"Something is changing in America, and it's showing up in the most ordinary moments, a mom checking her tips after a long shift, a teacher grading papers between her second job, a young worker staring at $50 left in his account after a 50-hour week. More and more Americans are working two, three jobs at a time, and still finding that it's not enough. This video takes a honest look at what that reality feels like from the inside, through the voices of real people sharing their stories online.
The numbers tell one part of the story. The number of Americans working two full-time jobs has doubled since 2020, recently hitting near-record highs. People earning $70,000 to $100,000 a year are falling behind on bills. A salary that would have supported a comfortable family life just five years ago is now pushing people toward the edge. But beyond the statistics, what stands out is how normal all of this has become. A third job is no longer a last resort. For millions of people, it is just the routine.
What makes this especially hard to sit with is who we are talking about. Teachers with master's degrees and decades of experience who still cannot cover their monthly bills. Parents working overnight shifts and weekend gigs just to keep their kids in swim class and afford the occasional pizza. People who are doing everything they were always told to do and still ending up with nothing left over. The cost of groceries, rent, insurance, gas, and healthcare keeps climbing while wages stay flat, and the gap between the two is becoming impossible to ignore.
There is also a deeper exhaustion running through all of this that goes beyond the physical. People are not just tired from working too much. They are tired of feeling like no matter how hard they push, they cannot get ahead. They are tired of being told the economy is improving when their own bank accounts say otherwise. That kind of burnout does not go away with a good night's sleep. It accumulates, quietly, until it starts to feel like the permanent background of everyday life. If you are out there working multiple jobs, stretched thin, wondering how long you can keep going, this one is for you. You are not failing. You are not alone. And your experience deserves to be taken seriously."
'Suicide Mission' To Take Control of Strait of Hormuz?"
by Leo Hohmann
"President Trump is massing American troops in the Middle East, while talking about a peace deal with a country, Iran, whose leaders deny they are in any such talks and want no part of Trump’s deals. Elements from the 82nd Airborne Division headquarters and a brigade combat team will deploy to the Middle East, the Pentagon confirmed in a statement Wednesday. “We can confirm elements of the 82nd Airborne Division HQs, some division enablers and the 1st BCT will be deploying to the CENTCOM AOR,” a Defense Department spokesperson said.
Military analysts estimate that a combined 10,000 to 50,000 U.S. troops, consisting of Marines and Army units, are on the way, the first installment of which is due to arrive in the region this weekend. Never mind that this is exactly the type of operation that candidate Trump repeatedly said he would never commit to, putting thousands of boots on the ground in a hostile Middle Eastern country. Despite the rhetoric, I predicted back in January and February that any military action that involved regime change in Iran would necessarily have to involve ground troops. (I reported on Feb. 19 that ground troops would be deployed and I reported as far back as Jan. 6 that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz if attacked by the U.S./Israel, launching a much larger war than what Trump was indicating would be necessary.)
But what are the chances of success should American troops hit the ground of Iran in the coming days or weeks? I’m no military expert but I’m not sure how it behooves the U.S. operation to announce such troop deployments ahead of time, giving the Iranians time to prepare even more than they already are.
It’s especially true if you are sending only 10,000 to 50,000 troops into a country like Iran that has a million men in uniform, including 150,000 highly trained elite members of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps (IRGC). One would think that maybe the element of surprise would come in handy when you find yourselves so vastly outnumbered? But again, that’s just me. What do I know?
This wouldn’t be the first time a Western army was sent on a suicide mission to take control of a narrow strait of water, where the enemy is firmly dug in with the capability to fire on the undermanned invaders. Historian Mark Cartwright, writing at WorldHistory.org, notes the World War I Battle of Gallipoli serves as a lesson worth studying. In that famous battle, the Ottoman Turks successfully beat back an attempt by the British and allied forces to capture and control the Dardanelles Strait, a narrow body of water not unlike the Strait of Hormuz now controlled by Iran. Cartwright writes of the World War I battle that took place in 1915:
“This major expedition involved British, French, Australian, and New Zealand (ANZAC) troops and was launched to break through the Dardanelles into the Black Sea, thereby providing a new supply route to Russia. The Ottoman defenses remained robust, and an eight-month-long trench battle of attrition ultimately ended in an Allied withdrawal. Infamous as a costly failure, the campaign resulted in 250,000 Allied casualties, and its staunchest promoter, Winston Churchill, was sacked from his role in the British Admiralty.”
According to Cartwright’s account, the Turks had the high ground while the invaders had no cover as they tried to trudge over rugged terrain, a factor magnified even more so in Iran, where the Hormuz Strait is flanked by miles of mountains, caves, cliffs and valleys.
“The Allied forces, with little natural cover to take advantage of around Cape Helles, soon found themselves pinned down by enemy fire, particularly from well-protected machine guns,” Cartwright writes (his entire article is worth reading here).
In short, the Dardanelles became a catastrophe soaked in British and French blood, despite the fact that they had what at the time was considered a vastly superior fighting force. Today’s modern drone warfare complicates the situation even more for U.S. troops trying to take control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Military historian Col. Douglas MacGregor (retired) also points to the Battle of Gallipoli as an indicator of what could happen in the Strait of Hormuz should Trump decide to launch an invasion there. For more insights into this fascinating historical analysis that someone in Trump’s inner circle is surely aware of, fast-forward to the 44:38 mark in MacGregor’s video interview below with Lt. Col. Daniel Davis.
MacGregor stated: “People seem to have read the story of the Dardanelles, but they didn’t read all the way through… They read the first few chapters and thought that’s a great idea, let’s do it. They didn’t bother to read the concluding chapter, which was catastrophic failure. It was a dumb idea. What they’re talking about trying to do with ground troops in the Strait of Hormuz, in my judgment, is an equally dumb idea. Unless of course, and I could be wrong about this, you have annihilated all of the intermediate range and tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and you have eliminated all of the unmanned systems that could be launched and hurled at you, so that the place is barren. And then, even more important, perhaps you can jam all of the satellites, Russian and Chinese and others, that are providing assistance and support and imagery, to the Iranians. If you can do all of those things, then I suppose you can put people on the ground with rifles, walking around looking at the neighborhood.” He added, “So we need to understand these kinds of operations are extremely dangerous, very difficult to conduct. And I hope, I hope somebody somewhere, is telling these things to the president.”
Old and stoned? You’re still good enough for drone fodder Meanwhile, multiple news agencies are reporting that the U.S. army has raised the maximum enlistment age to 42 years old and scrapped a barrier for potential recruits who have a legal conviction for marijuana or possession of drug paraphernalia. Americans up to 42 years of age can now volunteer to enlist in the Army, the Army national guard and the Army reserves, according to the new U.S. army regulation, lifting the previous ceiling of 35 years old.
The Army has also removed restrictions upon recruits who have a single conviction for possession of marijuana or associated items such as bongs, pipes and spoons. Previously, such a conviction would require a special waiver from officials in the Pentagon, with the recruit having to wait 24 months to enlist and passing a drug test. These policy changes come just days after the Pentagon announced it would automatically register American teenage boys for the draft on their 18th birthday.
Added together, such changes sound like the White House may be gearing up for a military draft, but I don’t believe that would happen before the November mid-term elections. Trump is increasingly looking and sounding like he is desperate to find a way out of the Iran war that he publicly describes as a raging success. But none of his options are good ones. He can either claim a hollow victory and walk away, or he can escalate the war by launching a ground invasion of a heavily guarded Iranian coastline with geography that favors the defenders over the invaders. A third option would be to use nuclear weapons against Iran, something no sane person would hope to see.
Trump announced Thursday he was increasing his 5-day cessation of the bombing to 10 days, with a new deadline of April 6 for Iran to accept his “deal.” This deal, as best we can tell from Trump’s own words, is total and unconditional surrender, which of course is a non-starter for Iran. The extension of Trump’s deadline to April 6 means nothing to anyone who knows Trump. He has a history of setting artificial deadlines. If there’s one thing we have learned from Trump’s record as the “peace president,” it’s that we should not pay attention to anything he says, but rather watch what he does."
"This song is from our album, "The Emerald Way". The Emerald Way refers to that moment in life when a pivotal choice must be made – to choose the way that is customary and expected of us – or to head down the overgrown hidden path leading to the unknown."
“About 70 million light-years distant, gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 289 is larger than our own Milky Way. Seen nearly face-on, its bright core and colorful central disk give way to remarkably faint, bluish spiral arms. The extensive arms sweep well over 100 thousand light-years from the galaxy's center.
At the lower right in this sharp, telescopic galaxy portrait the main spiral arm seems to encounter a small, fuzzy elliptical companion galaxy interacting with enormous NGC 289. Of course spiky stars are in the foreground of the scene. They lie within the Milky Way toward the southern constellation Sculptor.”
“Somewhere, in something I have written, I recall quoting with approval this passage from Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire": “For my own part I am pleased enough with surfaces - in fact they alone seem to me to be of much importance. Such things for example as the grasp of a child's hand in your own, the flavor of an apple, the embrace of a friend or lover, the silk of a girl's thigh, the sunlight on rock and leaves, the feel of music, the bark of a tree, the abrasion of granite and sand, the plunge of clear water into a pool, the face of the wind - what else is there? What else do we need?”
Pleased enough with surfaces. Yes, I know what I meant. Pleased enough with this world, here and now, this world of light and matter. Not wanting or needing that other world that occupies so many people, a world of supernatural agencies, spirits, disembodied presences. Give me a world I can see and hear and touch and taste. Give me a world with heft and substance, a world with surfaces that shine and shimmer. What else is there? What else do we need?
Well, maybe not. I was scanning issues of “Science” and “Nature,” with their usual illustrations of the molecules of life, the nuclei acids and the proteins. The elaborate machinery that unseen, under the surface, endow the apple's flavor, the silk of skin, the abrasion of sand. Think of it. Atoms that are mere whiffs of resonance, binding into molecules, twisting and turning into endless shapes, fitting together like hand and glove, endlessly spinning and weaving, all without the slightest conscious participation on our part. Abbey's world of surfaces spun out of the mysterious, endlessly active, subsurface stuff of the world.
Pleased enough with surfaces? Not really. I want to know what's under the surface, that world of molecular frenzy that cannot be touched or seen, a world that in its own way is as beautiful and as meaningful as the macroscopic world we consciously inhabit. We don't need to know it. We can live a fulfilling life without knowing it. But I want to know it. I want to know what goes on behind the curtain of the senses. I want to hear that silent and ceaseless music of creation.”
“The monstrous thing is not that men have created roses out of this dung heap, but that, for some reason or other, they should want roses. For some reason or other man looks for the miracle, and to accomplish it he will wade through blood. He will debauch himself with ideas, he will reduce himself to a shadow if for only one second of his life he can close his eyes to the hideousness of reality. Everything is endured – disgrace, humiliation, poverty, war, crime, ennui – in the belief that overnight something will occur, a miracle, which will render life tolerable. And all the while a meter is running inside and there is no hand that can reach in there and shut it off.
All the while someone is eating the bread of life and drinking the wine, some dirty fat cockroach of a priest who hides away in the cellar guzzling it, while up above in the light of the street a phantom host touches the lips and the blood is pale as water. And out of the endless torment and misery no miracle comes forth, no microscopic vestige of relief. Only ideas, pale, attenuated ideas which have to be fattened by slaughter; ideas which come forth like bile, like the guts of a pig when the carcass is ripped open.
Somehow the realization that nothing was to be hoped for had a salutary effect upon me. For weeks and months, for years, in fact, all my life I had been looking forward to something happening, some intrinsic event that would alter my life, and now suddenly, inspired by the absolute hopelessness of everything, I felt relieved, felt as though a great burden had been lifted from my shoulders. At dawn I parted company with the young Hindu, after touching him for a few francs, enough for a room. Walking toward Montparnasse I decided to let myself drift with the tide, to make not the least resistance to fate, no matter in what form it presented itself.
Nothing that had happened to me thus far had been sufficient to destroy me; nothing had been destroyed except my illusions. I myself was intact. The world was intact. Tomorrow there might be a revolution, a plague, an earthquake; tomorrow there might not be left a single soul to whom one could turn for sympathy, for aid, for faith. It seemed to me that the great calamity had already manifested itself, that I could be no more truly alone than at this very moment. I made up my mind that I would hold on to nothing, that I would expect nothing, that henceforth I would live as an animal, a beast of prey, a rover, a plunderer. Even if war were declared, and it were my lot to go, I would grab the bayonet and plunge it, plunge it up to the hilt. And if rape were the order of the day then rape I would, and with a vengeance.
At this very moment, in the quiet dawn of a new day, was not the earth giddy with crime and distress? Had one single element of man’s nature been altered, vitally, fundamentally altered, by the incessant march of history? By what he calls the better part of his nature, man has been betrayed, that is all. At the extreme limits of his spiritual being man finds himself again naked as a savage. When he finds God, as it were, he has been picked clean: he is a skeleton. One must burrow into life again in order to put on flesh. The word must become flesh; the soul thirsts.
On whatever crumb my eye fastens, I will pounce and devour. If to live is the paramount thing, then I will live, even if I must become a cannibal. Heretofore I have been trying to save my precious hide, trying to preserve the few pieces of meat that hid my bones. I am done with that. I have reached the limits of endurance. My back is to the wall; I can retreat no further. As far as history goes I am dead. If there is something beyond I shall have to bounce back. I have found God, but he is insufficient. I am only spiritually dead. Physically I am alive. Morally I am free. The world which I have departed is a menagerie. The dawn is breaking on a new world, a jungle world in which the lean spirits roam with sharp claws. If I am a hyena I am a lean and hungry one: I go forth to fatten myself.”
- Henry Miller, "Tropic of Cancer"
Freely download "Tropic of Cancer", by Henry Miller, here:
"The most profound realities of human existence are often the ones that can never be measured or quantified. Wisdom. Beauty. Truth. Compassion. Courage. Love. Loneliness. Grief. The struggle to face our own mortality. A life of meaning. But perhaps the greatest conundrum is the concept of a soul. Do we have a soul? Do societies have souls? And, most basically, what is a soul?
Philosophers and theologians, including Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and Arthur Schopenhauer, have all grappled with the concept of a soul, with Schopenhauer preferring to define the mystical force within us as will. Sigmund Freud used the Greek word psyche. But most have accepted, whatever the definition, some version of a soul’s existence.
While the concept of the soul is opaque, soullessness is not. Soullessness means something inside of us is dead. Basic human feelings and connections are shut down. Those without souls lack empathy. I saw the soulless in war. Those so calcified inside they kill without any demonstrable feeling or remorse. The soulless exist in a state of insatiable self-worship. The idol they have erected to themselves must be constantly fed. It demands a never-ending stream of victims. It demands abject obedience and subservience, publicly on display at Trump cabinet meetings.
Psychologists, I expect, would define the soulless as psychopathic. I write this not to get into an esoteric debate about the soul, but to warn what happens when those without souls seize power. I want to write about what is lost and the consequences of that loss. I want to caution you that death, our death - as individuals and as a collective - mean nothing to those without souls. This makes the soulless very, very dangerous.
Those who lack souls have no concept of their own limitations. They feed off a bottomless and self-delusional optimism, giving to their cruelest deeds and bitterest defeats, the patina of goodness, success and morality. Those without souls - as Paul Woodruff writes in his small masterpiece “Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue” - do not have the capacity for reverence, awe, respect and shame. They believe they are gods.
The soulless cannot respond rationally to reality. They live in self-constructed echo chambers. They hear only their own voice. Civic, familial, legal and religious rituals and ceremonies that transport those with souls into the realm of the sacred, into a space where we acknowledge our shared humanity, forcing us, at least for a moment, to humble ourselves, are meaningless to those without souls. Those without souls cannot see because they cannot feel.
The soulless, enslaved by narcissism, greed, a lust for power and hedonism, cannot make moral choices. Moral choices for them do not exist. Truth and falsehoods are identical. Life is transactional. Is it good for me? Does it make me feel omnipotent? Does it give me pleasure? This stunted existence banishes them from the moral universe.
Human beings, including children, are commodities to the soulless, objects to exploit for pleasure or profit or both. We saw this soullessness displayed in the Epstein Files. And it was not only Epstein. Huge sections of our ruling class including billionaires, Wall Street financiers, university presidents, philanthropists, celebrities, Republicans, Democrats and media personalities, consider us worthless.
Thucydides understood. Reverence is not a religious virtue but a moral virtue. Woodruff went so far as to define it as a political virtue. Reverence for shared ideals, Woodruff writes, is the only thing that can bind us together. It is the only attribute that ensures mutual trust. Reverence allows us to remember what it means to be human. It reminds us that there are forces we cannot control, forces that we will never understand, forces of life that we did not create and must honor and protect - including the natural world - and forces that allow us moments of transcendence, or what in religious terms, we call grace. “If you desire peace in the world, do not pray that everyone share your beliefs,” Woodruff writes. “Pray instead that all may be reverent.”
Trump’s celebration of himself is made manifest in his stunted vocabulary of superlatives and his rebranding of national monuments. He tears down the East Wing to construct his gaudy and oversized $400 million ballroom. He proposes a 250-foot-tall memorial arch, adorned with gilded statues and eagles, in honor of himself, an arch that will be bigger than the Arch of Triumph erected by North Korean dictator Kim II Sung in Pyongyang. He is planning a “National Garden of American Heroes” that will include life-size statues of celebrities, sports figures, political and artistic figures deemed by Trump to be politically correct, along with, of course, himself. His face adorns the sides of federal buildings on huge, well-lit banners. He changed the name of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts to the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. He added his name to the headquarters of the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has announced a new fleet of U.S. naval vessels called Trump-class battleships.
These are monuments not only to Trump, but to a perverted ethic, to the insatiable self-worship that defines the inner void of the soulless. Monuments, houses of worship and national shrines dedicated to justice, self-sacrifice and equality, which demand from us humility and introspection, which require the capacity for reverence, mystify the soulless.
The soulless have no sense of aesthetics. They have no sense of balance, symmetry and proportion. The bigger, the gaudier, the more encrusted in gold leaf, the better. They seek to shut out everything and everyone else, to herd us with offerings to the feet of Moloch.
When the soulless wage war it is part of this perverted drive to build a monument to themselves. When war goes badly, as it is going in Iran, the soulless, unable to read reality, demand greater levels of violence and destruction. The more they fail, the more they are convinced everyone has betrayed them, the more they descend into a tyrannical rage. Trump, potentially facing a humiliating debacle in Iran, will lash out like a wounded beast. It does not matter how many suffer and die. It does not matter what weapons, including nuclear weapons, must be employed. He must triumph, or at least appear to triumph.
“Fathers and teachers, I ponder, ‘What is hell?’” Father Zossima asks in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov.” “I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.” This is the plight of the soulless. They seek, in their misery, to make their hell our own."
"Only in the present case, it’s the entire United States of America that has the
Exactly what is that “HUGE PROBLEM? The President of the United States is seriously ill. Since the beginning of his second term, Donald Trump has exhibited a variety of symptoms which clearly indicate that he is afflicted with a serious mental illness, a profound emotional imbalance and a dangerous psychological disorder. “The POTUS is a mentally ill man” — video
As the previous video presentation makes clear: “Trump confabulates meaning that he lives in a delusional world. He is a mentally ill man and a lot of psychologists believe that he is suffering from frontotemporal dementia (FTD) combined with an underlying pathology of malignant narcissism… meaning the guy’s a megalomaniac; the guy is a narcissist; the guy is a psychopath, and that’s been true his whole life.”
Very sorry to say, but that’s the good news! The bad news, especially for the American people as well as the entire world community of nations, is that this “guy” has his finger on the button-The Nuke Button. "BEWARE! A “Certified Madman” Now Has His Finger On The Button"
In other words, in view of the incorrigible criminally insane cabal of absolute crazies that are now assembled under the Jewish & Christian Zionist tent of Team Trump, we are all looking at a full-blown Dr. Strangelove scenario. “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) is a seminal black comedy that functions as a satirical critique of Cold War-era nuclear anxiety, with the central theme focusing on the absurdity and dangerous incompetence of human leadership and military bureaucracy. The film argues that “logical” strategic planning in a nuclear context is, in reality, a form of collective madness.”
Key Point: In addition to being a stone-cold delusional psychopath and serial genocidal maniac, Trump has repeatedly proven that he is a pathological liar of the highest order. This particular lifelong character flaw has become greatly exacerbated in his highly hazardous role as the nation’s Warmonger-in-Chief. You name it, Trump will outright lie about it without a moment’s thought about the grave consequences, unintended or otherwise.
Now here’s the rub. By every indication, Trump’s partner-in-crime - Bibi “The Butcher” Netanyahu is dead. If in fact the Israeli prime minister was killed by an Iranian missile attack, Trump is well aware of it. Which will inevitably translate to even greater mental instability and emotional derangement oh his part for the whole world to graphically see on a daily basis. However, and it’s a HUGE however, what makes Trump’s current physical and psychological plight even more precarious for the entire planetary civilization is that he now has at least 3 fatwas on his head - three!
To the point, inasmuch as Trump knows that Iran successfully eliminated Netanyahu, he is well aware that he is next on their list. Surely, the much more militant leadership in Tehran (put into place only because Trump assassinated the previous more ‘peaceful’ leaders) would be much happier with a President Vance knowing as they do how much the Vice President has purposefully distanced himself from the Trump-Netanyahu Iran war crime catastrophe and Mideast-wide cataclysm.
The critical point here is that Trump is more easily manipulated than ever having 3+ fatwas issued against him. But why exactly? Because every malignant narcissist will cling to life at any expense, even if it means the complete destruction of their world. Of course, in the case of Trump’s world, he will do whatever he has to to avoid assassination - At Any And All Costs - even if it means fomenting a full-blown nuclear World War III (which has already started on the regional level via the Ukraine War and Iran War). This is why we - the whole human race - really have such a “HUGE PROBLEM“.
Armageddon and the Trump regime: As if to throw massive tanker-fills of fuel onto this billowing Mideast conflagration, both Trump and Netanyahu truly believe that they are being used as divine (actually demonic) instruments to bring about thee Armageddon. What could possibly go wrong with this accelerating downward spiral into the proverbial abyss?!?!
Not only that, but we see that the Jewish Zionists throughout the religious and political establishments in Israel are pumping up Trump to become the ‘God Emperor’ that the MAGA maniacs, as well as Trumpsters with Trump Cult Complex, really believe him to be.
"We have reached an unprecedented moment in human history. If this war with Iran continues for an extended period of time, we will be facing the greatest energy disruption in human history and the greatest food production disruption in human history simultaneously. Many were hoping that Iran would agree to the Trump administration’s proposal for a 30 day ceasefire, but it was obvious that was never going to happen. The Iranians have completely rejected Trump’s 15 point plan, and they are demanding that the U.S. must agree to permanent Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz before any negotiations even begin. Needless to say, the U.S. will never agree to that, and so the war will rage on.
For now, Iran is determining which vessels are allowed to travel through the Strait of Hormuz… Iranian crude tankers continue to pass through the maritime chokepoint — vital to about a third of the world’s seaborne crude oil — along with a few others that Iran has let pass through, said Matt Smith, U.S. head analyst at Kpler.
In a post on X Tuesday, MarineTraffic, which is operated by Kpler, said Iran appears to now be pursuing a strategy in the strait where it allows “selective vessel passage” to provide “strategic signaling,” rather than imposing a full disruption of global crude supply through the waterway. The post included an animated map of sparse maritime traffic traveling through the waterway. Nine vessels have crossed since Monday, according to MarineTraffic data released early Tuesday. Several news reports indicate Iran has begun charging vessels up to $2 million to pass through the strait. Smith said Kpler could not confirm reports of such tolls.
Some readers may be tempted to think that it is good news that nine vessels have been able to go through the Strait of Hormuz so far this week. But approximately 2,500 others remain trapped in the Persian Gulf…"On Tuesday, HormuzTracker, which provides a Strait of Hormuz shipping-disruption dashboard, showed that there are around 2,500 vessels still trapped inside the Persian Gulf, with 400 waiting outside of the strait."
This is truly a nightmare scenario. Desperately needed supplies of oil and natural gas are not going anywhere for the foreseeable future. And now Iran is threatening to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait as well…"Iran could open a new front in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if attacks are carried out on its territory or islands, IRGC-affiliated Tasnim reported, citing an unnamed military source. “If the Americans intend to take action regarding the Strait of Hormuz, they should be careful not to add another strait to their challenges … Iran is fully prepared to escalate the situation,” Tasnim quoted the source as saying."
Iran is literally trying to paralyze the entire global economy in order to gain as much leverage as possible. One energy industry economist is openly admitting that we have never “seen anything like this”… “We’ve not seen anything like this — there’s been no disruption of this scale in the past,” Gareth Ramsay, chief economist at oil and gas giant BP, told the conference. “It’s every oil analyst’s study piece or worst nightmare — one that we never thought would happen.”
He is right. This is unprecedented. And every single day that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continues to be disrupted things will get even worse. Already, the price of diesel has reached all-time record highs in California and Washington…
"The announcement, made by GasBuddy Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick De Haan on Wednesday, comes as gas prices have continued to rise across the U.S. in recent weeks. The national average cost of a gallon of gas was $3.983 on Wednesday, according to AAA, whereas a week ago, it was at $3.842. A month ago, the national average was below $3 per gallon. Diesel prices have also been climbing higher, with two states setting a new all-time record for the price of a gallon of diesel on Wednesday.
“California and Washington have both now set new all-time records for average diesel price,” De Haan posted with an image of a graph that showed diesel prices surging past $7 in California and $6 in Washington."
There are more than 11 million diesel trucks in the United States. That number represents about 75 percent of the entire commercial truck population. If the price of diesel reaches 10 dollars a gallon, it will be absolutely devastating for the commercial trucking industry in this country.
Over in Europe, they are facing widespread energy shortages “as soon as next month”…"Europe could face a shortage of energy and fuel as soon as next month without a reopening of the strait of Hormuz, Shell’s chief executive has said. The boss of Europe’s biggest oil company said it was working with governments to help them address the oil and gas supply crisis, which has already led to energy rationing in Asian countries."
The beginning of next month is just days away. Will EU politicians start implementing “energy lockdowns” in a desperate attempt to conserve oil and natural gas? Of course this war isn’t just going to cause a global energy catastrophe.
The spring is when farmers in the northern hemisphere plant their crops, and right now vast quantities of fertilizer are locked up in the Persian Gulf region…"Farmers in the Northern Hemisphere are heading into the crucial spring months, during which major fieldwork must begin. Their peers in the south, meanwhile, are busy harvesting crops before the winter sets in. However, their work now takes place as the Iran war creates serious supply constraints for essential fertilizer products — fueling massive price spikes and warnings of looming food insecurity."
Around one-third of the global seaborne fertilizer trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the United Nations. What are we going to do if we can’t get that fertilizer out of the Persian Gulf before planting season is over? One industry insider is warning that “this could be catastrophic if it lasts long”…"David Delaney, the chief executive officer of phosphate producer Itafos Inc., said he can’t recall a tougher time across his four decades in the industry. After the war broke out, the United Nations warned of record levels of hunger this year. If the conflict continues for even a few more months, tens of millions of people may face severe food insecurity. “The world is just used to big crop plantings every year and yields and crops getting to where they are needed,” he said. “I don’t want to sound the alarm too much yet, but this could be catastrophic if it lasts long.”
I discussed this in a previous article, but I don’t think that a lot of people out there fully understood that implications of what I shared. Wheat is an annual crop that is planted every year. Studies have shown that application of nitrogen fertilizer can increase wheat yields by up to 62 percent. If we do not get nitrogen fertilizer into the hands of farmers in the northern hemisphere, we are going to have far less wheat in late 2026 and beyond.
Barley is also an annual crop that is planted every year. Studies have shown that application of nitrogen fertilizer can increase barley yields by up to 25 percent. For corn, the difference is even greater. The amount of corn grown on an acre can more than double if nitrogen fertilizer is applied. Just think about that. We are talking about a dramatic drop in production.
Of course crops that are not planted annually will not be greatly affected by this fertilizer crisis. Grape vines can go decades without fertilizer and they will just keep producing year after year. And some olive trees that have been alive for more than 1,000 years are still bearing plenty of fruit with no problem at all. The bottom line is that we could see a historic drop in production for annual crops such as wheat and barley, while there may be very little difference for crops that do not have to be planted annually such as grapes and olives.
This is where we are at. No matter how much some people may want to deny it, the facts will not change. The only way we can avoid what is ahead is if the war comes to a swift conclusion. But that is not likely to happen any time soon, and so a lot more pain is on the way."
"Truck drivers across the country are being hit hard - and many are losing everything. Fuel costs are skyrocketing, profit margins are shrinking, and for some drivers… it’s no longer sustainable. What used to be a reliable way to make a living is now becoming a serious financial struggle. But what’s really happening behind the scenes? In this video, we break down why gas and diesel prices are hitting truckers the hardest, how it’s impacting the supply chain, and why this situation could affect everyone - not just drivers."
"The economic warning signs are everywhere, and in this video from i Allegedly, we break down how the growing oil crisis is about to impact every part of your daily life. From skyrocketing gas prices and rising airline costs to food shortages, supply chain disruptions, and small business struggles, this is more than just inflation - it’s a full-scale economic shift. As fuel costs surge, industries like travel, fishing, farming, and transportation are already feeling the pressure, and it’s only the beginning. If you think things are expensive now, you need to see what’s coming next. This i Allegedly update dives into real-world examples of how higher fuel prices are triggering bankruptcies, reducing consumer spending, and forcing major changes across the economy. We also discuss what this means for your finances, your business, and your ability to stay ahead during uncertain times. Whether you're a business owner, investor, or just trying to make sense of today’s financial chaos, this video gives you the insight you need to prepare. Stay informed with the latest business news, economic updates, and financial trends right here on i Allegedly."
"While the U.S. and Israel become increasingly desperate, Israel is moving fast on its expansive plans of ethnically cleansing Palestinians. The Israeli Knesset’s National Security Committee approved a bill this week that will impose the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners. This means executions by hanging. This is terrifying. Israel has over 14,000 Palestinian prisoners right now, held without charge or trial. This law would allow them to kill them at will. Remember, they had at least 4,000 October 7 Hostages, but the media won’t use that word.
Palestinians are already enduring extreme suffering. According to a report from B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, Israeli prisons currently function as a network of torture camps. Yet now, legislation threatens to escalate that harm even further by passing a bill that can easily end their lives. Additionally, The Guardian finds that Israel has not prosecuted the killing of a Palestinian in the West Bank since 2020, despite hundreds of adults and children alike being killed by Israeli settlers in that time frame. It seems this war has only made the plight of Palestinians worse as attention is diverted to Iran."
"All Palestinian Prisoners To Be Executed And Shot In The Head"
"The Minister of National Security of Israel, Itamar Ben-Gvir, says he plans to introduce legislation in the Knesset which reads: "All Palestinian prisoners to be executed and shot in the head." – The Minister of National Security of Israel, Itamar Ben-Gvir
"Israel is Evil personified. Israel is Evil embodied."
- Scott Ritter
o
"Shocking Genetic Science Reveals Ashkenazi Jews
Suffer High Rates of Mental Illness Due To Inbreeding"
by Mike Adams
"We are facing a dire situation for humanity. Today, I reveal some of the elements that have led us to that, including shocking scientific evidence that studied the inbreeding common among Ashkenazi Jews (the dominant population worldwide) and found that centuries of inbreeding has produced widespread mental illness and schizophrenia. This is relevant because Netanyahu thinks God talks to him and tells him to mass murder people in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. He thinks he's hearing voices from God. It's actually a genetic mental illness caused by inbreeding.
- Genetic studies on Ashkenazi Jews reveal mental disorders.
- Generations of inbreeding have produced mental illness defects.
- High levels of schizophrenia among "God's chosen people."
- Netanyahu thinks God is talking to him and telling him to commit genocide.
- Quotes from Jewish Rabbis calling for mass death of non-Jews.
- The U.S. has provided nuclear weapons to mentally ill sociopathic inbreds.
- Jewish inbreeding has also removed "mirror neurons" responsible for empathy and compassion.
- High risk of nuclear war that kills billions, due to Israel's insane genocide."
OMG...God damn these psychopathically degenerate inbred monsters to Hell! And YOU, Americans, paid for it all, every bullet, every bomb, every tank, everything, billions and billions of dollars! All that blood's on YOUR hands too! 100,000 innocent and unarmed old people, men, women and 20,000 CHILDREN slaughtered, with another 10,000 buried under the rubble and unrecovered. And these ZioNazi creatures from Hell call the Palestinians "human animals?!" Eternal shame and disgrace on us all! Stipendium peccati mors est, Israel, and it's coming...
"A man who is pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read, doesn’t read briefing reports, doesn’t like to get into the details of a lot of things, but rather just kind of says, ‘This is what I believe’...
a f**king moron."
- Rex Tillerson, former Secretary of Defense,
describing his Commander-in-Chief.
Baltimore, Maryland - "Our big picture view, here at BPR, is not unique...and not original. It is not at all ‘mainstream,’ either. And yet, tested against recent events, it seems to be holding up pretty well. Here’s the latest...after declaring the war ‘won’ on at least five different occasions, claiming that Iran was ‘dead’ and its military capacity ‘obliterated,’ suddenly something doesn’t add up. The Wall Street Journal: "Pentagon to Deploy 3,000 82nd Airborne Soldiers to Gulf. The Pentagon is planning to deploy about 3,000 soldiers from the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East to support operations against Iran, according to two U.S. officials, with a written order expected in the coming hours. Officials cautioned that a decision to put boots on the ground in Iran hasn’t been made. But deploying the 82nd opens the door to President Trump for several strategic options."
Many are those who’ve noticed that ‘history tends to repeat itself.’ Never exactly. Never reliably. And never predictably. Still, the misfortunes that man engineers for himself show up so often that news reporters say their job is simply to remind readers about what happened before. As the Trump administration sends troops for what could be an invasion of Iran, for example, they might remind them of a war game conducted 24 years ago. It showed that the Iranians would win big...sinking the US flotilla in a matter of minutes.
But just because it would have been a bad idea back then doesn’t mean it is a bad idea today. Bad policies...unnecessary wars...foolish theories - never go away. Like zombies, they rise up in the light of the full moon, and terrorize the world once again. These ‘mistakes’ come so frequently in history that they appear as a ‘pattern.’ But for that to happen, there need to be people around who are dumb enough to repeat them.
As the Soviet army smashed through Germany’s defenses in WWII, for example, a Russian officer, with a sense of humor, stood before a group of German captives. ‘Didn’t any of you bother to read Tolstoy?’ he asked. None raised his hand.
Tolstoy described, in his novel "War and Peace," the disaster that befell Napoleon Bonaparte’s army when it invaded Russia. But it wasn’t the history of the war that was important. It was the history lessons. They might have been useful to the Nazi strategists in the 1940s...and might be helpful to the Trump crew today. But the Big Men do not study history...they live it.
Tolstoy’s central idea, similar to our own, is that these illustrious leaders do not write their own scripts. Instead, they read those History gives them. They are actors on the big stage, fully outfitted with the myths, mores, and madness of their time. “Historia magistra vitae,” is how Cicero put it (history is the teacher of life).
Few Frenchmen would have dared to attack Russia in the early 19th century. But when the opportunity arose, the one-in-a-million leader appeared on the scene - Bonaparte. Clever enough to win battles and organize the Grande Armee into the world’s finest fighting force, he channeled the post-revolutionary energy of France into war. And so, the gods must have chuckled as the most talented military genius of his time was totally defeated...and his army virtually wiped out. Not by a superior military machine, but by time, mud, cold, hunger, Cossacks, and peasants.
Then, 128 years later, Germany found the one-in-a-million leader mad enough to repeat Napoleon’s catastrophic adventure. “We have only to kick in the door,” said the Fuhrer, “and the whole house [the Soviet Union] will collapse.” It didn’t happen.
Subsequent events will tell the tale, but it appears that the US is stepping up to the historical challenge. All we have to do, said Trump, is take out the leadership and Iran will surrender. That didn’t happen either. Obviously, the MAGA team hasn’t come up with something new. And Donald Trump for all his flamboyant novelty, is hardly as wicked as many of his predecessors. Nor is he uniquely responsible for the attack on Iran or its most barbaric features. Tolstoy explained that “kings are the slaves of history...in historical events great men...are but labels...having the least possible connection with the event itself.”
Wickedness lies dormant in all of us...as in frozen soup, ready to bubble up as soon as you put it on the stove. It must have been simmering in the US for many years. Iran was a designated enemy back in the Carter administration. Senator McCain was calling on the US to bomb it in 2007. Finally, the Trump Team sat down to eat. History needs such benighted leaders. Otherwise, the ‘patterns’ disappear into a shapeless broth."
"Iran "Laying Traps" And "Building Up Defenses" On
Kharg Island, Preparing For U.S. Ground Attack"
by Tyler Durden
"Iran has recently bolstered its defenses around Kharg Island, anticipating a possible US move to seize the key oil export hub, CNN reported this week. The island is vital to Iran’s economy, handling roughly 90% of its crude shipments, and has become a focal point in escalating tensions.
The Trump administration has explored the option of sending US forces to take control of the island as leverage to pressure Iran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz. But military officials caution that such an operation would carry serious risks. Iran has reinforced the island with additional air defense systems, including portable missiles, and has planted mines along likely landing zones.
There is also growing skepticism among US allies and policymakers about whether capturing the island would achieve its broader objective. Even if successful, it may not resolve the wider dispute over energy flows and could instead intensify the conflict. An Israeli source warned that US troops could face attacks from drones and shoulder-fired missiles if they attempt a landing.
“I would be very worried about this,” said retired Adm. James Stavridis. “Iranians are clever and ruthless. They will do everything they can to inflict maximum casualties on US forces both on the ships at sea, and especially once ground troops are anywhere in their sovereign territory.” CNN writes that Iran has responded with its own warnings. Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said any attempt to occupy Iranian territory would prompt retaliation against critical infrastructure in the region, adding that US troop movements are under close watch.
Despite its relatively small size - about one-third of Manhattan - Kharg Island would require a substantial military operation to capture. US forces in the region include Marine units trained for amphibious assaults, along with airborne troops preparing to deploy. Surveillance has shown newly fortified positions and defensive preparations on the island. Although earlier US strikes weakened parts of Iran’s defenses, American forces would still face significant threats from missiles and drones launched from the nearby mainland. This has led to internal debate in Washington over whether the potential benefits justify the risks.
Regional allies are urging restraint, warning that a ground assault could result in heavy casualties and trigger wider retaliation across the Gulf. Some analysts suggest that targeting Iran’s oil exports through a naval blockade could be a less risky alternative to putting troops on the ground."
"I think the picture sums it up… Iran is not going to negotiate with the Trump administration on Trump’s terms. Iran has set its terms and will not deviate from those. Here is a synthesis of the key demands from recent Iranian statements and reporting:
Complete halt to aggression and assassinations: Iran demands an immediate and total end to US and Israeli attacks, strikes, and targeted killings against Iranian territory, officials, nuclear sites, and allied “resistance” forces (e.g., Hezbollah in Lebanon, groups in Iraq, and others across the region). This includes a ceasefire that extends to all fronts, not just a temporary pause.
Guarantees and mechanisms to prevent future attacks/war: Concrete, verifiable international or legal safeguards that the war will not be “reimposed” on Iran. This could include binding agreements or frameworks ensuring no resumption of hostilities.
War reparations and compensation for damages: Payment (or “guaranteed and clearly defined” financial compensation) for destruction caused by the strikes, including infrastructure, civilian areas, and economic losses. Some reports tie this to broader sanctions relief or economic concessions.
Recognition of Iranian sovereignty and control over the Strait of Hormuz: A new regulatory or legal framework affirming Iran’s authority over this critical chokepoint for global oil shipping. This has been interpreted as seeking economic leverage (e.g., potential passage fees or control), rather than unrestricted international access. Iran has used threats/partial closures of the strait as leverage during the conflict.
Broader regional elements: A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah (and potentially other proxies). In some lists: Closure or dismantling of US military bases in the region. Continued development of Iran’s ballistic missile program without external limitations. An end to the conflict “across all fronts” for all involved resistance groups. Additional elements mentioned in some Iranian or mediated contexts include recognition of Iran’s “legitimate” nuclear rights (peaceful enrichment) and rejection of any forced dismantlement of its nuclear program.
There you have it. Trump has been successful this week in bamboozling the oil and stock markets into believing that an end of the war is at hand and that Iran will accept defeat. If Trump decides to launch a ground attack on Iran this weekend or early next week, that will finally awaken the deluded Western market makers that the war, rather than wrapping up, will amp up.
In my last article I laid out one scenario - i.e., a simultaneous attack on Kharg and Qeshm islands - that I think is most likely because it is supposed to open the Strait of Hormuz. If that is the target of the ground operation, it will fail to achieve the goal of lifting Iran’s blockade of the Strait.
There are a couple of other scenarios that some pundits believe are more likely: capturing Chabahar port or capturing Iran’s enriched uranium. I think these are unlikely, but I’m not the one calling the shots and cannot rule them out. Capturing Chabahar achieves nothing strategic, and certainly does not open the Strait of Hormuz. In my judgment, the US does not have enough troops to secure that port and prevent Iran from retaking it.
What about the other scenario - i.e., capturing a site where Iran’s enriched uranium is stored? This is unlikely because I believe those sites are located in the interior of Iran and the US helicopters that would deliver the troops to the site would not have enough fuel to fly back to the place from where they launched. The US would have to covertly insert massive fuel bladders at some remote location that would be used to refuel the air assets used on such a mission. To do that would require flying a number of C-130s into Iran. Those are relatively slow-flying aircraft and would likely be shot down before reaching their destination. I am not saying it cannot be done, but it is a highly risky venture and is more likely to fail. I continue to hope that I am wrong. We’ll know better come Monday morning."
"Mohammad Marandi: 48 Hours To Global Catastrophe -
Nuclear Strikes & Energy Collapse"
"Total War is here. Prof. Marandi reveals Iran’s plan after Trump’s 48-hour ultimatum and attacks on nuclear & desalination plants. Global stability hangs in the balance - the next few days will decide everything."
