US Authorities Have "Collected" About $13 Billion of Venezuela's Oil Money. Where is it?

The Trump administration has collected more than US$13 billion in revenues from Venezuelan oil sales this year, according to FT calculations, but has said almost nothing about what has happened to the money.

The U.S. took control of Venezuela’s oil exports and suspended some sanctions after capturing President Nicolás Maduro in January and installing vice-president Delcy Rodríguez as leader.

Oil revenues make up around a quarter of Venezuela’s GDP, and the sanctions relief was expected to provide a major boost to the economy, which was in crisis even before last month’s devastating earthquakes.

But six months after the U.S. seized control of the funds, economists say the evidence of a recovery in Venezuela is relatively muted — a potential sign that the U.S. has not sent all the revenues back to Caracas.

Washington has given diverging accounts of what it is doing with the money, ranging from an executive order describing its own role as “custodial” to U.S. President Donald Trump saying the U.S. was “making a lot of money” from Venezuelan oil.

U.S. lawmakers from both parties are starting to pressure the administration to explain where it has gone and what it is doing to prevent corruption around its allocation. [MORE]

Rule by Force or Consent? Report Reveals that Marco Rubio "Governs" Venezuela, Since US “Government” Kidnapped Maduro

Some critics of the Trump administration are reacting with horror to revelations that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been serving as the de facto ruler of Venezuela.

According to a Saturday report in The New York Times, Rubio for the last several months has been acting informally as the “viceroy” of Venezuela ever since its recognized president, Nicolás Maduro, was abducted by the American military in January and brought to the US to face charges related to “narco-terrorism.”

The Times’ sources revealed that Rubio “effectively controls Venezuela’s finances, the distribution of its natural resources, and its government” and “is deeply involved in the country’s day-to-day operations,” while maintaining regular contact with acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez.

Under current arrangements, the US Treasury Department takes in revenue from Venezuela’s exports, including its petroleum, and then disperses the money back to the country through its private banks with strict conditions set by Rubio over what it can be spent on.

In explaining the system, the Times likened it to “parents handing out allowances to children,” adding that it gives Rubio “immense leverage over... Rodríguez, who depends on the money to pay workers and prop up the national currency.”

Elizabeth Saunders, professor of political science at Columbia University, described Rubio’s power over Venezuela as “insane,” as well as “derelict, unconscionable, and impeachable.”

“The secretary of state’s time is scarce, valuable, and not outsourcable,” Saunders emphasized.

Orlando J. Pérez, professor of Political Science at the University of North Texas at Dallas, said the Times report made a mockery of Rubio’s professed claims to want to bring democracy back to Venezuela. [MORE]

ICE says only 1 of its Race Soldiers Faced Discipline Amid 56 Excessive Force Complaints

ICE officials told House Democrats that only one officer has been referred for disciplinary action in a use-of-force case since the Trump administration began. The disclosure has deepened concerns over oversight, training and vehicle-stop tactics after two recent fatal shootings.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday that only one officer has been referred for disciplinary action in a use-of-force case since the start of the Trump administration. The closed-door briefing covered body cameras, vehicle stops and training, and came amid growing scrutiny of the agency after two recent fatal shootings involving immigrants ICE officers were trying to arrest.

The shootings in Maine and Houston, which took place within a week of each other, have raised concerns about ICE tactics as the agency steps up arrests under President Donald Trump's mass deportation drive. At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents since Trump returned to office, and in the Maine case, family members of the officer who opened fire have said he had a history of violent behaviour and should not have been given a badge and gun.

Representative Seth Magaziner, a Democrat from Rhode Island, said lawmakers were told there had been 56 complaints of excessive force against ICE officers. Of these, 32 were cleared and one was referred for disciplinary action, while the rest remain under investigation. Magaziner said they were told that no discipline had yet been imposed. He said, "It just defies belief that an agency of 20,000-plus officers with all of the chaos that we've seen over the last year and a half through the surges and civilians being injured and killed, that no one would be found to have violated use of force with the exception of possibly one person." [MORE]

US to Deny Green Cards to Mostly Non-White immigrants who use Public Benefits

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Thursday announced the return of the “public charge” rule for immigrants. Immigrants must already demonstrate that they will not become public charges, or persons who depend on the government for subsistence, but the new rule will expand the range of public benefits that immigration officials may consider when determining whether immigrants are likely to become primarily dependent on government assistance.

The expanded list could include Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/food stamps), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, housing vouchers and others programs. The rule will also allow immigration officials to consider age, health, education, and job skills in determining eligibility for green cards.

USCIS announced the change on social media platform X, saying, “This final rule is intended to help ensure that those seeking permanent residence are able to support themselves and are not likely to become primarily dependent on public assistance… [USCIS is] protecting public resources and ending policies that encouraged dependency on the backs of hard-working American taxpayers.”

The rule change appeared in the Federal Register on July 16. It will be formally published on July 20 and expected to take effect on September 18. [MORE]

Another White Supremacy Mystery as Independent Autopsy Finds Nolan Wells' Cause of Death Undetermined

[MORE]

Another Black Person Killed by Cops in a City Controlled by White Liberals: Madison Cops Fatally Shoot Black Man, Didn’t Appear to Pose an Immediate Deadly Threat while Lying in a Fetal Position

Michael Doubek, a witness who was on the way to Willy Street Co-Op, recalled what he saw.

"The victim came flying around on his bicycle. One officer tackled him off...Two other officers kind of rushed over, and one of the officers yells, "He has a knife. One of the officers then draws a taser and yells, 'Taser, taser, taser.' He tasers him, [and the victim] falls to the ground," Doubek said. "The three continue to struggle for a second or two. Then, one of the officers stands just a couple feet above his head, shooting [the victim] three times to the head."

The Madison Police Department will not conduct an investigation into this incident and will be led by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Criminal Investigation, officials confirmed.

Additional video, that has not been circulated online, is being reviewed by cops. [MORE] and [MORE]

Maryland Has the Highest Rate of Incarcerating Black People. Electing a “Black” Dumbocrat Governor Hasn’t Stopped Blacks from Being Disproportionately Stopped, Searched, Arrested, Charged or Sentenced

According to the Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform:

What’s the problem?

Throughout Maryland’s criminal justice system, African-Americans and other minorities are impacted at more than twice the rate of White Marylanders, although whites are reported to violate the laws at roughly the same rates. This phenomenon repeats from traffic stops, to searches, arrests, charges, pretrial incarceration, prison sentences, and parole or probation.  

Some Maryland counties and Baltimore City experience this problem at rates higher than others.  

The Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy (MSCCSP) also is charged by statute with the responsibility to “reduce unwarranted disparity, including any racial disparity, in sentences for criminals who have committed similar crimes and have similar criminal histories.” Md.Code, Crim.Proc.Art.,sec.6-202. MSCCSP, in recent years, considered the question and  concluded that a more comprehensive study reaching far beyond sentencing is needed: 

MSCCSP, in its (December 2023-revised) “Assessment of Racial Differences in Maryland Guidelines-Eligible Sentencing Events” report, confirmed that the problem is not limited to our sentencing process: “Black and Hispanic individuals generally received more stringent criminal sentences in Maryland, including higher incarceration rates and longer sentences, on average, in comparison to White sentenced individuals”; and, further, that “Blacks’ mean offender scores are only 22% higher than Whites’ offender scores, [but] Black Marylanders’ pretrial detention is substantially higher than Whites’ and their median overall non-suspended sentences is double that of Whites.”

Overall, the disproportionate rate of incarceration of African-Americans in Maryland prisons is the highest in all 50 U.S. states – even higher than that in #2 Mississippi. Why? [MORE]

According to FUNKTIONARY:

reform – superficial change in form and formalities (fictitious change) which only further lubricates the status quo by renovating and painting old society in new colors. 2) appearance of change sans the change. Reform is always in the service of the status quo and the politician: it serves the privilege of the past not the promise of the future. Reform creates hypocrisy as a matter of course. Reform is the first stage in the three “R’s” in hue-man evolution; the other two being revolution and rebellion. There are two basic types of reformists: those who are preparing the ground for Third Eye revolution and those who are trying to prevent the conscious revolution. (See: Revolution, Status Quo, Meme & Change)

reformers – naïve politicians. They came to do good and stayed to do well. Reformers themselves get reformed into the structure, consciousness and content of the dominant exploitative system—and thus become the system. (See: Revolution)

voting – a pacification (sucker) process which allows the votary to make choices provided to her/him, not decisions. 2) a “privilege” of U.S. citizens to do it behind a curtain—as long as they do it alone. 3) political masturbation exercises for those who can’t cop real power. 4) a habitually accepted imposition that gives the votary-vassal-suckers an illusion of inclusion or participation. 5) an act of self-abuse. People mistake their voting for their voice—as the voice of the people is seldom, if ever, their own. While some died fighting for the privilege (not right) to vote or not to vote, they were restricted and therefore had no choice in the matter. If voting was a right, no one would ever have had to lose his or her life in a struggle to exercise that right. The Voting Rights Act of 1964 demonstrates that voting is a civic privilege (franchise) bestowed upon a people instead of the act of voting being an inherent right where exercise of the option to vote is one’s own decision without an attached obligation (compulsion) or expectation (compunction). We need to establish and assert our economic rights and declare our “endependence” by designing, collectively owning, controlling and administering our own systems of monetary and economic exchange (that funktion in the interests of its creators and participants) so as to take ownership of our bodies, labor, and fruits of our mental assets in the form of substantive rights receipts (circulating “money” in electronic form or circulating cash). [MORE]

William Blake: I Will Choose Death Over Life Behind Bars Unless New York Changes Its Parole Laws

In 2013, when I had been locked up in solitary confinement for 25 years, I wrote an essay entitled “A Sentence Worse Than Death,” which I’m told has been read by upwards of a million people to date. It describes what life was like in “the box” (the special housing unit, or SHU for short) in New York’s state prisons, and posited that if given the choice, I would have opted for a sentence of death over more than two decades of incarceration in abject isolation.

At the time, I didn’t have that choice. Now, it appears, I do.

I am a 62-year-old man and have recently developed health issues that have led me to start thinking quite a bit about death and dying. When the problems you’re confronted with can kill you, it’s only natural to do this. Sooner or later, we will all have to face the fact of our mortality.

Not everyone, though, is locked up and serving a prison sentence longer than they will live to finish.

I am a prisoner who is serving such a sentence. Currently, I have been locked up for 39 years. I am not eligible for parole until August 2060, when I would be two months shy of my 97th birthday. Unless the law changes, in all likelihood I will be in prison for the rest of my life. Mine could be a sentence of death by incarceration.

I started my death thoughts at the obvious place: I thought about the life I would likely be living if I fought hard to beat the lung disease I have that could kill me, and managed to conquer it. [MORE]

The Government Knows: While the Political Circus Distracts Us, Flock Builds the Digital Police State

From [HERE] While Americans remain transfixed by the political circus—cheering for their preferred party, jeering at the opposition, obsessing over every manufactured outrage and waiting for the next spectacle—the Surveillance State continues its steady march forward.

The government is watching.

It watches where you go, whom you meet, where you worship, what medical offices you visit, what political rallies you attend, what protests you join, what books you read, what websites you visit and what causes you support.

It watches through your phone, your car, your doorbell, your appliances, your purchases, your social media accounts and the cameras positioned along the roads you travel every day.

This is how freedom dies in the digital police state: not always through dramatic declarations of martial law or soldiers stationed on every street corner, but through the gradual construction of a technological dragnet—an electronic concentration camp—so pervasive that privacy becomes impossible and anonymity becomes suspicious.

Enter Flock Safety, a private surveillance technology company whose automated license plate readers have spread throughout thousands of American communities.

These cameras, which do much more than photograph license plates, represent the next evolution of the government’s public-private surveillance partnership.

They document the time and location of every passing vehicle and record identifying characteristics such as its make, model, color, damage, roof racks, bumper stickers and other distinctive features. That information can then be placed in a searchable database and used to retrace a vehicle’s movements over time.

Yet the real power—and the real danger—of Flock does not come from the cameras alone.

It comes from artificial intelligence.

A camera can photograph a car. Flock’s AI-powered platform can identify and categorize a vehicle, compare an observation with stored records, generate alerts, identify connections and help police reconstruct where that vehicle has been.

AI is what transforms a photograph into the building blocks for a suspect society. [MORE]

Iran Media says the US Government is Lying About the Number of US Soldiers Killed in Iran

A US media report says that the Pentagon has withheld information about dozens of injuries suffered by American troops after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missile strikes on US military bases in Jordan and other sites across the region last week.

“Those attacks injured dozens of US service members and damaged several helicopters,” The New York Times reported, citing US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The report added that Iran carried out three additional strikes against US forces in Jordan during the same week. However, the Pentagon did not disclose these earlier attacks or the resulting casualties and damage.

A US military official claimed that US Central Command (CENTCOM) is not required to publicly release information about injured service members. Another official argued that doing so could allow Iran to more accurately target US forces in the region with ballistic missiles and drones.

The Pentagon has not held a major briefing on the war since May, leaving the public with little information about US military strategy.

On Friday, CBS News reported that Iranian strikes on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan left two US troops killed and one soldier missing. The two fatalities in Jordan were later identified as 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Texas.

Another US soldier was killed in Iraq.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) also announced a surprise retaliatory strike on the US special operations command center in Syria’s Al-Tanf region.

US military authorities have officially acknowledged at least 17 American soldiers killed and more than 430 wounded during the aggression against Iran. However, the number of injured has not been updated in recent weeks.

On April 1, The Intercept reported that Washington was engaged in a “casualty cover-up,” noting that nearly 750 US service members had been killed or injured — a figure significantly higher than the official US count. 

Throughout the aggression launched by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Iran, the Pentagon maintained that “operational security” takes precedence over informing the American public about developments in the conflict, including military casualties.

US officials have also declined to comment on reports that the military is running low on missile interceptors, or to explain how Iran continues to launch ballistic missiles after Trump claimed earlier in the war that Iran’s missile capabilities had been destroyed.

In response to the deaths, President Trump said the troops had died “in service of our country.” He has also claimed that the United States is fighting the war to protect its Persian Gulf allies, although other reports suggest he launched the aggression under pressure from Israel.

Last week, Trump stated that Persian Gulf states should reimburse the United States for protecting them from Iran. He specifically named Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait as countries that should compensate Washington for its security role.

Critics argue, however, that the war launched by Trump and Netanyahu has instead placed Persian Gulf states directly in the line of fire, as US and Israeli forces have used military bases in the region to launch attacks against Iran.

Observers maintain that the Trump administration’s disastrous war on Iran has failed to achieve any of its strategic objectives. Instead, it has harmed the American people, reshaped West Asia in ways detrimental to US interests, and further undermined America’s global standing.

Public approval for Trump’s decision to launch aggression against Iran now stands at -30% among Americans. [MORE]

Are US Soldiers Missile Proof, like Palestinians? The Vested Interests Use MythMatics to Conceal the Number of US Soldiers Killed in Iran War; Massa Media Says Trump Says 100 Injured but Only 17 Dead

IN THE SPECTACLE THE DEATHS OF US SOLDIERS ARE CONCEALED AND MINIMIZED BY UNCLE BROTHER TO CREATE A CONSENSUS REALITY AMONGST AMERICAN SHEEPLE THAT THE US IS dominating iran. SIMILARLY THE VESTED INTERESTS HAVE SHEEPLE BELIEVING THE ONGOING ISRAEL HOLOCAUST IS A GENOCIDE - BUT A LOW GRADE ONE WITH ONLY 100,00 MURDERED. IN REALITY BARBARIC ISRAELIENS HAVE MURDERED AT LEAST ONE MILLION PEOPLE [MORE] ACCORDING TO FUNKTIONARY:

mythematics – the manipulation of statistics to formulate and reflect the validity a preconceived desired result or position in an academic and/or socio-political context. (See: Statistics)

mythmatic – the creation and manipulation of numbers and dates to support the veracity of a religious myth.

mass media – “Massa’ Media. Massa’s media plus (+) Mass Hypnosis = Mindless Masses. 2) The “Mess” Media. 3) wholesale retale—retelling the whole tale (propaganda) exactly as you’re told, consistently and relentlessly. How can you possibly relate when you are framed by the very debate wherein you are an unwilling spectator? Let’s be perfectly clear on this. There’s no counteroption or outlet to vent when you’re under the controlled thoughtform of mass-think manufactured consent. “Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.” ~A.J. Liebling. (See: Media, T.V., Mass, Alienation, Spectacle Society, NEWS, ABCTV, Propaganda, Legislation & The New God Economy)

US President Donald Trump has brushed aside Democratic lawmakers’ calls to end the war with Iran after four US service members were killed in a missile strike on a military base in the Middle East. The Republican appeared to downplay the extent of the casualties in the conflict, suggesting that the death tolls suffered by the US military during the Vietnam and Afghanistan wars were far higher.

On Saturday, the US Central Command reported that four American service members had lost their lives after Iranian forces had pounded a military installation in Jordan and Iraq with ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones the previous day.

In a phone interview with the New York Post later on Saturday, Trump said that the recent losses were a “shame,” claiming that the American troops “died because they don’t want to see Iran have a nuclear weapon and they don’t want to see the Middle East blown up.”[MORE] and [MORE]

On Monday, The New York Times reported that the Pentagon has withheld information about dozens of injuries suffered by American troops after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missile strikes on US military bases in Jordan and other sites across the region last week.

“Those attacks injured dozens of US service members and damaged several helicopters,” the report said, citing US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It added that Iran carried out three additional strikes against US forces in Jordan during the same week. However, the Pentagon did not disclose these earlier attacks or the resulting casualties and damage.

A US military official claimed that US Central Command (CENTCOM) is not required to publicly release information about injured service members. Another official argued that doing so could allow Iran to more accurately target US forces in the region with ballistic missiles and drones.

The Pentagon has not held a major briefing on the war since May, leaving the public with little information about US military strategy. [MORE]

Several US Troops Killed in Strike on American Military Compound in Jordan: IRGC

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says several US military forces were killed after Iranian forces targeted a compound housing American troops in the al-Rukban area of Jordan.

In its 40th statement issued on Tuesday, the IRGC said Iran’s punitive operation against the American enemy is continuing successfully.

It said that as part of the 24th wave of Operation Nasr 2, the IRGC Aerospace Force struck a compound hosting “terrorist and child-killing” US forces in the al-Rukban region in Jordan, killing a number of them.

The statement added that the US war secretary reported a casualty figure that was far below the actual number.

“Let the enemies know that in the lexicon of no nation are cowardly soldiers who use advanced weapons to kill innocent children considered heroes,” it added.

The statement also noted that freedom-seeking nations around the world will soon bring war criminals to justice. [MORE]

IRGC Strikes US Command Center in Syria, Radars in Oman, Depots in Kuwait. Says "a Large Number of Criminal US Troops were Killed"

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has launched a sweeping wave of retaliatory strikes across West Asia, targeting a US special operations command center in Syria, American radar sites in Oman, and weapons depots and launchers in Kuwait. 

In a statement on Friday, the IRGC’s Public Relations Department said that during the operation conducted by the Aerospace Force, a radar system and several special operations helicopters were destroyed while a large number of criminal US troops were killed.

It added that the strike came in revenge for the blood of the seven innocent Iranian soldiers who were martyred on Wednesday in the American aerial assault on the Army's 388th Brigade garrison in Bampur, near the southeastern city of Iranshahr.

“Our brave fighters remain in full control of the Strait of Hormuz. As long as the United States persists in its acts of mischief, not a single drop of oil or gas will be permitted to be exported from the region,” it emphasized. [MORE]

US Violations of MOU Prove Trump's Signature is 'Worthless': Iran Leader

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei says the United States’ repeated violations of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) have once again proven that the American president’s signature is “utterly worthless and invalid.”

In a statement on Saturday, the Leader emphasized that US actions have exposed that “bullying, hegemony, and savagery” are inseparable components of American behavior and conduct.

“Today, the Great Satan has once again revealed its true and unmasked face,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. “This dark experience of crime and broken promises serves as yet another solid document of America’s dishonesty, irrationality, untrustworthiness, and vileness.”

Ayatollah Khamenei further asserted that the Iranian nation and the Resistance Front have “unforgettable lessons” in store for the American enemy, citing the courage of Islam’s warriors and the resolve of the brave people in southern Iran as recent examples of this steadfastness.

“Now that the American enemy is seeking to foment war and suffer heavier costs and further humiliation, it should know that the dear nation of Iran and the Resistance Front hold unforgettable lessons for it, lessons of which the valor of the warriors of Islam and the zeal of the brave people of the southern region have demonstrated clear examples in recent days.” [MORE]

TrumpStein: ‘Not Good Enuff. Iran Can’t Require Ships in Its Own Waters to Coordinate with Them! Unlimited Numbers of Ships Must Go Through at Anytime w/o Regard to Safety or Space. My Master Said So’

From [FAIR] We’re joined now by Phyllis Bennis. She’s a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. She’s an international advisor for Jewish Voice for Peace, and author of many books, including, recently, Understanding Palestine and Israel, from Olive Branch Press. She joins us now by phone. Welcome back to CounterSpin, Phyllis Bennis.

Phyllis Bennis: Great to be with you, Janine.

JJ: Let me just stick with today, July 8, for a minute, and ABC News’ rendering for a second. I think it’s not especially bad or good; I think it’s just reflective. So they say:

The 14-point MOU committed the signatories to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz for commercial traffic, with the US lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Iran also committed not to pursue nuclear weapons—a commitment Tehran has previously made—while the US agreed to allow Iranian oil sales and to begin work on a $300 million reconstruction fund for the country.

So there’s numerous things that you might pick up on there, but where would you start? If you were talking to someone about this statement—and again, I’m not saying it’s inaccurate—but if you were to come along with folks reading news media coverage, what would you add or annotate?

PB: Well, there’s a lot, not surprisingly.

The MOU, the Memorandum of Understanding, is very short. It’s like a page and a half long. And it’s one of the reasons, one of many reasons, why there were so many questions about: Can you tell us the difference between this MOU and what was known as the JCPOA (because it was an actual agreement) that was negotiated during the Obama period?

And the first part of answering that question is that that, one, the Obama period JCPOA, was a nuclear deal. The MOU is a memorandum to talk about what we should talk about. It was an agreement about what we should talk about. So you can’t really compare them. It’s not just like apples and oranges; it’s kind of apples and rosebushes, or something. So let’s start with that reality.

Now, there are some things about the MOU that were pretty clear. Ironically enough, from the US vantage point, what was clear was what Iran is supposed to get out of this ‘agreement to go forward.’ One of which was the part you just referred to, Janine, about that they were going to allow free traffic through the strait of Hormuz, without charging anything, for 60 days. After that, the implication was, they could charge fees or service charges or other things; it wasn’t spelled out, but that was the implication. But that they were obligated to arrange for the safe passage.

The US decided that that clearly meant—because they say it with that kind of outrage—that clearly meant that Iran had to simply not do anything, and let any ships go through, without any power. Without acknowledging that part of this was the understanding that Iran has something to say about what ships in what order, at what time, and how many, traverse the Strait, which is both part of international waters and within Iran’s territorial waters. The same is true for Oman on the other side of the Strait, but that seemed to not be part of the MOU.

So the significance of that, it’s not just some technical, legal thing. It’s that the Iranian understanding of what the MOU said was that it had to arrange for ships to traverse safely through the Strait of Hormuz. And their position is, “That’s what we’re doing. We’re telling every ship they have to coordinate with us. If they want to coordinate with somebody else, that’s up to them, but they have to coordinate with us for this 60 days, and we will not charge them anything.”

The US says, “That’s not good enough.” They can’t require ships to coordinate with them. They have to just allow ships to go through, without checking in with anybody, without caring how many, are they going to crash into each other? What kind of naval restrictions are underway? Nothing.

And that’s what has led to this most recent occasion. For Iran, the ability to control the Strait of Hormuz has been the one strategic victory they have won through this horrific war that has been waged. And in that context, the notion that you might expect them to simply stand back and say, “Oh, the Strait of Hormuz? Yeah, we’re going back to what it was before the war. Before you destroyed almost 4,000 lives in our country, before you destroyed 170 school girls on your first day, before you assassinated our leader, before all of that—that’s the position we’ll go back to.” It’s kind of, what planet do they think they’re living on? So there’s those kinds of things in the MOU that the US is claiming should be the interpretation, but clearly is not. [MORE]

Cost of Iran War Secretly Hits $100 Billion: China and Russia Look On While the US Consumes its Munitions Supply and Fiscal Bandwidth for Puppet Trumpstein's War to Enrich His Masters

By June 30, 2026, OMB Director Russel Vought revised the public figure only marginally to roughly USD30 billion (RM114 billion), a number independent institutions now treat as a politically managed floor rather than a comprehensive ceiling.

CSIS calculated a more granular USD34 billion to USD42 billion (RM129 billion to RM160 billion) range for Department of Defense costs, isolating munitions expenditure at approximately USD26.1 billion (RM99 billion), reflecting the extraordinary consumption of Tomahawk cruise missiles during the campaign’s opening days.

Popular Information’s 120-day tracker produced a starkly higher USD103 billion (RM391 billion) total, driven by USD46.7 billion (RM177 billion) in weapons alone, alarming planners already facing backlogs at Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.

Brown University’s tracker calculated USD113.3 billion (RM431 billion) across 108 days once deployment and sustainment costs were incorporated, while Harvard’s Linda Bilmes warned upfront costs alone could reach USD200 billion (RM760 billion), with lifetime costs potentially exceeding USD1 trillion. [MORE]

While White Sheeple Celebrated Their Play Freedumb on July 4th, Over 40 Million Unified Iranians and Iraqis Vowed Revenge for the US Government's Unlawful, Unprovoked War at Martyred Leader's Funeral

The massive funeral processions held for martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in Iraq demonstrated the depth of ties between Iran and Iraq while sending a political message to the United States and its allies, according to an Iraqi political analyst.

Speaking to the Press TV website, Jumaa al-Atwani, a senior political analyst and director of Iraq's Horizon Center for Political and Strategic Studies, pointed to the messages of historic funeral procession held in Iraq on Wednesday for the martyred Leader. 

"The magnificent funeral of Imam Khamenei in Iraq and the participation of millions of Iraqi citizens not only showed the depth of unity and solidarity between the Iranian and Iraqi peoples, but also served as another missile and blow to the heart of global arrogance, led by the United States," he said.

The funeral ceremonies for the martyred Leader drew massive crowds across Iran and Iraq. Initial Iraqi media reports estimated that over ten million people took part in the processions in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, prompting a delay to the final stage of the funeral in the Iranian holy city of Mashhad. [MORE] and [MORE]

Israelien Terrorcrats Use Drones to Murder People Attending a Funeral in Gaza

[the numbers here are reported by massa media - so they are probably fabricated, parroted mythematics obtained from government authorities] Multiple Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 14 Palestinians, more than half of them in a drone strike on a funeral procession.

Nine months into its so-called “ceasefire” with Hamas, Israel continues to violate it on a near-daily basis.

Eight people were killed when an Israeli strike targeted a gathering of civilians in the Al-Balata market area of Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Friday, Gaza’s civil defence agency and a hospital said.

At least 20 others were injured, the Al-Awda Hospital added.

Witnesses said the drone targeted Palestinian mourners gathered outside the Ahmad Yassin Mosque as they waited to begin a funeral procession for a Palestinian killed in a separate attack earlier in the day in the same area. [MORE]