Menu Icon

Debt Rattle March 20 2026

Mar 202026
 
 March 20, 2026  Posted by at 10:27 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  62 Responses »


Jean-Michel Basquiat In this case 1983


• Netanyahu Declares Iran’s Nuclear Program & Missile Production “Destroyed” (ZH)
• Iran’s Attack On Qatar’s LNG Sends Shockwaves Across Global Energy Markets (ZH)
• US Naval Escort Won’t “100% Guarantee” Tanker Safety In Hormuz (ZH)
• Iran Is Losing. Why Pretend Otherwise? (Ben Shapiro)
• Either Iran or Israel Has to Go (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Where Will The War Take Us? (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Dmitriev Calls Strike on Iran’s South Pars Gas Field Tipping Point (TASS)
• The Coroner is Guilty (John Helmer)
• DNI Tulsi Gabbard Releases 2026 Unclassified National Threat Assessment (CTH)
• Belarus Remains Trump’s Ally Despite US Mistakes — Lukashenko (TASS)
• Murphy’s Law (Jonathan Turley)
• Trump Continues to Expel MAGA’s Best Members (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Kent Tells Tucker: ‘Imminent Threat’ Was From Israel, Not Iran (ZH)
• NASA May Shrink Boeing’s Moon-Mission Role, Push SpaceX (ZH)
• When ‘I Don’t Recall’ Meets a DOJ Subpoena (David Manney)

 


 

https://twitter.com/Skint_Eastwood1/status/2034238638259904836?s=20

 


 

 


 


Just when the protests get too loud, the mission is completed.

• Netanyahu Declares Iran’s Nuclear Program & Missile Production “Destroyed” (ZH)

In a rare wartime press conference, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu opened with a jab at rumors about his condition: First of all& I m alive.” He went on to claim that Israel and the US are “protecting the entire Middle East& the entire world” – and after 20 days, he asserted: “we are winning, and Iran is being decimated.” Netanyahu further claimed that Iran’s missile and drone stockpiles are being “massively degraded” and “will be destroyed,” framing the campaign as an all-out dismantling of Tehran s capabilities. Bust most importantly he said production capability has been ended.


He further addressed claims Israel dragged the US into war, calling it “fake news” and adding: “Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Donald Trump what to do? Come on.” He praised tight US-Israel coordination: “We are achieving goals in lightning speed” – and said he and Trump “see eye to eye,” adding the world “owes a debt& to President Trump for leading this effort.” He also stated that Israel acted against Pars alone, but that he will hold off on ordering future such attacks without US consent. Netanyahu also said the war will end “much sooner than people think”. And another key aspect to his remarks:

• Iran No Longer Able to Enrich Uranium
ª Iran Lost Ability to Manufacture Missiles US
ª Israel Destroyed Iran s Fleet in Caspian Sea

“What we’re destroying now are the factories that produce the components to make these missiles and ` to make the nuclear weapons that they’re trying to produce,” Netanyahu said, however without providing evidence of the claim. Just before he spoke, Israel’s military said it anticipates the anti-Iran campaign is only half complete.

Iran through its Foreign Minister has made clear on Thursday it will show “zero restraint” if energy infrastructure is targeted again. President Trump on the same day responded to reports the US has sent more troops to the region.

Read more …

“Worse Than Nord Stream”.

• Iran’s Attack On Qatar’s LNG Sends Shockwaves Across Global Energy Markets (ZH)

Brent crude futures surged toward $120/bbl, while WTI remained muted around $96/bbl, as Wednesday marked a major escalation in the US-Iran conflict. Israeli fighter jets struck Iran’s giant South Pars gas field with air-delivered munitions, triggering a retaliatory chain reaction in which IRGC forces targeted critical energy infrastructure across the Gulf. Iranian drone and missile strikes caused heavy damage to Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG hub, while gas plants in Abu Dhabi shut down, Kuwaiti refineries were hit by drones, and Saudi refining assets were targeted. Unlike temporary shipping disruptions in the Gulf waters or the Strait of Hormuz, damage to upstream energy assets, such as production and LNG facilities, is far more serious and could take months or even years to repair, raising the risk of prolonged tight global supply.


Some 20% of global LNG exports originate from Gulf countries, and the latest round of Israeli and IRGC attacks on upstream energy assets shows how the conflict has entered an entirely new phase where energy infrastructure is being directly targeted. Disruptions at Qatar’s LNG facilities threaten to tighten the global gas market, with ripple effects quickly spreading worldwide – across Asia, Europe, and even U.S. gas prices. European natural gas benchmark futures jumped as much as 35% today, pushing prices to more than double their pre-war levels, as traders brace for what only appears to be a prolonged period of disruption from critical LNG hubs that account for a fifth of the world’s total supply.

QatarEnergy warned earlier that LNG facilities inside its Ras Laffan Industrial City were attacked by missiles, “causing sizable fires and extensive further damage.” “This could be a game changer for the LNG industry, akin to the attack on Nord Stream or possibly even worse,” Susan Sakmar, visiting assistant professor at the University of Houston Law Center, said, quoted by Bloomberg. “This is a sudden disruption, with no indication that Qatar could restart anytime soon.” Global Risk Management analyst Arne Lohmann Rasmussen warned, “LNG from Qatar could in principle be offline for months and, in the worst case, for years. For the gas market, the crisis does not end simply because the war ends and the Strait of Hormuz reopens.”

Read more …

“We are collateral damage in a conflict when the root causes have nothing to do with shipping..”

• US Naval Escort Won’t “100% Guarantee” Tanker Safety In Hormuz (ZH)

The paralyzed Hormuz chokepoint is becoming the worst disruption to global energy flows ever, as actual barrels quickly disappear from oil markets, driving prices sharply higher in Asia toward $150 per barrel and potentially setting the stage for demand destruction in the weeks ahead.


President Trump has been attempting to fast-track the reopening of Hormuz by providing naval escorts for tankers and other commercial vessels. However, there are a few problems. First, Western US partners have rejected Trump’s request to send warships to help reopen the strategic waterway, which is plagued by IRGC mines and kamikaze drones. Second, Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), told the Financial Times in an interview on Tuesday that even if naval escorts materialize in the narrow waterway, they will not provide a “100% guarantee” of tanker safety. “It reduces the risk, but the risk is still there. The merchant ships and seafarers can be affected,” Dominguez said.

The head of the IMO, which sets rules for international shipping, continued: “We are collateral damage in a conflict when the root causes have nothing to do with shipping,” adding that his organization has major concerns about commercial vessels stuck in the Gulf running out of food and supplies for crews. Sending US and allied warships into the narrow waterway, just off the Iranian coast and facing threats from drones, naval mines, and shore-to-ship ballistic missiles, seems like a suicidal mission. “The challenge is going to be dealing with the proximity of the drone launchers and the missile launchers that are going to be along the Iranian coast,” Bryan Clark, an expert in naval operations with the Hudson Institute, told The Hill.

Clark said, “The issue is that you only have a couple of minutes once the launcher comes out before the missiles are going to get on top of you, because you’re only talking about 3 or 4 miles from the shoreline to the transit lane.”mA number of top US partners, including Germany, Spain, and Italy, have no immediate plans to send warships into the waterway. This has only infuriated President Trump, as his administration has voiced frustration with some longstanding allies over their unwillingness to help reopen the strait.

The race to reopen the strait comes as Kpler oil analyst Muyu Xu warned, “The blockade is now the worst disruption to oil flows ever. Actual barrels are now disappearing from global oil markets, which could lead to demand destruction in the weeks to come.”= Three weeks into the US-Iran conflict, tanker activity on the waterway has slowed to a crawl, just about 400,000 barrels per day, compared with the pre-Hormuz-closure average of 14 million barrels per day.

Read more …

Views differ.

• Iran Is Losing. Why Pretend Otherwise? (Ben Shapiro)

Don’t fall for the propaganda. Iran is not holding its own in this conflict. It is being systematically dismantled. One by one, the senior figures of the Islamic Republic have been eliminated: generals, security chiefs and regime power brokers. The country’s leadership has been decapitated at the highest levels, leaving behind a hollowed-out command structure struggling to function.mEven the regime’s attempts at continuity appear shaky. A successor was hastily elevated, but reports suggest instability, absence and internal disarray at the very top. Whatever facade of order Tehran hoped to project has given way to uncertainty and silence.


Meanwhile, the military picture is equally stark. Iran’s command-and-control systems have been fractured. Its missile and drone capabilities — once touted as pillars of deterrence — have been severely degraded. What remains is not a coordinated campaign but sporadic, diminished retaliation.The numbers tell the story. Early volleys of hundreds of missiles have dwindled to scattered launches. Drone deployments have followed the same trajectory. Factories, infrastructure and key facilities tied to these capabilities have been destroyed or heavily damaged. What the regime is able to deploy now appears to be the remnants of what once was.

This is not simply a Western narrative. Even regional observers — some hardly aligned with U.S. interests — have acknowledged the effectiveness of the campaign. Analyses describe a deliberate, phased strategy: first neutralizing air defenses and leadership networks, then targeting the industrial backbone that sustains Iran’s military capabilities. The objective is not just to weaken but to prevent reconstruction.mAnd yet, despite this evidence, a counternarrative persists in parts of the West: that Iran is resilient, that it is outlasting its adversaries, that the outcome remains uncertain. That claim is increasingly difficult to square with reality.

Recent developments underscore the point. Senior Iranian officials once positioned as potential successors have been killed. Key internal security figures — those responsible for maintaining order and suppressing dissent — have also been eliminated. Even localized enforcement mechanisms are now under pressure. What remains of the regime’s response resembles less a strategy and more a reaction — disjointed, limited and increasingly ineffective.So the real question is not whether Iran is losing. The evidence suggests it is.The real question is why so many observers continue to insist otherwise.

Part of the answer may lie in broader geopolitical anxieties: fears of escalation, concerns over regional stability, or skepticism shaped by past conflicts. But those concerns, while understandable, do not change the facts on the ground. There are also looming questions about what comes next. Much attention has been paid to strategic chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz, though any prolonged disruption there would invite overwhelming international response. More significant, perhaps, is the internal dynamic within Iran itself.

The regime has long relied on force to suppress dissent, as seen in past protests met with lethal crackdowns. But the current moment may be different. With leadership weakened and security structures under strain, the balance between state control and public resistance could begin to shift. If that happens, the future of Iran will not be decided solely by external pressure but by the Iranian people themselves. They have risen before, at great personal risk. The difference now is that the regime they would confront appears more vulnerable than it has in decades. What happens next is uncertain. But one thing is increasingly clear: The narrative of Iranian strength no longer matches the reality.

Read more …

I llike PCR. And he has much more experience than me, and I was never in the White House. BUT: the US is not in the Middle East because of Israel, it’s -historically- there to control the price of oil.

• Either Iran or Israel Has to Go (Paul Craig Roberts)

The Iranians have demonstrated that Trump badly misjudged their capability. Trump is now calling on other countries, with little success, to send their warships to help keep open the Strait of Hormuz as the task is too big for the US Navy, and he is cutting deals, or trying to, with Putin and Modi to remove sanctions on Russian oil in exchange for the de-sanctioned oil to be sent to Europe and not to Asia. Trump, or his advisors, have come up with a scheme to invade Kharg Island, which seems more like a suicide mission.


The Iranians are holding firm on one level but without realizing it might be cracking on another. I am not convinced that the Iranians fully understand the situation. For example, Mohsen Rezaee, retired commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, now a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, said that the “presence of the US in the Persian Gulf has been the main cause of insecurity over the past 50 years.” The end of the war, he said, requires “US withdrawal from the Persian Gulf.”

It seems to me that General Rezaee misunderstands the situation. It is not the American presence per se that is the cause of insecurity. The cause is that the American bases are there to serve Israel. Moreover, the real cause of insecurity for all of the Muslim states is Israel’s Zionist agenda of Greater Israel. Once defined as “from the Nile to the Euphrates,” Israel has recently redefined Greater Israel to be from the “Nile to Pakistan.” The general does not seem to understand that removing the US from the Persian Gulf does not remove the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel. What Iran should be demanding is the disavowal of the Zionist agenda.

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, hasn’t a clue either. He says the “Only way to end this war” is to recognize Iran’s legitimate rights, payment of reparations (to Iran) and firm guarantees against future aggression.” He is badly wrong. The war might again be put on pause by Iranian officials who fail to comprehend the situation, but the only way war will end is by Israel renouncing the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel. And that Israel will not do. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has rejected the talk of peace negotiations. Trump, he says has already twice deceived and sneak-attacked Iran while engaged in negotiations, and Iran will not make the same mistake again.

In actual fact, Iran is making a much worse mistake. The Zionist agenda of Greater Israel is not consistent with the Existence of Muslim Iran (or Turkey and Saudi Arabia). Unless the Zionist agenda is renounced, Iran has no choice but to fight to its own death or to Israel’s death. The fact that Iran has never seized the initiative, has never used its strategic advantage, but has sat on its butt waiting, indeed inviting, an attack, suggests that Iran does not comprehend the Zionist Agenda. Neither do the Americans, the Europeans, or the media. The real cause of the war is simply not mentioned. If Iran doesn’t wise up, Iran risks being lured into another meaningless agreement.

Read more …

“Netanyahu does know what to do–nuke Iran, in order to save Israel.”

No, nuking Iran would be the end of Israel.

• Where Will The War Take Us? (Paul Craig Roberts)

I am disappointed that Trump destroyed the MAGA movement by turning it into the MIGA movement and taking America to another war in the Middle East in behalf of the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel. Using the disguise of a “war on terror,” the United States has spent the first quarter of the 21st Century using American blood and American money to destroy countries that were barriers to Greater Israel, a territory that encompasses the Muslim Middle East from the Nile to Pakistan. Iraq, Libya and Syria are no longer functioning Arab states.


Trump and Netanyahu believed that Iran would fall as easily as the others, but that has proved not to be the case. Indeed, it appears that Iran is winning. Iran is winning because Iran was better prepared. Expecting a quick and easy victory, Trump and Netanyahu went to war without sufficient missiles to continue in the combat. One consequence is the destruction of American radar and military bases in the Persian Gulf. Another is the inability of Israel to intercept incoming Iranian missiles, an inability that will intensify as Iran works its way through its older stock of missiles and begins using it’s modern hypersonic ballistic missiles. It is possible that Israel could end up looking like Gaza.

According to news reports one of the Persian Gulf oil city-states that hosts US military bases has requested that the United States depart as US presence no longer provides protection. Possibly the other hosts of American bases will make the same request, in which case the result of Trump’s war for Israel will be the removal of Washington’s presence in the Middle East and a defeat of Washington’s long-term agenda of controlling oil flows from the Persian Gulf.

Trump and Netanyahu seem to have put themselves into a difficult situation. Both face elections this year, elections unlikely to go well if Trump and Netanyahu are losing their war. The US Navy has had to move out of range of Iranian ship-sinking missiles, and Trump has had to call on other countries–China, Japan, South Korea, France, UK–to send warships to aid the US in taking control from Iran of the Strait of Hormuz. This request is a clear statement by the President of the United States of limited American military capability. Trump has had no takers. Trump’s advisors are talking about landing troops on Kharg Island, surely a suicide mission.

In other words, Trump doesn’t know what to do. Netanyahu does know what to do–nuke Iran, in order to save Israel. Aware of this possibility Iran might hold back from victory and go for a settlement in which Washington and Israel agree to normalize relations with the Iranian nation. Such a settlement would not last, because it is incompatible with the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel. Therefore, during the time for which such a settlement might last, Iran would have to develop and deploy nuclear weapons, knowing that otherwise Iran will be struck by Israeli nukes.

So, the outcome of Trump and Israel’s war could easily be nuclear proliferation and a reduction of Israeli and American power in the Middle East. This could be a good thing as both Israelis and Americans would understand that the agenda of Greater Israel has consequences too severe to justify the agenda.m If the Iranian government holds firm and learns from the experience, there could be a silver lining in Trump and Israel’s war. The Zionist agenda would be exposed as too costly and would have to be abandoned both by Israel and Washington.

The weak-willed governments in Moscow and Beijing would see that it is possible, after all, to stand up to Israeli-dominated Washington, and possibly might start standing up to Washington themselves instead of selling out their allies. If so, this would produce the multi-polar world that Russian President Putin talks so much about but negates the possibly of with his craven behavior. Perhaps XI would understand that it is better to have a determined military, such as the one he just purged, than a moderate one that encourages, as Putin does, ever more serious provocations by refusing to acknowledge them as acts of war.

The future of the world depends on whether leaders can reenter the world of reality or stay lost in a more comforting unreality in which they presently operate.

Read more …

“Trump stated that Israel would no longer strike facilities of Iran’s South Pars gas field.”

• Dmitriev Calls Strike on Iran’s South Pars Gas Field Tipping Point (TASS)

Special Representative of Russian President for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, Chief Executive Officer of Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev called the strike on facilities of the Iranian South Pars gas field, which caused a fire, a “tipping point” in a post on X. This is how he reacted to a White House publication citing statements by US President Donald Trump regarding the situation around the gas field. US President Donald Trump stated that Israel would no longer strike facilities of Iran’s South Pars gas field.


The United States knew nothing about the attack, and Qatar was not involved in it in any way or had any idea it was coming, he wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. The American leader believes the Jewish state carried out the strike out of outrage at what was happening in the Middle East. According to Trump, only a small portion of the field’s facilities were damaged. H e emphasized that Israel would no longer strike the extremely important and valuable South Pars gas field unless Iran made an unwise decision to attack a completely innocent party, Qatar in this case.

On Wednesday, the head of the Assaluyeh District administration in Iran’s Bushehr Province reported that a fire had broken out following an attack by Israel and the United States at several facilities in the South Pars gas field. In this regard, Iran’s elite military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said it would attack oil and gas sites in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar.

Read more …

New book.

• The Coroner is Guilty (John Helmer)

This is the first book to expose abuse of power by Australian coroners investigating the cause of death when there is suspicion of medical negligence in the combination of popular prescription drugs – widely used benzodiazepines with treatments for non-life threatening conditions such as vertigo, vestibular migraine, and epilepsy. The book records the evidence of the sudden death of Tatiana Vasilievna Turitsyna, my wife, and of the two years which have followed of forensic investigations to uncover the cause, the role of the treating doctor, then the delay, obstruction, and cover-up by the Coroners Court of Victoria.


Throughout the world this court is the only one of its kind to have been investigated and then prosecuted by the state for abuses of power by the coroners in charge – this is corruption in the law. In 2023 the court was found guilty, sentenced, and fined almost $400,000, but no individual was held culpable. That was the outcome of a plea bargain — a cover-up to keep the evidence secret, the individual coroners blameless, and the penalty paid out of public money from the court budget.

In a presentation that is unprecedented in the practice of Anglo-American law, in Australia and Canada, this book has become the jury book or brief of the case of suspicious, sudden drug death. It is now a model for the international public debate on corruption by the pharmaceutical companies in cahoots with government regulators, the medical profession, judges, and lawyers. This is your summons to serve on the jury.

You, the reader, are called to judge the evidence and the legal argument; and then cast your verdict, not only for the doctor and coroner but also the Supreme Court judge who conducted a trial of his own, dismissing every count of the author’s case, and endorsing the coroner’s decisions without qualification. This is also a textbook on subversion in our lives and deaths. This is how the victims of lethal combinations of drugs are blamed for dying of heart attacks that are judged to be “natural causes” when the evidence that they are nothing of the kind is buried according to the “rules-based international order”. If you are a survivor of a crime of “natural causes”, here’s how to fight for your right, and the right of the dead, to natural justice.

Read more …

The Unclassified part is not the most exciting.

• DNI Tulsi Gabbard Releases 2026 Unclassified National Threat Assessment (CTH)

In fulfilling her legislatively mandated annual report called the “National Threat Assessment,” Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, releases the combined intelligence assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Additionally, here is the transcript of DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s statement to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence:


[TRANSCRIPT] – “I am here today to present the 2026 Annual Threat Assessment, joined by the Directors of the CIA, DIA, FBI and NSA. This briefing is being provided in accordance with ODNI’s statutory responsibility and represents the Intelligence Community’s assessment of the threats facing U.S. citizens, our Homeland, and our interests. nAs President Trump’s National Security Strategy highlights, America is blessed with an enviable geostrategic position, unparalleled assets, resources and a military second to none. Intelligence remains among our sharpest tools in protecting our interests and informing our policymakers and decisionmakers on key national security concerns. In this assessment, we are following the structure of priorities laid out in the National Security Strategy, starting with threats to our Homeland, then shifting to global risks.

The defense of our Homeland is of utmost importance to the American people. Putting America first means committing to an unrelenting vigilance in service of our own citizens, borders, and communities. Recent efforts to bolster Homeland defense have yielded significantly positive results, but challenges persist. For example, President Trump’s strict enforcement of U.S. policies at the U.S. Mexico border and regionally has served as a deterrent and drastically reduced illegal immigration. Based on Customs and Border Patrol data, January 2026’s monthly encounters are down 83.8% compared to January 2025. Encounters declined 79% compared to 2024.

The drivers of migration are likely to continue. Potential worsening instability in countries like Cuba and Haiti risk triggering migration surges. Smugglers who often operate as transnational criminal organizations view chaos as an opportunity for profit and will look to continue to profit from illegal immigration flows. Transnational criminal organizations continue to pose a daily and direct threat to the health and safety of millions of U.S. citizens primarily by producing and trafficking in illegal drugs. Under President Trump’s leadership, fentanyl overdose deaths have seen a 30 percent decrease from September 2024 to September 2025.

Fentanyl potency has also decreased, likely due to disruptions to the production supply chain. U.S. efforts to work with China and India to halt the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals to North America are demonstrating improvement, but there is more work to be done as there are still tens of thousands of fentanyl-related deaths in America every year.] President Trump’s aggressive efforts to more directly and actively target TCOs and reduce the inflow of fentanyl precursors has already had a significant impact which is likely to continue. (continue reading – pdf) The opening statement is 8-pages in full and can be found by following the ‘continue reading’ link above.

Tulsi Gabbard is doing a solid job as DNI, against formidable opposition from all directions.]“It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.”
-Machiavelli, The Prince

Read more …

I thought he was Putin’s close(st) ally.

• Belarus Remains Trump’s Ally Despite US Mistakes — Lukashenko (TASS)

Belarus remains an ally of US President Donald Trump despite some mistakes made by the US administration, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday. “I would strongly urge you that we discuss regional problems. Not only the issues surrounding Ukraine, but also global ones. And not only the war in the Middle East,” Lukashenko was quoted by BelTA news agency during a meeting with a US delegation led by Special Envoy for Belarus John Coale at the Palace of Independence.


“I believe my perspective on global issues, especially on the situation in the Middle East, will be important for you, given that you are fighting against our friends. And I am ready to speak frankly on this topic,” the Belarusian president continued. “I would very much like you to convey my perspective to Donald Trump. Although I believe the United States has made certain mistakes, I remain a supporter of your president,” Lukashenko added. Last September, the United States lifted sanctions on the airline Belavia. The US Department of the Treasury issued a general license for financial transactions with Belavia and its subsidiaries.

Read more …

Judges doing politics. Under the guise of law.

• Murphy’s Law (Jonathan Turley)

“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” That adage, called Murphy’s Law, came to mind this week with the latest injunction issued by U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy in Boston. Murphy previously drew national criticism for his efforts to enjoin Trump’s immigration policies, resulting in not one but two rebukes from the Supreme Court. He is now back with an order preventing changes to vaccination policies ordered by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.


As with his earlier immigration order, the court seems to take the view that anything that can go wrong for the Trump Administration will go wrong for the Administration. At virtually every critical point, the court seems to adopt the harshest possible interpretation against the Administration. Murphy effectively halted, for now, the meeting of Kennedy’s new Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP. Kennedy had replaced many members of the ACIP, including some accused of conflicts of interest. However, Murphy found that Kennedy had made arbitrary and capricious decisions in changing vaccine policies and changing the committee membership.

The Trump Administration has been aggressively fighting for executive authority over agencies, boards, and committees. This case could become one of the most significant of these appeals.Judge Murphy basically lambasts Kennedy for attacking good science and scientific methods. His criticism is laden with assumptions about the “correct” answers to questions governing vaccines. There are good-faith objections to Kennedy’s policy changes. However, the question is who is constitutionally vested with the right to make such decisions. That question is particularly prominent in the Murphy opinion. For example, the court rejects the new board members as unqualified in comparison to the prior members.

The court’s rejection of the new board members is largely conclusory. The court offers little indication of who Kennedy might appoint to meet his standards … other than the prior board members placed on the committee during the prior administration. In determining whether Kennedy had a right to reconstitute the committee, the opinion states that “[t]he Court acknowledges that many of the ACIP members have extensive expertise in their chosen fields.” However, it then questions whether they have truly “relevant” experience. The court insists that only six have relevant experience with vaccines.

The rejection of individual advisers shows how the court dismisses countervailing credentials or belittles advisers selected by the Secretary. Take Dr. Raymond Pollak who “is a surgeon, transplant immunobiologist, and transplant specialist who has published more than 120 peer-reviewed works and served as principal investigator on NIH transplant biology grants and numerous drug trials.” That would seem to be someone who could offer unique insights into vaccines and their approval. Yet, while acknowledging some experience, Murphy dismisses him as lacking sufficient experience.

Then there is Dr. Retsef Levi, Professor of Operations Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, as “a leading expert in healthcare analytics, supply chain and manufacturing analytics, risk management, and biologics and vaccine safety” and note that he has “collaborated with industry stakeholders and public health agencies to develop decision-support models to evaluate biologics and vaccine safety” and co-authored studies examining the association between mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and risks of cardiovascular disease, mortality, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.” He has also published two papers on vaccines. However, Judge Murphy brushes aside that stellar academic record and notes that “both of those [vaccine papers] were published mere months before his appointment.”

Read more …

I personally give Trump much more credit than PCR does.

• Trump Continues to Expel MAGA’s Best Members (Paul Craig Roberts)

Trump, again doing the political assassination for the Israel Lobby, is trying to drive American hero US Rep. Thomas Massie out of Congress Three new York Jewish billionaires–Henry Paulson, Miriam Adelson, and Paul Singer–have contributed an enormous war chest for unseating Massie. Trump is contributing his demonization rhetoric: “We got to get rid of this loser. This guy is bad,” Trump said at a rally in Hebron, Kentucky. “He’s disloyal to the Republican Party. He’s disloyal to the people of Kentucky, and most importantly, he is disloyal to the United States of America. And he’s got to be voted out of office as soon as possible.” https://www.unz.com/article/thomas-massie-live-by-the-sword-die-by-the-dagger/


What Trump means is that Massie is disloyal to the Israel Lobby. On Tucker Carlson’s show Massie revealed that every member of Congress has an AIPAC babysitter or handler to make certain the member votes in Israel’s interest. To please Israel, Trump turns on his strongest supporters, such as Massie, Marjorie Taylor Green, and Joe Kent. As Trump does not tolerate dissent, none of his advisers dare to tell him anything. Trump’s schooling as a Jewish-financed New York real estate developer is not leading to anything good. We have an impetuous and unpredictable president with his finger on the button who listens to no one but Zionist Israel.

Read more …

“Kent elaborated that Israel was preparing to strike, which would trigger retaliation endangering U.S. personnel – creating the cited “imminent” risk.. “

• Kent Tells Tucker: ‘Imminent Threat’ Was From Israel, Not Iran (ZH)

Joe Kent, former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center who was President Trump’s principal counterterrorism advisor, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show to explain his side of the story after stepping down from the administration. Kent announced his resignation Tuesday, citing his opposition to the ongoing U.S. war with Iran, and his belief that Iran posed “no imminent threat” to America – while asserting in his resignation letter that his wife died in “a war manufactured by Israel” in a 2019 suicide bombing in Manjbi, Syria.


In this first public interview since resigning, Kent elaborated on his reasons amid reports emerging Wednesday that the FBI is investigating him for allegedly leaking or improperly sharing classified information (a probe that sources say predates his resignation and is being handled by the FBI’s Criminal Division, per several outlets). Early on in the interview, Carlson referenced Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s justification for the strikes – that Iran posed an imminent threat because Israel was preparing to attack Iranian targets, likely prompting Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces. Carlson reframed it bluntly:

Carlson: “So, the imminent threat that the secretary of state is describing is not from Iran. It’s from Israel.” Kent: “Exactly. And I think this speaks to the broader issue: who is in charge of our policy in the Middle East?” Kent elaborated that Israel was preparing to strike, which would trigger retaliation endangering U.S. personnel – creating the cited “imminent” risk. He stated: Kent: “The Israelis drove the decision to take this action, which we knew would set off a series of events because the Iranians would retaliate.”

Kent insisted there was zero U.S. intelligence of Iran planning a direct attack, nearing a nuclear weapon, or posing an immediate homeland threat. He cited Iran’s religious fatwa against nuclear weapons (since 2004) and said the assassinated Supreme Leader Khamenei had moderated the program: Kent: “There was no intelligence that said, hey… the Iranians are going to launch this big sneak attack… There was none of that intelligence.” On nukes: “No, they weren’t [on the verge of a bomb]. They weren’t in June either. The Iranians have had a fatwa – a religious ruling – against the development of a nuclear weapon since 2004… We had no intelligence that it was being disobeyed.”

https://twitter.com/remarks/status/2034418878143484285?s=20


Kent described how dissenting views were sidelined in the lead-up to strikes. Key officials, including himself, were reportedly barred from direct briefings with Trump. He said he spoke personally with the president before resigning – a conversation he described as “very respectful” – but felt staying would mean silencing his warnings. “A good deal of key decision-makers were not allowed to come and express their opinion to the president,” Kent said, adding “There wasn’t a robust debate.”


In an emotionally charged segment, Kent discussed the September 2025 assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, whom he knew personally. Kent recounted Kirk’s last words to him in the West Wing in June: Kent (recalling Kirk): “Joe, stop us from getting into a war with Iran.” Kent said Kirk had opposed escalation and faced pressure from pro-Israel donors. He revealed the NCTC had leads on potential foreign involvement but was ordered to halt: Kent: “The investigation that the National Counterterrorism Center was a part of, we were stopped from continuing to investigate… There was still a lot for us to look into… there were still linkages for us to investigate that we needed to run down.”= The official narrative focused on lone gunman Ryan Robinson, but Kent insisted unresolved questions remained.

Read more …

We should know what happened when Boeing went from an engineers- to an accountants firm. Probe it. McDonnell Douglas.

• NASA May Shrink Boeing’s Moon-Mission Role, Push SpaceX (ZH)

President Donald Trump’s NASA chief could soon announce Boeing’s diminishing role in returning astronauts to the Moon, while leaning heavily on Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket company to do the heavy lifting. Boeing’s Space Launch System (SLS), originally the rocket backbone of the Artemis mission, would no longer carry the Lockheed Martin-built Orion crew capsule to the Moon. Under the new plan, SpaceX’s Starship would take the lead.


NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman plans to meet with the companies working on the Artemis program next Tuesday, including Boeing, SpaceX, and Blue Origin, to discuss progress and current paths forward. Sources close to the program said any significant changes could face immediate Congressional scrutiny.”NASA is committed to using the SLS architecture through at least Artemis V, which is necessary to support both human landing system providers, and their associated acceleration plans to return American astronauts to the Moon,” Isaacman said in a statement. “We’re incredibly supportive of both our HLS providers and their plans to accelerate America’s path forward to the moon,” Isaacman added.

If Isaacman does boot SLS from the core rocket during the launch of the Orion crew capsule to the moon, it would be a massive blow to Boeing, which has been mired in setbacks ranging from Starliner capsule issues to SLS launch delays. Notably, Starship still lacks a fully successful orbital flight. The effort to swap SLS for Starship shows Isaacman’s urgent push to accelerate Artemis timelines (target: 2028 landing) after years of delays and cost overruns, with SLS missions costing over $4 billion each.Isaacman has also been weighing alternatives for the HLS on the Moon from both SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin – both of which hold multibillion-dollar contracts to develop Moon landers for Artemis.

Read more …

Everyone behind the Steele dossier is walking free.

• When ‘I Don’t Recall’ Meets a DOJ Subpoena (David Manney)

James Comey is back in the spotlight with a familiar flavor. The Department of Justice has issued a subpoena tied to his role in the 2017 intelligence assessment on Russia and the 2016 election. Years passed, but the questions never went away. Now, however, they’ve returned with legal force behind them. The subpoena marks a new escalation after Fox News Digital previously reported that Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan were under criminal investigation related to the probe.Sources at the time said the investigations were examining potential wrongdoing tied to the creation of the 2017 assessment and possible false statements to Congress. Comey, as PJ Media readers know, served as FBI director at the time and played a central role in one of the most consequential investigations in recent political history.


It was an investigation that influenced public opinion, policy debates, and years of political conflict that followed. That assessment referenced the Steele dossier, which a CIA “Tradecraft Review” completed in June under CIA Director John Ratcliffe said “ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment,” according to Axios, which cited the review.Ratcliffe has since referred Comey and Brennan for possible prosecution, Axios reported. Senior officials from multiple agencies contributed to the document, including John Brennan and James Clapper. The document’s conclusion shaped the early narrative around the election and set the tone for investigations that stretched across years.

The current inquiry focuses on process and accountability. Lawmakers and investigators want clarity on how evidence was gathered, how conclusions were reached, and whether political pressure played any role. Those questions may sound procedural, but they carry serious weight; decisions made during that period affected the credibility of major institutions and the direction of national policy. Comey’s past testimony offers a preview of what may come next. During earlier hearings, he often leaned on phrases that signaled caution or distance. “I don’t recall” appeared many times, and the Fifth Amendment remains a legal option available to any witness under oath. A subpoena raises the stakes because it requires answers, even if those answers arrive carefully measured.

President Donald Trump has long argued that the original investigation carried political bias, a view that continues to shape how supporters interpret the renewed scrutiny. Meanwhile, those on the left maintain that the original findings reflected legitimate concerns about foreign interference. There’s enough daylight between those competing views to power a solar panel for minutes.The legal process will move forward step by step. Testimony, documents, and sworn statements will form the backbone of whatever comes next. Investigators will press for clarity, witnesses will weigh their words carefully, and the outcome will depend less on headlines and more on what can be established under oath.

For Comey, the moment carries both legal and personal weight. His time as FBI director placed him in the center of events that reshaped American politics. The subpoena pulls him back into that same arena, where every answer matters and every pause gets noticed. The country has seen versions of this scene before: a high-profile witness, a charged political backdrop, and a series of questions that reach back years.What happens next depends on how much clarity emerges and how much remains unreachable. In other words, wash, rinse, repeat. If we decide on a drinking game, basing a shot of Buffalo Trace on each time we hear “I don’t recall,” we’ll remember the first 15 minutes of his testimony. Regardless, second verse, same as the first verse.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Quantum entanglement: It’s already there https://twitter.com/IslanderWORLD/status/2034396591088627889 A car in less than 5 seconds

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle March 18 2026

Mar 182026
 
 March 18, 2026  Posted by at 10:05 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  86 Responses »


Sophia Loren seated by the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis during filming for ‘Boy on a Dolphin’, 1957


• Trump Calls SAVE Act ‘Most Important & Consequential’ Legislation (ZH)
• Voter ID Has Massive Public Support: Why Is Congress Standing In The Way? (ZH)
• Debunking the Left’s Favorite Lies About the SAVE Act (Matt Margolis)
• Japan Constitution Forbids Overseas Military Operations (CTH)
• Your Gas Prices Are Up? Cry Me a River. (A.J. Christopher)
• ‘We No Longer Need Or Desire’ NATO’s Help On Iran: Trump (ZH)
• The Dems’ Iran Attack Strategy Is Backfiring, and CNN Admits It (Margolis)
• Megyn Kelly Said Mark Levin Has a “Micropenis” (Sundance)
• UK, EU No Longer Hide Their Anti-Trump Sentiments — Dmitriev (TASS)
• ‘I Am Extremely Disappointed In Donald Trump’ – AfD Co-Leader (RMX)
• Sen. Kennedy Just Shut Down the UK Over Iran…and It Was Epic (Matt Vespa)
• Cuban Chaos: What’s Real and What’s Speculation (Sarah Anderson)

 


 

https://twitter.com/NicoHQ1/status/2033523556211155204?s=20 https://twitter.com/robertdunlap947/status/2033500757668831561?s=20

 


 

 


 


It is obvious.

• Trump Calls SAVE Act ‘Most Important & Consequential’ Legislation (ZH)

President Trump on Tuesday called on Congress to pass the SAVE Act which requires ID to vote in federal elections, warning that lawmakers who vote against it will have a “guaranteed loss” in future campaigns. “The Save America Act is one of the most IMPORTANT & CONSEQUENTIAL pieces of legislation in the history of Congress, and America itself. NO MORE RIGGED ELECTIONS!” Trump posted to Truth Social. “Voter I.D., Proof of Citizenship, No Rigged Mail-In Voting (We are the only Country in the World that allows this!), No Men in Women’s Sports, No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our Children. 90% to 99% ISSUES ALL!,” he added. (Mutilization?) Trump’s suggestion seems to be that if Democrats are allowed to steal elections, all of the woke societal ills will continue. “Only sick, demented, or deranged people in the House or Senate could vote against THE SAVE AMERICA ACT. If they do, each one of these points, separately, will be used against the user in his/her political campaign for office – A guaranteed loss!” Trump added. Trump also said on Tuesday that he won’t endorse anyone who votes against it.
Read more …

Why? Cheap political gain.

• Voter ID Has Massive Public Support: Why Is Congress Standing In The Way? (ZH)

The “controversy” in the US over voter ID requirements is an entirely fabricated affair, and a primary source of obstruction is the very government supposedly elected to represent the public will. That is to say, the only people that don’t support the SAVE Act are politicians, and some of them claim to be conservative.Roughly 80% of all adult Americans support voter ID requirements for US elections; this includes a majority in every minority group and a majority among 95% of Republicans and 71% of Democrats. In other words, voter ID is one of the few issues both sides universally agree on. Public support was enthusiastic before Donald Trump was reelected in 2024.


• Pew Research Center (August 2025): 83% of U.S. adults strongly favored or favored “requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote.”
• Rasmussen Reports (January 2025): Asked if requiring photo ID to vote is “a reasonable measure to protect the integrity of elections,” 77% of likely voters said yes.
• Gallup (October 2024): 84% of U.S. adults favored “requiring all voters to provide photo identification at their voting place.” Also, 83% favored “requiring people who are registering to vote for the first time to provide proof of citizenship.”

Around 90% of all countries with free elections have laws requiring ID and proof of citizenship before a person votes. The US is one of the few democratic nations in the world that does not secure its elections from interference by non-citizens. It is also the country most targeted by special interests for cultural replacement through mass immigration. It might make more sense if the US was entirely insulated and protected from illegal migrants. One could then argue that elections don’t need identification measures because there is no threat. Of course, the US is far from secure. The Biden Administration’s open border bonanza flooded the country with approximately 10 million illegals. Official estimates suggest there were 20 million total illegals residing in the US before deportations.

The problem is Congress. More specifically, the Senate. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act (H.R. 22) in April 2025. A subsequent, expanded version known as the SAVE America Act also passed the House on February 11, 2026 by a vote of 218-213, requiring strict documentary proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote in federal elections. The SAVE Act is relatively simple: A person must provide an ID and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. This could include a birth certificate or a passport. When actually voting, that person needs to have their ID on hand at the polling station. This is not difficult for the vast majority of citizens, yet, Democrats and a handful of Republicans assert that this will “disenfranchise” million of voters.

On the Republican side, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has been a persistent obstacle. Democrat Senators absolutely refuse to pass the bill into law, likely because they know a contingent of illegal migrants vote in state and federal election to keep them in power. There is no other rational reason for them to oppose the measure.

Read more …

“The passport fees, the birth certificate hunt, the cost and inconvenience — they all collapse the moment you actually read the legislation.”

• Debunking the Left’s Favorite Lies About the SAVE Act (Matt Margolis)

Democrats have been running the same tired playbook on the SAVE Act. They’ve claimed it’s racist, but those attacks haven’t exactly worked because majorities of minority voters support it. So, they try to scare people with outlandish claims like it will make it impossible for married women to vote. It’s a stupid claim, but some people are willing to believe it. And there are plenty of other accusations that are just as untrue.mSen. Dick Durbin tried to push those fake claims in a recent Senate hearing, rattling off a list of grievances about the bill’s voter registration requirements.


Durbin kicked things off with the passport argument, a favorite among critics of the legislation, when it comes to registering to vote. “What is acceptable is a passport,” he said. “50% of Americans do not have a passport. Those who want to obtain it so they can vote will pay $186 and wait three or four weeks for that to happen.” He kept going with the married woman claim, arguing that anyone who changed their name after marriage would have to dig up not just a birth certificate but additional documentation to prove their eligibility. However, it’s all a lie, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the lead sponsor of the bill, was ready for him.

Lee let Durbin finish and then, with barely concealed amusement, delivered the kind of response that makes committee hearings worth watching. “I’m happy to report to my dear friend and colleague Senator Durbin from Illinois — you’re in luck,” Lee said. “We’ve taken care of that.”He went on to point out that the SAVE Act includes an explicit accommodation for people who can’t produce traditional documentation. Lee spelled it out in plain English: “When you read the bill, what you’ll discover is that we’ve made special accommodation for those who don’t have documentation, for those who can’t find their birth certificate. Maybe their house burned down, maybe their dog ate it, or whatever it is.”

So what happens if someone genuinely has no paperwork? The bill has an answer for that, too. “When all else fails, if you don’t have documentation establishing the information on your birth certificate or what would be in a passport or otherwise, the bill contains a provision requiring each state to allow an alternative mechanism by which someone can, by attestation, issue a sworn statement establishing the critical facts underlying their citizenship,” Lee explained. The state then takes responsibility for verifying that sworn statement, using its own records and reciprocity agreements with other states.

Durbin tried to interject a few times. He didn’t get far. Lee kept going, methodically dismantling the argument piece by piece. “We took great pains to go out of our way to make sure that no American, no American would be left in the dark,” he said. “This will not cost them a dime. And no one will be excluded if they can’t find their documentation.”

Well, that’s a big problem for the Democrats because this undermines the whole Democratic line of attack. The passport fees, the birth certificate hunt, the cost and inconvenience — they all collapse the moment you actually read the legislation. The bill anticipates exactly the scenarios Democrats claim to be worried about and has a built-in workaround. With that in mind, they have no reason to oppose the legislation, that is, if those were truly sticking points for them

Lee even extended an invitation at the end, suggesting Durbin would surely want to support the bill now that his concerns had been addressed. “I’m sure you’ll be elated to hear that, and we look forward to having your affirmative vote when we vote on the SAVE America Act.”

Read more …

So did Germany’s constitution until recently..

• Japan Constitution Forbids Overseas Military Operations (CTH)

Responding to questions about whether Japan would send military ships to the middle east to participate in escorts through the Strait of Hormuz, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi noted the current constitution blocks Japan from conducting overseas military operations. Exactly as we outlined when President Trump first made the request via Truth Social {SEE HERE} Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi may want to support the request, but Japan’s post WWII constitution about military operations doesn’t permit it. Japan’s military can be constitutionally defensive only.


While an argument might be made that escorting oil destined for eventual arrival in Japan may technically squeeze within a narrow interpretation of ‘defense’, considering the operation would take place far from Japan a highly conservative Sanae Takaichi is not going to try and thread that precarious needle.

TOKYO, March 16 (Reuters) – Japan has no plan to dispatch naval vessels to escort vessels in the Middle East, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump called on allies to protect tankers traversing through the Strait of Hormuz. “We have not made any decisions whatsoever about dispatching escort ships. We are continuing to examine what Japan can do independently and what can be done within the legal framework,” Takaichi told parliament. Trump’s call in a social media post for U.S. allies, including Japan, to help protect oil and gas shipments through the strategic waterway puts Tokyo in a difficult position because while it relies heavily on Middle East energy its war-renouncing constitution limits the scope of overseas military operations it can conduct.

Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force has conducted anti-piracy operations in waters near the Middle East, but those missions were policing operations rather than combat missions against state actors. Japan can deploy its military overseas to respond to what it determines to be an existential threat to the nation, but that would be politically difficult and a high legal threshold for Takaichi’s government to justify. Takaichi will travel to Washington this week for talks with Trump that she said will cover the conflict with Iran.“I would like to engage in solid discussions based on Japan’s views and position regarding the need for early de-escalation,” she told lawmakers. (link)

Read more …

“He holds the title of being the only person to ever lose a debate to Joe Biden. And that’s a shame, because Ryan was correct on every single debate point. And yet he lost the debate ..”

• Your Gas Prices Are Up? Cry Me a River. (A.J. Christopher)

And so it begins. “Mission creep.” “Quagmire.” “The Ghosts of Iraq.” And no “conservative” armchair assessment of a military conflict that’s extended past ten minutes would be complete without that kiss of death phrase “forever war.” Hey “conservatives,” it’s been two weeks. Two. Weeks. Breathe. Relax. And when you’ve stopped hyperventilating, take a sober look at what’s happening and assess the situation with a rational mind.


President Donald Trump began moving the chessboard pieces into place at the beginning of February. That’s February 2026 for those with short memories. The military campaign was launched in the morning hours of February 28. And what the United States and Israel alone are trying to do is destroy (and hopefully unseat) an entrenched dictatorship that’s had 47 years to dig in and prepare. So, yeah. It’s gonna take more than two weeks. Most conservatives know this, and they themselves are mentally prepared to do whatever it takes to get the job done. But a few too many of us are preemptively freaking out] regarding the political impact of a prolonged conflict. Oh sweet lawdy, what will this mean for the midterms?

What will the RINOs in Congress do to gum up the works? President Trump assured us this would take four weeks….but what if it’s five weeks?!?!?! What if it’s MORE THAN THAT?!?!?!?! These “conservatives” aren’t scared of Iran. They’re scared of swing voters in Arizona. So here’s what we actual conservatives need to do. We have to make our case and make it forcefully. We have to make the case to our wobbly-kneed friends and neighbors and family members and co-workers. And the case to be made, simply and straightforwardly, is this:

This is a 47-year-old war that Iran has intentionally expanded to the point where it can almost be classified a world war, and a nuclear one at that. The Cold War mentality of mutually assured destruction will not deter apocalyptic maniacs whose goal is nothing short of world domination. Yes, oil prices are volatile right now. Yes, our 401(k)s suck right now. Guess what. DEAL WITH IT. If that’s the most you’re being asked to sacrifice in your pampered life, consider yourself blessed. There is no military draft. There are no higher taxes. Nobody is being asked to give up meat or bread for the troops, or to grow victory gardens, or to buy war bonds. So have another spoonful of flax seeds and go fire off an angry email to the airline company for not letting you take your comfort peacock on the plane. Get out of the way and let the leaders lead.

Because the American voter has been conditioned to think that the government must neutralize every global threat, but with the absolute bare minimum disruption to their Starbucks routines, we’ve reached the absurd position of expecting our military to wage a pain-free, cost-free war. It’s up to us conservatives not to go all Paul Ryan. Remember him? He holds the title of being the only person to ever lose a debate to Joe Biden. And that’s a shame, because Ryan was correct on every single debate point. And yet he lost the debate.

Read more …

NATO without US. Not what the Dems want.

• ‘We No Longer Need Or Desire’ NATO’s Help On Iran: Trump (ZH)

President Trump is not happy with NATO and is letting the world know it. First countries like Spain, Germany, and Greece made it clear they would not heed his call for a coalition to open the Strait of Hormuz, and on Tuesday France’s Macron stated it is “not our war”. Trump said in a fresh Truth Social Post “I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need.” And more:


Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer “need,” or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea. In fact, speaking as President of the United States of America, by far the Most Powerful Country Anywhere in the World…Without doubt, these countries have memories of Iraq and Afghanistan, which were multi-national efforts (and largely failures in terms of becoming unanticipated ‘forever wars’ and quagmires).


Macron: France Won’t Join Trump’s Hormuz Ops
President Emmanuel Macron has just slammed the door on Trump in a huge way, though he did so in his classic meager and weak, somewhat ambiguous fashion.He said Tuesday that though France will not immediately take part in efforts to militarily unblock the Hormuz Strait, it will continue to prepare for a potential future coalition that could provide freedom of navigation once the conflict ends.

“We are not party to the conflict and therefore France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context,” Macron said at the start of a cabinet meeting.As a reminder, Trump on Monday said of Macron: “I have spoken to him. On a scale of 0 to 10, he’s been an eight. Not perfect, but it’s France…” And the US president added, “I think he’s going to help. I spoke to him yesterday. I don’t do a hard sell on them because my attitude is that we don’t need anybody. We’re the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world.”

Read more …

“.. 84% of Americans say they care a lot about the U.S. economy. That’s nearly double the number for Iran, and it tells you everything you need to know about where people’s heads are at right now.”

• The Dems’ Iran Attack Strategy Is Backfiring, and CNN Admits It (Margolis)

Have you noticed how Democrats and their media allies have been working overtime to turn Operation Epic Fury into a political liability for President Trump? The rhetoric was nonstop about how Trump was starting an “endless war” and that things weren’t going well. Well, the public isn’t buying it. Just over two weeks in, the attacks just aren’t landing, and even CNN’s own data analyst is admitting it.


CNN anchor Sara Sidner and chief data analyst Harry Enten took a look at the numbers Monday morning, and what they found wasn’t exactly the anti-Trump bombshell the left has been hoping for. The American public, it turns out, is largely tuning out the Democrats’ rhetoric on Iran.

“There’s kind of been a little bit of a collective shrug from the American public,” Enten said. Only 45% of Americans say they care a lot about the situation in Iran — a number that, as Enten pointed out, falls below the majority threshold. Meanwhile, 84% of Americans say they care a lot about the U.S. economy. That’s nearly double the number for Iran, and it tells you everything you need to know about where people’s heads are at right now.

It gets worse for the anti-Trump crowd.

Google search data shows Americans’ interest in Iran is actually collapsing. Searches are down 84% compared to Feb. 28, when the initial strikes began. And over the weekend? Americans were (surprisingly) far more interested in the Academy Awards. I didn’t even realize they were on, but apparently, searches for the Oscars ran three to four times as high as searches for Iran. That’s a brutal number if you’re a Democrat trying to make this a liability for the GOP before the midterms.

“At this point, outside of the situation in Iran perhaps affecting the U.S. economy, which of course is the number one issue, is what Americans are focusing on,” Enten said, “I’m just not thinking that this is necessarily going to be the big political mover and shaker that you might expect, given that this has kind of been a pretty gosh darn big deal, at least globally speaking.”

And then there’s the approval rating data. Oh boy, is that a gut punch for Democrats.

Trump’s overall approval rating stands at 41% — the same as before Operation Epic Fury began. All the breathless media coverage, all the Democratic messaging, all the hand-wringing about escalation and consequences, and none of it moved the needle. Not a single point.

“Despite all the hubbub, despite all the critics of the president of the United States, what we are seeing right now is a president whose approval rating is steady,” Enten said. He added bluntly, “This has been politically a big ball of nothing.”

Enten did leave the door open for things to shift if gas prices climb significantly or broader economic pain sets in. But, of course, the opposite is also true. The war in Iran is not expected to last long. This means that the increase in gas prices will be temporary, and when it’s over, they’ll come down, and Trump will get the credit for finally ending the Iran problem that so many presidents have avoided. https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/2033601657536450691?s=20

Read more …

“President Trump Stands in Support of Levin..”

• Megyn Kelly Said Mark Levin Has a “Micropenis” (Sundance)

I dislike Mark Levin immensely. Long-time CTH readers know I have a very valid reason to dislike Mark Levin immensely. My approach was to essentially ignore old yeller as he shouts and rants about all the things he always shouts and rants about. I dislike Mark Levin very much; beyond what most here would define as immense. That said, I also accept that -for whatever reason he has- President Donald J Trump does not hold the same opinion of Mark Levin. In fact, Donald Trump seems to like Mark Levin. As a consequence, I retain my peace and ignore everything that circles around their time together. However, this is also an πopportunity.


Mr Levin’s audience has been shrinking quite fast. The downward spiral has been happening with greater speed and increasing slope for around 15 years. The diminutive Mr Levin is now a visual representation of the Black Knight Monty Pyton skit. If the name was raised, I quietly just stared in southern. Within the great podcaster war of 2026, apparently Mrs. Megyn Kelly and Mr Mark Levin have been having a very public feud. I don’t know the details but given the reality of the past 12 months it probably surrounds Mr Levin’s Israel-First approach toward everything political. In the latest drama du jour, Mrs Kelly is said to have mentioned that Mr Levin has a small penis, a “micropenis.”

Mr Levin apparently picked up the phone and called his loyal friend, President Donald Trump. Likely looking for an ally of considerable consequence to boost his member-ship status. After all, Levin’s circle of influence is rather, well, small and shrinking.

PRESIDENT TRUMP – “Mark Levin, a truly Great American Patriot, is somewhat under siege by other people with far less Intellect, Capability, and Love for our Country. Mark is Tough, Strong, and Brilliant, hence the nickname, “THE GREAT ONE,” conceived by our MAGA friend, the wonderful Sean Hannity, after years of dealing with Mark in Legal, Media, and other capacities. Mark would often do Sean’s show, speaking as a lawyer, and Sean realized then, as did others, that he was special.

Mark Levin was not looking to do Television, Radio, or anything else, but he was drafted by very smart people who understood that there are few like him. He is a true Conservative, and Intellect, far smarter than those who criticize him but, above all, he is a man of Great Wisdom and Common Sense who truly loves our Country. When you hear others unfairly attack Mark, remember that they are jealous and angry Human Beings, whose “sway” is much less than the Public understands, and will, now that they know where I stand, rapidly diminish. Other than for his wonderful wife and family, Mark Levin only cares and wants one thing, GREATNESS AND SUCCESS FOR AMERICA!

Those that speak ill of Mark will quickly fall by the wayside, as do the people whose ideas, policies, and footings are not sound. THEY ARE NOT MAGA, I AM, and MAGA includes not allowing Iran, a Sick, Demented, and Violent Terrorist Regime, to have a Nuclear Weapon to blow up the United States of America, the Middle East and, ultimately, the rest of the World.MAGA is about stopping them cold, and that is exactly what we are doing. GOD BLESS OUR GREAT MILITARY, WHICH I HAVE REBUILT SINCE THE BEGINNING OF MY FIRST TERM, TO ACHIEVE EVERLASTING PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
~ President DONALD J. TRUMP

Read more …

“Warmongers in the UK and EU..”

• UK, EU No Longer Hide Their Anti-Trump Sentiments — Dmitriev (TASS)

MOSCOW, March 17. Warmongers in the UK and EU no longer hide the depth of their opposition to US President Donald Trump, said Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian President’s special representative for investment and economic cooperation and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). “The masks have slipped. Warmongers in the UK and EU are demonstrating how anti-Trump they truly are. They tried to hide it for a long time, but now it’s clear for everyone to see. Trump will remember,” he wrote on the X social network.


Earlier, Politico, citing European diplomats, reported that relations between the European Union and the US were once again on the brink of a deep crisis due to disagreements over security in the Strait of Hormuz. According to diplomats, foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday almost unanimously opposed the US request to participate in ensuring shipping security. They pointed out that EU countries will not put their ships and troops in danger unless the US administration is prepared to do so. Trump previously stated that countries importing oil through the Strait of Hormuz should participate in ensuring shipping security by sending their warships there.

Read more …

You should focus on your own country. Fix that mess and then talk about Trump.

• ‘I Am Extremely Disappointed In Donald Trump’ – AfD Co-Leader (RMX)

The co-leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Tino Chrupalla, is actively voicing his disapproval of the American and Israeli war against Iran. He has gone so far as to warn that the war could lead to a third world war and indicates that Trump has broken his campaign promises by launching the war. “I am extremely disappointed in Donald Trump when it comes to his campaign promises,” Chrupalla during an appearance on Markus Lanz, generally considered the most influential talk show host in Germany.


“During the election campaign, he also accused Kamala Harris, that she would start World War III. And now we are on the cusp of having probably started the Third World War with Donald Trump. And that’s a breach of his word, which I really resent and which the American people also resent, who incidentally reject this war in Iran at a much higher rate than Germans. So, 70 percent of Americans do not want this war and do not support it. Chrupalla also stated it was clear the United States was dragged into the war by Israel.

“And I think the Americans, as you can really see now if you look at all the events, were dragged into this war by Israel. There were serious negotiations where Oman, as a peacemaker, came to an agreement with Israel together with the USA, and they basically started bombing Iran on the same day. The Omani Foreign Minister has described this as a huge mistake. The entire Arab world has labeled it a mistake. The Norwegian Foreign Minister has described it as a mistake. It has also been labelled a mistake by Turkey. You can’t ignore all that. These are all countries in this region that are naturally extremely worried that this will escalate into a conflagration. And that’s what we’re seeing now. It’s a huge wildfire.”

The AfD co-leader also warned that thousands have already died in the conflict, but in the worst-case scenario, this could reach even into the millions. He further warned that another refugee crisis could ensue, not just from Iran, but also from Lebanon, where Chrupalla said that 700,000 people have already been displaced. Chrupalla said the AfD party program remains against regime change in other countries, adding the end result is often worse, pointing to Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan — all of which have also fueled Europe’s migration crisis. He acknowledged there was internal division within his own party on the strike on Iran and on the topic of Israel, but said that the party can tolerate these divisions, as the AfD is a “pluralistic” party. Chrupalla indicated that if voters do not agree with his positions or the positions of others within the AfD, then they can be voted out or in.

Chrupalla noted that at the beginning of his presidency, he was convinced that Trump was ending wars. In fact, the AfD co-leader traveled to the United States specifically for Trump’s inauguration in January 2025 to show his support. “Now, we are on the cusp of probably starting World War III with Donald Trump. These are broken words that I resent, that the American people also resent,” he said. Now, he said that Trump has to “explain his line to the voters.” Regarding the killing of Khamenei, Chrupalla stated: “So I think it’s difficult when you have a head of state, whether you like him or not. And Khamenei is certainly not a head of state who has done good things for his people. I want to make that very clear. Nevertheless, I think it is rare or unique for a head of state to be killed or eliminated in this way. And the question is: what is the purpose of this and what does it achieve?”

Read more …

“.. taking advice from a nun about sex:”

• Sen. Kennedy Just Shut Down the UK Over Iran…and It Was Epic (Matt Vespa)

I mean, the British Empire fell decades ago. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) finished what was left of our cousin’s once proud standing in the world. The United Kingdom is flooded with Muslims and woke leftists who have been engaged in a long campaign of suicidal empathy that is going to destroy the island nation soon if it doesn’t get a grip on reality and change its immigration policy, though that’s the least of it. It’s well-known that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer isn’t involved in Operation Epic Fury because he can’t risk offending Muslims at home. So, please, spare us your usual snobby Eurotrash advice, dude. We don’t need guidance from a prime minister who’s afraid and stuck on his own island. And we don’t care what those in the cheap seats have to say. Kennedy, with his epic one-liners, delivered this blow to the UK, likening Starmer’s advice to listening to a nun about sex:

You’re too scared to fight. That’s good to know. Europe remains one of the most feckless lots we can be attached to at present. Here are some more great lines from Kennedy:

https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1904616539979907145

Read more …

Next up. No violence.

• Cuban Chaos: What’s Real and What’s Speculation (Sarah Anderson)

We’ve reached the point where everyone and no one is an expert on what’s happening in Cuba. I just watched this happen with Venezuela in the weeks leading up to Nicolás Maduro’s arrest, and I’m not in the mood for a rerun, but here we are. It’s quite painful to see people whom I would normally respect read off talking points from MSM “anonymous sources” as if they know them to be facts, especially when they haven’t been paying attention to what’s actually happening. With that in mind, I’m going to lay out what we actually know and what’s just speculation in Cuba from the last week or so.


Fact #1: Trump is still talking “takeover,” but he hasn’t confirmed any details.
Trump has been talking about taking over Cuba since January. He’s let us know that Marco Rubio is largely handling it, and that’s about the only thing he’s confirmed. He keeps his responses to the media purposely vague, but many in the inner circle claim he has a plan. His most recent comments occurred in the Oval Office on Monday, where he said, “I do believe I’ll have the honor of taking Cuba.” “Taking Cuba?” the reporter asked. “Taking Cuba in some form… whether I free it, take it — I can do anything I want with it if you want to know the truth. They’re a very weakened nation,” Trump replied. “They were for a long time — very violent leaders. [Fidel] Castro was a very violent leader. His brother’s a very violent leader — extremely violent. That’s how they governed, they governed with violence.”

And on Tuesday morning, Trump said, “Cuba right now is in very bad shape. They’re talking to Marco, and we’ll be doing something with Cuba very soon.”

Fact #2: Cuba is still in the dark.
As I reported on Monday, Cuba’s National Electric System (SEN) suffered a total collapse, leaving almost the entire island without power. Blackouts are the norm in Cuba, but this one is, by far, the worst it’s seen in a long time. Hospitals are running on generators, people have no running water, and food is spoiling. Another significant problem is that people are finding it more difficult to communicate their situation to the outside world. They have no internet and can’t charge their phones, which I’m sure is just fine with the regime. Some have called on Elon Musk to offer Starlink as a solution, but Musk himself has confirmed that Starlink is technically available in Cuba. The problem is that the regime considers it illegal interference, and it can’t be sold or distributed.

The regime blames the U.S. for blocking oil, but the fact is that this isn’t just about a lack of oil. The energy infrastructure has been neglected for years and is crumbling as fast as the regime itself. As of Tuesday, some power has been restored, but it’s slow going, and most of the country remains in the dark. The U.S. Embassy warns that there is no timetable for restoration.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/upholdreality/status/2033617692280676437?s=20 https://twitter.com/IslanderWORLD/status/2033680043424235810?s=20

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.