Doc Robinson
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The Guardian today:
Trump accused of ‘mocking’ Catholics after posting image of himself as pope
US president displays ‘pathological megalomania’ as cardinals gather to elect new pope after death of Francis
However, this had already been published on Friday by a major comics syndicate:
“Have we just witnessed a long range drone drop?”
An aid ship bound for Gaza has suffered damage in international waters off the coast of Malta, with the crew alleging a drone attack.
While many elements remain unconfirmed, flight data showing an Israeli C-130 Hercules aircraft flying low over the region shortly beforehand has raised a striking question: have we just witnessed the first real-world long-range combat use of loitering drones deployed from a manned military aircraft?
The vessel, Conscience, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), was reportedly struck in the early hours of Friday morning. Activists aboard claimed an attack by drones, with two loud explosions, internal fire, and visible structural damage. Initially dismissed by some, including myself, as an accident or mechanical fault, later imagery showing inward-blasted holes and concentrated fire damage has shifted that assessment.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/have-we-just-witnessed-the-first-long-range-drone-drop/
Craig Murray wrote–
Have you noticed that the astroturf “citizen journalists” who pretend to do open source intelligence, like Bellingcat and OSINT, go completely silent and lose all that flight transponder and satellite access when it is Israel attacking a civilian ship?
CIA puppets.Breaking? From news source in Iran.
Yemen bans US crude oil exports through Red Sea
The Yemeni government has announced a sweeping ban on US crude oil in response to Washington’s continued aggression on the Arab country’s soil and targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Yemen’s Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOCC) said in a press statement on Saturday that the anti-US sanctions would take effect as of May 17.
The executive director of HOCC said the bans were levied as the “American enemy” continues to launch raids on various Yemeni provinces, targeting civilians and civilian objects, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries, including women and children, according to Press TV.
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/231359/Yemen-bans-US-crude-oil-exports-through-Red-Sea
Pablo Picasso Girl with a boat (Maya Picasso) 1938
Didn’t know anything about Maya Picasso.
“Born on the western outskirts of Paris to Marie-Thérèse Walter in 1935”https://news.artnet.com/art-world/maya-ruiz-picasso-obituary-2234858
The Houthis are causing higher prices for British shoppers, says the UK Defence Secretary, so the RAF bombed Yemen this past week alongside the US forces.
The UK and allies have reportedly “dismissed” any anti-genocide motivations of the Houthis. The article doesn’t mention the word genocide, it refers to “Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza.”
Shoppers face higher prices as a result of Houthi disruption to international shipping, the Defence Secretary has warned after airstrikes by British forces.
After a Royal Air Force strike against a drone manufacturing facility used by the Houthi militia in Yemen, John Healey said the UK took action in part because “ordinary people” pay the price for Red Sea disruption “in the food they buy, the goods they depend on”.
It is the first time the RAF has struck Houthi targets in Yemen since May 2024, under Rishi Sunak’s administration, and it was part of a joint operation alongside US forces.
It came after a leaked US Signal group chat revealed vice president JD Vance hated “bailing Europe out” and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said “European freeloading” was “pathetic”…
The Houthis claim their actions in the region are in response to Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, an assertion dismissed by the UK and allies.
Published today by a think tank in DC established by former president Nixon —
“America’s Aircraft Carriers Aren’t Helping Against the Houthis. Time for a Rethink.”American Carriers Are Useless in Today’s Contested Battlefield
Given that the Houthis are clearly getting better at threatening American carriers, the question everyone should be asking is: why is the Trump administration using the same military strategy in Yemen that their oft-criticized predecessors in the Biden administration used?
By having carriers loiter around the Red Sea, conducting endless airstrikes that apparently have done nothing to weaken the Houthis’ ability to launch missiles at ships, Trump is following Biden’s example in displaying American impotence.
Unless American leaders stop venerating the utterly obsolete aircraft carrier, if Washington doesn’t fundamentally change its approach to fighting the Houthis—namely by stopping its reliance on carriers in this fight—then sooner or later, the Houthis will get their carrier kill. And after that day, considering how important carriers are for the United States, it will be open season on whatever remains of U.S. military power.
Headline yesterday in Stars and Stripes (The U.S. Military’s independent news source) —
“Turning a Navy carrier isn’t enough to cause a jet to fall into the sea, US defense official says”
It’s unknown why Truman would have been steered in a way that could send a plane overboard.
“Evasive maneuvers against anti-ship missiles (ASM) are not a standard procedure and would not generally be relevant or effective given the great difference in speed between ASMs and ships,” said Jan van Tol, a retired Navy captain and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington.
https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2025-05-01/navy-red-sea-houthi-truman-jet-17644533.html
ship carrying aid to Gaza in a bid to break Israel’s blockade has been hit by drones in international waters off Malta…
blew a hole in the vessel and set the engine ablaze…
a frantic effort to bail out water and keep the vessel afloat…
a vessel from Southern Cyprus had been dispatched after it sent SOS calls.
Aljazeera NewsCraig Murray says this about it —
Let me explain this to you plainly: I am a former Head of the Maritime Section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In international law, an authorised military attack on a ship in international waters is an act of war against the flag state of the vessel attacked.
Craig Murray also said this today —
Israel has bombed a civilian cargo vessel in international waters off Malta, carrying just aid and peace campaigners.
The failure of western governments to stand up to any aspect of this genocide is the worst example of the power of individual corruption in all of human history.
It would be mad to argue that Roosevelt or Churchill failed to prevent the Holocause because they were paid not to try. It is precisely true that Biden, Trump and Starmer have failed to prevent this Genocide because they were paid.
Overly handsy arrest of 72-year-old Medea Benjamin at the US Congress, who wore a T-shirt saying “This Jew says No to genocide in Gaza.”
https://xcancel.com/vikingwarior20/status/1918035430815232492#m
MPSK,
I’ve used those stainless steel zip ties before, great for certain uses. But stainless steel wire can be stronger, longer, and cost less. ($8.99 from Harbor Freight for 1 pound spool of 0.041″ diam., reportedly over 200′ with more tensile strength than those zip ties). Like baling wire that doesn’t rust, many uses.
More on helicopter pilots…
Last week, “the Black Hawk was due to attend a Day Without Hate event” at a high school. The helicopter landed at the wrong school, off the target by 4 miles.
U.S. Army Black Hawk Lands at the Wrong School
https://theaviationist.com/2025/04/29/us-army-black-hawk-lands-wrong-school/
Photo #2/30 shows aircraft carrier Truman with damage — at far left and far right of photo — said to have resulted from a collision with another ship in February.
One of those F-18 planes somehow “rolled off the side” of the Truman yesterday.
Damage on the U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) following a collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M on February 12 while operating in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, viewed from an MH-60S Sea Hawk attached to the “Dragonslayers” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron HSC-11 in the Mediterranean Sea, February 14, 2025.
https://www.nationalreview.com/photos/uss-harry-s-truman-2025/
Truth is a casualty, somewhere.
In Iran, the Mehr News Agency reports
“The US Navy refused to admit that it was the Yemenis’ strikes that destroyed the aircraft.”https://en.mehrnews.com/news/231196/US-Navy-confirms-F-A-18-Super-Hornet-lost-at-sea
US defense officials acknowledged that the Houthis have brought down 19 (“nearly 20”) Reaper drones since October 2023, while the Houthis say it’s at least 22.
What Air Defenses Do The Houthis In Yemen Actually Have?
The loss of nearly 20 MQ-9 Reapers, increasing use of standoff munitions, and the deployment of B-2 bombers point to the Houthis’ air defenses being a real problem.A U.S. defense official told TWZ yesterday that Yemeni militants have or are suspected to have brought down six MQ-9s since March 15. Fox News reported today that U.S. officials have acknowledged the loss of another Reaper, the seventh one since the beginning of last month. Back in March [03/05/25], an unnamed U.S. defense official told Stars and Stripes that the Houthis had downed 12 Reapers since October 2023.
The Houthis themselves have claimed the destruction of at least 22 Reapers since October 2023, including the one just yesterday, but this cannot be readily verified independently. That tally does not include a number of drones belonging to the United States and other countries that the Yemeni militants shot down prior to October 2023.
…The average unit price of Reapers now in U.S. service has been pegged at around $30 million, which doesn’t factor in the cost of any weapons and other systems they might be carrying that are not part of the baseline configuration…
If nothing else, the Houthis have demonstrated that they have enough air defense capability to put U.S. military aircraft at legitimate risk, which looks to be prompting increased use of standoff munitions and other kinds of risk-related decision making.
https://www.twz.com/news-features/what-air-defenses-do-the-houthis-in-yemen-actually-have
SCOTUS Order Pauses Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act (Allen)
Dr. D – “Since everything reported so far was a lie, and also NOT an order, but a non-legal “can’t-you-infer-what-I’m-hinting” writ, then can someone get out the root documents and post them for me?”Here’s the “order”
https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/041925zr_c18e.pdfSome discussion
https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/04/justices-temporarily-bar-government-from-removing-venezuelan-men-under-alien-enemies-act/Some of what the Socialist party says they want in the US, including revolutionary action, and 2nd amendment rights for the working class :
We are committed to the overthrow of capitalism and transformation of capitalist society through revolutionary action…
As we pursue a socialist transformation of society, we offer a platform of radical demands to the existing, capitalist system…
We call for worker and community ownership and control of the means of production within the framework of a democratically determined economic plan…
We call for increased and expanded welfare assistance and increased and expanded unemployment compensation at 100% of a worker’s previous income or the minimum wage, whichever is higher, for the full period of unemployment or re-training, whichever is longer…
We call for an immediate minimum wage of $25 per hour, indexed to the cost of living…
We support the provision of a livable guaranteed annual income…
We support the efforts of people of color to self-defense, self-determination, and to organize independently for their liberation…
We call for the right of retirement at age of 55 and a guaranteed, livable retirement income which is tax-free and protected from inflation by cost of living increases…
We call for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to choose when, if, and how to have children, including the right to free abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy, without interference or coercion…
We oppose age-based curfew laws…
We call for the abolition of parent consent and notification laws for reproductive health services, including abortion…
We support guaranteed incomes and grants for artists and performers…
We call for the complete and immediate forgiveness of all outstanding student loans…
We call for full citizenship rights upon demonstrating six months of residency in the U.S…
We call for a mandatory paper trail of all votes to allow for recounts and verification…
We call for the right of prisoners to organize unions and cooperative groups to negotiate for better living conditions…
We call for the ultimate replacement of the police with community residents trained in conflict resolution who live in and serve the community under community control…
We recognize and support the right of the working class to keep and bear arms. We support community-based public training for gun owners…
We call for the decriminalization of drug use and the regulation of narcotics by doctors through the use of prescriptions rather than by the criminal justice system…
Landmark Cleveland Clinic Study Finds Flu Vaccine Ineffective—And Possibly Harmful—for Working Adults in 2024-2025 Season
A large-scale prospective cohort study from the Cleveland Clinic has delivered a shocking verdict on this year’s influenza vaccine: not only was it ineffective, but it was also associated with increased risk of infection. Led by Dr. Nabin Shrestha, the study tracked over 53,000 employees during the 2024–2025 respiratory viral season to assess whether the influenza vaccine offered protection against laboratory-confirmed influenza infections.Kunstler shows a flight log with a John Roberts listed on a flight in 2011.
If this person was Justice John Roberts (and I’m not saying or implying that it was), it would have been 5 years after his nomination by G.W. Bush, which was confirmed by the Senate, with a vote of 78-22. One of the few Senators to vote against him was Barack Obama.
In 2012, a year after that flight, it might seem unusual that Roberts sided with the liberal Justices to uphold Obamacare, saving it with a 5-4 vote.
The four dissenting Justices (Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Kennedy) wanted to strike down Obamacare in its entirety, and criticized Roberts “for rewriting the language of the law”.
In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court has upheld the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. While only four Justices found its requirement that certain individuals pay a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance (26 U.S.C. 5000A) constitutional under the Commerce Clause, Chief Justice Roberts found it constitutional by reasonably characterizing it as a tax. Chief Justice Roberts wrote: “it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness.” The penalty is to be paid to the IRS, along with the individual’s income taxes.
Dissent
Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy (Author)Collaborating on an unsigned dissent, these Justices would have struck down the ACA in its entirety. They criticized Roberts for rewriting the language of the law to find that the individual mandate was a tax, when it had been explicitly identified as a penalty.
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. 519 (2012)
Test your lungs
Normal lungs – 14 seconds
Strong lungs – 35 seconds
Super lungs – 70 secondsMaybe that is a lowering of expectations about what’s normal for lungs, post vaxx, or with the terrible air quality in India, the location of the hospital that posted this lung test.
But saying 35 seconds indicates strong lungs, and 14 seconds indicates normal lungs, is lowering the bar somewhat, since “most people can hold their breath for 30 to 90 seconds without any difficulty,” according to the director of education at the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC).
“Most people can hold their breath for 30 to 90 seconds without any difficulty,” says registered respiratory therapist Mandy De Vries, MS-RCL/Ed, director of education at the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC).
https://www.livestrong.com/article/13773509-how-long-should-you-be-able-to-hold-your-breath/“Still nobody takes the Houthis serious.”
Making friends and influencing people. Some headlines about the Houthis today:
‘Inevitable’ revenge for deadly US raids on Yemen
Ansarallah Pledges to Make Americans Repent for Electing Trump@ tdk
Thanks for that clarification.I am now amending section XII of the Declaration to extend the time period of PREP Act coverage through December 31, 2029. COVID-19 continues to present a credible risk of a future public health emergency.
https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2024-29108.pdf
Page 5 of 27tdk – “why hasn’t the new secretary of hhs declared the covid emergency over?”
Maybe because a previous secretary of HHS already declared this in 2023?
May 11, 2023
The HHS Secretary issues a statement on the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/covid-19-public-health-emergency/index.htmlHowever…
There is still no Federal requirement for informed consent relating to immunization.Vaccination consent forms
There is no Federal requirement for informed consent relating to immunization. For state and local regulations, check with your local or state health department.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/php/requirements-laws/index.html
Kunstler – “Jacobins of Paris, 1794… Robespierre… the insane antics of the Woke-Jacobin revolution.”
The French Revolution initially rejected religion, preferring what was called the Cult of Reason, which had “scandalous scenes” and “wild masquerades” attributed to its practice.
However, Robespierre rejected atheism, and was instrumental in establishing the Worship of the Supreme Being as the state religion of France in 1794.
The French People recognize the existence of the Supreme Being and the Immortality of the Soul.
They declare that the best service of the Supreme Being is the practice of man’s duties.
They set among the most important of these duties the detestation of bad faith and tyranny, by punishing tyrants and traitors, by caring for the unfortunate, respecting the weak, defending the oppressed, doing unto others all the good one can, and not being unjust towards anyone.
Less than three months later, Robespierre was executed, and the Cult of the Supreme Being “lost all official sanction and disappeared from public view.”
Dr. D. yesterday – “OPEN THE DOOR. For today is a good day to die. Or at least as good as any other. Today could be, and is, the day you were waiting for.”
(Background music) It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me…
I think people often get stuck in the grieving process for their own mortality, and the elusive acceptance brings freedom – freedom to appreciate life and even feel good about it.
From Russia, some fantastic singers doing an unrehearsed duet requested during a podcast.
Dr. D. – “They finally dug into USAID and found something not evil: teaching kids to read in Kenya. Like $100M? Well, assuming a single dollar got there, what kind of country is Kenya if they can’t teach their kids how to read on their own?”
Whatever money Kenya can round up has to first pay the loan shark bankers.
USAID will “help”, using taxpayer dollars to help bankers get more money out of Kenya.Kenya could run out of money to repay massive debts: how to avoid this
Unless it secures a debt write-off, debt rescheduling, or similar deal to reduce the debt burden, Kenya will almost certainly end in debt default. The country must use every effort to avoid this possibility.
When creditors believe that a country is likely to default, they seek to protect themselves from possible losses. Sometimes they force the government to take austerity measures.
Austerity means reducing public spending on most needs, including education and health, physical infrastructure such as roads, and social programmes such as food subsidies. It may also force a country to raise revenues by increasing taxes or selling state-owned enterprises.
(posted with links removed after first attempt failed)
“Crime and Punishment” and socialism (and Wikipedia spin)
The earliest archived Wikipedia entry I found for C&P was a short article from 2004 which had one mention of the word “socialism”, in this phrase:
Dostoevsky rejected socialism
The most recent Wikipedia entry for C&P is a much longer article, still with only one mention of socialism, but in a very limited and specific context:
He thus attacked a peculiar Russian blend of French utopian socialism and Benthamite utilitarianism, which had developed under revolutionary thinkers such as Nikolai Chernyshevsky and became known as rational egoism. [Rational egoism is the principle that an action is rational if and only if it maximizes one’s self-interest.]
@ citizenx
Even closer to you than Eastern Washington, it’s “red” not “blue” in Granite Falls and Gold Bar, for example.
https://snohomishcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/127579/Official-Precinct-Report-Masked-Abstract
(page 76 of 646)citizenx: “I am “set up for failure” living amongst the insane here in the PNW.”
Of course, if you drive an hour east, the blue counties become red.
I looked for an updated summary of the Russian government’s views on Zelensky’s presidential authority. This is from Pravda, dated 19.02.2025.
Zelensky revealed when he will leave the presidency
Volodymyr Zelensky intends to remain president until Ukraine joins NATO and the EU. He stated this in an interview with ARD…
Vladimir Zelensky’s term of office expired on May 20, 2024. The presidential elections in Ukraine in 2024 were canceled, citing martial law and general mobilization. Zelensky stated that the elections are now “untimely.”
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated that, according to preliminary estimates, the only legitimate government in Ukraine is the parliament and the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada. According to him, if Ukraine wanted to legitimately elect a president, then it would be necessary to repeal the law on martial law: its effect does not mean prolongation of the results of the last elections, “there is nothing about this in the constitution.”
https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/02/19/1068810.html
“I have to conclude that Z is still the president.”
…according to the English translation of the Ukraine constitution that’s posted on the current Ukrainian government’s website, at least.
Zelensky Is In A Very Bad Position – Tara Reade (RT)
Zelensky on the sidelines.
Stańczyk, by Jan Matejko, 1862
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sta%C5%84czyk_(painting)Another painting of Agostina Segatori, owner of the Café du Tambourin at 62 Boulevard de Clichy in Paris, painted around 15 or 20 years prior to Van Gogh’s painting.
La Lecture interrompue (Interrupted Reading)
Jean Baptiste Camille CorotI don’t trust that Trust Index by Country, otherwise known as the 2025 Edelman Trust Index.
The global launch event for the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer took place during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Richard Edelman, CEO, Edelman, presented this year’s findings, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Alyson Shontell, Editor in Chief and Chief Content Officer, Fortune; and featuring Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President, Microsoft…
https://www.edelman.com/trust/2025/trust-barometerAlarmingly, four in 10 respondents – 53 percent of those aged 18-34 – approve of one or more forms of hostile activism to bring about change, which includes attacking people online, intentionally spreading disinformation…
For the past several years, business has been the default solution for societal issues…
NGOs, as unifiers, are the institution with the highest trust among those with a sense of high grievance…
63 percent say it’s becoming harder to tell if news was produced by a respectable source or from attempted deception…
Moving back from a grievance-based society will require a cross-institution effort to address issues like information integrity, affordability, sustainability, and the future of AI.
https://www.edelman.com/news-awards/2025-edelman-trust-barometer-reveals-high-level-grievanceBreaking: Trump signs memorandum to make aviation staffing normal again.
Trump signs an aviation order rolling back federal diversity initiatives
https://apnews.com/live/dc-plane-crash-reagan-updatesStaffing was ‘not normal’ in the air traffic control tower at Washington’s Reagan National Airport
That headline is just begging for a meme photo of the staff, but it apparently means they were short-staffed and “one air traffic controller was working two positions at the time of the crash”.
That’s according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration that was obtained by The Associated Press.
The report says one air traffic controller was working two positions at the time of the crash.
“The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” the report says.
Listenbourg. Note the date:
Listenbourg is a fictional European country bordering Portugal and Spain created by Twitter user @gaspardooo in October 2022. The country’s name was coined in a now-viral post that the user made on October 30th of that year, sharing a map with a new country photoshopped on it, inspiring memes and discussions about the fictional country over the following days, with some trying to claim it’s real.
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/listenbourg#fn4In 2022, NBC News had an article about it:
Listenbourg is the hottest country on social media right now. The catch? It doesn’t exist.
After going viral on Twitter, the craze spread to TikTok where the hashtag “#Listenbourg” has more than 75 million views and countless videos dedicated to the made-up land.“Trump dubbed the missile defense system – which the order says would be designed to protect the U.S. homeland from ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other new aerial threats – the “U.S. Iron Dome” after the highly successful Israeli conventional missile defense system.”
Highly successful? How did those Houthi missiles get in, then? Or are they only successful against outdated conventional missiles?
This reboot of Reagan’s Star Wars seems like it might just continue feeding the MIC for years without much to show for it in the end.
RIM: “Why are there Blackhawks on that airport?”
The crashed Black Hawk helicopter flight was identified as PAT25 in the air traffic controller radio communications. “PAT” designates the US Department of the Army’s “Priority Air Transport” which was set up in 1988 to provide executive transport to Senior Army leadership and key government officials, according to Wiki.
FlightFinder data shows a previous flight PAT25 on 18-JAN-2025, a 58 minute flight with both takeoff and landing at airport DAA, which “corresponds to Davison Army Airfield Airport in Fort Belvoir, Virginia”, according to Wiki.
That previous flight PAT25 on the 18th was earlier in the day (5:45PM takeoff), and the route similarly went along the Potomac River near DCA (Reagan National Airport) in both directions, almost like a figure 8.
https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/PAT25
If it comes down to human error on the part of the crew members or air traffic controllers, I’m wondering whether the humans who erred were hired or promoted to their positions based on DEI considerations instead of competency?
