
Martin Johnson Heade Thunderstorm on Narragansett Bay 1868

Putin
Vladimir Putin doesn’t mince words.
No US president truly holds power. And now, even Donald Trump,once the loudmouth promising peace,shows his true colors by backing attacks on Iran. Just another puppet controlled by the Deep State, serving the machine while pretending to lead. pic.twitter.com/FDReh0Q05i— Richard (@ricwe123) June 13, 2025
Lull
https://twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status/1933348545329049856
Greenwald
Israel, in 2021, built its new IDF supreme command post in the heart of Tel Aviv, buried beneath blocks of civilian buildings.
Called the "Fortress of Zion," it was deliberately placed so it couldn't be attacked without seeming to target civilian sites.https://t.co/S64h4t1YdC
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 13, 2025
You can spend literally 40 years falsely warning the world that Iran is months or weeks away from obtaining a nuclear weapon: as Israel has been doing.
But the minute it's used as pretext to start a war, many Americans will say: "good! Iran was weeks away from getting nukes." https://t.co/nrhiOi7ChE
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 13, 2025
Clark
Former US General and NATO Commander Wesley Clark revealed the US empire made plans to overthrow the governments of 7 countries in 5 years:
Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iran.Iran is the only one left. Now the US & Israel are attacking it.pic.twitter.com/bfbQWNrg1n
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) June 13, 2025

@DougAMacgregor
·13h
June turned out to be Iran’s Pearl Harbor. Iran will now react as we did in 1942 when we were caught napping.
What was limited to the region between Israel and Iran will now become regional.
Trump’s statements after the fact are an admission of his own level of complicity in the attacks.
The ”talks” with Iran were a ruse. Witkoff, like most of the Trump Administration was an agent of Israel and Netanyahu.
This is the beginning of a regional war that will involve The United States, Russia, as well as the whole Islamic World.
As Dan McAdams of the Ron Paul Institute pointed out this morning, the similarities between the Israeli use of drones inside Iran with the Ukrainian Spider Web Attack inside Russia are striking.
Finally, Americans should now expect terrorist attacks on soft targets inside the USA.
Soft targets include at a minimum nuclear reactors, military installations, power grids, and shopping malls.



Any situation that smolders for decades will lead to many different stories and points of view. Here they are. I get the impression that iran was surprised overnight, but can we be sure? Or did the story just get longer? I did notice the Saudis distance themselves from Iran. But that’s not new either. Persia is a quagmire of the ages.
• Unprecedented Escalation Between Israel and Iran (RT)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out airstrikes on Iran on Friday, to which Tehran responded with a barrage of drones and missiles. West Jerusalem said the attacks aimed to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Tehran condemned the Israeli strikes as “blatant aggression” and vowed a “crushing” response. The attacks occurred just days before the sixth round of nuclear talks between the US and Iran, planned for Sunday in Oman. Early Friday morning, around 200 Israeli fighter jets struck targets across Iran, including a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. Strikes were also reported at nuclear sites in Fordo and Isfahan, as well as military airfields near the cities of Hamadan and Tabriz. Almost 80 people were killed and over 320 injured in the attacks, according to the Iranian ambassador to the UN.
Tehran confirmed the deaths of top military leaders, including Major General Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Major General Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, and Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Division. Several veteran nuclear scientists were also killed. Iran said only “superficial damage” was done to the Natanz site. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes, dubbed Operation Rising Lion, aimed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. “We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear weaponization program,” he said in a statement following the air raids.
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said the situation had “reached the point of no return” due to advancements in Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran has repeatedly stated its program pursues only peaceful goals and that it does not seek nuclear weapons. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei condemned the strikes as unjustified and accused Israel of killing civilians. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the attacks “amount to a declaration of war.” The Iranian army launched more than 100 drones at Israel hours after the strikes on its territory, followed by ballistic missile fire. Some missiles broke through Israeli defenses and landed in Tel Aviv. At least one person has been killed and more than 60 injured, according to Israeli media. Israel also carried out additional strikes in Iran throughout the day.
The US State Department denied American involvement in the Israeli strikes. However, President Donald Trump told Fox News he had been aware of the planned operation and praised its “excellent” outcome. He criticized Iran for failing to reach a deal on its nuclear program under his “60-day ultimatum.” Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke over the phone with Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday afternoon. He condemned Israel’s strikes as illegal under international law and expressed condolences for the deaths of civilians in Iran. Putin said Russia would seek to “advance the de-escalation of the conflict,” according to the Kremlin. The tensions surrounding Iran’s nuclear program must be resolved through diplomacy, he added.
Iran suspended its participation in the Omani-mediated negotiations with the US, the sixth round of which was due to take place on Sunday. Trump previously accused Tehran of “slow-walking” the talks and insisted on complete dismantlement of its nuclear program. Tehran rejected Trump’s demands as unacceptable, insisting it would continue nuclear research for civilian purposes.

“..We will see Iran retaliating in a way that is not sustainable for Israel. But this is part of the Israeli trap to create the perception of existential struggle so that the United States will be confronted with a choice..”
• Scott Ritter: US Lulled Iran to Sleep Using Nuclear Talks Deception (Sp.)
Israel has carried out an unprecedented attack on Iran, targeting its nuclear program, scientists, and senior military leaders. Sputnik asked veteran ex-Marine intelligence officer Scott Ritter what just happened, and what comes next.The months of Iran-US nuclear talks essentially gave “Israel the opportunity for maximum surprise to achieve maximum damage,” with the strikes effectively amounting to “a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran,” Scott Ritter said. “This was very closely coordinated in order to give Israel the opportunity for maximum surprise to achieve maximum damage. While America may not have sent resources or assets to participate in this attack, this attack was closely coordinated with the United States, done with the knowledge of the United States, done with the support of the United States. This, by any definition of the word, was a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran,” Ritter said.
Emphasizing that the Iran-US nuclear negotiations were “dead in the water,” as Trump proved “unable to intimidate Iran into accepting the American demands of zero enrichment,” Ritter suggested that from the strategic standpoint, Trump could not actually “push forward such a deal because of Israel’s opposition to it, because of the opposition of some very senior Republicans in the Senate and the Congress, and just general hostility towards Iranian enrichment program here in the United States.” [..] The months of Iran-US nuclear talks essentially gave “Israel the opportunity for maximum surprise to achieve maximum damage,” with the strikes effectively amounting to “a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran,” Scott Ritter said.
“This was very closely coordinated in order to give Israel the opportunity for maximum surprise to achieve maximum damage. While America may not have sent resources or assets to participate in this attack, this attack was closely coordinated with the United States, done with the knowledge of the United States, done with the support of the United States. This, by any definition of the word, was a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran,” Ritter said. Emphasizing that the Iran-US nuclear negotiations were “dead in the water,” as Trump proved “unable to intimidate Iran into accepting the American demands of zero enrichment,” Ritter suggested that from the strategic standpoint, Trump could not actually “push forward such a deal because of Israel’s opposition to it, because of the opposition of some very senior Republicans in the Senate and the Congress, and just general hostility towards Iranian enrichment program here in the United States.”
“We are at war with Iran,” Ritter said.“It’s not that we will find ourselves at war with Iran. We are at war with Iran. We may not know it yet. But as I said, the Iranians are fully cognizant of what happened. Now, the Iranians will find out how effective the Israeli decapitation was, how effective the Israeli preemption was. This was a strike that apparently incorporated significant drone capacity that was existing inside Iran.” “How much of this drone capacity continues to exist, we don’t know. But if the Iranians have the capabilities that they claim to have and the resilience they claim to have, we will see an escalation.
We will see Iran retaliating in a way that is not sustainable for Israel. But this is part of the Israeli trap to create the perception of existential struggle so that the United States will be confronted with a choice, let the Israeli ally suffer and perhaps be defeated, or to intervene and administer the coup de grâce against Iran. So, you know, we are looking at a long, drawn-out process that ultimately, I believe, will result in the United States entering this conflict on the side of Israel directly, even though indirectly, it is already a participant,” Ritter summed up.

“.. the last great Iranian innovation was what — Persian rugs?”
• Trump and Israel Manipulated the Liberal Media and Decapitated Iran (Pinsker)
How bad are things in Iran right now? Even Hezbollah is looking at Iran’s [tush]-whipping and going, “No thanks, we’re sitting this one out.” A few hours ago, from The Times of Israel: “Hezbollah official says it will stay out of the Israel-Iran fight.” Yeah. When even your proxies, stooges, goons, and hired muscle have abandoned you, things ain’t good.The Iranian radio “morning zoo” certainly had its hands full today: “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It’s another beautiful day in downtown Tehran! Our government buildings can be identified, of course, by the big clouds of smoke where their roofs used to be. There are exciting new job openings in the Iranian Ministry of Nuclear Development — drop your resume off today. And tonight, get the kids ready for the annual ‘Running of the Tanks!’”
Wheeeee! Fun for the whole family. When news of Israel’s daring (and, apparently, remarkably successful) attack first broke, I strongly suspected that the U.S. and Israel were working together: There’s a chance, of course, that Israel is acting at Trump’s behest: If you’re trying to get one side to agree to a deal, it might be useful to “intensify” their pain-points. In fact, maybe Trump is on the phone with Supreme Leader of Iran and explaining how things work in the Big City: “Yeah, y’know that deal we offered yesterday? Subtract $20 billion from it, ‘cuz now you’ve got less stuff to trade.” So maybe Israel and America are (unofficially) working together: Call it the Crassus school of bartering.
Since Israel and America both want the same outcome, it would make sense to collaborate tactically — and sometimes in geopolitics, plausible deniability has its purposes. Especially when you’re in highwire negotiations. “Better agree today, cuz tomorrow you’ll have even less! Good talk.” It could explain Tulsi Gabbard’s spooky/weird nuclear warning. We’re still within the fog of war, and there’s certainly a chance we’re misreading the tea leaves. But in geopolitics, the past is prologue: Everything is interconnected. So, if you know where the domino is after it fell, you can usually surmise where it used to be. And already, a clearer picture of what the hell happened is emerging.
First of all, this seems to be yet another triumph of Israel’s intelligence agencies. After being caught flatfooted on Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli government has doubled down on innovation. Who could forget their ingenious decapitation of Hezbollah?
HEZBOLLAH: You sneaky Israelis! We know you’ve bugged our phones, so we’ve outsmarted you by using pagers!
ISRAEL: Yeah, you got us, haha.
HEZBOLLAH: Death to Israel!
ISRAEL: …say, can I sell you any pagers? Got the lowest prices in town.
HEZBOLLAH: Why, sure. I’ll take 500.
In a world where past is prologue, in hindsight, it was pretty stupid to assume that Iran would out-think, out-innovate, or out-plan the Israelis. Whereas the Jewish Nation advanced its reputation for outside-the-box thinking as recently as last night, the last great Iranian innovation was what — Persian rugs?

“Washington knew these attacks would happen. They aided Israel in carrying them out. Politicians purporting to be ‘America First’ can’t now credibly turn around and say they had nothing to do with it..”
• Tucker Carlson Blasts Trump Over Iran Attack (RT)
US President Donald Trump’s support for Israel’s strikes in Iran could spark an “all-out war” in the Middle East, American journalist Tucker Carlson has warned. Early Friday morning, Israeli jets bombed nuclear and military sites across Iran, prompting Tehran to retaliate with a barrage of drones and missiles targeting Israeli cities. The escalation threatens ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, which Trump revived earlier this year. In what he described as possibly his “final newsletter before all-out war,” Carlson – a key Trump ally during the 2024 presidential election – argued that the US was “complicit in the act of war.”
“While the American military may not have physically perpetrated the assault, years of funding and sending weapons to Israel, which Donald Trump just bragged about on Truth Social, undeniably place the US at the center of last night’s events,” Carlson wrote. “Washington knew these attacks would happen. They aided Israel in carrying them out. Politicians purporting to be ‘America First’ can’t now credibly turn around and say they had nothing to do with it,” he added. In a post on X, Carlson contended that “the real divide” is not between supporters of Israel or Iran, but “between warmongers and peacemakers.”
“Who are the warmongers? They would include anyone who’s calling Donald Trump today to demand air strikes and other direct US military involvement in a war with Iran,” he said. Carlson stated that the “warmongers” include talk show hosts Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and Republican donors Ike Perlmutter and Miriam Adelson. While the US State Department has denied involvement in the strikes, Trump confirmed he had prior knowledge of the Israeli operation and praised the attacks as “excellent.” He blamed Iran for the hostilities and accused it of refusing to accept the terms of his proposed nuclear deal. Addressing the UN Security Council, Iranian envoy Amir Saeid Iravani said the US and other Israeli allies “share full responsibility for the consequences” of Israel’s actions.

“..the Israeli military action appeared intended to sabotage indirect US-Iran nuclear talks scheduled to resume Sunday..”
• Israeli Strikes On Iran ‘Completely Unprovoked’ – Moscow (RT)
Russia’s envoy to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, has condemned Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday, the diplomat said West Jerusalem was acting with impunity, backed by the West. Israel has launched strikes on uranium enrichment sites in Iran and killed several senior commanders and scientists in targeted assassination operations, claiming the moves were preemptive steps to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran, which denies pursuing a military nuclear program, responded with multiple volleys of ballistic missiles at Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv. Nebenzia said the Israeli military action appeared intended to sabotage indirect US-Iran nuclear talks scheduled to resume Sunday. Tehran has declared that the strikes have effectively ended any diplomatic pathway.
“This is a completely unprovoked attack – whatever Israel may claim to the contrary – and it constitutes a gross violation of the UN Charter and international law,” Nebenzia said. “Responsibility for all the consequences of these actions rests entirely with the Israeli leadership and those who condone them.” He noted that Iran has the right to defend itself and pointed to Tehran’s previous commitment to the 2015 UN-backed nuclear deal, which the US abandoned during President Donald Trump’s first term. Iran denied accusations of secretly violating the agreement at the time but has since ramped up uranium enrichment.
The US and its allies “have been doing everything possible to fuel the escalation, and, essentially, they incited it,” Nebenzia argued, adding that Western support had “spurred Israel to take radical steps.” He also raised alarms over the risk of radiation leaks from the targeted Iranian facilities and warned that “no military solution can be either legitimate or viable.” Iran’s UN envoy, Amir-Saeid Iravani, described Israel’s attacks as “a chilling display of calculated aggression” that “amounted to a declaration of war.” He called for international action to disarm Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal, which the Israeli government neither confirms nor denies. Israeli envoy Danny Danon defended the strikes, saying Israel was a “democracy under siege” and had acted to “prevent its destruction” by Iran. He urged the council to reflect on the potential consequences had the Iranian missiles been equipped with nuclear warheads.

“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire..”
• President Trump Speaks Out About Israeli Air Strikes on Iran (Queen)
On Thursday night, the world watched as Israel launched extensive air strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Operation Rising Lion reportedly took out key nuclear scientists and members of Iran’s military leadership.The operation, which is continuing into Friday, came after President Donald Trump asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give Iran 60 days for negotiation. Operation Rising Lion commenced on Day 61.Throughout Thursday night, we awaited a statement from Trump. In our internal chats on Slack, members of the PJ Media team anticipated that Trump’s statement, when it came, would be a big one. Finally, the president broke his silence in the early hours of Friday with two posts on Truth Social.In the first post at 5:56 a.m. ET, Trump lamented that the Iranian leadership wouldn’t make a deal:
“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to “just do it,” but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done. I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it. Certain Iranian hardliner’s [sic] spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse! There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!”
In the second post at 7:36 a.m. ET, the president reiterated that there’s still time for Iran to negotiate: “Two months ago I gave Iran a 60 day ultimatum to “make a deal.” They should have done it! Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn’t get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!” Axios claims that Israel and the U.S. coordinated on the strikes, even though Israel acted unilaterally: Two Israeli officials claimed to Axios that Trump and his aides were only pretending to oppose an Israeli attack in public — and didn’t express opposition in private. “We had a clear U.S. green light,” one claimed.
The goal, they say, was to convince Iran that no attack was imminent and make sure Iranians on Israel’s target list wouldn’t move to new locations.Netanyahu’s aides even briefed Israeli reporters that Trump had tried to put the brakes on an Israeli strike in a call on Monday, when in reality the call dealt with coordination ahead of the attack, Israeli officials now say. However, Axios adds that “The U.S. side has not confirmed any of that.” It will be interesting to see if U.S. officials confirm any of those assertions.

“Perhaps it is still in Israel’s best interests to fight this war—although we’re doubtful—but it’s a big bite to chew. You’d try to get the U.S. involved, too.”
As of this writing, Israel is conducting the first wave of significant military action against Iran—“going kinetic,” in the latest phrase everyone in the news business has suddenly discovered. (Why “kinetic,” denoting mere movement? Why not “go dynamic,” denoting the transfer of energy or application of force? Why not “go commotive,” denoting the involvement of very loud noises? Impossible to say.) Directives went out Wednesday for Americans to evacuate the region; it is expected that Iran will include American assets on its list of retaliation targets on the assumption that any Israeli attack, even one that occurs without direct U.S. military support, occurs with the consent of Israel’s biggest sponsor. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement during the Thursday night attacks disclaiming American involvement. It remains to be seen whether anyone will believe him.
It’s difficult to escape the sense that it didn’t have to be this way. The U.S.–Iran dealmaking process had shown promise at various points, and it remains obscure what changed between then and now. I don’t know enough about Israeli domestic politics to feel confident in explaining things in terms of Benjamin Netanyahu’s varied fortunes; nor was I in the room when the decision was made to regard limited Iranian uranium enrichment as impermissible. At this point, it begins to seem academic. What will happen next? I doubt that anyone at this point will openly say that the U.S. should commit to an increased troop presence in the Middle East to support Israeli operations against the Islamic Republic; Donald Trump in particular knows that a fresh ground war is political poison.
No, we’ll start with air support, and maybe some bunker-busters, because, for all its vaunted military-industrial base, somehow Israel just can’t make a bunker-buster big enough to get to those reactors. The Islamic Republic will, of course, try to rebuild; Israel and its supporters will be committed at first to a policy of “mowing the grass,” of conducting strikes along an indefinite timescale to prevent an Iranian nuclear program. Iran will retaliate in an asymmetrical and ugly fashion, inviting further sessions with John Deere and the Weedwacker and justifying further American commitments of support to Israel. At the same time, Iran will harden its resolve to acquire a nuclear deterrent, leading to more of the same.
The ongoing expense and festering chaos from “mowing the grass”—especially if any of Iran’s asymmetric retaliations involve, for example, terrorism in the American homeland—will always tend to encourage policymakers to find a more permanent solution: regime-change. At that point, we will have come a long way from air support and a few loaner bombs. And if we were to pursue regime-change, who would replace the ayatollahs? The shah, whose family’s police state was so hated that Khomeini seemed preferable? The MEK’s bizarre mix of Islamism and Marxism? A miraculous, autochthonous secular liberal democracy with Western-style human rights norms? None of these options seems both likely and desirable. Each would demand American support up to and including direct military intervention.
The notional principal on this course of action also has significant incentives to draw the U.S. into direct involvement. Israel is increasingly diplomatically isolated; this may be just or unjust, but that is beside the point that it is simply true. It is implicated in wars on multiple fronts, none of which seem to have clear ends in sight; these may be just or unjust, but that is beside the point that they are happening. Garrison states rarely do well in the long run. (Has anyone checked in on Biafra lately? Rhodesia? Pakistan?) Add to the difficulties of a permanent war economy the issue of raw scale. Israel is a nation of 9.7 million. Iran is a nation of 90.6 million. Perhaps it is still in Israel’s best interests to fight this war—although we’re doubtful—but it’s a big bite to chew. You’d try to get the U.S. involved, too.

“The psycho-pathological genocidal masterplan is to force Tehran to capitulate – without even putting up a fight.”
• The Whole Planet Is Being Kept Hostage By A Death Cult (Pepe Escobar)
Let’s cut to the chase. The devastating attack on Iran by the psychopathological genocidal “chosen” ethno-supremacist set up in Tel Aviv – a de facto declaration of war – was coordinated in detail with the President of the United States, Circus Ringmaster Donald Trump. This infantilism-afflicted Narcissus Drowned in the Pool of his Own Image gave away the game, himself, in a rambling post. Selected highlights: “I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal”. No “deal”; actually his unilateral demands. After all, he torpedoed the original deal, the JCPOA, because it was not his “deal”. “I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told.” The decision to strike had already been made. “Certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely, but (…) they are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!” Gloating comes with the territory.
“The next already planned attacks being even more brutal.” Total alignment with the trademark Israeli “decapitation” strategy. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire”. It was Persian (italics mine) Empire – but after all this is a man who doesn’t read, or study. Notice the Art of Diplomacy: Take my deal, or drop dead.
This – incandescent – decade was launched by an assassination, of Gen. Soleimani in Baghdad, as I emphasized in my 2021 book Raging Twenties. He was on a diplomatic mission. The green light personally came from then President of the United States, Donald Trump. The mid-Raging Twenties is now hurled to the brink of a devastating war in West Asia, with global repercussions, by the serial assassination of the IRGC leadership, in Tehran, by the psycho-genocidal Zionist entity. After an elaborate kabuki of deception, the green light to Tel Aviv – go ahead and do it – also came from the President of the United States, Trump 2.0 (who claimed he was “aware’’ of the attacks).
The psycho-pathological genocidal masterplan is to force Tehran to capitulate – without even putting up a fight. The preamble kabuki was masterfully executed. The indirect nuclear negotiations in Oman were taken seriously in Tehran, lulling the Iranian leadership, civilian and military, to sleep. They fell into the trap and were caught, literally, in their sleep.Ayatollah Khamenei – who himself is in physical danger, as Israel is applying the same decapitation model it unleashed on Hezbollah – has a very tough decision to make: capitulation or total war. It will be total war – and with the U.S. as a direct participant.

“Leftism is the tyranny of structurlessness. Lawlessness. The abhorrence of order. That is why Leftist individuals are characterized by emotional dysregulation. . . . ” JT Haltigan
• Game On (James Howard Kunstler)
If you seek a general theme in this moment’s tempestuous events, try No submission. It’s behind events in the Middle East and in the USA — and across Western Civ ultimately. No submission to what, you ask? To willful evil. Of course, the willfully evil will not see it that way, and great quarrels will arise over who-and-what represents the evil abroad in the world. Iran advertised countless times its resolve to wipe Israel off the map, in so many words. Israel was not inclined to submit to that outcome and it closely monitored Iran’s practical steps to acquire deliverable nuclear bombs. Israel, in turn, advertised that Iran’s nuclear program would not be allowed to succeed. The world stood by waiting to see who’s advertising jibed with reality.
Now you know. Never Again is not an empty slogan. The Shiite jihad has been put down, and the effort will continue until the answer is beyond dispute, days, maybe a week or more. Iran’s civil leadership was willing to talk, or at least pretend to talk down to the last hour, but the mullahs above them obdurately pushed ahead toward nuclear jihad. Not going happen, Israel assured them. And so, here we are.The world situation amounts to a set of jihads of different varieties. In our country, the Democratic Party has been waging jihad against order, liberty, truth, and decency. You can tell it’s jihad because it’s irrational, frankly, insane. Americans are asked to submit to propositions that will destroy the country and its traditions, and they have had enough of the hustles aimed at that outcome.
Too many of us do not believe that uncontrolled illegal immigration is okay, that government should replace the family, that all journeys in life can be equally favorable, that men can become women by wishing it, that our history must be erased, that censorship is required to keep the jihad going, and that the punishment against citizens will continue until morale improves. That is the program of the American left and lately of the Democratic Party it has taken over. They demonstrate it by their deeds. The Party represents a dwindling cohort of the populace, but its forces have already marched through and captured many institutions crucial to our national life. The opposing force, loosely called Populism, will not submit to that program, is now actively putting a stop to as much of it as possible, shaking out those institutions.
The Left and the Democrats have lost a lot of ground in recent months, especially their control on the levers of power. And since power is really all they care about — the power to make everybody else submit — they are growing desperate, seeking to induce as much chaos across the land as they can possibly generate. Hence, the outbreaks of civil disorder in the cities, using illegal immigrants as one set of shock troops and mentally-ill youth as another phalanx. The object of the chaos is to provoke the Populist opposition to exert its authority to control that chaos, and therefore — in the insane reasoning of the leftists — to prove that authority itself is an intolerable wickedness. This is only possible, of course, in minds that do not comprehend boundaries, differences between right and wrong, up and down, inside and outside, reality and fantasy. That is the mentality that drives itself toward chaos. So, it remains for the Populists to demonstrate that authority is not innately wicked, that it can have a beneficent purpose in the scheme of civilized humanity. Order is not necessarily tyranny.

That other war.
• Russia’s Summer Blitz Redraws The War (RT)
As the spring sun gave way to the heat of early summer, a new phase of the military campaign began to unfold across the front lines – and this time, the initiative clearly belongs to Russia.After months of grinding attritional warfare, Russian forces have launched a sweeping spring-summer offensive that is already delivering tangible results. From the borderlands of Sumy to the contested hills near Chasov Yar and the approaches to Dnepropetrovsk, the tempo has shifted decisively. Ukraine, battered and overextended, is now struggling to contain simultaneous breakthroughs across multiple sectors. The silence of Western media around these developments only underscores the magnitude of what is unfolding on the ground. A coordinated advance is in motion – methodical, strategic, and, by all appearances, effective.
Following the liberation of Sudzha in early March 2025, the fighting quickly spilled across the border into Ukraine’s Sumy Region. Moscow officially described its objective as the creation of a buffer zone – meant to safeguard the resumption of peaceful civilian life in Russia’s neighboring Kursk Region. Motivated by political considerations, the Ukrainian Army has been trying to cling to a narrow foothold just across the border, in the village of Tyotkino in Kursk Region. In fact, Kiev has deployed some of its most experienced and ideologically committed units to this stretch of the front. But rather than showcasing Ukrainian resolve, the situation in Tyotkino has underscored the growing imbalance in offensive capabilities between Ukrainian and Russian forces in 2025.
From the Russian side, Tyotkino is essentially a logistical cul-de-sac. But for Ukraine, the village connects to a critical rear supply hub in Belopolye. Even so, Ukrainian efforts to expand their presence in the area have ended in near catastrophe. In mid-May, the commander of Ukraine’s 47th Brigade came close to staging a mutiny, accusing his superiors of issuing reckless orders that led to needless casualties. Elsewhere along the Sumy front, Ukrainian forces – many of them retreating from Sumy and the surrounding areas – have taken heavy losses. This remains a strategically vital axis for Ukraine. The authorities have announced mandatory evacuations in another 11 settlements, bringing the total number of evacuated towns and villages in the region to 213.
Notably, this marks the first time Russian forces have entered Sumy Region since spring 2022. As of now, Russian advances appear to be accelerating. The front line has moved to within roughly 20km of the city of Sumy itself.Liman (also known as Krasny Liman) is a strategic city in the Donetsk People’s Republic, with a pre-war population of around 20,000. Situated along the Kharkov-Donetsk railway, it serves as a key transportation hub in eastern Ukraine. After brief fighting, the city fell under Russian control in late May 2022 – but was later lost during Ukraine’s Kharkov offensive in October of the same year.Today, Russian forces appear intent on retaking Liman by cutting off a single critical road that leads northwest toward Izium.

Calling SCOTUS.
• Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s EO Requiring Proof Of Citizenship For Elections (JTN)
A federal judge on Friday blocked President Trump’s executive order requiring proof of citizenship for elections. Judge Denise J. Casper, of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, an Obama appointee, said U.S. states have a likelihood of success in their legal challenges to the order, The Associated Press reported. “The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” Casper wrote in her ruling. She also said that regarding citizenship, “There is no dispute (nor could there be) that U.S. citizenship is required to vote in federal elections and the federal voter registration forms require attestation of citizenship.”Casper cited the states’ arguments that the requirements would burden them with “significant efforts and substantial costs” to update procedures.
In April, the GOP-led House passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act again, which would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote for federal elections. Trump issued the executive order in March that includes the requirement that only U.S. citizens vote in federal elections, offers assistance to states with maintaining voter rolls, and makes improvements in the Election Assistance Commission. The president also ordered the attorney general to prosecute election crimes, take action against states that accept absentee ballots for federal elections after Election Day, and ensure that foreign nationals do not donate to federal elections or that organizations that receive federal funds do not engage in lobbying.
The order additionally mentions the rescinding of “Bidenbucks” – the former Biden administration’s apparent effort to have federal agencies partner with private groups in get-out-the-vote efforts. In April, Democratic attorneys general in 19 states filed a lawsuit over the order, arguing against some of its aspects, including enforcing documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and ensuring that states accept absentee ballots for federal elections after Election Day.





Names of things you probably didn't know pic.twitter.com/rFqHW9h8W0
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 13, 2025

RFK
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— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) June 12, 2025

22
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 13, 2025

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