly the special Little Bird helicopters; some were destroyed on the ground, while others were destroyed inside the second C-130 aircraft. Following this disgraceful and heavy defeat, Trump hastily and chaotically held multiple press conferences to cover up the failure and falsely portray it as a pilot rescue operation. The information obtained by Press TV describes these propaganda shows, led by Trump and his Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, as reminiscent of Hollywood films – lies that have not even been accepted by many American audiences.The information available notes that Trump will continue to fabricate other “Hollywood-style” operations to falsely claim achievements and appease public opinion in the US.
However, his and Hegseth’s repeated storytelling and lying, which have reduced public confidence in him both in the US and across the world to the lowest possible level, have made his “Goebbels-style lies” very difficult to believe.People in the US and across the world are asking a pointed question: “How is it that a country which supposedly has neither air defense left nor an army or armed forces has managed to shoot down and destroy so many fighter jets and various aircraft, and continues to add to its album of different types of destroyed fighter jets, planes, helicopters, and drones,” a highly-placed source in Tehran told Press TV.
The heavy defeat of the Isfahan operation, he noted, could be recorded in history as the worst and most disgraceful failure of the US military, even worse than the failed Tabas operation of 1980, which saw a botched rescue attempt end in disaster for Washington. The information obtained by Press TV notes that the heavy aftershocks of this “great debacle” for Trump will affect not only the fate of the ongoing war against the Islamic Republic of Iran but also the political future of “America’s gambling and ignorant president,” his Republican party, and the American political scene for years to come.
” In Moscow, Zarif is known as a Russia-hating, backstabbing liar who negotiates with deceit and whose word is worthless.”
• The Persian Backstabber Strikes Again (John Helmer)
Mohammed Javad Zarif has grown fatter and more swollen-headed since he was replaced as Iran’s Foreign Minister in 2021, then removed as Vice President in 2025. In Moscow, Zarif is known as a Russia-hating, backstabbing liar who negotiates with deceit and whose word is worthless.Read more …
For Zarif to publish last week an essay titled “How Iran Should End the War – A Deal Tehran Could Take”, from the tribune of the money establishment in New York, the Council on Foreign Relations, is understandable in Moscow. This is because, comments a Moscow source in position to know, he is “registering his address in Teheran at the very least to tell the Americans to target their bombs and missiles elsewhere. He hates Russians and someone is promoting him. The US has shown what they do with discussions, plans, ideas through the negotiations,” the source said. “They have demonstrated there is zero or less regard for any idea. Trump is fixated on ‘stone age’ destruction and ‘capitulation.’ If and when he does a ceasefire, it will be so he can break it. That’s a lesson the North Koreans alone seem to have learned and not anyone else. “This is a guarded reference to the Russian look and sound-alikes in Moscow telling President Vladimir Putin to trust President Donald Trump’s “Anchorage understandings” and to end the war on the Ukraine battlefield with schemes for US investments in exchange for Russian assets.
Just so, Zarif’s end-of-war plan includes the proposal “to further consolidate peace, Iran and the United States should initiate mutually beneficial trade, economic, and technological cooperation. Iran, for example, could invite oil companies, including interested American ones, to immediately facilitate exports to buyers. Iran, the United States, and Persian Gulf countries might all partner on projects involving energy and advanced technologies. .. Finally, Iran and the United States should announce and sign a permanent nonaggression pact. By doing so, they would commit to not use or threaten to use force against each other.”
The Russian promoting the same combination of trust in Trump, trust in money that talks through Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner – not yet in the pages of Foreign Affairs – is Kirill Dmitriev. He too is described by his Russian critics as too pro-American to be trusted.
The Iranian Prosecutor is reported to have issued a reprimand for Zarif. “According to follow-up and information from informed sources, following the publication of an article in the American journal Foreign Affairs that has been determined to be contrary to national security, Mohammad Javad Zarif has been issued a reprimand. In this regard, the Prosecutor’s Office, issuing a warning addressed to political figures and those with a public platform, emphasized: ‘During this imposed war, figures and those with a platform must not express opinions or publish material contrary to national interests, national integrity, and social cohesion, nor outside the bounds of their authority.’” The Russian Security Council is highly critical of Dmitriev but he is in no danger from the state prosecutor.
Iran International, the Shah Pahlavi opposition publication financed by Saudi Arabia in London, has quoted the reaction to Zarif by a well-known Iranian government supporter: “Even someone who is blind, deaf, and mute can understand that you [Zarif] are a traitor. In the middle of this proposal you call for improved relations between Iran and the US, an enemy that killed my leader and has shown such disrespect to Iran. I give Zarif three days. If he does not say he screwed up, on the fourth night we will gather and go to (storm) his house.”
The same publication claims that Zarif’s publication accompanies a recent speech by Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president between 2013-21 and Zarif’s political patron, behind the closed doors of the Supreme National Security Council. Rouhani reportedly said: “Alongside heroic resistance, we must be prepared to bring the war to an honourable end in the interest of the country and the people. Preserving the country and the system requires immediate fundamental reforms in policymaking; the people have made their position clear to the authorities…it was necessary to coordinate national resources to prevent attacks on the Persian Gulf islands and maintain control of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Zarif lived in New York when he was Iran’s ambassador to the UN. His children were born in the city and hold dual US citizenship. He has published several articles in Foreign Affairs going back to 2014 when he wrote an appeal to the Obama Administration on Rouhani’s behalf entitled “What Iran Really Wants — Iranian Foreign Policy in the Rouhani Era”.
In the Russian file, Zarif claimed that Foreign Minister Lavrov and President Putin had conspired with General Qassem Soleimani in 2015 – before Trump assassinated him in 2020 – to block the terms endorsed by the US and Zarif of the nuclear-limiting Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The claim was false. The interpretation in Moscow was that Zarif was lying to benefit either his political allies in Teheran or in Washington, or both.
”The math is brutal. Even in a blue wave scenario where Democrats flip every competitive seat, Republicans would still hold the Senate 51-49“
• Senate Democrats Might Not Have November In The Bag (ZH)
Based on various polls, Democrats are leading Republicans by roughly five to six points on the generic congressional ballot. While this certainly means they have an advantage, the numbers actually show real trouble for the Democrats for this year’s midterm elections. And even CNN isn’t trying to sugarcoat it for the Democratic Party. CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten took a hard look at the numbers, and the picture for Democrats is not what most might expect. They should have a much bigger lead, and the fact that they don’t is a huge red flag.Read more …
“This lead is historically low for Democrats at this point with a Republican president,” Enten pointed out. “On average, their lead is actually slightly less. It’s five points. That’s less than it was back in 2018 when it was eight points and way less than it was during the 2006 cycle when it was 11 points.” According to Enten, there’s a huge disparity between how Democrats are performing in generic congressional ballot polling and President Donald Trump’s approval ratings. Trump’s net approval rating is somewhere between -20 and -30 points. This is not a strong position for the party in power. Combined with the historical precedent that midterm elections usually favor the minority party, the numbers should spell disaster for the Republican Party, but it’s not.“You’d make the argument Democrats should be way ahead, and they’re just only sort of slightly ahead.” A small shift might be enough for Democrats to take the House, but the Senate is a completely different animal, and according to Enten, the numbers suggest Democrats’ hopes of winning the Senate are not good. The math is brutal. Even in a blue wave scenario where Democrats flip every competitive seat, Republicans would still hold the Senate 51-49 because Trump carried states like Ohio, Texas, and Alaska by more than ten points. In this scenario, Democrats would pick up North Carolina and Maine, which would be a huge let down for the GOP, but that’s not enough to flip the upper chamber.
For years, Democrats have fantasized about flipping Texas, and they think that James Talarico is the perfect candidate to make it happen. But as Enten noted, Democrats have never been able to flip Senate seats that Trump won by 10 points or more. So, what’s holding the Democrats back? Favorability, or the lack thereof. In 2018, Democrats held a 12-point net favorability advantage over Republicans at this stage of the cycle. In 2006, that gap was 18 points. Today? Republicans are actually ahead on net favorability by five points.n”Democrats are just, simply put, running behind their previous benchmarks,” Enten said, “and they need to be running well ahead of them if they want to take back the United States Senate.”
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2041161341608603688
Democrats have spent months positioning themselves as the resistance to Trump’s second term, betting that public anger at the administration would carry them into the majority and give them the power actually to block his agenda. But if voters dislike Democrats even more than they dislike Republicans, that entire strategy blows up. A six-point generic ballot lead just won’t cut it if Democrats want to win back the Senate. This, of course, is a huge problem for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, whose future in party leadership is in doubt. Senate Democrats are growing increasingly restless with him – and more importantly, with the strategy he’s banking on for the midterms.
Schumer has been supporting more centrist picks he believes have a better shot at winning their elections, while more progressive candidates are being sidelined. According to reports, some lawmakers have already begun informally counting votes to see whether there’s enough support to make a move. He may have the votes to survive a challenge now, but if Democrats fail to win back the Senate, the blame is going to land squarely on him.
Even without control of the Senate, Donald Trump still holds a powerful advantage where it matters most: the courts. Democrats no longer have the judicial filibuster at their disposal, which means they’ve lost one of their last tools for stalling or blocking nominees. So even if they manage to flip the House, it won’t stop Trump from reshaping the judiciary. Judicial confirmations—and even potential Supreme Court appointments – can still move forward, ensuring his influence on the courts endures well beyond his time in office.
If and when you compare the president of the United Stateds with satan, you count for nothing anymore.
Because over half the American population votes for, and supports, the person.
Go to the supermarket, go to Main Street, today, watch everyday life, and tell me what you saw. Over 50% of Americans are satanists?
Bye Doctorow. You’re done, you’re over.
PS Hitler wasn’t bad enough?
• Recognizing The Intervention Of Satan In Our Times (Gilbert Doctorow)
The personality defects of Donald J. Trump have been the subject of amateur psychology in mass media since his first presidential electoral campaign in 2016. The trait that has been most discussed was and is narcissism. Google’s AI Search has the following to say about this issue: “Numerous mental health professionals and critics have publicly suggested that Donald Trump exhibits traits consistent with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), and paranoid personality disorder, often grouping them under the term “malignant narcissism“. These claims, primarily argued by psychologists and psychiatrists, cite patterns of grandiosity, lack of empathy, need for admiration, and impulsivity.”Read more …
This portrait of Trump is the product of specialists operating in our secular culture. However, this is Easter Sunday and I think it entirely appropriate to approach the issue from a Christian binary analytical framework of Good and Evil, God and Satan. This is all the more relevant because Trump professes to take religion seriously. Key members of his administration, like Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth, are zealous Believers and speak publicly of their religion.In this context and considering the Easter Sunday dateline of this message to the Community, I say that Trump and the senior members of his Administration have stepped right out of Dostoevsky’s novel The Possessed. They are Evil Incarnate, they are possessed by Satan in their support of Israeli genocide in Gaza and now in the vicious, inhuman violence they are directing against the Iranian people. Listening to Trump’s daily diatribes, his bloody threats against Tehran, it strains belief that these words are coming from our top elected official.
And so I conclude: Shame on the United States if this man is not impeached and removed from office, sent to face the International Court of Justice for war crimes.
Amen.
“..more than $11B in 2025 alone..”
• FBI Finds Americans Lose Billions To Cryptocurrency Scams (JTN)
Americans lost more than $20 billion to cryptocurrency and other online scams in 2025, a 26% increase over the year before, according to the latest figures from the FBI. Online fraud is rising fast. Scams that use cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence are getting smarter. This makes it hard for people, especially seniors, to tell what is real and what is a scam. The new FBI data shows these scams are becoming a bigger problem, and police are trying to fight back. According to the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report, nearly $11.4 billion of last year’s $20 billion in online scam losses came from cryptocurrency scams. Of that, $7.2 billion resulted from cryptocurrency investment scams.Read more …
The report also says that seniors are the most likely to lose money to scams. People ages 60 and older lost about $7.7 billion, which is 37% more than in 2024.In 2025, the FBI received 81,565 cryptocurrency-related complaints, a 21% increase from 2024. These reports accounted for $11.4 billion in losses, with an average individual loss of $62,604. Over 18,500 complaints involved losses exceeding $100,000. “Cryptocurrency investment scams are sophisticated long-term scams using psychological manipulation, the appearance of legitimacy, and exploitation of cryptocurrencies to deceive victims into investing large sums of money,” according to the report.“These scams are largely perpetrated by organized criminal enterprises based in Southeast Asia using victims of human trafficking as forced labor to run the scam operations.”In a high-stakes scheme, scammers aggressively lure victims, urging them to transfer cryptocurrency to fraudulent investment platforms or apps. They quickly show victims fabricated profits and dangle the promise of loans, pressing them to invest even more. The moment victims attempt to withdraw funds, they are slammed with bogus taxes and fees, amplifying the devastation. Then, in a final bid to get more money, some offer recovery scams to these victims. “Victims are also targeted in recovery scams, claiming to help recover lost funds,” according to the report. ”
These scams are often devastating because they can leave victims with significant financial loss and emotional distress.” The FBI wants everyone to use the “Take a Beat” method to spot scam warning signs. “Resist pressure to act quickly and assess the situation before turning over money or personal information,” the agency warned. People who are victims or may know victims of a fraud or scam should call their local FBI office or submit a complaint at ic3.gov as soon as possible. Victims should document the name of the scammer, the company, the methods of contact, the dates of contact, the methods of payment, where funds have been sent, and a thorough description of the interactions.
“Brussels would rather “paralyze” the member state or stage a coup than allow Viktor Orban to stay in power, Karin Kneissl has told RT..” Vance in Budapest in just theater. Kneissl is not.
• Hungary Election A US-EU ‘Proxy War’ – Ex-Austrian Foreign Minister (RT)
The US and EU are engaged in a political “proxy war” in Hungary, with Washington and Brussels backing rival sides ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections, according to former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl. Kneissl made the remarks in an interview with RT as US Vice President J.D. Vance visited Budapest on Tuesday in a show of support for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. During the trip, Vance criticized “bureaucrats in Brussels, who have done everything that they can to hold down the people of Hungary,” ahead of Sunday’s vote.Read more …
According to Kneissl, Vance’s decision to visit Europe while the US was simultaneously involved in a contentious war with Iran “says a lot” about the importance Washington places on the elections. She noted that the move aligns with the US National Security Strategy released last December, which identifies “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations” as a priority. She said the language is “very telling” about how the Americans “feel about Brussels,” noting that Washington is known for being persistent in pursuing its geopolitical objectives. “Yes, you can call it interference – what the Americans are doing. The same thing they did in Yugoslavia, Serbia in 2001,” the former diplomat said.Brussels has been openly critical of Orban – described by Kneissl as a life-long “Hungarian nationalist” and “sovereignist” critical of many agendas pushed by EU leaders – labeling him as ‘pro-Russian.’She also pointed to Brussels apparently backing Ukrainian efforts to bar Hungary’s access to Russian oil – for which Budapest retaliated by blocking a joint EU loan for Kiev – as well as discussions in the bloc about potentially suspending Budapest’s voting rights if Orban remains in power.
”They will just put a member state… paralyze it. And some people even speak of – they use the word ‘Maidan,’ they use the words ‘color revolution.’ Not in a third country, but inside an EU member country,” Kneissl said.
“:This is akin to Pete Rose sending out copies of the MLB betting policy.”
• Unconstitutional Effort to Bar Trump from Ballot in Maine (Turley)
Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is actually running for governor on her willingness to take flagrantly unconstitutional action. Bellows is touting her removal of Trump from the ballot, an effort that led to a unanimous Supreme Court swatting down Colorado and Maine. Bellows is virtually giddy recounting her efforts to stymie democracy and prevent voters from casting their ballots for the man who ultimately won the election.Read more …
Democrats have been running this year on the pledges to launch a virtual roundup of Trump officials and supporters for investigations and impeachments. New York congressional candidate George Conway is pledging to change impeachment rules to secure the removal of President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. However, Bellows, the former ACLU executive director in Maine, is parading her willingness to do things barred by the Constitution. Campaigning on an unconstitutional act rejected 9-0 by the Supreme Court (including three liberal justices) truly captures this age of rage. It is the equivalent to how mobsters “make their bones” by whacking someone. Bellows is effectively saying that she was willing to do what other Democrats were unwilling to do: violate the Constitution.Shenna Bellows has long embraced extreme political and historical viewpoints, including denouncing the electoral college as a “relic of white supremacy.” Bellows also declared that voter ID laws are “rooted in white supremacy.” Bellows previously declared that “the Jan. 6 insurrection was an unlawful attempt to overthrow the results of a free and fair election…The insurrectionists failed, and democracy prevailed.” A year after the riot, Bellows was still denouncing the “violent insurrection.” In her campaign speeches, she is still calling the riot an “insurrection” and heralding her own bravery in seeking to block a democratic vote.
Notably, polls show the public rejecting the claim of an insurrection and neither Trump nor his associates were ever charged with insurrection. Yet, it is certifiably established that Bellows attempted to violate the Constitution and subvert the democratic process. In its unanimous rejection of the move, the Court declared “Nothing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos.” Bellows was one of those agents of chaos. As Bellows relished the national attention for her consideration of cleansing the ballot, some of us argued that the act would be outrageously unconstitutional.
Ironically, Bellows never got very far in her effort. A superior judge enjoined her, and she repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to get the matter before a higher court. In other words, it did nothing but generate publicity for Bellows and was an utter failure that ended in the 9-0 loss in the Colorado case. Bellows did not even get to join Colorado in defending the effort. Even Maine’s Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden denounced Bellows decision.The irony is crushing. Bellows is posting videos declaring that she has attempted to instruct Trump on the Constitution, but “The President clearly didn’t get the copy of the Constitution I sent him.”
This is akin to Pete Rose sending out copies of the MLB betting policy. bThere is no sense of self-awareness as Bellows proclaims, “there are no kings in America…we have a democracy.” She sought to prevent democracy by blocking the candidate who went on to win the election handily.
In my recent book “Rage and The Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution”, I discuss the rise of the “new Jacobins,” radicals who are calling for the scrapping of the Constitution or utilizing unconstitutional means to achieve political power. “By any means necessary” has become a mantra on the left.
The true tragedy is that this is likely to work in garnering support. Bellows and other Democrats are in a race to the bottom in proving that they are willing to do things that might make others hesitate. While she may be viewed as bonkers by the courts, Bellows is bona fide for the perpetually enraged.
Almost a million party members were punished.
• Xi Jinping Carries Out Record-Breaking Punishments Inside CCP (JTN)
More evidence comes in pointing to Xi Jinping having purged the ranks of the PLA and CCP. Reports say the Chinese Communist Party disciplined 983,000 party and government officials last year . China’s strongman leader Xi Jinping carried out a record number of disciplinary actions against Chinese Communist Party members and government officials, a Taiwanese intelligence agency assessed, as Xi conducted a massive purge of People’s Liberation Army leaders ahead of a 2027 deadline to be ready to invade Taiwan.Read more …
The Taiwan government’s National Security Bureau reportedly assessed that the CCP had punished nearly one million CCP members and People’s Republic of China officials during 2025, a new report found, which seems to dovetail with Xi’s removal of a host of high-ranking Chinese military brass as he prepares the PLA for war and increases his already iron-like grip on power in the country.44 generals and admirals, as well as 57 lieutenant generals and vice admirals removed
“The Chinese Communist Party last year disciplined 983,000 party and government officials, a record high during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s tenure, according to a report by the National Security Bureau,” the Taipei Times reported on Tuesday, with the assessment reportedly being sent to Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan — the democratic island nation’s equivalent of the U.S. Congress — ahead of the scheduled committee testimony of Tsai Ming-yen, the director-general of the important Taiwanese intelligence agency. The Department of War’s annual report on China from December assessed that “China expects to be able to fight and win a war on Taiwan by the end of 2027.”Xi has carried out a multi-year spree of removing top Chinese military commanders from the highest echelons of the PLA, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies finding that the Chinese leader has removed 44 generals and admirals as well as 57 lieutenant generals and vice admirals since 2022. CSIS added that, of the nearly four dozen PLA leaders who were generals in 2022 or were promoted to three-star roles post-2022, 87 percent of them “were purged or potentially purged” as of February of this year.
“Among those whose titles the CCP revoked last year were eight top researchers, including Liu Cangli, former director of the China Academy of Engineering Physics, the country’s main institution for research, development and testing of nuclear weapons and related technologies,” the Taipei Times said the new intel report also found. The outlet wrote on Tuesday: “Since the beginning of this year, the CCP has investigated many senior officials, including two high-level CCP officials — Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, chief of the commission’s Joint Staff Department — as well as politburo member Ma Xingrui, Chongqing Mayor Hu Henghua, and 17 centrally managed cadres, the NSB said.”
CCP purges might be driven by U.S. military successes
Some assessments have contended that changes within the Chinese military leadership have occurred due to fears about U.S. military superiority demonstrated on the battlefield. The Taiwanese intel assessment from this month reportedly found that “the removals” of top Chinese generals and admirals “might have been linked to the CCP’s sale of military equipment to countries such as Venezuela that have performed poorly in conflict scenarios in the past few years.” Miles Yu, the director of the China Center at the Hudson Institute, also wrote in late March that the waves of Xi-led purges inside the PLA might be being driven by recent impressive performances by the U.S. military.“The modern trajectory of China’s weapons development cannot be understood without recognizing a recurring pattern: Every major leap in the People’s Liberation Army has been triggered by decisive demonstrations of U.S. military superiority,” Yu wrote in the Washington Times. “From the Persian Gulf War to more recent confrontations involving Iran and Venezuela, American battlefield dominance has repeatedly exposed systemic weaknesses in China’s military-industrial complex, forcing cycles of hurried modernization, internal crisis, and political purges.”
The Artemis story I don’t quite get. They’re doing stuff that NASA should have done 50 years ago, and pretending it’s party-worthy?1
• This Is What a World Superpower Looks Like (Ben Shapiro)
America is living through a moment difficult to describe without sounding a little unhinged. But here goes: We are watching the United States do things that only the United States can do. In the span of a few days, Americans have watched astronauts push farther into space than any human beings in history, while U.S. forces execute military operations so precise and technologically overwhelming that they look like something written for a Hollywood script. Pilots are being rescued in missions that resemble “Mission: Impossible.” Terrorists are being eliminated with the kind of targeted strikes that only a modern superpower can carry out.Read more …
And somehow, this has become so normal that we barely stop to appreciate it. On Monday, Artemis II made history. According to The Wall Street Journal, the astronauts aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft traveled more than 248,655 miles from Earth — farther than any human beings have ever gone. It is worth repeating: farther than any human beings have ever gone. Not in science fiction. Not in a theoretical model. In real life. In real time. With Americans at the controls. President Donald Trump called the crew to congratulate them, and what followed was a reminder of how far beyond our daily politics the American project really reaches.“Tell me, what is the most unforgettable part of this really historic day?” the president asked. “The whole world is watching and listening. Please tell me.” Commander Reid Wiseman responded with the kind of awe you would expect from someone looking at the universe from a vantage point no human being has ever had before. He spoke of seeing the moon from a new perspective, of witnessing sights “no human has ever seen before,” even during Apollo. He described an eclipse — the sun, the moon, darkness outside the window, the corona visible — and even the “planet train” lining up in the distance.
Then he said something that sounded less like an astronaut’s report and more like a statement of national destiny: America, he said, was becoming part of the story of a “two-planet species.” That is what the United States is doing right now. And it is not happening in isolation. It is happening alongside a broader national posture that is unmistakably American: an insistence that the country is not merely capable of greatness but obligated to pursue it. For years, Americans have been trained to speak about their own country in tones of apology. The national mood has been one long exercise in self-criticism, as if confidence itself were a moral failing.
But there is a reason the rest of the world still looks at the United States as the place where things happen. People don’t just come here because we have jobs. They come because America still offers something rare: the opportunity to build, to create, to rise. The system is imperfect, but it remains the most powerful engine for human advancement ever constructed.And that same system, the same country capable of sending astronauts a quarter-million miles into space, is also the guarantor of global security — whether people want to admit it or not. That brings us to Iran.
For decades, the Iranian regime has played the same game: fund terrorism, destabilize the Middle East, pursue nuclear weapons, develop long-range ballistic missiles, brutalize its own population, and then demand to be treated as a legitimate member of the international community. The Trump administration’s position is simple: That game is over. What critics conveniently ignore is that Iran has been offered an off-ramp repeatedly. The United States has not demanded cultural surrender or humiliation. The requirements are basic: Stop pursuing nuclear weapons, stop developing long-range missiles, and stop funding terrorism. That is it.
Iran could have chosen that path at any time — not just in recent years but over nearly half a century. They could have been reintegrated into the world economy. They could have normalized relations. They could have chosen prosperity over fanaticism. Instead, they chose escalation. They chose theocracy. They chose regional domination. They chose to bankroll terror groups and accelerate toward nuclear capability. They chose to become a permanent source of instability. And now, they are facing the consequences.
The United States has unleashed military power with a level of dominance that has few parallels in history. The Iranian navy has been devastated. Its air force has been neutralized. Missile-launching capacity has been pushed toward collapse. Key industrial targets have been hit. Nuclear facilities have been bombed. Checkpoints and regime infrastructure have been struck with precision. This is not a stalemate. This is not a quagmire. By any reasonable historical standard, it is a superpower dismantling a hostile regime’s military capacity in real time.
Isn’t this how this all started? All the Dems saying in 2015 he had no chance in hell to win the election, were also claiming there was no way she loved him. Today, you can only WISH for your lady to love you how she does.
• Melania vs. the Mean Girls (Sarah Anderson)
We can also all agree that women can be catty when it comes to other women’s looks. No one wants to be the ugliest girl in the room, and I can imagine it may feel that way when you’re frumpy and dumpy and standing next to Melania Trump. The first lady is a good bit older than me, and I’ll be the first to admit that I will never look like she does. Even if I work out for hours a day, go on a special diet, have all the surgery and procedures, buy all the products, and wear outfits worth tens of thousands of dollars.Read more …
But I’m okay with that. I accept it. The older I get, the more I realize that someone’s physical appearance isn’t nearly as important as who they are, as cliché as that sounds. While I do enjoy seeing what Melania is wearing at various events, I’m far more interested in watching her interact with sick children in a hospital, talk to people who just lost their homes to national disasters, or interact with former hostages. She truly shines in these situations. Unfortunately, other women are not able to put that aside. Initially, I thought it was all politics — they hate Trump, so they’re going to bash his wife. But now I’m beginning to think that they are just catty and jealous.They’re the frumpy and dumpy — and incredibly shallow — who can’t stand to be outshined by Mrs. Trump’s beauty. Some of the latest examples of this are actress Meryl Streep and former Vogue editor Anna Wintour. I guess they’re promoting a new movie, The Devil Wears Prada 2, and they had “a conversation” as part of this month’s Vogue cover story. I’ll admit that I partially read that article so I could write this one, and by the time I was done, I wanted to go take a shower or bleach my brain or something. It was the most pretentious, hoity-toity crap I’d ever read. These women need to get out of their limos and touch grass. Or maybe Artemis II can grab them and bring them back down to earth with it on Friday. But I digress.
Anyway, the Melania-bashing began when filmmaker Greta Gerwig, who was conducting the interview, posed the question: “Do you think about how women are meant to dress to communicate power?” Because of all the things going on in the world right now, this is important. Wintour responded by propping up the “women one admires:” Michelle Obama and Rama Duwaji, wife of New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani — you know, the one who cheered on Hamas on October 7 and uses racial and homophobic slurs on social media. No, Anna, one does not admire these women. At least not one with a brain.
“Think about the women that one admires: Mrs. [Michelle] Obama comes to mind,” Wintour said. “Whether she’s wearing J.Crew or Duro Olowu or Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel, she always looks like herself. I’m full of admiration for New York City’s new first lady because she looks so cool and wears a lot of vintage—young and modern and also entirely herself.” Then she added this: “To be fair, Melania Trump also always looks like herself when she dresses.” There was no explanation, no breakdown of what she wears, just a blunt statement that came across as an insult and was presumably meant that way.
Streep claimed she had “so many thoughts about this” and brought up one particular outfit that Mrs. Trump wore in June 2018. “I think the most powerful message that our current first lady sent was in the coat that said ‘I Really Don’t Care, Do U?’ when she was going to see migrant children who were incarcerated.”
Nice try, Meryl, but let’s add some context. The “coat” she’s referring to is this one:
On June 21, 2018, Melania went to a migrant detention center wearing a Zara design jacket with the phrase "I Really Don't Care. Do U?" on the back. pic.twitter.com/gVYefFafF3
— MythoMAGA (@MythoMAGA) January 19, 2026
Marc Andreessen thinks Elon Musk hasn't just built successful companies, he might have actually cracked the code on how to manage for the next hundred years.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@ianmiles) April 7, 2026
The fundamental problem with any traditional organization that has multiple layers of management is what Andreessen… pic.twitter.com/xJL3HaCVyD
https://twitter.com/XFreeze/status/2041595253640310906?s=20Looking forward to working with Intel on the Terafab! https://t.co/i8Eie90ru0
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 7, 2026
May 29, 1453. The Ottoman Empire under Sultan Mehmed II besieged Constantinople after 55 days of relentless assault.
— sacredchad (@sacredchad_ig) April 7, 2026
80,000 Ottoman soldiers stood against 7,000 Christian defenders. Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Roman Emperor, had spent years sending letters across Europe… pic.twitter.com/1wFl8ms4XH
Η Μινωική Θαλασσοκρατία#Ιστορία https://t.co/zHjE1lfXSA pic.twitter.com/yWgr4ts97J
— Dr Spyros Plakoudas (@PlakoudasSpyros) April 7, 2026
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