Happy Easter, Passover, and Spring

Here in NE Alabama the spring rebirth is well underway. I barely got my pruning done in time. We planted one batch of tomatoes last week, and I'm getting in a few more today before a much needed rain this evening. So, spring has sprung and we're off to the race to maintain the homestead. It's busy season, but we're in good shape for a change. However we are very dry, especially for this time of the year. We'll get to the news below the fold.

It is odd during a holiday celebration to focus on war, but it is currently the primary activity of the US government with global economic and social impacts. I apologize in advance of this essay/discussion.

Given US behavior, we may be dining at the Karma Cafe this holiday season. I suspect there will be boots on the ground in the near term (if not today) and more dead US soldiers in the near term. I suspect yesterday they were going to begin, but were shocked when, I think, 12 aircraft were damaged many over Iran, despite the Don's assurance they had no air defense left. More on that later.

This seems the most senseless, wasteful, unprovoked war since Iraq. At least Bush, in that debacle, tried to make excuses for why we had to start that senseless conflict, and though the evidence he provided was false, he provided evidence in an effort to mislead the public. Not that there haven't been plenty of lies spewed about this conflict...nonsense like Iran is the leading sponsor of terror when in fact Israel and the US are competing for that spot.

Is Iran the 'Leading State Sponsor of Terrorism?' (w/ John Kiriakou) (41 min)
As the U.S. seeks to label Iran as a mass sponsor of state terrorism, CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou looks inward, examining the decades of US-backed terror campaigns waged towards imperialist ends.

Larry contends that the real purpose of the Iran War is to stop the new silk road and BRICS+

(48 min) Will There be a Ground Invasion of Iran? (w/ Col. Larry Wilkerson)

This is as much an economic conflict as a hot war, and we will all pay the price.

(40 min) Economic meltdown, everyone will be hit w/ Alex at Reporterfy

War, Oil, and Blowback: Why Critics Say Trump’s Iran Offensive Is Reshaping the Global Economy
Interview with Michael Hudson
At the center of Hudson’s analysis is the claim that Washington’s long-standing geopolitical strength has depended heavily on control over oil flows, energy pricing, and the continued centrality of the U.S. dollar in global trade. He argues that any serious disruption in that system—especially through conflict involving the Persian Gulf—immediately becomes a worldwide economic issue.....
For Hudson, the deeper issue is not simply oil scarcity but control. He contends that American foreign policy since the 1970s has relied heavily on the ability to influence who sells energy, in what currency, and under what political conditions. In that reading, oil has never been just a commodity—it has been one of the foundations of strategic power.
...
Hudson argues that this arrangement [the petrodollar] allowed the United States to finance deficits, project sanctions power, and absorb international capital on terms no other state could match. But he also says that wars and sanctions have pushed more countries to search for alternatives.
In the interview, he points to growing efforts among states aligned with emerging multipolar blocs to conduct energy transactions outside dollar channels. Whether through yuan settlements, bilateral currency agreements, or non-Western banking systems, Hudson argues that war pressure may be accelerating a process already underway.
That is why he describes the conflict not simply as a regional war, but as a contest over the future shape of the global economy.

The balance of power in Western Asia and around the world has shifted...

(63 min) Pepe Escobar: Iran Just CHANGED the Balance of Power in the Middle East

Chas Freeman: World Disorder - Nuclear Weapons & World War

(57 min) Ambassador Chas Freeman discusses the unravelling of the international order. Ambassador Freeman was a former Assistant Secretary of Defense, earning the highest public service awards of the Department of Defense for his roles in designing a NATO-centred post-Cold War European security system and in reestablishing defence and military relations with China. He served as U. S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm).

Iran war: Special Ops vs. Special Forces w/ Larry Johnson

About an hour before questions

Larry wrote piece on April fools about Trump's speech on Iran this week
Donald Trump’s Addled Speech on Iran

Trump plowed no new territory. Instead, he provided a Reader’s Digest summary of his recent Truth Social posts… i.e., Iran is defeated, the Iranian Navy and Air Force are destroyed, victory is ours, but we’re going to bomb the hell out of them over the next three weeks.

Former Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich had a good review of the speech...
Trump’s Tone-Deaf Sales Pitch for More War
The President’s address to the nation was a tone-deaf sales pitch for more war, delivered on the first night of Passover. ...
Iran is not an abstraction, nor just a target on a map. It is one of the great cradles of civilization, a society whose cultural and intellectual contributions long predate the rise of the modern West. To speak casually of bombing such a nation ‘back to the Stone Age’ reveals a colonial mindset that dehumanizes others and diminishes our own humanity in the process.
...
If the President truly sought to prevent a nuclear Iran, he would not have abandoned the JCPOA, an agreement that placed verifiable limits on Iran’s nuclear program. Instead, we are presented with a cycle of escalation that defies logic and invites catastrophe.
...
Members of Congress must have the courage to exercise their constitutional authority and rein this in.

During his speech he claimed he would bomb Iran back to the stone age.
Analysts say carpet bombing countries is a war crime. But such threats and actual campaigns are not new for the US.

We are literally trying to turn Iran into Gaza. I guess the US is following the lead of its master and becoming as inhumane as Israel.
The war began with a massacre of children, in what has now been confirmed to have been a targeted US bombing of a school that killed more than a hundred young girls. We now know it also began with the bombing of a sports hall and a different elementary school that killed twenty-one people, including two children, using a new short-range missile whose first-ever use in combat was this war. The US and Israeli militaries have since then dropped heavy bombs on entire residential buildings and destroyed whole residential blocks despite the obvious danger to civilians, burying ordinary Iranians under the rubble.
According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, basically the local Iranian equivalent of the Red Cross, Israel has damaged or destroyed a total of more than 90,000 residential units around Iran, more than three hundred health and medical facilities, more than seven hundred universities and schools, and a range of other civilian structures. That includes pharmacies, scores of police stations and other security sites, and the infrastructure used to pay officers, as well as a desalination plant that helps provide drinking water and centuries-old heritage sites. It has also targeted Iranian nuclear facilities with bombings at least three times since the start of the war, risking a terrible accident. Both Israel and Donald Trump have since threatened to destroy Iran’s other energy infrastructure.

He's going to bomb them to the stone age? This is Iran/Persia in the Iron age (500 BC). There are no stone age (pre-5000 BC) maps.

Trump is so uneducated and ignorant.

Israel's attacks on Lebanon go largely unreported in western Zionist controlled media.
Israeli attacks displace over 1M in Lebanon, 1 in 5 affected: UN refugee agency
“The conflict intensifies and escalates and it does not stop, it keeps going on with the Lebanese people and Syrian refugees who live in Lebanon, affecting them but it also forces people to leave Lebanon and seek safety somewhere else,” he added.
Families are sleeping in overcrowded shelters, often without adequate indoor conditions, he said.
Over 200,000 flee to Syria in 1 month
Baloch said humanitarian partners are assisting displaced populations on the ground and have distributed around 200,000 aid items so far.
In the past month alone, more than 200,000 people crossed from Lebanon into Syria, he added.
Of those, around 180,000 were Syrian refugees previously living in Lebanon, while more than 20,000 were Lebanese nationals.

Hezbollah has been striking back blowing up advancing Israeli tanks and crews...over 20 so far.

The war continues to expand...

Israel’s push for Somaliland base raises fears of wider war
Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Israel is in talks with Somaliland officials to form a strategic security partnership, which might include granting Israel access to a military base or other security installation along the Somaliland coast from which it can launch attacks against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Meanwhile on the home front...
Trump fires AG Pam Bondi. Hegseth fires Generals. Plus, Trump discusses sacking intel chief Gabbard over refusal to condemn Joe Kent. Additionally, Gabbard has contradicted one of Trump's central justifications for launching the war on Iran. Tulsi should have resigned with Kent and made a statement condemning the war. What a disappointment!

Jimmy claims the reason Bondi was fired is she leaked to California democratic Governor candidate, Rep. Eric Swalwell, that he was being investigated for dating a Chinese spy.
Candace & Massie Reveal The REAL REASON Trump Fired Pam Bondi! (10 min)

The Generals were fired not over objecting to the war (unfortunately), but disagreements about eliminating women and people of color from the promotion list. Hegseth also eliminated Catholic services at the pentagon. Has fired Chaplin's who are not Christian Zionist or Jewish.
Trump’s Divine War: How Christian Nationalists Are Running U.S. Policy in Iran and at Home
At the center of the discussion is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose public prayers for “overwhelming violence” and rhetoric about divine mission reveal how sections of the modern Christian right increasingly frame military conflict not simply as geopolitics, but as spiritual warfare. Posner argues that this worldview goes beyond symbolic religious language: it reflects a deeper ideological belief that biblical authority supersedes international law, civilian protections, and traditional diplomatic constraints.
...
That argument becomes most visible in the conduct of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose recent public prayer at the Pentagon asking for “overwhelming violence” against enemies drew renewed scrutiny. For Posner, the significance lies not merely in religious language but in the specific worldview behind it. Hegseth’s association with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches reflects a current of Christian Reconstructionism that views biblical authority as the supreme legal framework governing both personal and public life. Under that framework, war can become more than a strategic instrument—it becomes part of a divine obligation to defend and expand what adherents see as a Christian nation.
...
What makes the moment politically significant is that these belief systems are no longer confined to pulpits, television ministries, or religious conferences. According to Posner, they now intersect directly with executive power, military messaging, and legislative agendas. Trump’s long alliance with white evangelical leadership has often been described by mainstream media as transactional—religious conservatives deliver votes, and Trump delivers judges. But the interview argues that the relationship has matured into something far deeper: an ideological partnership in which both sides reinforce one another’s vision of national restoration, civilizational conflict, and cultural authority.
And we think Iran is a theocracy?

The new budget proposal raises the military budget to $1.5 trillion. He goes on to say that is why we can't afford daycare nor health care of US citizens

Trump’s Budget: A Moral Obscenity Wrapped in Patriotism
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) slammed the proposal, pointing out the stark hypocrisy: “To pay for his endless wars, he wants the biggest increase to military spending in 70 years… How does he pay for it? Cuts to education, health, housing, and more. Hell no.”
...
The budget also proposes a “historic investment” in the Department of Homeland Security, even as ICE has faced scrutiny for deaths in detention centers and inhumane treatment of migrants.
[Oh boy more war against the citizens. Better stay in line!]
...
President Trump’s latest budget proposal isn’t just reckless—it’s a deliberate, moral affront to the American people. In a country where nearly half of households struggle to afford basic necessities, this administration wants to pour $1.5 trillion—yes, trillion with a T—into the Pentagon, while cutting billions from healthcare, education, housing, and climate programs. It’s a blueprint for a nation that invests in bombs, not babies; in tanks, not teachers; in war profiteers, not working families.
...
Lindsey Koshgarian of the National Priorities Project sums it up perfectly: ordinary Americans suffer rising costs for gas, food, and housing, while Washington prints a nearly bottomless war fund to satisfy the whims of contractors and cronies. This isn’t governance—it’s pillaging.

Cross-Border Days Of Solidarity Against Rigged Trade Agenda
On July 1, trade officials from the U.S., Mexico and Canada will be meeting to consider changes to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) — also known as NAFTA 2.0 — the largest and most consequential trade policy of either Trump’s terms in office.
The Trump administration and others are pushing a rigged trade agenda that puts the interests of billionaires and corporations ahead of working people, family farmers and the environment in North America and beyond.
In response, people are coming together across borders and across issue areas to say “Enough!”
I guess one can hope.

Let's wrap with something calm...
A True Village Feast | Cooking a Traditional Family Celebration in the Countryside

(22 min)
Step into the heart of the countryside and experience a true village feast. In this video, we prepare a traditional family celebration meal, bringing together rich flavors, fresh ingredients, and time-honored cooking methods.
From hearty dishes simmering over the fire to freshly prepared sides, every part of this feast is made with care and shared the way it’s meant to be — around a table filled with warmth and laughter. It’s more than just food, it’s a moment of togetherness.
This is authentic village cooking at its finest — simple, generous, and full of tradition. A celebration of family, culture, and the joy of sharing real homemade food.

I hope you all have a great Sunday whatever holiday you celebrate (or don't). We're having an odd Easter meal, steak, avocado. potatoes, and garden greens. Eat what you enjoy and have a great Sunday!
I look forward to your insights and comments below! The thread is open...