Trump calls new US strikes on Iran a ‘love tap'

Tehran has accused Washington of violating the ceasefire and retaliated against US military vessels

The US military has launched a wave of strikes on Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran claiming it retaliated against American warships in the area.

President Donald Trump described the latest US strikes as “just a love tap,” insisting in a phone call with ABC News that the April 7 ceasefire remains in effect. In a follow-up post on Truth Social, he warned that the US would strike Iran “a lot harder, and a lot more violently” unless Tehran signs a deal “fast.”

US Central Command claimed it targeted Iranian launch sites, command-and-control locations, and surveillance nodes in “self-defense,” following an “unprovoked” missile, drone, and small-boat attack on the USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta, and USS Mason.

A senior US official told Fox News that American forces struck Iran’s Qeshm port and Bandar Abbas, as well as the Bandar Kargan naval checkpoint in Minab.

Tehran accused the US of violating the ceasefire by targeting an Iranian oil tanker moving inside its territorial waters. Iran’s Central Headquarters of Hazrat Khatam al-Anbiya also accused Washington of coordinating with “some regional countries” to strike civilian areas along the coasts of Bandar Khamir, Sirik, and Qeshm Island.

The IRGC Navy claimed that three US warships fled the Strait of Hormuz at high speed after suffering “significant damage.” Both CENTCOM and Trump insisted that no US assets were hit.

Iranian state media, meanwhile, reported that air defenses had been activated in western Tehran to counter “hostile targets.” An RT crew in the Iranian capital confirmed hearing air-defense activity and filmed flashes in the sky.

https://www.rt.com/news/639591-us-iran-port-strikes/

PCR inventor did not design it to detect infectious diseases

PURPOSE

The purpose of this document is to illustrate how mainstream disinformative "fact-checkers" can convince you of a lie by telling you some true facts. At the same time, we will attempt to clarify the position of Dr. Mullis, the inventor of the PCR process, on the misuse of it for diagnostic purposes.

INTRODUCTION

The PCR technique or process - not the PCR test for diseases (1) - was invented by Dr. Kary B. Mullis, who received the Nobel Prize for his invention. He died in August 2019, before Covid-19 began to spread in December 2019, but he lived through a time in which PCR was promoted to "diagnose" some diseases (AIDS, in particular; also Pertussis, whose PCR test created a false epidemic in 2004-2006 (2)). He was very clear on his opposition to the use of PCR to diagnose AIDS (3).

For clarity:

• The PCR technique or process refers to the laboratory process designed by Dr. Mullis to "amplify" (i.e. create millions or billions of copies) of portions of genetic material (DNA o RNA), in order to better study the genetic material. (1)

• The concept of PCR tests for diseases refers to the use of the PCR process to design, for a given infectious disease, a PCR test that targets for a highly specific signature of DNA or RNA of the suspected infectious agent (e.g. a certain virus). This is based on the assumption that the detection of the infectious agent, in whatever amount it is found, equals, or "likely" proves, the disease. (4)

DETAILS

Did Dr. Mullis designed the PCR process to detect infectious diseases?

Some "fact-checkers" (5) have approached the issue as it were just about discarding some quotes allegedly said by Dr. Mullis. But discarding some quotes does not disprove the known position of Dr. Mullis (6) on the misinterpretation of the PCR technique for diagnostic purposes.

If you are asking whether Dr. Mullis said explicitly "My PCR test was not made to detect any type of infectious disease", the answer is no, he did not say that words. To begin with, he did not invented a test, he invented a technique (1), that others (not him) have converted into a test (more exactly, into a different and specific test for each alleged infectious agent of a disease).

The position of Dr. Mullis is very clear. He said:

“I think misuse PCR is not quite – I don’t think you can misuse PCR. The results, the interpretation of it, if they could find this virus in you at all, and with PCR, if you do it well, you can find almost anything in anybody. It starts making you believe in the sort of Buddhist notion that everything is contained in everything else. Right, I mean, because if you can amplify one single molecule up to something which you can really measure, which PCR can do, then there’s just very few molecules that you don’t have at least one single one of them in your body, okay. So that could be thought of as a misuse of it, just to claim that it’s meaningful.” (3)

It is obvious, from this quote, that Dr. Mullis is separating the proper use of PCR - to detect a signature of DNA or RNA in a sample - from the wrong interpretation - the interpretation that the presence of a single molecule (or a small or uncertain quantity of them) is a disease.

He is clearly ridiculing the notion that a PCR test can be used as the diagnostic of a disease.

Is it really necessary to have him say it more explicitly? After he had been so critical of the use of PCR to "diagnose" AIDS (3)? That would be the same as arguing that, because Jesus did not say the exact words "I think that wars are not a good idea", He was not in favor of Peace.

Said quote from Dr. Mullis - conveniently omitted by the "fact-checkers" (5) - should be enough to prove the point.

But there is more…

https://www.mgr.org/MullisOnPCR.html

"Existential": Israel Quadruples Foreign-Influence Budget To Massive $730M

With the ranks of its foreign sympathizers plummeting all around the world and all across the political spectrum, the State of Israel is quadrupling its budget for so-called "public diplomacy," bringing its 2026 spending on foreign influence campaigns to a massive $730 million.

With the country's growing unpopularity threatening US financial, military and diplomatic support, Israel's foreign minister has said an intensified effort to mold global opinion is an "existential issue." Both inside and outside of Israel, the country's public diplomacy effort is also referred to by its Hebrew name: hasbara. Even before the 2026 ramp-up in spending, Israel's spending on hasbara was already striking.

Recent disclosures about 2025 hasbara spending shed some light on how Israel goes about shaping public opinion. Per the Jerusalem Post, that year's outlays included a $50 million social media ad campaign carried out on Google, YouTube, X and Outbrain. Another $40 million covered the hosting of foreign delegations. “We flew a lot of delegations to the country - whether it’s pastors, whether it’s politicians, universities,” Israeli Consul General Israel Bachar told the Jerusalem Post. “Everyone who returns from the country understands better and is more supportive. But you have to fly out a lot of people.”

“We must as a country invest much, much more,” Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar argued in December. “It should be like investing in jets, bombs and missile interceptors. In the face of what’s arrayed against us and what’s invested against us, it’s far from enough. This is an existential issue.”

An April Pew Research survey found that 60% of American adults now view Israel unfavorably that's up 18 points from 2022. Underscoring the mammoth challenge faced by Israel's hasbarists, the proportion of Americans who have a very unfavorable view of Israel now stands at 28% triple what it was in 2022. Most alarming for Israel is the cratering of support among Republicans, with 57% of those under 50 now viewing Israel unfavorably.

The erosion of US support has taken place over a span that has included Israel's stunningly-destructive rampage across Gaza in response to the Oct 7 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel, and this year's US-Israeli war on Iran which has caused fuel prices to rocket higher while threatening a global economic catastrophe.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/existential-israel-quadruples-foreign-influence-budget-massive-730m

Vote Harder? Why Secession Is The Only Answer To The American Megastate

The populist “victory” of the Trump administration is perhaps the best evidence yet that a strategy of “vote harder” is simply not going to lead to any significant change of any kind…

There are still some Trump supporters out there who continue to bill the Trump administration as some kind of great victory for the forces of populism against the “deep state.” A year into the second Trump administration, it is clear this is not a serious position. The populism of the Trump campaign has clearly failed and what we ended up with instead is a continuation and strengthening of the status quo. Over the next three years of this second Trump term, the welfare-warfare state will only get larger. Trump now actively pushes to strengthen the surveillance state, and to massively increase overall defense spending. He points to some miniscule trimming around the edges of the welfare state while overall spending continues to rise and federal deficits are near all-time highs. In turn, these huge deficits will require central-bank intervention to partly monetize the debt, pushing up price inflation.

Far from being some sort of shock to the system in Washington, Trump is governing largely like a business-as-usual Republican. In other words, it should be abundantly obvious by now that there is not going to be anything coming out of this administration that will endanger the governing elites or their institutions which retain a firm grip on Washington institutions and the special interests that drive policy.

This is apparently the best that the “militant” populists could come up with: yet another milquetoast republican administration that will ensure the gravy train continues for politically favored allies. This administration is basically just a Marco Rubio administration with some “mean tweets” thrown in for color.

The populist “victory” of the Trump administration is perhaps the best evidence yet that a strategy of “vote harder” is simply not going to lead to any significant change of any kind. After all, the media, academia, and even the GOP’s old guard fought tooth and nail to keep Trump out of the White House. And in the end, it was much ado about nothing. Now, just imagine if someone ran for the presidency who actually opposed the regime’s power on principle. That person would simply not be allowed to get the nomination, let alone win.

So, there won’t be any viable candidates who will actually tear down the federal state through legal or constitutional means. That will not be permitted via any federal election. The logic of the welfare state, moreover, ensures that no candidate can hope to get elected while also favoring significant cuts to defense spending, old-age pensions, or any of the beloved federal programs that support millions of Americans on the dole, such as pensioners and government contractors.

The only way significant change comes to this tightly constructed system of patrons and clients will be via a significant crisis that disrupts standards of living. This must be severe enough that it shakes the population’s faith in the regime to the point that people actually begin to question the state’s legitimacy. Only when real economic pain is felt will there be any real change. So long as the most of the population feels comfortable enough with an ample supply of Doordash and pornography and reality TV, the system will be deemed to be working “well enough.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/vote-harder-why-secession-only-answer-american-megastate

30 House Dems Demand US Confirmation That Israel Has Nuclear Arsenal

In the latest indication that Israel's position in American politics is growing increasingly shaky, a group of 30 House Democrats have co-signed a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, demanding that the US government finally acknowledge the existence of Israel's nuclear arsenal. It's a milestone event: For decades, both parties have diligently co-conspired in avoiding such a confirmation, typically claiming ignorance on the rare occasions when journalists or citizens asked them about it.

Now we have dozens of House representatives asking the question. "This is something that people did not dare do before,” Avner Cohen, a historian of Israel's nuclear program, told the Washington Post. “Even raising these questions publicly is a departure from a bipartisan norm.”

The letter puts the need for transparency in the context of the ongoing US-Israel-initiated war with Iran which was launched over the claim that Iran was on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon, a claim that clashes with the repeated conclusions of the US intelligence community. The letter emphasizes that many of the countries with stakes in the conflict including the United States, the UK, Russia, China and Pakistan – are nuclear-weapon states.

“The risks of miscalculation, escalation, and nuclear use in this environment are not theoretical…Congress has a constitutional responsibility to be fully informed about the nuclear balance in the Middle East, the risk of escalation by any party to this conflict, and the administration’s planning and contingencies for such scenarios.”

Further violating the long-running bipartisan commitment to ignoring Israel's doomsday arsenal, the four-page letter points to many indications of that arsenal's existence, including revelations and photographs provided in 1986 by Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu, the contents of a formerly classified 1974 National Intelligence Estimate, and a statement-under-oath by then-Secretary of Defense nominee Robert Gates casually including Israel in a list of nuclear powers operating in the Middle East.

The letter culminates in a pointed list of questions. Among other things, the Democratic representatives demand to know what nuclear weapons capability Israel has, the country's enrichment capabilities, and its doctrine guiding the use of nuclear weapons.

The Post reports that the Trump administration has been assessing Israel's potential to go nuclear in its joint war on Iran with the United States. "There is a low boil of unease about Israel’s nuclear program and what could compel them to use nuclear weapons short of facing a WMD attack,” a Trump administration official told the Post. One such scenario that US officials are said to "frequently" wring their hands over: An overwhelming barrage that causes an extraordinarily higher pace of Israeli civilian casualties.

The letter to Rubio was organized by Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro. As we reported in March, Castro used a House hearing to put America's top arms control official on the spot, pointedly asking him, "Does Israel have nuclear weapons?" Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Thomas G. DiNanno repeatedly dodged and obfuscated, even claiming that "it would be outside of my purview as the arms control and arms proliferation under secretary to discuss that specific question."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/30-house-dems-demand-us-confirmation-israel-has-nuclear-arsenal

MUST SEE: For many years, journalist

@samhusseini

has tracked down high-level politicos in Washington, D.C. and asked them variations of the same question:

“Do you know that Israel has nuclear weapons?”

Watch as he presses John Negroponte, Mike Pence, John Kerry, the Biden and Trump State Departments, and more about this dangerous bipartisan cover-up:

https://x.com/i/status/2041628391393345805

THEFT - TREASON

Snowy 2.0. A snow-job costing taxpayers twenty times its budget

The newly revealed $40B blowout on Snowy 2.0 is shocking, but not surprising.

Originally announced in 2017, Snowy 2.0 is a mega pumped-hydro renewable energy project, acting as a massive “giant battery” for the national grid. The basic concept behind Snowy 2.0 is simple, albeit flawed, on account of its scale; off-peak electricity will be used to pump water ‘uphill’ from the Talbingo Reservoir, 27 km east to the Tantangara Reservoir, and during peak demand periods, allow the water to flow back ‘downhill’ through 2.2 gigawatt turbines to contribute power to the national electricity grid.

It can be likened to a 350 gigawatt-hour battery.

A cluster fiasco

The project is a taxpayer-funded financial disaster.

Assertions that Snowy Hydro Limited is bearing its own costs are deceitful; Snowy Hydro is a 100% owned Commonwealth corporation. The cost of Snowy 2.0, if not a direct cost to taxpayers by way of government equity injections, is money taken from the company’s revenue and not paid to the taxpayer by way of dividend or other capital investments.

Transmission line connection to the grid will cost taxpayers billions as well (but this has not been included in the cost).

The project was announced in March 2017 by then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The original cost estimate was $2B with a completion time of four years – power was to be flowing in 2021.

Snowy Hydro was, at the time of the announcement, jointly owned by the Commonwealth, NSW and Victoria. In June 2018, after the taxpayer bought NSW’s ($4.154B) and Victoria’s ($2.077B) shares, Snowy Hydro became a Commonwealth Company under the PGPA Act. The purchase was based on an agreed valuation of $7.8B – twice the previous valuation of Snowy Hydro of $2.2 – $4 billion.

So, a year after it was announced that the project would cost $2B, the taxpayer has forked out an additional $6B.

Engineering and project due diligence was carried out from March 2017, and in February 2019, the cost had risen from a ‘political’ $2B (again, ignoring the company purchase price and transmission line costs) to a worked-up $3.8B to $4.5B, with the taxpayer kicking in $1.38B by way of an equity investment. The project completion date had by then moved to 2025.

Just six weeks later, a major works contract was signed for $5.1B, $600M more than the worked-up upper boundary price.

https://michaelwest.com.au/snowy-2-0-a-snow-job-costing-taxpayers-twenty-times-its-budget/