Members phkrause Posted March 1 Author Members Posted March 1 Border Patrol’s Shameful Lies About Leaving Blind Man to Die Exposed Surveillance footage shows the Rohingya refugee was not left in a “warm, safe location.” The U.S. Border Patrol shared false information about the abandonment of a nearly blind refugee who later died on the street. Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, was left by Border Patrol agents outside a Tim Hortons outlet on the evening of Feb. 19 in Buffalo, New York, around five miles from his home. Shah Alam, who barely spoke English and relied on a walking stick to stay mobile, was found dead five days later. Border Patrol said Shah Alam “showed no signs of distress, mobility issues, or disabilities requiring special assistance” when agents left him outside the coffee shop, describing the Tim Hortons as “a warm, safe location near his last known address.” However, surveillance footage obtained by The Washington Post and Investigative Post reveals that Shah Alam was abandoned in the Tim Hortons parking lot more than an hour after the store had closed. The Department of Homeland Security continued pushing the false claim that Shah Alam was dropped off in a safe, warm location—despite evidence he was left in a parking lot in below-freezing conditions—while responding to criticism on X on Thursday. “Here are the FACTS. On February 19, 2026, Buffalo Police Department alerted Border Patrol about a non-citizen in their custody. Our agents confirmed that Mr. Shah Alam entered the United States as a refugee on December 24, 2024, and was not amenable to removal,” DHS wrote. “Border Patrol agents offered him a courtesy ride, which he chose to accept to a coffee shop, determined to be a warm, safe location near his last known address, rather than be released directly from the Border Patrol station.” One reply was directed at Sam Stein, managing editor at Bulwark and a former politics editor at the Daily Beast. He wrote: “Still can’t really process that border patrol made the decision to leave a nearly-blind refugee outside a donut shop five miles from his house. And that he then (as could have easily been imagined) died. And that there likely won’t be any accountability for this. “At any point in this process, a human being with actual human emotions, a capacity for critical thinking, and just a dollop of empathy, could have said: ‘you know, maybe this isn’t the best idea.’ But apparently that didn’t happen.” Border Patrol agents did not notify Shah Alam’s family or his lawyer after leaving him outside the coffee shop. The incident has sparked national outrage, with Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan calling Shah Alam’s death “disturbing” and “preventable,” and accusing Customs and Border Protection of being “unprofessional and inhumane.” In a joint statement, New York Reps. Grace Meng and Tim Kennedy (D-Buffalo) said Border Patrol’s decision to dump Shah Alam outside Tim Hortons “was a profound failure of duty and basic human decency that cost a man his life. There must be a full and thorough investigation into why this happened.” Shah Alam, who had arrived in Buffalo from Myanmar in December 2024, was arrested last year on charges of assault, burglary, and criminal mischief following an incident at a woman’s property on Feb. 15, 2025. He was accused of trespassing in a woman’s backyard after getting lost while returning from a store where he had purchased a curtain rod to use as a walking stick. The homeowner accused Shah Alam of letting her dog escape when he opened the back door and of damaging a shed door with the rod. When Shah Alam did not understand officers’ commands to drop the rod, police Tasered and arrested him. He ultimately pleaded guilty on Feb. 9 to misdemeanor charges of trespassing and possession of a weapon, and was scheduled to be sentenced in March. He was released on bail earlier this month after agreeing to a plea deal that allowed him to avoid the mandatory deportation that would have resulted from a felony conviction, Erie County District Attorney Mike Keane said. The Daily Beast has contacted Customs and Border Protection for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/border-patrols-shameful-lies-about-leaving-blind-man-to-die-exposed/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 1 Author Members Posted March 1 Catholic Bishops Slam Trump as ‘Immoral’ on Flagship MAGA Plan The bishops admonished the president for his executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship. America’s Roman Catholic bishops have asked the nation’s highest court to stop President Donald Trump’s “immoral” bid to end birthright citizenship. In an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court on Thursday, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), asked the justices to “protect God-given human dignity” by finding the president’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship unconstitutional. “At its core, this case is not solely a question about citizenship status or the Fourteenth Amendment,” the bishops wrote. “It is a question of whether the law will affirm or deny the equal worth of those born within our common community—whether the law will protect the human dignity of all God’s children.” Trump signed the executive order “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” on his first day back in office. It sought to deny citizenship to children born in the United States to undocumented parents, despite birthright citizenship being enshrined in the 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court is expected to consider the order in the coming months. The bishops described the president’s order as “antithetical to the import of the Church’s teachings” because “it deprives people whose parents were not born here, or whose mother has temporary status, of the legal rights necessary to participate in the society of their birth.” They argued that “ending birthright citizenship denies the innate dignity and freedom of the person” and that the Bible “calls us to give special care to vulnerable people, including migrants and children, both of whom are affected by this Executive Order.” “Children do nothing wrong by being born in the United States. Yet, this Executive Order renders them stateless,” the USCCB said. “Depriving an innocent child of his citizenship based upon his parents’ immigration status would be an especially outrageous punishment—one that this Court has rejected as punishment even for people who have been proven guilty.” The bishops also said they were saddened by what they described as a “climate of fear and anxiety” and the “vilification of immigrants” that is “all too common in the rhetoric concerning immigration policy.” “Ending birthright citizenship lacks historical, legal, and moral support,” the bishops concluded, urging the Court to reject the executive order and “uphold the enduring constitutional and moral commitment to equal dignity for all persons born in the United States.” The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment. Trump’s order was almost immediately challenged in the courts. Within a month, three federal district judges issued nationwide injunctions blocking it from taking effect. A decision by the Supreme Court could have far-reaching consequences for Trump’s immigration policies, which officials have framed as a cornerstone of his second term. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also went after Trump last year for his executive order allowing immigration raids at schools and churches, drawing the ire of Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019 and calls himself a “baby Catholic.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/catholic-bishops-slam-trump-as-immoral-on-flagship-maga-plan/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 1 Author Members Posted March 1 U.S. Men’s Hockey Star Calls Out White House After Fake Post The Olympic gold medallist was featured in an AI-generated post made by the White House. Newly minted Olympic hockey gold medalist Brady Tkachuk called out the White House for posting an AI-generated video of him insulting Canadians.Tkachuk was featured in a video posted to the White House TikTok account in which he can be seen saying, “They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple syrup-eating f---ers a lesson.” The video is labeled as containing AI-generated media.Tkachuk, whose mother is from the Canadian city of Winnipeg, is the captain of the Canadian-based Ottawa Senators, but represented the U.S. alongside his brother Matthew at the Milan Olympics, where their team defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime in last Sunday’s gold medal game. Speaking to reporters upon his return to Ottawa after visiting the White House and attending the State of the Union with his teammates, Tkachuk was asked how he felt about the video. “It’s clearly fake, ‘cause it’s not my voice and not my lips moving, I’m not in control of any of those accounts, and I know that those words would never come out of my mouth, so I can’t do anything about it,” Tkachuk replied. When asked if he liked the video, Tkachuk said, “Did I like it? I mean it’s not my voice, not what I was saying... I would never say that, that’s not who I am, so I guess I don’t like that video ’cause that would just never come out of my mouth, never a thought, and I’ll leave it at that.” The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment. Being the captain of one of seven Canadian-based NHL teams at a time of increased tension after Trump’s repeated threats to annex the country, Tkachuk has faced significant scrutiny over his team’s conduct following their Olympic victory. After videos were leaked featuring FBI Director Kash Patel partying in the U.S. men’s locker room after their win, several players were questioned as to why they could be seen laughing at a joke the president made at the expense of the U.S. women’s hockey team that women’s captain Hilary Knight called “distasteful.” Tkachuk told reporters that some of the laughter may have been because players were caught off guard, adding, “You’re talking to the president 10 minutes after you achieve your dream.” In the same video, one person can be heard shouting, “Close the northern border,” with speculation quickly growing online that it was Tkachuk, 26, who had done so. Asked about the remark by reporters on Thursday, Tkachuk denied it was him, telling reporters, “I mean, I’ve been seeing stuff that people think it’s me, but if you watch the video, that’s not my voice and something that I never say.” “I don’t really know how that kind of took a storm on its own when, you know, I play here... that’s something that never a thought would happen in my head and especially would never say it,” he added. Prior to the gold medal game against Canada, Tkachuk told ESPN of the U.S. team’s feelings towards their rivals, “There’s hatred there.” ”I mean, they’ve been the top dog. They’ve been the best for the last bunch of years, and for us, we want to be in that position, be the best. So it’s going to be a game where I think a lot of guys could say, this is the biggest game that they’ve ever played in." Tensions were further exacerbated by the team’s decision to visit the White House and attend the State of the Union on Thursday, where they were repeatedly used as props by Trump. During his speech, the president announced that goaltender Connor Hellebuyck would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Tkachuk’s brother, Matthew, also made waves when he presented Trump with his gold medal during their White House visit despite the 79-year-old’s history of stealing awards that he did not earn. “Yeah, I’ll put it on,” Trump told Matthew, who plays for the Florida Panthers and is two years Brady’s senior. “And I’m not giving it back.” The women’s team, whom Trump had complained about having to invite to the White House, declined the president’s invitation, citing prior professional and academic commitments.Instead, they have been invited by the iconic rapper—and known supporter of female athletes—Flavor Flav to celebrate their win with him in Las Vegas. The event will take place on the weekend of 16-19 July, and other female athletes have also been invited to attend. https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-mens-hockey-star-calls-out-white-house-after-fake-post/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 1 Author Members Posted March 1 Chaos After Pentagon Pete’s Bungled Laser Strikes Again “Our heads are exploding over the news,” said shocked Democrats. Airspace in an area of Texas was restricted on Thursday after the U.S. military accidentally shot down a Customs and Border Protection drone.The military used a laser-based anti-drone system to shoot down the drone, according to the shocked lawmakers. The incident, which marks the second laser-related incident in weeks, prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to expand airspace restrictions near Fort Hancock. A joint statement from the Pentagon, Federal Aviation Administration, and Customs and Border Protection to the Daily Beast said the military deployed a “counter-unmanned aircraft system” to “mitigate a seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace.” The area where the drone was shot down, near the Mexico border, is an area used by Mexican drug cartels, congressional aides told Reuters. The Federal Aviation Administration’s airspace restriction lists the end date as June 24. It cites “special security reasons.” “Our heads are exploding over the news,” Reps. Rick Larsen, Bennie Thompson, and André Carson, Democrats on the House Transportation and Homeland Security committees, said in a statement, criticizing the lack of coordination. The Defense Department drew similar concern just a few weeks ago over another laser-related incident in the same region. Earlier this month, an airspace closure above El Paso sparked chaos after the Defense Department reportedly conducted counter-drone testing with the laser system. According to the New York Times at the time, CBP agents shot down a party balloon under the impression that it was a drone belonging to a Mexican cartel. The laser was loaned by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security. In their response Thursday, Democrats said the Trump administration was “sidestepping” a bill to train drone operators and require better communication between the Defense Department, FAA and CBP. “Now, we’re seeing the result of incompetence,” they added. A Trump administration official told Axios that there was indeed a lack of communication among several agencies. The CBP didn’t coordinate with the Defense Department, and neither coordinated with the FAA, the person said. The FAA told the Daily Beast in a statement that there had already been a flight restriction in place before the shootdown. The zone, it said, was “expanded to include a greater radius to ensure safety.” The area “does not impact commercial flights,” the agency said. The Department of Homeland Security referred questions to the Defense Department, which provided to the Daily Beast a joint statement from itself, CBP, and the FAA. “This reported engagement occurred when the Department of War employed counter-unmanned aircraft system authorities to mitigate a seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace,” it read in part. “The engagement took place far away from populated areas and there were no commercial aircraft in the vicinity.” Meanwhile, Sen. Tammy Duckworth of the aviation subcommittee said in a statement that the Trump administration’s “incompetence continues to cause chaos in our skies,” adding that “the situation is alarming and demands a thorough, independent investigation.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/chaos-after-pentagon-petes-bungled-laser-strikes-again/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 1 Author Members Posted March 1 Lauren Boebert Gives Bonkers Excuse for Sparking Clinton Deposition Chaos The Republican offered reporters a bizarre reason for leaking a photo of Hillary Clinton’s deposition about Jeffrey Epstein. Rep. Lauren Boebert provided reporters with a baffling explanation after leaking a photo of Hillary Clinton’s Thursday deposition to far-right YouTuber Benny Johnson. “I really admire her blue suit, so I wanted to capture that for everyone,” Boebert, a member of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters in Chappaqua, New York. When a reporter asked why she sent the picture to Johnson, Boebert responded, “Why not?” She also told reporters that she had “just returned to my hotel room and installed the BleachBit software,” referring to a disk cleaning program for Windows, adding, “So I guess in regards to taking photos, I do not recall.” The Daily Beast has contacted the Clinton Foundation for comment. Johnson posted Boebert’s photo of Clinton taken during the former secretary of state’s deposition on the Clintons’ relationship with Jeffrey Epstein just after midday, writing on X, “🚨BREAKING: The first image of Hillary Clinton testifying under oath about Jeffery [sic] Epstein to the Republican Oversight Committee. This is the first time Hillary has had to answer real questions about Epstein. Clinton does not look happy. Photo provided by Rep. Lauren Boebert.” In a follow-up post, Johnson shared the full image, which featured Boebert’s nameplate prominently, as well as others present at the deposition. Shortly after the images were shared, an adviser for Clinton left the deposition room at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in New York to say that the deposition had been halted. “The hearing just went off the record for a moment because it seems, and some of you may have seen that there were some photographs shared on social media, which is against chamber rules that were read at the top of the meeting,” Clinton adviser Nick Merrill said. He said the session had been paused while they figured out where the photo came from and “why possibly members of Congress are violating House rules.” Taking a photo of a closed-door deposition and sharing it on social media is a violation of House rules. The deposition was recorded, and footage will be made available to the public at a later date. Johnson claimed that Clinton herself “stormed” out of the meeting and that her PR team was “crying” about him to the press, going on to accuse her of “trying to get out of answering questions about Epstein because of a pic.” Boebert then shared Johnson’s post, adding, “Benny did nothing wrong. Proceeding with deposition.” The deposition then resumed. Speaking to reporters just before 6 p.m., Clinton said that they had a “bit of a challenge in the beginning, because we had agreed upon rules… and one of the members violated that rule, which was very upsetting, because it suggested that they might violate other of our agreements.” “We had to cease the hearing for a period of time until we could get assurances that no rules would be broken going forward, and we returned to answer questions, repetitively, literally, over and over again,” Clinton continued. Johnson posted a clip of Clinton speaking to reporters, describing her as “seething” at his viral photo. Johnson later posted a meme of himself dancing in a nightclub with the caption, “I p---ed off Hillary Clinton today. And I am not suicidal,” a reference to a popular right-wing conspiracy theory that the Clintons staged Jeffrey Epstein’s death to look like a suicide in order to cover up their relationship to him. In a video posted to X, Johnson said that Clinton’s entire team “lost their minds” over the publication of the image, adding that “she even sent out her press flacks to go attack me.” “Yikes,” Johnson said in response to footage of Merrill mentioning him as the publisher of the photo. “Hope the cameras are working when I’m in federal prison,” he added, in another reference to Epstein’s suicide. Democrats were quick to condemn the leak, with committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia accusing Republicans of breaking their own rules, and saying it was “gracious” of Clinton to continue with the deposition. “What is not acceptable is Oversight Republicans breaking their own committee rules that they established with the Secretary and her team,” Garcia told reporters. “It was gracious of the Secretary and her team to continue the deposition.” Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari criticized Thursday’s deposition as an “unserious clown show,” arguing that Republicans were more concerned with getting their “photo op” than uncovering the truth and holding anyone accountable. https://www.thedailybeast.com/lauren-boebert-gives-bonkers-excuse-for-sparking-clinton-deposition-chaos/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 Attorney general announces indictments against 30 more people who protested at a Minnesota church Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday that 30 more people have been indicted for allegedly taking part in an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a Minnesota church. In a social media post, Bondi said 25 people had been arrested with more arrests to come later in the day. Read more. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ In Minnesota, US cardinals and pope’s ambassador decry mass deportations and call for reconciliation Walz unveils anti-fraud package after Trump administration threatens to halt Medicaid funds Trump says he is ‘not happy’ with the Iran nuclear talks but indicates he’ll give them more time Cuba says it is communicating with US after fatal boat shooting but seeks more details Family of St. Lucia fishing boat captain seeks answers after deadly US strike in Caribbean Congo and US agree to $1.2 billion health partnership Transgender youths are targeted in Scouting America changes pushed by the Pentagon Civil Rights agency rules against transgender Army worker who asked to use women’s bathroom The IRS broke the law by disclosing confidential information to ICE 42,695 times, judge says What to watch as the midterms begin with Tuesday’s primaries AIPAC faces test of its power in Illinois primary as Democrats debate future of Israel relationship House Democrats say they’re headed back to power. Their agenda is a work in progress Judge orders changes to Columbia and Snake river dam operations to help ‘disappearing’ salmon FDA to offer bonus payments to staffers who complete speedy drug reviews Tennessee’s felony law when local officials vote for ‘sanctuary’ policies is ruled unconstitutional Callers to Washington state hotline press 2 for Spanish and get accented AI English instead Biden flies commercial from Reagan National Airport and winds up stuck in delays like everyone else Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 No Iran decision — but signs point to war President Trump expressed frustration today about nuclear talks with Iran, but said he hasn't decided whether to launch a military campaign, Axios' Barak Ravid reports. 🪖 Several signs point to war: The ongoing U.S. military buildup in the Middle East, Trump's military briefings, the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel (a potential target for Iranian retaliation), and the disappointment felt by Trump envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff after talks in Geneva yesterday. The president said today before leaving for Texas: "It would be nice if we could do it without [military force], but sometimes you have to." Trump echoed his team's disappointment with Iran's stance in the Geneva nuclear talks, saying he wasn't "thrilled" with the way the Iranians negotiated. "I'm not happy with the fact that they're not willing to give us what we have to have," Trump said. "We'll see what happens. I'm not happy with the way they're going. ... It would be wonderful if they negotiate in good faith and conscience — but so far they are not getting there." Two pro-strike people who spoke to Trump over the last two days say he offered contradictory messages. One heard that Trump understands the Iranian regime is weaker than ever, and that a window of opportunity exists. The other heard that Trump still wants a deal. 👀 What we're watching: Vice President JD Vance met in Washington today with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, the key mediator between the U.S. and Iran. U.S. envoys Witkoff and Kushner skipped the meeting, which was a last-ditch effort to stop the talks from collapsing. What's next: More talks are set for next week. But war could start before that. Go deeper. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 Incompetent Representation (Al Drago / Bloomberg / Getty) View in browser American diplomats are supposed to represent the nation, advocate for the interests and policies of the U.S. government, and stay on generally good terms with the country to which they’re assigned. Even when they are sent to places that have an adversarial relationship with the United States, they are expected to maintain decorum while conveying messages these regimes may not want to hear. Some of President Trump’s ambassadors, however, are a different type: They seem to think that their job is to carry their boss’s boorishness and petty grievances abroad. Ambassadors are supposed to represent the president, but these incompetent emissaries take that concept to an extreme, and they have managed to get into needless conflicts with America’s friends in France, Poland, Iceland, and Chile, among others, along with pretty much the entire Middle East. The most recent example is from Paris, where U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner refused a summons this week from the French government. Summoning an ambassador is a standard diplomatic action; it usually happens when a host government wants clarification about, or to express displeasure over, something an ambassador’s nation has done or said. In this case, the State Department had injected itself into the aftermath of the far-right French activist Quentin Deranque’s murder by posting on X that he was killed by violent leftists. The French government regarded this as interference in its internal affairs and called in Kushner, who then refused to show up—the second time that he’s refused such a summons. This is a serious snub, especially among allies. France then prohibited Kushner from meeting with any French government official, which escalated the feud far beyond the initial problem, and … Wait. Charles Kushner is, in fact, Jared Kushner’s father, and he did time in federal prison for a slew of tax violations and other offenses (including an incident of witness retaliation in which he hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law and then sent a video of the encounter to his own sister). So you might be asking an obvious question here: Why is this convicted felon and the father of the president’s son-in-law an ambassador to a major U.S. ally? The choice is meant to be offensive—that’s why. As the professor and historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who studies authoritarianism, posted on X: Kushner “was put there as a (pardoned) felon to symbolize the death of democratic notions of diplomacy in the US. This thuggish individual was installed in Paris as an act of aggression towards democratic France.” Meanwhile, America’s man in Warsaw, Ambassador Tom Rose, said earlier this month that he would have “no further dealings, contacts, or communications” with Włodzimierz Czarzasty, the speaker of the lower house of the Polish Parliament. Rose objected, in his words, to “outrageous and unprovoked insults directed against President Trump.” What were these insults? Rose didn’t specify, but a few days earlier, Czarzasty had had the temerity to say that Trump did not deserve a Nobel Peace Prize. A Polish politician in his own country expressed an opinion, and the U.S. ambassador took it upon himself, like a scorned teenager blocking a phone number, to say that he and the Polish legislator were no longer on speaking terms with each other. Much like the French foreign minister reminding Kushner that he has an “apparent misunderstanding of the most basic expectations” of his job, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk gently noted on X: “Mr. Ambassador Rose, allies should respect, not lecture, each other.” But insulting our allies is Trump’s brand of diplomacy. In Ottawa last year, Pete Hoekstra, a former representative who is now the U.S. envoy to Canada, delivered a Trumplike—and expletive-laced—tirade criticizing Canada and defending the president’s tariffs. Likewise, the American ambassador in Chile, a former Border Patrol agent named Brandon Judd, managed to annoy Chile’s president by taking umbrage at criticism of Trump and saying that such remarks “harm the Chilean people.” And over in Reykjavik, the former member of Congress Billy Long managed to irritate everyone with a dumb joke about making Iceland the 52nd state. (After Greenland—get it? Long later apologized.) But the king of ambassadorial buffoonery is former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who is now America’s ambassador in Jerusalem. Last week, he gave a lengthy interview to Tucker Carlson. (The ambassador to Israel talking to Carlson, a man who platforms Holocaust deniers, is more evidence that ghastly anti-Semitic views are no longer unwelcome in the GOP.) During their discussion, Huckabee and Carlson somehow got onto the question of who owns the Middle East, and for once, an American ambassador didn’t insult his host country—he just enraged the hundreds of millions of people who live near the host nation. Carlson asked whether Huckabee agrees that God, in the Bible, gave the region—“I think it says from the Nile to the Euphrates, which is, once again, basically the entire Middle East”—to the Jewish people. “You’re saying he did,” Carlson concludes. Huckabee then hauled off this banger: “It would be fine if they took it all, but I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here today.” Matters did not improve when Carlson followed up, asking Huckabee whether he really meant that “it would be fine if the state of Israel took over all of it.” Huckabee missed the life preserver that Carlson tried to throw his way: “They don’t want to take it over,” he answered. “They’re not asking to take it over.” Well, thanks for that clarification, ambassador. Of course, the region lit up with fury once an American diplomat—posted to Jerusalem, no less—said that he’d be just fine with giving the whole place to the Israelis. Huckabee tried to walk back what he admitted was a “hyperbolic” statement, and the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem quickly tried to clean up the mess. But all of this raises the question of why Trump is sending such unqualified and potentially dangerous people to important postings around the world. In fairness to Trump, a lot of nations have sent plenty of scandalous embarrassments abroad as envoys—and Trump is not the first U.S. president to reward friends and supporters with these cushy gigs. But Trump has elevated diplomatic incompetence to an art. Aside from letting Huckabee loose in the Middle East, he sent an unqualified loyalist, Matthew Whitaker, to NATO. He also stashed his son’s ex-girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle in the embassy in Athens. And even in smaller and less complicated postings, Trump has made wince-inducing choices: America’s ambassador to the Bahamas is Herschel Walker, a former football player whose campaign for the U.S. Senate in Georgia imploded because of scandals and the candidate’s obvious incompetence. What’s Trump got against the Bahamians? Of course, the insults are the point. Trump seems to have a special loathing for our allies. He has used some of these appointments as a middle finger to states and organizations that he does not understand. He likely views some of them as impediments to his plans and schemes—such as, say, Norway, which he thinks is responsible for shutting him out of the Nobel Prize competition. What better way to stick it to those uppity French than by sending a convicted felon? Why not saddle NATO with a guy who has no foreign-policy experience? Trump and his supporters might think it’s a hoot to watch Europeans seethe while Ambassador Kim Guilfoyle eats baklava and strolls under the shadow of the Acropolis, but America needs competent representation in the world’s capitals, especially when contemplating risky policies. Last week, General Dan Caine reportedly expressed concern about going to war with Iran while the country’s alliances are not in order. He may have been thinking not only of the damage done by Trump’s approach to foreign relations but also about the crew of bumblers and hangers-on whom the president has sent to represent America around the world. Related: The real reason Trump picked Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel (From 2024) The end of diplomacy Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 Trump's overnight message President Trump in his video address from Florida, posted early today. Photo: Truth Social via CNP President Trump, wearing a white "USA" cap and standing at a presidential podium in Florida, acknowledged the risk of significant American casualties if Iran retaliates. "My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region," he said in his video announcement. Trump encouraged the people of Iran to remain in their homes during the bombing and "when we are finished, take over your government, it will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations." 📺 Richard Haass, CFR president emeritus, said on a special breaking edition of MS NOW's "Morning Joe" that the attack is a "massive roll of the dice" for Trump: "This is a war of choice ... This was not a war we had to fight now. It wasn't as though Iran had broken through some new threshold and posed imminent danger ... This is a preventive attack ... This is not a war of necessity." Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 🤖 OpenAI seals Pentagon deal; Trump hits Anthropic Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios With Anthropic and the Pentagon deadlocked over military use of Claude, President Trump called Anthropic a "Radical Left AI company." He wrote on Truth Social that he's "directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic's technology." Just after the Pentagon's 5 p.m. ET deadline for a deal, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X that Anthropic will be designated a "Supply-Chain Risk to National Security," preventing any company doing business with the U.S. military from also having a commercial relationship with Anthropic. 🥊 The big winner could be OpenAI, Anthropic's fierce rival. Just before 10 p.m. ET, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on X that his company had reached an agreement with the Pentagon to use its AI models, after the Defense Department agreed to safety red lines similar to Anthropic's. Earlier in the day, OpenAI announced $110 billion in new funding from Amazon, Nvidia and SoftBank. Anthropic vowed to "challenge any supply chain risk designation in court," and said no "intimidation or punishment from the Department of War" would cause it to cave on its principles. The dispute, touched off by Claude's use in January's attack on Venezuela, revolves around the use of AI for mass surveillance of Americans, which the Pentagon says is already illegal, and the development of weapons that fire without human involvement. 👀 Between the lines: Axios is told that OpenAI's agreement acknowledged that mass surveillance is illegal and that DoD would comply with that law. Similar language covered autonomous weapons and humans remaining in control of decisions. Behind the scenes: Anthropic and the Pentagon were still talking last evening. Officials still think Claude is the superior AI option for defense purposes right now, Axios' Dave Lawler and Maria Curi report. The bottom line: A week ago, the U.S. had the world's friendliest regulatory regime for AI. Now the entire industry, and its investors, are less sure. Claude problem: Federal agencies working with Anthropic. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 MAGA Melts Down Over Iran War No One Voted For A Trump-authorized strike on Iran took place just hours after JD Vance tried to allay MAGA fears of another conflict without a clear end. President Donald Trump is facing a furious MAGA backlash after embarking on an unauthorized strike in Iran that he admits will kill U.S. citizens.After being urged by sections of his own base not to enter another foreign war, the president announced on Saturday morning that he had launched a major attack on Iran as he vowed to eliminate the country’s nuclear program—which he insisted months ago had been completely “obliterated”—and bring about a change in government. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson told ABC’s Jonathan Karl that the attack on Iran was “absolutely disgusting and evil.” Former Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene took to X to blast the president, accusing him of abandoning his “America First” principles. “Now, America is going to be force fed and gas lighted all the “noble” reasons the American “Peace” President and Pro-Peace administration had to go to war once again this year, after being in power for only a year,” she said. “NOBODY WANTS THIS WAR,” said the Trump-aligned, self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate, a friend of Donald Trump Jr and the president’s other son, Barron. MAGA congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna wrote on X: “Hold our country in prayer right now. Hold our service members and their families in prayer right now. Hold the innocent people of Iran in prayer right now.” Alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was less diplomatic. “Oh, how disgusting. F--- you, Mr. President,” he wrote. “This is so wicked and disgusting and vile,” added Cassandra Macdonald, a writer at the right-leaning Gateway Pundit. “He is sacrificing our best for a foreign nation. What comes after blackpilled because I’m that.” Far-right figure Nick Fuentes posted on X: “@realDonaldTrump NO WAR WITH IRAN. ISRAEL IS DRAGGING US TO WAR. AMERICA FIRST.” The strike took place in the middle of the night, without Congressional approval—which is required by law—as most Americans were asleep. Only hours earlier, amid the biggest military build-up in the Middle East since the Iraq War, Vice President JD Vance had tried to assuage MAGA fears, telling the Washington Post that there was “no chance” the United States would end up in a years-long conflict without a clear end. “Acts of war unauthorized by Congress,” noted Republican Thomas Massie, who had been trying to push through new laws that would force the president to seek approval before striking Iran. But in an eight-minute video announcing the move, Trump sought to justify his “major combat operations” on the basis that Iran had refused to reach a deal to cease its nuclear program. He then called on Iranians to overthrow their government when the U.S. military operation came to an end. “It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations,” Trump said. He added: “My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region. Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war, but we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.” The fact that American soldiers could die is set to infuriate the anti-interventionist wing of the Republican Party. Only one day earlier, former Greene had posted an old video of Trump lamenting George W. Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq. “They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none, and they knew there were none,” Trump said at the time. The strikes marked the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has used military force against the Islamic Republic. Last June, the president boasted that the military had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities and it would take “years” to rebuild. In his video overnight on Saturday, he claimed the regime’s nuclear program would once again be “totally obliterated.” The strike also came just weeks after Trump ordered a military operation to capture Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro. On Friday, he also suggested another foreign intervention: a “friendly takeover” of Cuba. Iran responded to the latest strikes by launching a wave of missiles and drones targeting Israel. It followed with strikes targeting U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a defiant statement, saying the country “will not hesitate” in its response. In a statement posted on X, the ministry said: “The time has come to defend the homeland and confront the enemy’s military assault.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-melts-down-over-iran-war-no-one-voted-for/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 The Generals Said No but Trump Was Bored of Peace The peace president, 79, has gone to war, again. America’s top generals have been as clear as they dare in warning Donald Trump off his latest military adventure. But the president wasn’t listening.Eight weeks after sending helicopter-borne special forces into Caracas to seize Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump has taken his warmongering to a new level with the launch overnight of “major combat operations” in Iran. The Venezuela raid was well planned, limited in scope, and a clear military success, just the kind of stunt Trump and the former Fox News host who serves as his “Secretary of War” needed to fire up the troops in their new anti-woke army. But Iran is a whole different matter. There’s a reason why, as Trump put it, the Iranian regime has been able to chant “Death to America” for the past 47 years as it targeted American forces and interests in the region through its network of terror groups and proxy militias. The last time the United States tried to use military power to deliver regime change in the Middle East, with the ill-fated invasion of Iraq in 2003, its forces were bogged down for eight years. The real winner of that adventure was Iran, which was effectively handed control of the new Iraq after the dismantling of the Baathist regime.Of course, Iran has been massively weakened over the past couple of years. Hezbollah and Hamas, its main proxy forces, have been all but destroyed by Israel, and while an American bombing raid last June did not actually “obliterate” Iran’s nuclear program, as Pete Hegseth claimed at the time, it did set it back.Reports from inside the White House say Trump’s military advisers, including Gen. Dan “Raizin” Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have warned the president against a full-scale attack on Iran, briefing not just that it could cost American lives but dangerously degrade already depleted weapons stockpiles. Trump dismissed a Washington Post report that Caine is “against us going to War with Iran” as “100% incorrect.” It’s possible that Trump will walk away with an “easy” military victory, or that the Islamic regime, once prodded, could fall, as the president suggested in his video address from the White House. That will depend on Iran’s will and ability to resist the warfighting power of the United States and Israel and whatever allies they can persuade to join them in the ominously titled “Operation Epic Fury.” But it’s far from clear why Trump had to go to war with Iran now, while his son-in-law Jared Kushner and New York property pal Steve Witkoff are still trying to bring the regime to heel. The massive military force gathered in the Middle East and Mediterranean was already sending a pretty clear message to the Mullahs. In a text message last month to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Trump explained that since Norway had denied him the Nobel Peace Prize despite him supposedly ending at least eight wars, “I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace.” When Trump first entered the White House in 2017, there was widespread fear that the nuclear suitcase would be following around such a volatile president. But he defied expectations and ended up being more cautious militarily than his Democratic predecessor as commander-in-chief, Barack Obama. The great American peacemaker of the late 20th century was another second-term conservative president, Ronald Reagan, who clearly had an eye on his legacy as he joined with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to limit nuclear arsenals and call an end to the Cold War. Trump seems to have gone in the opposite direction in his second term: he wants to blow everything up, to test the limits of his power, as though a switch has flicked in his 79-year-old brain. The peace president is bored of peace. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-generals-said-no-but-donald-trump-was-bored-of-peace-and-attacked-iran/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 Trump, 79, Posts Crazed 4 AM Rant Right After Starting War The president couldn’t even stay on message after dragging the U.S. into a new Middle East conflict. Donald Trump went straight to his most treasured—and bogus—grievances about the 2020 election immediately after starting a war with Iran in the middle of the night. In a Truth Social post at 4:44 a.m., the 79-year-old president shared an article from JustTheNews detailing how Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was urged by former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department to apply for a lucrative grant while she was investigating Trump’s attempt to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Trump felt it necessary to share this information with his supporters just a couple of hours after he posted an eight-minute video confirming that the U.S. and Israel have joined forces to attack Iran. In a message to the American people for which he did not even wear a tie, the apparent “Peace President” Trump confirmed that the U.S. had launched “major combat operations” in Iran after months of pressuring Tehran to accept a new nuclear deal. Trump also admitted that the war, which has not been approved by Congress and has little support from voters, will mean that “lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties.” “That often happens in war,” Trump added. The president, who spent months pining and whining for a Nobel Peace Prize, also made a direct call for the Iranian people to “seize control of your destiny” and “take over your government” once the U.S. has finished bombing it.“It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations,” Trump said. “This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.” Soon after sharing the video, Trump also posted another JustTheNews article on Truth Social, suggesting that a war with Iran is justified because the regime apparently “sought to undermine President Donald Trump’s reelection bid in 2020.” Trump was charged with 18 other MAGA loyalists as part of Willis’ sprawling Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) probe into an alleged criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Willis was disqualified from leading the prosecution after it was found she was having an improper relationship with her former special prosecutor Nathan Wade. The case against Trump was eventually dropped after he won the 2024 election. Its legal merits have never been adjudicated. In November 2025, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dismissed the entire case against Trump and his co-accused—including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, who served as Trump’s chief of staff during his first presidency—after the prosecutor who took over the case from Willis said he would not pursue the prosecution further. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-79-posts-crazed-4-am-rant-right-after-starting-war-with-iran/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 All the Times Trump, 79, Claimed He Was the ‘Peace President’ Before Bombing Iran Trump promised “no new wars,” then launched military operations across three continents. Warmongering President Donald Trump is failing spectacularly to live up to the much-repeated boast that he is the “Peace President.” Trump, 79, vowed he would start “no new wars,” and has insisted again and again that after apparently stopping multiple conflicts, he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize—an obsession he has refused to let go of. Trump’s actions, including the latest announcement of a foreign bombing campaign, which saw him confirm on Saturday that the U.S. had begun “major combat operations in Iran,” do not back his words. They now sound even more hollow than ever. It is the second time in eight months the self-styled “peace president” has bombed the country. It comes less than two months after he attacked Venezuela. In fact, Trump’s second term has seen him launch military operations across three continents. The myth-making started years ago. In his 2021 farewell address, Trump crowed that he was “especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars,” a line that quickly became a MAGA talking point and campaign slogan. As he left office, he was already hailing his “record of no new wars” as proof he was a different kind of commander in chief. On his re-election night in November 2024, he had told supporters he was “not going to start a war, I’m going to stop wars.” Since retaking office, Trump has tried to uphold the branding—even as he dropped bombs. The Nobel Peace Prize became the ultimate validation he craved. He has lobbied so aggressively throughout his second term that he personally called Norway’s finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, to campaign on his behalf. Standing before the United Nations General Assembly last September, Trump told world leaders: “Everyone says I should get the Nobel Peace Prize”—before claiming credit for ending seven international conflicts and insisting that “no president or prime minister has ever done anything close to that.” When the president didn’t win his coveted prize, he—in classic Trump fashion—threw a hissy fit and whined that he had been somehow slighted. Trump’s actions, however, tell a different story. In June 2025, less than 24 hours after posting a Truth Social list of reasons he deserved the Nobel—citing “stopping the War between Serbia and Kosovo” and “keeping Peace between Egypt and Ethiopia”—Trump authorized seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to drop multiple “bunker buster” bombs on Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. He boasted afterwards that “a full payload of BOMBS” had been dropped on the primary site, Fordow. Pakistan, which had nominated Trump for the Nobel that very morning for brokering a ceasefire between Islamabad and New Delhi, was forced to condemn him hours later, calling the Iran strikes “a serious violation of international law.” Venezuela came next—and with it, perhaps the starkest illustration of the gap between Trump’s peace brand and his military record. Trump’s stated New Year’s resolution for 2026 was “peace on earth.” Forty-eight hours later, he ordered Operation Absolute Resolve—a Delta Force raid on the Venezuelan capital of Caracas that captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flew them to Manhattan federal court on narcoterrorism charges. After the raid, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that Colombia could be next: “Colombia is very sick. Run by a sick man, who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. He’s not going to be doing it very long.” The administration has since named its new interventionist foreign policy the “Donroe Doctrine.” Africa has been the least-publicized front, but arguably the most relentless. U.S. Africa Command conducted 126 airstrikes against al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia in 2025 alone—compared to just 10 for the entire previous year under Biden—before striking 16 ISIS targets in Nigeria’s Sokoto state on Christmas Day 2025. Now, with Iranian nuclear sites in his crosshairs for the second time, Trump told the world on Saturday that U.S. forces were moving to “eliminate imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” in a video posted to Truth Social. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/all-the-times-donald-trump-claimed-he-was-the-peace-president-before-bombing-iran/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 CBS ‘Legend’ Drops Bombshell Warning Ahead of CNN Takeover The CBS News producer left the network after 46 years. A CBS News producer who left the network after almost half a century of service issued a dire warning in a farewell memo. “We’ve been reading a lot of goodbyes lately, and here I am headed out the door,” journalist Mary Walsh wrote Friday in a memo obtained by The Guardian, announcing that she is leaving the network after 46 years. “But maybe it’s for the best,” Walsh wrote, adding that journalists at CBS News have been told to aim their reporting “at a particular part of the political spectrum.” “I don’t know how to do that,” Walsh added. The memo comes as CBS’s parent company, Paramount Skydance—owned by Trump-friendly billionaire David Ellison—emerged Thursday as the frontrunner in a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company, sparking fears among CNN staff that their newsroom could be taken over, just like CBS. Since Ellison’s takeover of Paramount in August, CBS News has come under the control of Bari Weiss, who has been widely criticized for steering the network into Trump-friendly territory as editor-in-chief. Though Walsh’s statement does not specify the “particular part of the political spectrum” the network has directed journalists toward, Weiss’s tenure has been marked by a series of chaotic moments. In December, Weiss came under fire for pulling a 60 Minutes segment at the last minute. The segment detailed the grisly conditions at an El Salvador megaprison where Venezuelan men deported by President Donald Trump were held—a move correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who reported the story, called “political.” The following month, during an all-hands meeting across CBS News bureaus, she told staff to quit if they did not align with her vision and proposed buyouts to employees that same week. Walsh is one of nearly a dozen producers to accept the buyout and is not the first to post a fiery farewell. Producer Alicia Hastey, who also took a buyout and left, complained that journalists at the network were forced to “self-censor or avoid challenging narratives.”The Guardian reported that Walsh, whose exit was described by one staffer as “pretty huge,” was honored in an emotional farewell from CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, alongside fellow veteran producer Kate Rydell, who is also leaving the network, during a staff-wide editorial call on Friday morning. “Mary Walsh is a legend,” former CNN executive David Clinch posted on X, commenting on Walsh’s departure memo. Meanwhile, the Ellison takeover has sent waves of anxiety through CNN, with insiders describing the panic among staffers as “off the charts” and some even claiming the network is “doomed.” The situation could be particularly awkward for Anderson Cooper, who left CBS’s 60 Minutes in February, becoming one of the highest-profile departures under Weiss’s leadership, but remained an anchor at CNN. “This will be messy and uncomfortable if Bari and Anderson are under the same roof again,” a media insider told NewsNation, adding, “Anderson really doesn’t like her or want to work for her—and he’s the face of the network. For now.” The Daily Beast has contacted CBS News for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/cbs-legend-producer-mary-walsh-drops-bombshell-warning-ahead-of-cnn-takeover/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 Trump’s Own Intel Agencies Say His Iran Claims Are Nonsense “Operation Epic Fury” has no basis in official intelligence. U.S. intelligence experts believe that President Donald Trump’s claims about Iranian threats to the U.S. are vastly exaggerated. Trump, the self-proclaimed “President of Peace,” launched a wave of missile strikes on Iran early Saturday morning, telling the public in a prerecorded address that the U.S. military had begun “major combat operations.” The strikes, unauthorized by Congress and performed alongside Israel, are designed to stop this “very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests,” Trump, 79, claimed in the video message. “We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground.”He accused the Iranian regime of building missiles that “could soon reach the American homeland.”However, this argument, which he also peddled during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, is tenuous at best. While Iran has a vast arsenal of short and medium-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting Israel and U.S. military bases in the Middle East, it is years away from producing the intercontinental ballistic missile Trump warned of. In an assessment from May last year, a month before Trump’s first strikes on the country, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said it would actually take nearly a decade for Iran to produce such weaponry. The report, titled “Current and Future Missile Threats to the U.S. Homeland,” stated that the regime could produce a “militarily-viable” intercontinental ballistic missile by 2035, “should Tehran decide to pursue the capability.” Sources told CNN that any suggestion otherwise is false. No intelligence suggests Iran is building an ICBM program to hit the U.S. at this time, they said. Three sources confirmed that Iran currently has no interest in expanding its capabilities in this field. Indeed, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview this week that Iran was not developing long-range missiles. “We have deliberately limited the range of our missiles to 2,000 kilometers,” he told India Today TV. He added that their short-range missiles are for defense. Despite the lack of intel suggesting Iran has ICBMs and a mind to use them on America, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly responded to CNN’s reporting, saying, “President Trump is absolutely right to highlight the grave concern posed by Iran, a country that chants ‘death to America,’ possessing intercontinental ballistic missiles.” On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was less sure. He told reporters that Iran was “certainly” trying to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles. The New York Times reports that Iran has “steadily increased” the range of its ballistic missiles, but the most powerful in its arsenal can only reach Central and Eastern Europe. Three American officials with access to current intelligence about Iran’s missile programs said that Trump’s claims were purposely exaggerated. One added that some intelligence analysts have grown “concerned” that Trump’s top aides are inflating and distorting the threat to the U.S. The argument that Iran is days away from being able to produce working nuclear weapons has also been debunked. It has been used by top White House officials in recent days to justify military operations in Iran. Steve Witkoff, one of President Trump’s top negotiators, stoked urgency when he said last week that Iran was “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bombmaking material.” This, it must be noted, is despite the U.S. teaming up with Israel last June and “obliterating” the country’s nuclear capabilities. Though not obliterated, Iran’s three main nuclear sites at Natanz, Fordo, and Isfahan, were badly damaged in the attacks. Experts therefore believe it unlikely that the country has produced a working nuclear warhead. Additionally, officials who have been briefed on U.S. intelligence assessments said that the regime has not built any new nuclear sites since the strikes last June, The Times added. This is despite activity at two partially finished sites unaffected by “Operation Midnight Hammer.” Even Rubio acknowledged on Wednesday that there was no evidence the Iranians were enriching nuclear fuel to make the weapons the White House has used to justify the latest sortie, the so-called “Operation Epic Fury.” The White House has been contacted for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-own-intelligence-shows-his-new-war-is-baseless/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 Trump Exposed as Hypocrite by His Own Iran War Doomsday Warnings He was consistent in his criticism of attacking the country for years. For years, Donald Trump publicly claimed that a military attack on Iran would reflect an inability to negotiate, scrambled electioneering, or a limp attempt from a president to “show how tough” he is. Then, early Saturday morning, he did it anyway.In a video posted to Twitter, Trump—not even wearing a tie—announced the U.S. and Israel had begun “major combat operations” against Iran, with a large-scale preemptive strike in which he indicated Americans are likely to die. He claimed the strikes were carried out to prevent the Middle Eastern country from completing its nuclear program and said they would allow its people to overthrow the authoritarian regime that has been in place for decades. But this isn’t something the Trump of years gone by would have stood for, at least not if he’s taken at his word. “Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate,” Trump said of President Obama in a shouty video clip in November 2011. “He’s weak and he’s ineffective. So the only way he figures that he’s going to get re-elected, and as sure as you’re sitting there, is to start a war with Iran.” “@BarackObama will attack Iran in order to get re-elected,” he said in a post on X, then called Twitter, the following January. By the fall, he viewed aggression toward Iran as a pathway to re-election: “Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin—watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.” That October, he said, “Don’t let Obama play the Iran card in order to start a war in order to get elected—be careful Republicans!” he warned. Trump’s assault on Iran comes just months before the midterms, where polling suggests Republicans could suffer heavy losses. Meanwhile, Trump’s own poll numbers continue to slide. The latest Emerson College Poll on Thursday showed disapproval rates have risen to 55 percent, a four percent leap from last month and a 14-point swing from when he took office last year. Trump/X Trump/X Trump/X Trump/X Trump/X Trump/X Trump/X In September 2013, he said, “I predict that President Obama will at some point attack Iran in order to save face!” Then, just a week later: “Remember what I previously said—Obama will someday attack Iran in order to show how tough he is.” Two months on, in November, he was still banging the same drum. “Remember that I predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly-not skilled!” Trump said. Thirteen years later, Trump’s message has shifted dramatically. “To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces, and all of the police,” he said as he announced the initial strike, “lay down your arms or you will face certain death.” Iran has already hit back, with a state-affiliated news agency claiming it had launched retaliatory strikes on U.S. bases in Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain, the Guardian reports. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-warned-us-how-desperate-it-would-be-to-attack-iran/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 ‘Peace President’ Trump Bombs Iran to Start Another New War The United States launched a surprise attack targeting Iranian leaders in Tehran. President Donald Trump launched a wave of missile strikes on Iran early Saturday morning before announcing that the U.S. military had begun “major combat operations.” Trump made no effort to conceal the extraordinary scale of the preemptive attack, admitting that American personnel are likely to die in a war which he says will curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions and allow the Iranian people to overthrow the Islamic regime. Israeli officials told The New York Times that leadership figures were targeted in the first round of military strikes. The attack began at around 8:10 a.m. local time, according to the Times. Iranian state television has acknowledged the blast, which appeared to occur near offices linked to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump later confirmed the operation himself, in an eight-minute video on Truth Social. He did not immediately provide specifics on targets but described the strikes as decisive. In the same address, he issued a stark warning to Iran’s security forces. “To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces, and all of the police,” Trump said, “lay down your arms or you will face certain death.” “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties,” Trump added. “That often happens in war.” Trump appeared in the recording wearing a white baseball cap emblazoned with “USA,” the same hat he was seen wearing when he arrived in Florida earlier that evening. The White House has not confirmed when the video was recorded or whether it was filmed before or after the strikes began. Reuters reported that Khamenei is not in Tehran and has been moved to a secure location, according to an Iranian official. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz separately confirmed Israel was attacking Iran, saying in a statement: “The State of Israel launched a preemptive attack against Iran to remove threats to the State of Israel.” Katz declared a nationwide state of emergency as Israeli authorities closed schools, workplaces, and airspace in anticipation of possible retaliation. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee warned Americans in Israel to prepare for possible retaliation. “We are encouraging all Embassy team & families & U.S. citizens in Israel to be prepared for Home Front Command alerts & sirens,” Huckabee wrote on X, urging them to stay near shelters and act immediately when alarms sound. The Israeli military’s Home Front Command imposed nationwide restrictions, banning public gatherings and suspending schools and most workplaces, the Associated Press reported. In Tehran, mobile internet service was cut shortly after the first bombings. While there were no immediate signs of unrest, security forces blocked roads in parts of downtown, the AP said. The move marks a dramatic escalation after weeks of rising tensions and failed nuclear talks. This is Trump’s second attack on another country in as many months. In January, the U.S. conducted airstrikes in Venezuela as part of its incursion to abduct the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face “narcoterrorism” charges. The 79-year-old U.S. president gave himself the increasingly dubious nickname the “president of peace” while claiming he had ended as many as nine wars since his return to office. One of the conflicts Trump claimed he helped end was the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June 2025, during which the U.S. conducted airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump’s latest attack on Iran also follows months of desperate campaigning by the president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was awarded last year’s prize, actually handed Trump her Nobel Prize Medal, prompting the Nobel committee to remind the world that the honor cannot be “revoked, shared, or transferred to others,” and that decision is “final and stands for all time.” During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed there would be “no new wars” if he returned to the White House, a promise that has been broken just over a year into his second term. In multiple 2024 campaign rally speeches, Trump also promised to “expel the warmongers from our government,” once back in office. Not all Republicans support the decision to start a new war with Iran. Trump nemesis Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) wrote on X that the strikes were “acts of war unauthorized by Congress.” The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Department of Defense for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/peace-president-trump-bombs-iran-to-start-another-new-war/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 Iran Launches Massive Strikes on U.S. Allies in Response to Trump’s New War The MAGA president just set a match to one of the most combustible regions on the planet. President Donald Trump’s new war with Iran is already rippling out across the Middle East, with the Islamic regime launching retaliatory strikes against U.S. allies in the region. American and Israeli forces launched a concerted series of ongoing attacks against regime targets in the capital, Tehran, and other cities, including Qom, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Lorestan, Karaj, and Khorramabad, in the small hours of Saturday morning. The Defense Department has dubbed the campaign “Operation Epic Fury.” The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has now responded with what it describes as a “first wave” of missile and drone attacks against Israel. Further explosions have been heard in Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, which all host strategically significant U.S. military bases. Bahraini media outlets report that “the service center of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet” is now under missile attack, according to CNN. Qatari officials claim to have intercepted two Iranian rockets. Videos show smoke rising from buildings in Abu Dhabi, with the UAE having closed its airspace. Blasts have rocked the Qatari capital of Doha. U.S. embassies in Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Jordan are advising American nationals across the region to shelter in place. In the event of an all-out U.S. assault, the Iranian regime has in recent weeks threatened to target American military bases across the Middle East, as well as strike U.S. naval assets in the Persian Gulf and attack Israel directly. Iranian officials have also warned they could disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade corridor, and activate allied militias in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen to carry out strikes against U.S. military assets throughout the region. Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, wrote in a Feb. 20 letter to the organization’s Security Council that “all U.S. military bases, facilities, and assets in the region would constitute legitimate targets if the United States follows through on its military threats and attacks Iran.” He echoed similar sentiments from Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf earlier in January. Iran has historically made good on its promises in the aftermath of previous American attacks. In 2020, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps injured 110 service personnel at the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq following Trump’s assassination of the organization’s leader, Qasem Soleimani. Iranian forces also responded to the MAGA president’s attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities last June with a series of strikes against the Al Udeid Air Base in Iraq. Residents in the Iranian capital of Tehran reported a series of explosions at approximately 10.30 a.m. on Saturday in the Pasteur neighborhood, where the presidential palace and national security council head offices are located. Other targets appear to include offices of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Explosions have also been heard in further cities like Qom, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Lorestan, Karaj, and Khorramabad. Israel has joined in the strikes. The Guardian reports the attacks have already caused “a significant number of deaths.” Khamenei is not thought to be at his Tehran residence, with sources claiming he is in a “safe undisclosed location.” His officials have “vowed a crushing response” to what appears to be “the start of a full-scale military exchange, and not a limited US action.” The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Defense Department for comment on this story. https://www.thedailybeast.com/iran-launches-massive-response-to-president-donald-trumps-new-war/? ps:Did he really think they would not fight back? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 Trump Admits Americans Will Likely Die in New War Nobody Wants The self-proclaimed “President of Peace” just launched “major combat operations” in the Middle East. President Donald Trump has admitted that Americans are likely to die as he launched a major new war against Iran—even though he claimed it is necessary to save American lives. “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties, that often happens in war,” he said in a video he posted early on Saturday morning, wearing no tie and a white USA trucker hat to launch America’s first new full-scale war since 2003. Already, Iran is striking back. Within a few hours of the U.S. attack, explosions had been reported in several areas across the Middle East, including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Iraq, and Jordan—all of which are home to major U.S. military installations. Trump posted the clip on Truth Social to announce “major combat operations in Iran” to “defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.” Trump made the announcement while wearing a white “USA” trucker hat. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for further comment. Forces involved in Saturday’s operation include personnel aboard two U.S. aircraft carriers—the USS Abraham Lincoln, near Oman, and the USS Gerald R. Ford in the eastern Mediterranean—and likely at nearby major U.S. bases in the aforementioned targeted countries. This would include air defense crews, base security, intelligence teams, and medical staff. Some of those bases have been involved in prior confrontations with Iranian forces. Iranian strikes targeted the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq following Trump’s assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Qasem Soleimani in 2020; 110 service members suffered traumatic brain injuries as a result of those attacks. Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base also came under attack following Trump’s strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities last June. Seven U.S. service members were also injured in the course of the MAGA leader’s January invasion of Venezuela. It’s estimated that around 7,000 American troops died in the course of previous U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There is presently no indication that Trump plans to deploy ground troops as part of what, for now, remains largely an air-and-sea campaign. The Republican president has previously referred to fallen American service personnel as “suckers” and “losers.” He has never served in the military, having in fact dodged the Vietnam War draft on five occasions. The last of those owed to a bone spur diagnosis. It’s a condition that usually affects elderly individuals. He was 22 at the time. Trump’s new war contradicts explicit promises made to voters on the 2024 campaign trail to lessen, rather than increase, American involvement in active conflicts and other military entanglements abroad. This is Trump’s second attack against the Iranian regime after targeted strikes against the country’s nuclear facilities last June. It flies in the face of Trump’s efforts throughout his first year back in office to model himself as a “President of Peace,” dubiously claiming to have “solved” a constantly shifting number of wars around the world. What now appears set to become the 2026 U.S.-Iran War comes after the president launched military strikes against Islamic insurgents in Nigeria, a U.S. ally, on Christmas Day. Plus, the shock U.S. incursion into Venezuela in January to abduct former President Nicolás Maduro, who now faces narcoterrorism charges in a New York federal court. Trump has similarly threatened to invade U.S. allies Panama, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a fellow NATO member. The MAGA president’s growing, campaign-promise-busting appetite for military engagement also comes amid his bitter disappointment at being passed over for last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, despite a concerted public and private push by his allies. It was previously awarded to his Democratic predecessor, President Barack Obama. In a letter regarding that snub, Trump wrote to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in January that “considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace.” The Norwegian government is not affiliated with the Nobel Committee, which decides independently to whom it will grant its awards. Trump’s claim to have stopped eight wars remains highly disputed. Today, he started one. https://www.thedailybeast.com/president-donald-trump-admits-americans-will-likely-die-in-new-war-nobody-wants/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 Operation Epic Fury Smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion today in Tehran, Iran. Photo: AP The U.S. and Israel began "major combat operations" in Iran overnight with the aim of destroying the country's military capabilities and fostering regime change, President Trump announced in an overnight video statement. Israel's Air Force conducted strikes against Iranian senior commanders and political leaders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in an effort to destabilize the regime, Axios' Barak Ravid and Dave Lawler report. Iranian media reported strikes nationwide. Smoke could be seen rising in Tehran, the capital. In a video statement on Truth Social at 2:30 a.m. ET, Trump accused Iran of conducting "mass terror" ever since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and declared: "We're not going to put up with it any longer." "We're going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. ... We're going to annihilate their navy, we're going to ensure that the region's terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces," Trump said. "And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon." Trump, who arrived at Mar-a-Lago last night, is expected to address the nation later today. Operation Epic Fury, as the Pentagon dubbed the attack, started exactly as Trump's 10-day deadline to Iran expired. Israel's name for the joint operation is Lion's Roar. Vehicles line up in Tehran during a traffic block after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency (WANA) via Reuters Retaliation was swift. U.S. bases in the region — in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, the UAE and Jordan — were attacked by Iranian missiles. Iranian state TV confirmed Iran was attacking U.S. bases. A senior U.S. official said that as of 7:10 a.m. ET, there were no casualties. 🏛️ Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who's hawkish on Iran and close to Trump, said on X after the attack: "The end of the largest state sponsor of terrorism is upon us. ... This operation is necessary and long justified." Get the latest. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 Trump's overnight message President Trump, wearing a white "USA" cap and standing at a presidential podium in Florida, acknowledged the risk of significant American casualties if Iran retaliates. "My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region," he said in his video announcement. Trump encouraged the people of Iran to remain in their homes during the bombing and "when we are finished, take over your government, it will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations." 📺 Richard Haass, CFR president emeritus, said on a special breaking edition of MS NOW's "Morning Joe" that the attack is a "massive roll of the dice" for Trump: "This is a war of choice ... This was not a war we had to fight now. It wasn't as though Iran had broken through some new threshold and posed imminent danger ... This is a preventive attack ... This is not a war of necessity." ps:If! If!! If!!! What did he think they where like him, a draft dodger, afraid to get in to a war that they probably can't win????? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 ✈️ Scoop: Noem's luxury jet funding Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Getty Images Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's plan to use border funds for an almost $300 million luxury jet fleet has horrified top Trump officials, Axios' Brittany Gibson has learned. Why it matters: Until last year, DHS owned zero luxury jets. Soon it could have three. "This is the world's worst deal to buy an aircraft," a senior administration official told Axios when granted anonymity to discuss internal matters. "This is an abuse," the official said, calling it a misuse of federal money. Russ Vought, who runs the Office of Management and Budget, raised concerns about the luxury jet spending to the White House, sources told Axios. (OMB declined to comment.) 💸 Zoom in: Noem purchased two Gulfstream G700 luxury jets in October. A third plane, a Boeing 737 nicknamed the Big Beautiful Jet, is being leased with plans to buy it for about $70 million. The funding comes from the One Big Beautiful Bill's cash infusion to DHS. A DHS spokesperson told Axios: "Anyone who runs a business in the real world will tell you that owning a work vehicle is less expensive than dealing with long-term rental costs." Keep reading. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 💉 Trump-MAHA split over vaccines Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Vaccine politics is emerging as a trip wire in the administration's push to remake America's public health system before the midterm elections, Axios' Caitlin Owens reports. Polling — including from President Trump's own campaign pollster — consistently shows vaccines remain popular. Why it matters: Parts of the Trump administration's 2026 health agenda are frustrating some MAHA faithful. Vaccine critics with close ties to the administration see plenty of unfinished business. ⚠️ Growing flashpoints: Multiple vaccine skeptics have exited HHS, while drug-pricing negotiator Chris Klomp was elevated. HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has focused publicly during campaign trail appearances on food dyes and dietary guidelines, not shrinking the childhood vaccine schedule. Trump's State of the Union emphasized health costs and drug prices — not vaccines or other MAHA priorities. The FDA reversed its decision, declining to review Moderna's application for a new mRNA flu shot. Trump's new executive order boosting the herbicide glyphosate sparked such MAGA backlash that Kennedy issued a long defense of the decision on X, arguing that reform "will not move in a straight line." Keep reading. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 2 Author Members Posted March 2 ⚖️ Trump says he "ended DEI." Courts disagree Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photos: Charly Triballeau/AFP, Hulton Archive/Getty Images President Trump said during his State of the Union, to raucous Republican applause: "We ended DEI in America." But a year into Trump's crusade to eradicate "anti-white racism," some of the administration's most ambitious diversity, equity and inclusion rollbacks are stalled in court, Axios' Josephine Walker reports. 🚩 With Congress aligned with the White House, the judiciary has become the primary check for civil rights advocates who argue the administration is distorting long-standing equity laws. In courtrooms across the country, judges are weighing in on cases related to education, the environment and employment. Read on for major cases. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
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