"70 Percent Of U.S. Farmers Say That They Will Not Be Able To Purchase All The Fertilizer That They Need In 2026"

by Michael Snyder

"We might want to listen to what the farmers are telling us, because if they don’t grow our food we do not eat. Coming into this year, we were already facing the worst farming crisis in America in at least 50 years. Farmers all over the nation are drowning in debt, and farm bankruptcies have been soaring. In all my years, I have never seen America’s farmers so angry, and now the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz has made things much worse. Spring planting season is here and there is a global scramble for whatever supplies of nitrogen fertilizer that happen to be available. As a result, prices have skyrocketed and farmers all over the planet are facing some incredibly tough choices.

That is even true here in the United States. According to a brand new survey that was just conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation, 70 percent of U.S. farmers say that they will not be able to purchase all of the fertilizer that they need in 2026 because it has become so expensive…Conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation April 3-11, the survey shows 70% of respondents say fertilizer is so expensive that they will not be able to buy all the fertilizer they need. More than 5,700 farmers, both Farm Bureau members and non-members, from every state and Puerto Rico took the survey. Farm Bureau economists analyzed the results in the latest Market Intel. The analysis reveals that almost 8 in 10 farmers in the southern U.S. say they can’t afford all needed supplies this year, followed by the Northeast and West at 69% and 66%, respectively, compared to 48% of the farmers in the Midwest.

Fertilizer prices were already at frighteningly high levels even before the war with Iran started, and since that time they have surged dramatically… Nitrogen fertilizer prices have gone up more than 30 percent since the start of the conflict on Feb. 28, according to Market Intel. Combined fuel and fertilizer costs have also risen between 20 and 40 percent, with urea prices jumping 47 percent since late February.

Many people out there don’t seem to understand this yet, but this is going to affect all of us. If 70 percent of U.S. farmers use less fertilizer this year, those farmers will grow less food. If there is less food available, prices will go up. Needless to say, food prices are already at ridiculous levels, but they are going to go even higher.

In impoverished countries, conditions will be even worse. Due to a historic lack of nitrogen fertilizer, hundreds of millions of families that are currently barely existing “may soon find they are only able to afford little or no food”… In many parts of the world, vulnerable families who today are currently managing to put some food on the table may soon find they are only able to afford little or no food. “If this conflict continues, it will send shockwaves across the globe, and families who already cannot afford their next meal will be hit the hardest,” said WFP Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Carl Skau.

I wish that I could get people to understand how serious this is. Goldman Sachs is publicly admitting that the global fertilizer crisis is spreading a lot faster than they were originally projecting. We desperately need the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened immediately, but that simply isn’t going to happen.

The Iranians continue to strangle commercial traffic through the Strait, and the U.S. has now “completely” cut off traffic to Iranian ports… The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports is now fully into effect, “completely” cutting off Tehran’s international sea trade that powers about 90% of its economy, the U.S. Central Command said late Tuesday stateside. The announcement comes at a time when the White House has been signaling a diplomatic solution to the conflict in the Middle East, as discussions around continuing negotiations with Iran are underway. “A blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented as U.S. forces maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East,” said Brad Cooper, Centcom commander, highlighting that it was achieved under 36 hours of President Donald Trump’s order.

The Trump administration is convinced that this blockade will force the Iranians to give in. According to U.S. Central Command, the first 48 hours of the blockade have been a resounding success…

But the Iranians are showing no signs of backing down. On Wednesday, an official with the IRGC warned of severe consequences if the U.S. does not end the blockade… Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announced Wednesday that Tehran would not allow the import or export of goods through the Persian Gulf, the nearby Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea unless the United States lifts the blockade it imposed earlier this week around the Strait of Hormuz.

Ali Abdollahi, commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya emergency headquarters, said the measures would be “firm and decisive” steps to protect Iran’s national interests and sovereignty. According to Abdollahi, if the U.S. continues the blockade Iran has decided that it “will not allow any exports or imports to continue in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and the Red Sea”…

In his statement broadcast by Iranian state television, Abdollahi said Iran would move to disrupt shipping routes in the Red Sea and elsewhere if the U.S. continued its blockade, initiated by President Donald Trump. “The powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic will not allow any exports or imports to continue in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and the Red Sea,” the commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said.

If Iran is able to successfully stop commercial traffic from traveling through all of those waterways, it will greatly intensify the economic problems that we are starting to witness all over the globe. In California, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has already almost reached 6 dollars… Gas prices are soaring across the country, but especially in California. The Golden State average is now nearly $6 per gallon — 40 percent above the national figure. That gap is likely to widen: UC Davis economists estimate that Californians could soon be paying more than $2.50 a gallon above the national average.

In the United Kingdom, officials are bracing for widespread fuel shortages in “two or three weeks”… Sources told ITV News that the UK is ‘two or three weeks away’ from shortages of diesel and jet fuel, although petrol supplies are healthier. The Government is said to be facing ‘difficult decisions’ over how to allot fuel supplies, including how to keep ‘ancillary power’ going for NHS hospitals.

If the war with Iran is not resolved quickly, this will only be the tip of the iceberg. The Iranians are holding the global economy hostage, and they fully realize that this gives them a tremendous amount of leverage. But there is no way that the U.S. and Israel will ever agree to their demands. So for now we seem to have an unsolvable problem on our hands, and meanwhile the damage that is being done to the global economy is getting worse with each passing day."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"A Dangerous Illusion: Are Americans Living On Borrowed Money Right Now?"

Jeremiah Babe, 6/15/26

"A Dangerous Illusion: Are Americans 

Living On Borrowed Money Right Now?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Tragically Really Is, For Far, Far Too Many"

 

"Pursuit Of Happiness? No! Pursuit Of Misery Is The Political Way"

Gerald Celente, 4/15/26

"Pursuit Of Happiness? No! 

Pursuit Of Misery Is The Political Way"

"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What's Next in these increasingly turbulent times."

- https://trendsjournal.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Farmers Issue Food Warning: Global Famine Coming"

Full screen recommended.

Snyder Reports, 4/15/26

"Farmers Issue Food Warning: 

Global Famine Coming"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "Insurance Is a Scam Now"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 4/15/26

"Insurance Is a Scam Now"

"Insurance used to mean protection - but today it feels like punishment. In this video, Dan from iAllegedly breaks down how skyrocketing premiums, denied claims, and industry loopholes are leaving Americans exposed when they need coverage the most. From homeowners insurance cancellations in California to outrageous medical bills and auto claim disputes, this is a real-world look at how the system is failing everyday people. We also dive into insurance fraud, billion-dollar payouts, and why companies are tightening restrictions while raising rates. If you’ve ever wondered why your insurance costs keep rising while coverage keeps shrinking, this video exposes the truth. Whether it’s health, auto, or property insurance, the risks of being underinsured - or completely denied - have never been higher."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

John Wilder, "The Strait of Hormuz and the Domino Effect"

"The Strait of Hormuz and the Domino Effect"

by John Wilder

"When I was younger, I was reading the book "Liar’s Poker" by Michael Lewis. In the book, the author related the story of how he was on the trading desk when news of the Chernobyl reactor meltdown hit. His co-worker, a seasoned trader who’d seen it all, looked at Lewis and said two words: “Buy wheat.”

The reason was simple. Ukraine was the Soviet Union’s biggest supplier of wheat. Now, radioactive wheat would have sounded cool in the 1950s. Imagine the cereal ads: New Atomic Pops™: NOW FORTIFIED WITH GAMMA RAYS! The seasoned trader, however, knew there was going to be a shortage of wheat on the world market since the RDA of uranium isotopes has been decreased under the Make America Healthy Again agenda rolled out. But Chernobyl happened. The consequences? One event, one domino, and the price of bread halfway around the planet starts twitching like a tall tweaker on Tang™. That’s how fast these things move when the stakes are real.

In a more serious world where consequences were to be a thing that actually happened, I’d bet on a huge economic tidal wave incoming from the current Israel-America-Iran War. Ten to twenty percent of the world’s daily oil supply is stuck behind blockades. To top it off, 14% of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas production is offline, and won’t be able to be repaired until 2029 or 2031. Then, the Strait of Hormuz: closing, re-opening, closing again like a game of “duck, duck, missile” has already tumbled a lot of dominos.

Right now, the Strait isn’t exactly a freeway. Tankers are rerouting, insurance rates are through the roof, and every time someone blinks the flow sputters. One day it’s open enough for a few supertankers to sneak through. The next, it’s blocked again and prices expand like Madonna’s face after whatever it is she’s injecting into it.

Those first dominos are easy to spot, and they were the subject of a recent post. Fertilizer production is down because natural gas is the key feedstock, so (domino falls) food prices are headed up. Gasoline, jet fuel, and bunker fuel costs are up, so (domino falls) transport prices are up, too. Trucks, ships, planes, and everything that moves stuff from farm to factory to your grocery shelf gets more expensive. Freight rates for everything from soybeans to sneakers start climbing. Those are the obvious ones.

But dominos don’t stop at the first few if there are more in line. Before the big inflation wave really crashes ashore, weird things start happening in the markets. Gold is up on good news and down on bad news. Same with silver. Why? Because these are assets (at least the paper versions that pretend to be gold and silver) that people can sell fast and clean to cover margin calls, and other ways that they’ve leveraged the market. Each domino leads to other consequences.

What are the downstream consequences? Political unrest? Certainly. We’ve seen it before. We’re seeing it now. When food prices spike, people in places that were already living on the edge don’t write polite letters to their congressman. They take to the streets. Empty bellies and expensive diesel have a way of turning into pitchforks and torches. And what about a complete redo of the world economic stage? Yeah, that’s a hell of a big Twinkie®, er domino. But, it’s looking more likely every day.

Here’s the part that should keep you up at night if you’re the kind of person who still believes in fairy tales about “the system.” In a world where almost any country can convert whatever Christmas wrapping paper they crank out of their printing presses into any other currency almost instantly, why does the world need the dollar? I’ve been asking this question forever on this blog.

I have absolute certainty that the dollar is the same as a cryptocoin made by Algerian, Albanian, or Albigensian pirates: it’s a meme. It’s just a meme that everyone has bought into for 100 years or so. If I can dump the Zimbabwe Zloty straight into Seychelles Shekels, well, no need for dollars as the go-between as I trade my diseased goats for your rotten cocoanuts. No need at all.

Marco Rubio even let the cat out of the bag the other day when he said that in the future the United States wouldn’t be able to put sanctions on countries anymore because other countries wouldn’t be using the dollar very much. Now that’s a huge domino! It was going to happen. There was no way the world was going to forever let the United States print dollars forever and have people send us stuff like oil from the Orient or gold from Germany or PEZ® from Paraguay while we shipped them electronic representations of paper money that was now just too expensive for us to bother to print.

We’ve seen this domino before. A nation that ceases to be a nation and starts to become a financial entity is toast. One example was Spain. They pulled in all that New World gold, let their economy wither, and offshored the real work to places like the Netherlands because they could not ditch the Dutch. For a while it looked like Spaniards were on top of the world. Then the Indians who gold ran out, and the bills came due. The final nail in the coffin of Spain, which had been declining for hundreds of years? When it ceased to be a military power that anyone noticed. The Spanish-American War was that moment for Spain. In the end, I think the Spanish were tired of being Spain since it was so much work, and were more than happy for Great Britain to take the helm.

But that was then. Now Great Britian looks more like Spain circa 1870. The Royal Navy has more admirals (40) than total warships (25) and only six plausibly active surface warships. Guess that Britannia shan’t be ruling the waves of anything larger than a hot tub anytime soon.

Most of the time, nothing happens. Markets drift. Politicians talk. Central bankers print and pretend. Then that domino hits, and it happens all at once. One day the system is humming along on just-in-time deliveries and faith in the reserve currency. The next day the Strait is blocked for real, fertilizer plants shut down, grocery shelves get spotty, and suddenly everyone remembers that energy isn’t optional and cold showers suck. Energy is the blood in the veins of the whole machine.

When the price jumps, everything else has to adjust: wages, rents, retirement plans, and government budgets. The dominos don’t ask permission. And here’s the part nobody wants to say out loud: the United States has been running on cheap energy and the dollar’s special status for eighty years. Both of those props just got kicked. Hard. The reset isn’t coming in some distant future. It has already started.

The only question is how many more dominos have to fall before everyone admits the board has been tipped and the Monopoly™ pieces are stuck in the Cheez-Whiz™ covered Rice Krispie® treats. In the end, dominos don’t care. They just fall. One after another, faster and faster, until the structure is gone. When the last domino drops, the only thing left is whatever you built that wasn’t made of paper and promises. And sweet, nutritious, gamma rays! Remember, Kim Jong Un and Dominos™ have a lot in common: they can both make a crispy Hawaiian in less than thirty minutes."

- https://wilderwealthywise.com/

Bill Bonner, "The Feral Pigs of Inflation"

The RMS Titanic, pictured here in Belfast, Ireland, sank on this day in 1912 off 

the coast of Newfoundland during her maiden voyage, with 1,635 souls lost at sea.

"The Feral Pigs of Inflation"

by Bill Bonner

"April is the cruelest month."

- T.S. Eliot

Baltimore, Maryland - "First, comes cruel news from Ireland. CBC: "Fuel protests in Ireland continue as pumps run dry, prices rise amid war in Middle East. Ger Hyland, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, who is acting on behalf of some protesters, said he empathizes with their plight. “They’re hard-working business people, and they’re just trying to survive and keep their business afloat, the same as any of the rest of us here at these negotiations,” he said.

“We can’t continue to do business with the cost of fuel, cost of wages, everything,” [Paddy] Murray told RTE. “We need somebody to help. It’s the government’s here, like, to represent us. You know, do your job. We’re the working lads that keep everything going. We’re the working lads that pay taxes.”

More than a third of the 1,500 service stations had run out of fuel on Saturday, and that number was expected to grow dramatically if the roadblocks remain, Uh oh. Ireland is an island of calm and sanity in a troubled world. Not too hot. Not too cold. Not too dry and not too wet. From our house, we look down on a castle built in the 13th century...and a church abandoned in the 1970s. Beyond them lie the tidal, rhythmic wash of the Blackwater River, with its ebbing and flowing…just as it has done for thousands of years.

Ireland is a republic that minds its own business. No troops in the Middle East, the Far East, or the Near East...no troops east of Eden. And no imminent financial crisis. Ireland’s national debt to GDP ratio is only 31% — almost exactly where the US ratio was 50 years ago.

Fuel prices have gone up on the emerald isle as they have everywhere else. But Ireland doesn’t get its oil from the Gulf. Its supplies come mainly from Norway. Oil is, shall we say, ‘liquid.’ And if its price rises in one place, the price tends to go up, like sea level, everywhere. So, even though Donald Trump says the US ‘has plenty of oil,’ it still goes up in price, everywhere, as the US blockade of the Iranian blockade continues.

And therein hangs more cruelty. It is a tale many tongues will eventually tell. The US financial system - under the spell of its ‘printing press’ money - is a debt machine. And it runs on credit...and oil. As credit is added, the economy grows...but the debt grows faster, as it takes more and more new credit to produce a new dollar of GDP. But stop adding new credit, or simply raise the price of oil, and it is like letting the air out of a balloon; it falls to the ground.

People do not choose war...at least, not like they would choose a baked chicken rather than a salami sandwich. War chooses them...coming to them dressed as the best alternative. Not necessarily best for ‘The People,’ but best for the people who control ‘The People.’ And when those people have diddled the economy with phony money and fake interest rates...to the point where it has more debt than it can plausibly pay...what’s the most attractive way ahead?

War...and inflation. The UN says that the two blockades could put 32.5 million people, worldwide, below the poverty line. The World Bank says it could double current price inflation. But so what? The real choice is the one we’ve written about many times - inflate or die. Since the mid-’80s, US debt has grown four times faster than the GDP that supports it. Either credit (debt) growth continues...or the credits (the value of the debt) collapse. As we reported yesterday, US debt is headed to $40 trillion...with interest payments of $2 trillion annually. Add the costs of an unwinnable war, and deficits could soar to $3 trillion.

Where is the money to cover such costs? It doesn’t exist. But who’s going to say so? And who can stay in power with the bubble economy dying? What to do? Cry havoc and let the dogs of war! And let loose the feral pigs of inflation, too. That is the real meaning of the war in the Gulf. It’s not about oil. It’s not about ‘the tolls’. It’s not about ‘the bomb.’ It’s about the need for war...to amuse the gods…appease some very powerful special interests - and inflate the US economy. Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at Donald Trump’s new budget proposal...and see where that takes us."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

"Alert! Endless Warplanes On Move; Explosions In Iran; Total Blockade"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 4/15/26

"Alert! Endless Warplanes On Move; 

Explosions In Iran; Total Blockade"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald Celente, "Markets Propped On False Ceasefire Hopes"

Strong language alert!

Gerald Celente,4/14/26

"Markets Propped On False Ceasefire Hopes"

"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What's Next in these increasingly turbulent times."

- https://trendsjournal.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Walmart Got Caught… Americans Are Officially Fed Up"

Full screen recommended.

Snyder Reports, 4/14/26

"Walmart Got Caught…

 Americans Are Officially Fed Up"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Snyder Reports, 4/14/26

"Americans Are Done With Fast Food,

 Prices Are Insane"

"Prices for fast food is absolutely INSANE...Of course people are done with it. People are now paying $15, $17 - even more - for meals that used to be considered cheap and convenient. From $6 breakfast sandwiches to shocking receipts at places like McDonald's, many are asking the same question… when did fast food become this expensive? We’re reacting to real clips and real experiences from Americans who are fed up with paying premium prices for basic meals. Some are even comparing the cost of a single item to things like gas, groceries, and full meals you could make at home. But here’s the bigger issue… Even though people are frustrated, millions are STILL buying fast food every single day. Is it convenience? Habit? Or something deeper? In this video, we break it all down: Why fast food prices have skyrocketed; What’s really driving these insane costs; Why Americans keep paying anyway; And whether we’re finally reaching a breaking point. If you’ve felt like fast food just isn’t worth it anymore… you’re not alone."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

 o

Full screen recommended.

The Financial Express, 4/14/26

"War Fallout:

How United States Citizens Are Affected" 

"After weeks of conflict between the United States and Iran, everyday Americans are now feeling the real impact - from rising fuel prices to growing economic anxiety. Across states like Indiana, New York, California, Georgia, and Colorado, people shared their concerns about the war, the economy, and the future. Many expressed frustration over rising gasoline prices, driven in part by disruptions in global oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz - a key artery for global energy supply.

Small business owners say they are struggling to stay afloat as costs rise, while others worry about America’s global image and the possibility of further military conflicts. At the same time, reactions vary widely: Some closely follow every development. Others rely on social media updates. Many feel overwhelmed by constant news cycles. The war has also exposed deep political divisions, with public opinion split along party lines - even as a fragile ceasefire offered temporary relief. The big question now: How much longer will ordinary people bear the cost of global conflict?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Footprints On The Sea"

Gnomusy (David Caballero), 

"Footprints On The Sea"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"In silhouette against a crowded star field along the tail of the arachnalogical constellation Scorpius, this dusty cosmic cloud evokes for some the image of an ominous dark tower.

In fact, clumps of dust and molecular gas collapsing to form stars may well lurk within the dark nebula, a structure that spans almost 40 light-years across this gorgeous telescopic portrait. Known as a cometary globule, the swept-back cloud, is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation from the OB association of very hot stars in NGC 6231, off the upper edge of the scene. That energetic ultraviolet light also powers the globule's bordering reddish glow of hydrogen gas. Hot stars embedded in the dust can be seen as bluish reflection nebulae. This dark tower, NGC 6231, and associated nebulae are about 5,000 light-years away."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210715.html

"The Dunning-Kruger Effect - Cognitive Bias - Why Incompetent People Think They Are Competent"

Full screen recommended.

"The Dunning-Kruger Effect - Cognitive Bias - 

Why Incompetent People Think They Are Competent"

"The Definition Of Hell..."

 

"James Baldwin on How to Live Through Your Darkest Hour"

"James Baldwin on How to Live Through Your Darkest Hour 

and Life as a Moral Obligation to the Universe"

by Maria Popova

“Yesterday has already vanished among the shadows of the past; to-morrow has not yet emerged from the future. You have found an intermediate space,” Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote of life’s most haunting hour. But what we find in that intermediate space between past and future, between the costumed simulacrum of reality we so painstakingly construct with our waking lives and reality laid bare in the naked nocturnal mind, is not always a resting place of ease - for there dwells the self at its most elemental, which means the self most lucidly awake to its foibles and its finitude.

The disquietude this haunted hour can bring, and does bring, is what another titanic writer and rare seer into the depths of the human spirit - James Baldwin (August 2, 1924–December 1, 1987) - explored 130 years after Hawthorne in one of his least known, most insightful, and most personal essays.

In 1964, as the Harlem riots were shaking the foundation of society and selfhood, Baldwin joined talent-forces with the great photographer Richard Avedon - an old high school friend of his - to hold up an uncommonly revelatory cultural mirror with the book "Nothing Personal" (public library). Punctuating Avedon’s signature black-and-white portraits - of Nobel laureates and Hollywood celebrities, of the age - and ache-etched face of an elder born under slavery and the idealism-lit young faces of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Georgia, of the mentally ill perishing in asylums and the newlyweds at City Hall ablaze with hope - are four stirring essays by Baldwin, the first of which gave us his famous sobering observation that “it has always been much easier (because it has always seemed much safer) to give a name to the evil without than to locate the terror within.”

At no time does the terror within, Baldwin argues in the third essay, bubble to the surface of our being more ferociously than in that haunting hour between past and future, between our illusions of permanence and perfection, and the glaring fact of our finitude and our fallibility, between being and non-being. He writes:

"Four AM can be a devastating hour. The day, no matter what kind of day it was is indisputably over; almost instantaneously, a new day begins: and how will one bear it? Probably no better than one bore the day that is ending, possibly not as well. Moreover, a day is coming one will not recall, the last day of one’s life, and on that day one will oneself become as irrecoverable as all the days that have passed."

It is a fearful speculation - or, rather, a fearful knowledge - that, one day one’s eyes will no longer look out on the world. One will no longer be present at the universal morning roll call. The light will rise for others, but not for you.

Half a century before the physicist Brian Greene examined how this very awareness is the wellspring of meaning to our ephemeral lives and a century after Tchaikovsky found beauty amid the wreckage of the soul at 4AM, Baldwin adds: "Sometimes, at four AM, this knowledge is almost enough to force a reconciliation between oneself and all one’s pain and error. Since, anyway, it will end one day, why not try it - life - one more time?"

After singing some beautiful and heartbreaking Bessie Smith lyrics into his essay - lyrics from “Long Road,” a song about reconciling the knowledge that one is ultimately alone with the irrepressible impulse to reach out for love, “to grasp again, with fearful hope, the unwilling, unloving human hand” - Baldwin continues: "I think all of our voyages drive us there; for I have always felt that a human being could only be saved by another human being. I am aware that we do not save each other very often. But I am also aware that we save each other some of the time."

That alone, Baldwin insists, is reason enough to be, as Nietzsche put it, a “yea-sayer” to life - to face the uncertainty of our lives with courage, to face the fact of our mortality with courage, and to fill this blink of existence bookended by nothingness with the courage of a bellowing aliveness.

In a passage that calls to mind Galway Kinnell’s lifeline of a poem “Wait,” composed for a young friend on the brink of suicide, Baldwin writes: "For, perhaps - perhaps - between now and the last day, something wonderful will happen, a miracle, a miracle of coherence and release. And the miracle on which one’s unsteady attention is focused is always the same, however it may be stated, or however it may remain unstated. It is the miracle of love, love strong enough to guide or drive one into the great estate of maturity, or, to put it another way, into the apprehension and acceptance of one’s own identity. For some deep and ineradicable instinct - I believe -causes us to know that it is only this passionate achievement which can outlast death, which can cause life to spring from death."

And yet, so often, we lose faith in this miracle, lose the perspective we call faith - so often it slips between the fingers fanned with despair or squeezes through the fist clenched with rage. We lose perspective most often, Baldwin argues, at four AM: "At four AM, when one feels that one has probably become simply incapable of supporting this miracle, with all one’s wounds awake and throbbing, and all one’s ghastly inadequacy staring and shouting from the walls and the floor - the entire universe having shrunk to the prison of the self - death glows like the only light on a high, dark, mountain road, where one has, forever and forever! lost one’s way. And many of us perish then."

What then? A generation after Little Prince author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry composed his beautiful manifesto for night as an existential clarifying force for the deepest truths of the heart, Baldwin offers: "But if one can reach back, reach down - into oneself, into one’s life - and find there some witness, however unexpected or ambivalent, to one’s reality, one will be enabled, though perhaps not very spiritedly, to face another day… What one must be enabled to recognize, at four o’clock in the morning, is that one has no right, at least not for reasons of private anguish, to take one’s life. All lives are connected to other lives and when one man goes, much more goes than the man goes with him. One has to look on oneself as the custodian of a quantity and a quality - oneself - which is absolutely unique in the world because it has never been here before and will never be here again."

Baldwin - whom U.S. Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks described as “love personified” in introducing his last public appearance before his death - wedges into this foundational structure of soul-survival the fact that in a culture of habitual separation and institutionalized otherness, such self-regard is immensely difficult. And yet, he insists with the passion of one who has proven the truth of his words with his own life, we must try - we must reach across the divides within and without, across the abysses of terror and suspicion, with a generous and largehearted trust in one another, which is at bottom trust in ourselves.

Echoing his contemporary and kindred visionary Leonard Bernstein’s insistence that “we must believe, without fear, in people,” Baldwin adds what has become, or must become, the most sonorous psychosocial refrain bridging his time and ours: "Where all human connections are distrusted, the human being is very quickly lost."

More than half a century later, "Nothing Personal" remains a masterwork of rare insight into and consolation for the most elemental aches of the human spirit. For a counterpoint to this nocturnal fragment, savor the great nature writer Henry Beston, writing a generation before Baldwin, on how the beauty of night nourishes the human spirit, then revisit Baldwin on resisting the mindless of majority, how he learned to truly see, the writer’s responsibility in a divided society, his advice on writing, his historic conversation with Margaret Mead about forgiveness and responsibility, and his only children’s book."

- https://www.themarginalian.org/

Freely download "Nothing Personal",

 by James Baldwin and Richard Avedon, here:

- https://monoskop.org/

"Our Dilemma..."

"Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time;

what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better. "

- Sydney J. Harris

The Daily "Near You?"

Ashburn, Virginia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

Commencement Speech, Stanford University, 2005

- Steve Jobs

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true...

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called "The Whole Earth Catalog", which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of "The Whole Earth Catalog", and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now I wish that for you. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

"Listen to me. We're here to make a dent in the universe.

Otherwise why even be here?"

- Steve Jobs

Children Choir Anthem, "Light Within Us - Song for Iran"; "Are We Still Human?"

Full screen recommended.

Children Choir Anthem,

 "Light Within Us - Song for Iran"

"An emotional anthem about hope, resilience, and never giving up, inspired by Persian musical tones and the strength of people in difficult times. This song combines a soft female lead vocal with a powerful children choir singing in Farsi, creating a feeling of innocence, unity, and quiet strength rising from darkness."

o

Full screen recommended.

"Are We Still Human? 

A Haunting Song About War, Empathy & Silence"

"A haunting and emotional anthem that questions one simple thing: are we still human? This song is inspired by the pain, silence, and unanswered questions surrounding war and human suffering across the world. Through a soft yet powerful melody, it reflects on why people hurt each other - and why so many choose to look away. With cinematic soundscapes, echoing choir, and a deeply emotional vocal performance, this track blends sadness and hope into a universal message that anyone can feel, regardless of background. If this song resonates with you, share it. Let the message be heard."

"Martyrdom and the Psychology of War"

Muslim Schism: How Islam Split 

into the Sunni and Shia Branches

"Martyrdom and the Psychology of War"

by Martin Armstrong

"One of the greatest mistakes Western policymakers repeatedly make is assuming that other cultures think the same way they do. They approach international conflicts through a secular lens of power, economics, and negotiation. But when dealing with Iran, they are confronting a political system deeply intertwined with religious ideology. When an Ayatollah or senior clerical leader is killed, the event does not necessarily weaken the movement. In many cases, it strengthens it.

In Shiite Islam, the concept of martyrdom sits at the center of religious identity. The defining event for the Shia world was the death of Imam Hussein at the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD. Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was killed after refusing to submit to what he regarded as illegitimate rule. His death became the foundational narrative of Shia resistance. To this day, millions commemorate Ashura every year, mourning Hussein’s death and celebrating the idea that righteous martyrdom is preferable to submission to injustice.

This is not merely historical symbolism. The religious narrative reinforces the belief that suffering and sacrifice in the face of oppression ultimately leads to divine justice. The Quran repeatedly praises those who die in the path of God. One verse states that those killed in the cause of God should not be considered dead but alive with their Lord receiving provision (Quran 3:169). Another passage declares that God has “purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth in exchange for Paradise; they fight in the cause of God, kill and are killed” (Quran 9:111). These passages shape a worldview in which death during a struggle against perceived injustice can be interpreted as spiritual victory.

From that perspective, killing a religious leader such as an Ayatollah risks transforming that individual into a symbol of sacrifice. Instead of eliminating the movement, it can reinforce the belief that the struggle itself is righteous. In a secular political system, the death of a leader may weaken an organization. In a religious revolutionary system, it can unify followers under the banner of martyrdom.

The Western mindset approaches assassination very differently. When a leader is killed in the United States or Europe, the reaction is generally political or emotional rather than religious. When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, the event shocked the nation and certainly increased patriotism and unity for a time. Yet Americans did not interpret his death as a religious sign or martyrdom that would justify continuing a sacred struggle. It was viewed as a national tragedy, not a divine narrative unfolding.

This difference is profound. Western societies mourn their leaders, investigate the crime, and eventually move forward politically. The death does not typically transform the leader into a theological symbol driving long-term resistance or warfare. In the Shia tradition, however, martyrdom is embedded in religious identity itself. The story of Karbala is reenacted every year precisely to reinforce that belief.

This is why Western policymakers often misunderstand the psychological dynamics of such conflicts. The assassination of leaders like Qassem Soleimani did not collapse Iranian influence in the region. Instead, it triggered massive demonstrations and strengthened the narrative that Iran was engaged in a sacred struggle against external enemies.

When a Shia religious authority is killed, the event is interpreted through the lens of Karbala. The leader becomes another martyr in a long line of figures who died resisting oppression. That narrative carries enormous emotional power. It binds communities together and legitimizes continued struggle.

Politicians in Washington often believe removing a leader will end a conflict. Yet in ideological and religious movements, the opposite frequently occurs. Killing a leader can transform a political confrontation into a moral crusade, reinforcing the belief that the faithful must continue the struggle no matter the cost.

Understanding this cultural and religious framework is essential. Without it, policymakers will continue to miscalculate the consequences of their actions. History repeatedly shows that wars are not fought only with weapons. They are also fought with ideas, beliefs, and narratives that can outlive any individual leader."

- https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"Survival Over Lifestyle - Nobody Is Spending Like Before"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 4/14/26

"Survival Over Lifestyle - 

Nobody Is Spending Like Before"

"America is shifting fast in 2026, and the numbers don’t lie. Major retailers like Macy’s, GameStop, Foot Locker, and Family Dollar are closing hundreds of locations, while restaurants and malls continue to struggle with declining foot traffic and shrinking discretionary spending. Consumers aren’t broke - they’re making a choice. They’re cutting back on clothing, dining out, electronics, and impulse purchases as inflation, rent, insurance, and debt crush household budgets. This video breaks down the real reason behind the wave of store closures and why traditional retail is facing a historic collapse.

At the same time, a completely different side of the economy is exploding. Service-based businesses like plumbing, HVAC, restoration, and pest control are seeing massive growth, expanding franchises, and record demand. Why? Because people are prioritizing survival over lifestyle. When something breaks, it has to be fixed - no matter the cost. This shift is creating clear winners and losers in today’s economy. If you want to understand where the money is moving and how this impacts your financial future, this is a must-watch."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Bill Bonner, "Downfall"

"Downfall"

by Bill Bonner

"War is the state’s escape from a collapsed internal economy.’"

- Frank Chodorow

Baltimore, Maryland - "Blowing things up didn’t work in Vietnam. It didn’t work in Iraq. It didn’t work in Afghanistan either. Nor did it work in Iran. Hegseth and Trump are proud of the destruction wrought by their planes and missiles, but Iran never surrendered, never gave up its enriched uranium and now controls the Strait. And when presented with a ‘take it or leave it’ ultimatum in Islamabad, replied that it would leave it.

So, what does the Trump Team do now? Violence didn’t work so far...but what else do we have? “What’s the point of having this superb military that you’re always talking about if you can’t use it,” asked Clinton-era Sec. of Defense Madeleine Albright. She had a point. A late, degenerate empire, with the biggest bazooka in the world, must find a target.

On the surface war is a matter of choice. But deeper down, there are ‘primary trends’ that are hard to reverse. A beautiful spring does not become a hot summer because the people vote for it. Nor does a caterpillar, by willpower alone, become a butterfly. And now, the US must do what it must do. MoneyWeek: "Amid the fog of war, it would have been easy to overlook the latest deficit number coming out of Washington. According to figures from the Treasury Department, the US national debt is now more than $39 trillion. It is only five months since it went past $38 trillion. US debt has doubled from only $19 trillion when Donald Trump was sworn in for his first term as president."

Behind Donald Trump’s bluff, bombast, and bombs is a reality that cannot be blown up or wiped away. The US government is approaching $40 trillion in debt, a world with rising long-term interest rates…and a late-cycle debt crisis.

At just 5%, as more and more old loans are re-financed at new rates, it will soon mean annual interest payments of $2 trillion. Where do the feds get that kind of money? From the 80 million citizens who are living ‘paycheck to paycheck?’ From the 2.5 million Latinos who just got deported (or self-deported)? From the 2 million desperadoes in prisons and detentions? From the war budget...social security payments...Medicare?

While we all know that the feds can ‘print’ money, what few realize is that the private sector has printing presses too. When you take out a mortgage, for example, the ‘money’ isn’t sitting in the bank’s vaults. It is created ‘out of thin air.’ In 1999, there was about $5 trillion worth of residential mortgage debt in the US. That amount has grown to $15 trillion.

The Fed had set the pace. And all through the economy, the calculation was about the same: taking on more debt was a shrewd thing to do. First, your purchase - bid up by the rising tide of new credit - was likely to go up in value. Second, the dollar was almost sure to go down. So, you made money coming and going. Likewise, when you pay with your credit card, no money is taken from your account to pay the charge. The seller registers ‘income’ from the credit card company, as the amount of debt (unpaid balances) goes up...and up...and up. Lending Tree: "U.S. credit card debt has grown from around $478 billion in 1999 to a record $1.28 trillion by the end of 2025, reflecting long-term growth with periods of decline during economic crises."

Not included in these conventional money-printing/debt building operations is another form of credit rarely even considered - BNPL (buy now, pay later.) Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: ‘From 2022 to 2023, the number of loans made by the lenders we surveyed increased by 23 percent, and the total dollar amount of loans originated increased by 26 percent when adjusted for inflation, representing slower rates of growth than in prior years.’

All of this private sector debt, added to federal, state, and local debt, comes to about $110 trillion. Not chump change. There again, the math is easy; it’s the repayment that is hard. At 5%....the interest would be about be about five and a half trillion per year - or nearly 20% of GDP. This is the classic crunch that is coming: huge debts without enough real income to pay them.

It must have been in anticipation that private equity firms have begun telling their investors that they can’t get their money back. So far, Apollo, Ares, Blue Owl, BlackRock and Morgan Stanley have told investors to take a number and get in line.

As our old friend, Sid Taylor, used to say, ‘when your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep is your downfall.’ Sid was describing the real threat to the republic -- not Iran...not Cuba...not Russia...not China, but too much debt. A responsible government would stop its dilly-dallying and immediately tackle the debt problem. But that would leave History sadly unfulfilled, like George Armstrong Custer without the Little Big Horn. Tomorrow....why the feds must saddle up...again!"

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

Free Download: David A. Yallop, "In God’s Name"

Full screen recommended.

Redacted, "This Pope Was Murdered After 33 Days 

To Hide The Vatican's Links to Freemasons & The Mafia"

"An examination of the mysterious 1978 death of Pope John Paul I (Albino Luciani) just 33 days into his papacy. Claims are detailed that he was preparing to purge Vatican officials, including Archbishop Paul Marcinkus and Cardinal Jean Villot, over their alleged links to the Banco Ambrosiano scandal, the Freemasons, and the P2 lodge. The report outlines suspicious circumstances, including a refused autopsy, a rushed embalming, and the disappearance of crucial documents he held at his death. His successor, Pope John Paul II, allegedly allowed the corruption to persist."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Freely download "In God’s Name" by David A. Yallop, here:

- https://oceanofpdf.com/

"The Roman Empire's Fatal Mistake - and America May Be Repeating It in Iran"

"The Roman Empire's Fatal Mistake -

and America May Be Repeating It in Iran"

by Nick Giambruno

"Crassus was one of the richest and most powerful men in Rome. He rose to the top alongside Julius Caesar and Pompey as part of the First Triumvirate, an informal three-man alliance that dominated Roman politics even though it was not an official office. Crassus wanted military glory to match his wealth and political influence, so in 53 BC he led a Roman invasion of the Parthian Empire, which then ruled much of what is now modern-day Iran.

The campaign was a disaster, one of Rome’s worst military defeats. Crassus ignored better advice and pushed deep into hostile territory. Roman infantry was formidable in close combat, but the Parthians refused to fight on Roman terms. They stayed mobile, kept their distance, and rained arrows onto the legions until the Romans were exhausted and collapsing. Crassus hoped the enemy would eventually run out of arrows. They never did.

He paid for that mistake with his life. His death became famous partly because of the story that the Parthians poured molten gold into his mouth, turning his demise into a lasting warning about arrogance, overreach, and the fatal habit of confusing wealth and status with strategic wisdom. And yet Rome did not fully absorb the lesson.

More than a century later, Emperor Trajan marched east towards the Parthians, conquering Armenia and Mesopotamia and pushing Roman power to its greatest territorial extent. But Trajan’s victories revealed the same truth Crassus had discovered in blood: invading the region was one thing, holding it was another. The deeper Rome pushed into Mesopotamia, the more exposed, costly, and fragile its position became in the face of Parthian resistance. After Trajan died, his successor Hadrian gave up those eastern gains and pulled Rome back to a more defensible frontier east of the Euphrates, effectively admitting that permanent control of Mesopotamia was not worth the cost.

I'm bringing up these stories because they parallel the war in Iran today. Today, Rome is no longer the dominant global power. The United States is. And now the US appears to be making the same mistake the Romans made. Instead of hoping Parthian arrows would run out, Washington is hoping Persian ballistic missiles will run out.

History suggests that great powers often deceive themselves into believing that superior force can overcome geography, logistics, and the determination of an entrenched adversary. Crassus learned otherwise. Trajan learned that battlefield success is not the same thing as strategic success. Hadrian understood what statesmen are often the last to admit: sometimes the wisest course is not pressing forward, but recognizing that a position cannot be held at acceptable cost.

While the war with Iran is still unfolding, I believe there is a very real chance the US is about to learn the same painful lesson the Romans did - and the implications could be enormous. I don’t think we’ll have to wait long to find out. History shows that when great powers overreach, the consequences rarely stay contained. They spread outward - into politics, markets, currencies, and daily life."

- https://internationalman.com/

"Alert! They're Lying About The War, Massive Military Build Up, 5 Signs A Long War Is Certain"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 4/13/26

"Alert! They're Lying About The War, 

Massive Military Build Up, 5 Signs A Long War Is Certain"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"More War: The War Powers of the Middle East ReArm to Have Another Go At It"

"More War: The War Powers of the Middle East 

ReArm to Have Another Go At It"

by David Haggith

"Having gone into considerable depth about the huge inflation crisis that is emerging rapidly in my weekend Deeper Dive (which will be worse than we experienced in the 70s and 80s), I’m going to give just a brief but impactful summary of the numerous ways in which Trump’s War re-escalated just over the weekend while I was writing the Deeper Dive.

We approached the weekend on Friday with VP Vance’s big semi-summit peace talks under the Schmeasefire agreement without any agreement, which Trump had offered as an escape boat from his threats of immediate genocide in Iran. Vance left the meeting, saying “The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement.” Iran said it didn’t want a ceasefire, but Netanyahu tore a page out of the Trump playbook and claimed “Iran is begging for a deal now!” Apparently not, since they didn’t accept a single term.

Since Israel’s contribution to the ceasefire was to pummel Lebanon harder than ever before, Iran responded during negotiations by bombing a Saudi pipeline that serves as an alternative route for Saudi oil by transporting the oil over to the Red Sea, rather than out of Persian Gulf ports. That eliminated another 10% of Saudi Arabia’s oil capacity, taking yet more oil out of play for an extended time.

Overall oil production from OPEC nations has fallen 27%. That’s production. Shipments, of course, have fallen much worse, but shipments can be restored more quickly than production if they are merely being threatened or just a handful of ships are sunk to scare all others from moving. So, that represents the longer-term damage at this point in the war if the war were to end today.

But it didn’t end today. When Iran walked away from the deal, Trump noted he is restocking all US military ships in the region with bigger and better weapons to get ready for phase two and was already moving mine-sweeping ships into the strait to start clearing it for transit. Iran immediately sent a stern warning to the ships that they would destroyed if they didn’t turn around, so they turned around.

Trump then announced he would be setting up a blockade of his own to assure no ship moved through the strait going to or from Iranian ports so that Iran stops benefiting from the much higher prices the president has secured for Iran for its own oil and to make sure it is unsuccessful at charging its ~$2,000,000 toll per ship. So, now both sides are trying to grind each other down in a war of attrition.

Trump lied, as has become daily practice, by making a big public fake-news claim that other parties were going to join him in supporting the blockade with their ships. The other parties of former allies immediately responded in their new customary style and told him there was not a chance: “Don’t drag us into this.”

Mr. Trump’s proposed blockade “makes no sense,” Spain’s defense minister, Margarita Robles, said in a television interview. “Since this war started, nothing makes sense,” she added. “This is another episode in the downward spiral the world has been dragged into…” She also said, in another article, Trump and Netanyahu “want to impose rules on the international community, which is illogical.”

“I’ll save you the waiting period: Iran is not going to capitulate,” said Danny Citrinowicz, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel who studies Iran and its proxies. “This regime believes that the damage that will be sustained by this act will be bigger for the U.S. and the international economy than for Iran.”

One of the funnier moments in the now constant parade of Trump lies was that he warned Iran that none of their navy ships had better attack US navy ships carrying out the blockade. “If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It is quick and brutal.” Apparently the president’s dementia caused him to already forget that over the weekend he announced that Iran’s navy had been completely eliminated. Not a single ship was left. I guess Iran has some very fast ship builders.

Of course, a move like this escalates things, so Iran immediately raised Trump’s bet and threatened that it will order its pals around the block, the Houthis, to blockade the strait going into the Red Sea, which will completely close off the Suez Canal again, blocking all merchant traffic and not just oil. The Bab al-Mandeb [the Gate of Tears] - a narrow chokepoint linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden - carries roughly 12% of global oil shipments and serves as a vital trade corridor between Asia and Europe, making it a strategic target for escalation that could further strain global energy markets. The oil market, seeming to already have had it brains batted out by so much Trump jawboning, responded by lowering prices because, yeah, that makes sense. Only the day before, it had escalated prices way up.

Trump then presented himself to the world as Orange Jesus via an AI image of himself dressed like Jesus, using miraculous energy from his hands to compassionately heal the sick (even as he kills thousands). I suspect our wounded soldiers and Iran’s did not feel the healing energy. But the sheer arrogance of Trump’s act immediately brought accusation of “blasphemy” from his MAGA supporters, so he quickly took the posted image back down.

I’m thinking the Don’s hubris has notched up a little too far with his now familiar claim of being God’s anointed clearly rising to the level of meaning anointed like Jesus to be the miracle messiah. His prophets of profit have Fed his head with this stuff, and his narcissistic ego has readily accepted it as revealed truth about him. Suddenly, the memes about Trump being the Antichrist are hitting a little too close to home.

As the last Trump to sound off before Armageddon, the president also criticized his competition for religious prominence in these end times by denigrating Pope Leo as a “weak man” of little talent, apparently, running a failing Vatican. (O.K., Trump actually stopped himself short of using his standard refrain that whatever operation his critic is running is a failing enterprise; but he gave the pope several swift kicks in the chops.)

Turkey, meanwhile, got angry with bonehead Bibi over his escalated attacks on Lebanon and criticized him as the “Hitler of our time.” More significantly, Turkey’s leader threatened to enter the war against Israel.

Iran, meanwhile, was not cowed by Trump’s threat of sinking its already completely obliterated navy and said it will use its ghost ships to bring US ships to a similar end at the bottom of Davy Jones’ Locker. That’s when the US ships that were in the strait turned fantail and ran away from the non-existent threat of the completely sunken navy. (Non-existent given that the truthful Trump also said Iran’s air force was entirely taken out and all their radar destroyed.) It’s amazing how they can scare the “greatest military ever” with nothing.

Here is a photo of Iran’s non-existent “fast-attack ships” that the president said he will sink if they attack the US:

The ships under the IRGC’s control are still largely operational and capable of policing the key water route President Trump has vowed to reopen, The Wall Street Journal reported. The IRGC’s navy is vast, small, and speedy, allowing the attack vessels to evade satellite detection and hide in underground pens along the rocky coast of the 20-mile-wide strait, said Chris Long, a former British navy official in the Persian Gulf. “It will be a long time before the US can take all those out,” Long told the WSJ. The Islamic Republic has pivoted to an asymmetrical navy, with the IRGC tasked with policing the Strait of Hormuz while Iran’s conventional navy patrols other waterways in the Gulf.

Well, that’s pretty good naval survival then, if it will take “a long time” to take out what is left. I’m not doubting the greatness of the US military or putting it down in anyway, just the lying clown that runs it who believes he is as anointed by God as Jesus, who also added a “Praise God” to his latest attack threats again and probably an “Alahu Akbar,” as is his new practice. After all, one prominent theory about the Antichrist is that he is supposed to be the leader of multiple religions, so being bilingual in your God praises is essential for the role.

We also have intel now that …China may have shipped missiles to Iran, and Beijing is allowing some companies to sell Tehran supplies that can be used in military production, American officials said. So, it might not be just the US that promises bigger weapons and more of them when Phase Two begins. Stay tuned tomorrow when I’m sure everything changes again, even as nothing goes the way the president says."

- https://www.thedailydoom.com/