[Rooters] A Minnesota man was convicted on Friday on charges that he wrote and distributed a 236-page manuscript titled "How to Kill a Federal Judge" that threatened members of the federal judiciary, including a judge who presided over an earlier, similar case against him.
A federal jury in St. Paul, Minnesota, found Robert Phillip Ivers, 73, guilty on all three counts including that he mailed threatening communications and threatened to murder a federal judge, according to court records.
His court-appointed lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ivers, who was previously convicted of threatening to kill a federal judge in 2019, was arrested in September 2025 as a torrent of threats targeting members of the federal judiciary mounted. The U.S. Marshals Service says it has recorded threats against 299 different judges in the current fiscal year.
Federal prosecutors brought charges against Ivers after staff at a library in Wayzata, Minnesota, reported seeing him print copies of his manuscript, which he showed them.
Prosecutors alleged that Ivers gave them a three-page flyer that described his book as a guide "designed to teach extremists on how to plan, train, hunt, stalk and kill anyone including judges, their family members, politicians and more!"
Is he Antifa/Black Bloc, some sort of far right fanatic, or just plain nuts? He doesn’t appear in the Rantburg archives as either Robert Phillip Ivers or Robert Ivers.
Authorities have said that a later search of Ivers' car uncovered, among other things, 20 spiral-bound copies of his manuscript. Prosecutors described the document as a "manifesto" that included the names of several people and judges.
Among them was Iowa-based U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt, who before his death in January had, due to recusals by judges in Minnesota, presided over a 2019 trial in which Ivers was convicted of threatening to kill U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright.
Pratt sentenced Ivers to 18 months in prison. The indictment charged Ivers with not only threatening Pratt but also a lawyer who testified to hearing Ivers threaten to kill Wright.
A copy of the manuscript was mailed to the lawyer's law firm, the indictment said, and prosecutors said Ivers told law enforcement he also sent copies to both judges as well as all nine U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Prosecutors initially also secured an indictment charging Ivers with threatening to kill a Supreme Court justice. But they later dropped that charge after Ivers' now-former lawyer said prosecutors altered their theory of which one he threatened from Chief Justice John Roberts to Justice Neil Gorsuch.
With the judicial precedent now on the books.
Start arresting all those that wrote Social Media Posts, or made media published comments (The View, CNN, MSM and etc.) threatening Trump, his Admin people and those supporting MAGA.
on September 3, 2025, law enforcement responded to the Wayzata Library in Wayzata, Minnesota, based on a report of a man printing off copies of a manifesto entitled, “How to Kill a Federal Judge.” This man was Robert Ivers. Law enforcement learned that Ivers showed the manifesto to library staff including a page of the manifesto that talked about killing children and had a picture of a gun on it. Ivers also gave library staff a three-page “flyer” advertising his manifesto before he left the library. The flyer stated that the manifesto “is designed to teach extremists on how to plan, train, hunt, stalk and kill anyone including judges, their family members, politicians and more!” It also advertised that the “harsh reality is that judges are going to die.”
In investigating the case, law enforcement learned that, on August 28, 2025, Ivers had been reported for concerning behavior at an Episcopal church in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Ivers attended multiple services and told church members that he planned to attend upcoming church events on September 7 (a family picnic and potluck), September 11 (a blessing of children going back to school, with state legislators in attendance), and September 14 (an annual baptism service). Church staff searched Ivers online and discovered his history included past threats of violence, a felony conviction, and racist commentary. Church staff then contacted law enforcement.
On the evening of September 3, 2025, the Wayzata Police Department located Ivers and arrested him. During his transport, Ivers claimed that he was having a heart attack. Law enforcement transferred Ivers to the hospital from the jail. Ivers was subsequently released from the hospital later that night.
Law enforcement searched Ivers’s vehicle and found, among other things: (1) a photo of the former Pope with crosshairs centered on his head; (2) twenty copies of a spiral bound printed book titled, “How to Kill a Federal Judge” by Robert Ivers; (3) multiple copies of flyers advertising the contents of the book; (4) lists of federal judges; (5) a copy of the Anarchist Cookbook; (6) a white foam box containing a toy replica firearm, a box of Co2 cartridges, and a container of pellets; and (7) a box of fireworks.
On September 5, 2025, Wayzata Police Department re-arrested Ivers. Following his arrest, Ivers was interviewed. Ivers admitted to showing a copy of his manifesto to library staff. Law enforcement asked Ivers if he thought his book would have scared anybody. In response, Ivers shouted: “It was supposed to!”
Ivers’s manifesto is 236 pages long. The cover page is entitled, “How to Kill a Federal Judge” and features a photo of a man holding a rifle. In his manifesto, Ivers focused on the perceived wrongs done to him by the judicial system. He discussed these wrongs—and his anticipated revenge—at length. The manifesto contains various types of writings and many disturbing sketches, apparently drawn by Ivers. The manifesto also contains handwritten threats to kill, including threats to kill judges, as well as their children and pets. Ivers made clear his purpose was to instill fear. He wrote, “If this book doesn’t instill fear in you then your already dead.”
[TASS] A joint statement issued after the Mecca summit emphasizes that the agreement is aimed at strengthening joint deterrence against any aggression
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan have officially signed a trilateral defense agreement, establishing a mutual defense commitment whereby an attack on any one of the signatory nations will be regarded as an attack on all three, the Turkish presidential office said.
A joint statement issued after the Mecca summit emphasizes that the agreement is aimed at strengthening joint deterrence against any aggression and stipulates that any armed attack on one of the three countries will be considered an attack on all. It also provides for the development of defense cooperation between the three nations.
The deal, known as the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, was signed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, marking a significant step in regional security cooperation.
#4
I expect more of the Gulf states to sign onto the agreement largely due to short term and long-term doubts about the reliability of the US government in general and the belief that the US will back Israel over the Gulf states under any circumstances.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] The US Senate approved a bill to tighten American sanctions against Russia and Iran. The meeting was broadcast live on the Senate website on August 7.
The initiative was supported by 86 senators, with 11 legislators opposing it. The document was sent to the House of Representatives. The vote was held before the senators' summer recess, which began that same day and will last five weeks.
Therefore, further consideration of the bill will not begin until next fall. It is expected that several members of Congress in the House of Representatives may oppose the initiative, as the sanctions imply another increase in customs duties.
Earlier, US Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock blocked the accelerated passage of a bill on sanctions against Russia in the US Senate.
On August 3, the US government imposed sanctions on the Russian Ground Forces and several Ministry of Defense agencies. The sanctions were cited as a violation of US non-proliferation laws against Iran, North Korea, and Syria.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump stated the need to supplement the bill on sanctions against Russia by including Iran.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/08/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[179 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Sanctions: +1
Blanche Appt: +1
Save America Act -99999999999999999
Each project reduces the ability of Iran and the Houthis to impact oil deliveries via the the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb Strait chokepoints.
[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] Iraq is planning a new land route through Syria to diversify its oil exports after the rising security risks in the Strait of Hormuz paralyzed the global oil and energy market amid the Middle East crisis, Anadolu reports.
Iraq exports most of its crude through southern terminals in Basra, but recent maritime tensions in the Gulf have prompted Baghdad to seek alternatives.
Asim Jihad, an Iraqi oil expert, told Anadolu Agency that the Iraqi Oil Ministry’s main mitigation strategy is to increase shipments through Turkiye’s Port of Ceyhan from the current daily volume of 150,000-200,000 barrels to 300,000 barrels.
Suspended shipments in the Strait of Hormuz are costing Iraq around 3.5 million barrels of oil per day.
He said the ministry is preparing to export 50,000 barrels of Basra crude per day to global markets by tanker trucks through Syria’s Banyas port, as Iraq needs to offload heavy crude that is causing blockages in refineries and disrupting operations.
While revenues from the alternative tanker shipments are expected to be limited, Jihad said Baghdad is pursuing the option to ease economic pressure and address budget shortfalls.
He said constructing new pipelines would be the ultimate and only sustainable long-term option, as the existing Iraq-Syria oil pipeline is not currently suitable for exports.
Ali Naji, president of the Eco-Iraq Observatory, said resuming shipments through Syria is important because it would provide Iraq with a much-needed alternative and allow the country to build a more flexible export structure by reducing its heavy dependence on the Gulf.
Naji said establishing an additional export corridor through Syrian territory could lay the foundation for bilateral cooperation in oil and logistics, support broader economic ties, and create a suitable environment for reactivating pipeline projects or developing new energy infrastructure.
He added that the high logistical cost of transporting oil by tanker trucks, compared with traditional pipelines, poses a challenge to the project, along with the limited volume that can be moved by truck and ongoing security risks along land routes.
#6
In maybe 2-5 years there will be very little oil going the Straits of Hormuz or Bab-el-Mandeb. The Gulf states are going to find alternative ways to ship oil by tanker that will prevent the Iranians or Houthis from blocking or damaging their tankers.
#7
Underground pipelines are the most efficient, long-term methods of transporting crude oil and natural gas. I would offer that Alaskan pipeline as an example.
#9
Bechtel built the TAPline in 1947 at the request of ARAMCO, per a request from the USG to provide oil to Europe's reconstruction - and lower the foreign demand on the Great East Texas oil field. Originally it was to terminate in Haifa, but then Israel came into existence and TAPline was routed thru the Golan Heights into du Leb with the oil port close to Sidon. This became a problem and TAPline was closed down. The lesson? Any pipeline across national borders means the supply is at risk due to political issues/extortion.
I found a great video done by Bechtel documenting the pipeline's construction. It is quite amazing when you learn the timeline.
[Rudaw] The Iranian-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) said Friday it postponed its response to US-Saudi airstrikes on the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), following a call for restraint by a senior Iraqi Shiite politician, Hadi al-Ameri, head of the influential Badr Organization political and armed group. ”Please don’t hurt us!”
The IRI announced that in response to Hadi al-Ameri’s call and “in alignment with the honorable positions of some honorable political leaders, it has been decided to postpone the response that was scheduled for today, the twenty-third of the blessed month of Safar (Auguest 7).”
The Umberella group affirmed “that the pure blood of the martyrs has not been and will never be a commodity in the market of political calculations,” calling upon politicians “whom the chair [power] has blinded from protecting blood and violated sovereignty to review themselves and return to their senses.” That was some pretty argle-bargle
The announcement follows Ameri’s video message early Friday, in which he urged the IRI to postpone any response to the “American-Saudi attack that targeted Iraq,” and to “endure these wounds patiently,” for the sake of Iraq's higher interest, adding that the rights of the dead and the wounded will be pursued through diplomatic means.
[NY Post] The United Nations is trying to block the construction of a much-needed school for desperate Palestinian kids at an empty UNRWA compound, according to Israeli officials — who are accusing the organization of putting politics ahead of children.
Crews are expected to move into a 22-acre site in the densely populated east Jerusalem neighborhood of Kafr Aqab in the coming days to start construction of the campus, so it can welcome students when the school year begins on Sept. 1, Israeli officials told The Post.
However, the officials say the UN is preparing to condemn the Jewish state for removing UNRWA — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees — from the property.
The officials believe the UN is fighting Israel’s 2025 decision to expel UNRWA from the country after allegations that workers for the mission in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks — even if that means opposing a project they say will benefit Palestinian children.
“They’re choosing politics over Palestinian children,” one Israeli official told The Post, arguing that the UN is more interested in preserving UNRWA’s footprint in Israel than allowing new schools to be built for Arab students.
[Rooters] Lebanon and Israel have agreed a shortlist of countries that could send troops to verify the disarmament of Hezbollah under a U.S.-brokered agreement, a Lebanese official said on Friday, with the United States due to pick countries from the list.
The official declined to identify any of the countries on the shortlist or say how many there were. Another Lebanese official and two foreign diplomats have previously told Reuters that Israel and the United States had vetoed France.
The list was produced during meetings between Lebanon and Israel at the U.S. embassy in Rome this week, the latest round of talks on how to implement a June 26 deal that links Israel's progressive withdrawal of troops from Lebanon to the disarmament of Hezbollah, which would be "verified" by a third party.
Hezbollah is not a party to the agreement and has refused to give up its arsenal.
"We have reached a short list of countries. We decided which parties were impossible for each and set the potential actors," the Lebanese official said. "The Americans will now decide, and could pick more than one country."
There was no immediate response from Israel's foreign ministry to Reuters questions on the shortlist. When asked about the shortlist, a State Department spokesperson said the talks were "productive on the technical and expert levels" but did not provide further details.
LEBANON REJECTS PRIVATE SECURITY FIRMS
The United States has been trying to broker an end to fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which has raged since March in parallel with the wider U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
Two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, Hezbollah fired at Israel in solidarity with Tehran. Israeli forces responded with aerial bombardments and a ground assault, seizing a strip of land extending about 10 km (6 miles) deep into southern Lebanon. More than a million Lebanese civilians were forced to flee their homes.
The Lebanese official said Beirut had rejected an earlier proposal for private security companies to play the role of third-party verifier of Hezbollah's disarmament.
"All of the actors proposed are countries. We still need to discuss exactly how this would work, how many forces would be deployed and how they would work with the Lebanese army," the official said.
A framework for the presence of foreign troops in Lebanon would also need to be agreed, possibly by housing them under a U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, whose mandate is due to expire at the end of this year.
The Lebanese official said that would require a new U.N. Security Council resolution, which the U.S. and Israel were now willing to consider in what he called a breakthrough. Other possibilities include housing the troops under a separate U.N. agency or through a memorandum of understanding with Lebanon.
The talks did not, however, produce an agreement on the next area from which Israeli troops would withdraw so that Lebanese troops could take control. Beirut had proposed Bint Jbeil and Khiam, two large towns that have been hit hard by air strikes and where Israeli troops have razed entire neighbourhoods.
The next round of talks is set for early September, the official said.
[Breitbart] "He's dead, Jim."
Senior Iranian officials are reportedly growing increasingly concerned about the health of the country’s unseen Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, with one source close to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government saying officials “would not be surprised” to soon hear news of his death.
IranWire reported Thursday, citing two sources close to Pezeshkian’s government, that rumors Khamenei is in “extremely critical condition” and could die at any moment are circulating widely within the highest levels of the Iranian regime.
One source close to Pezeshkian’s cabinet told the opposition outlet that Khamenei’s physical condition is poor.
“We would not be surprised if we heard news of his martyrdom soon,” the source said.
The two sources also said Khamenei has not met with any members of Pezeshkian’s cabinet since the February 28 U.S.-Israeli strikes that launched Operation Epic Fury, killing his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with other members of his family.
The claims have not been independently verified, and Iranian authorities have not announced that Khamenei is critically ill.
They nevertheless add to mounting questions surrounding the condition of Iran’s elusive supreme leader, who was reportedly wounded in the February 28 attack and has not been seen or heard publicly since succeeding his father.
Khamenei has made no public appearances or televised speeches since taking power, and no video or audio of him has been released. His communications with the Iranian public have instead consisted entirely of written statements attributed to him by state media. He also notably did not appear at his father’s public funeral ceremonies last month, further fueling speculation over his condition and whereabouts.
Accounts have differed significantly over the extent of the injuries Khamenei reportedly suffered in the attack, fueling months of speculation over his physical condition and ability to govern.
Earlier this week, the Tehran Municipality-affiliated Iranian newspaper Al-Mashhari reported that authorities were withholding audio recordings of Khamenei over concerns that foreign intelligence agencies could analyze them to determine his location.
The newspaper said acoustic signatures, background equipment noise and other characteristics of a recording could potentially reveal information about Khamenei’s surroundings or condition — an explanation offered for why even the supreme leader’s voice has not been publicly released.
Pezeshkian himself acknowledged Wednesday that communicating with Khamenei is currently “very difficult.”
“It is very difficult to communicate with him at the moment, but in any case, his presence is a very great source of strength for us so that we can continue,” Pezeshkian said in an interview aired on Iranian state television.
The Iranian president nevertheless defended Khamenei during the interview, describing his interactions with the supreme leader as productive and saying he had encountered “kindness and very sound logic.”
The public acknowledgment came amid separate reporting raising questions over how much access even Iran’s president has had to the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.
Iran International reported this week, citing anonymous sources, that Pezeshkian was granted only one meeting with Khamenei after repeatedly seeking access to him — an encounter allegedly conducted under circumstances that left the president uncertain whether he had actually met the supreme leader.
According to the outlet, Pezeshkian was taken to a secret location in Tehran and allowed only minutes inside a dark vehicle with tinted windows, with a man presented to him as Khamenei.
“Pezeshkian could not see the man beside him and later asked whether the voice he had heard had really belonged to the supreme leader,” Iran International reported, citing its sources.
The account appeared to conflict with Iranian state media reports this year describing a lengthy in-person meeting between the two men. Pezeshkian said in May that he had held a “direct” and “frank” conversation with Khamenei, while state media reported that the meeting lasted roughly two and a half hours.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Iranian officials pushing for negotiations have also struggled to gain access to Khamenei, who has never appeared publicly since assuming the Islamic Republic’s most powerful position.
Pezeshkian threatened to resign in order to secure a meeting with Khamenei and warn him that Iran’s economic situation had become so dire that reaching a diplomatic understanding was urgent, according to Arab diplomats and an adviser to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps cited by the outlet.
The renewed questions surrounding Khamenei’s condition come at a particularly consequential moment for Tehran, as Iranian officials consider a temporary framework negotiated with Oman governing commercial navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
An Iranian parliamentary official said Friday that the “general framework” of the arrangement had been finalized but remained subject to final approval at the country’s “highest decision-making levels.”
Axios separately reported Friday, citing a diplomat from one of the mediating countries, that Iran was awaiting approval from its Supreme National Security Council and expected a decision shortly.
Under the emerging 60-day framework, ships entering the Persian Gulf would use a route along the Iranian side of the strait while outbound traffic would travel along the Omani side, as the parties work toward a longer-term arrangement over the strategic waterway and potentially a broader diplomatic track over Iran’s nuclear program.
The United States has insisted that any temporary routes permit unrestricted commercial navigation without Iranian tolls, fees, approvals or permissions.
Khamenei retains ultimate authority over Iran’s most consequential diplomatic and national security decisions, leaving renewed questions about his health and accessibility hanging over Tehran as it weighs an agreement that could determine the immediate course of the nearly six-month war.
#3
Lack of any public appearance by Ayatollah Mojito suggests he is either deceased or so badly damaged that he cannot be shown in public.
(What's Persian for "He done got his face blowed off"?)
Otherwise, at the very least, we would see pix of Mojito smiling bravely from his hospital bed surrounded by his trusted advisors, his survival yet another demonstration that the Great Satan has lost the war.
It is curious the Iranians cannot admit Mojito is no longer in the game. Sure, it would be a loss in the media war, but they admit Big Cheese Ayatollah and a bunch of important dudes are croaked martyred. So why not him, too?
I think the answer lies in the other Iran war, the one we cannot quite see, the one between the Ayatollahs/IRGC and the Civilian Government/Economic Interests over who gets to run the country.
Political science dude Bruce Bueno de Mesquita has created a group dynamics model based on expected utility. Leaving aside the mathy bits, the model is basically a spreadsheet of who the players are, their stated or inferred position on the topic of interest, how import it is to them, how much power they have, and their influence to recruit (or coerce) other players to their side. The model is repeated recalculated until it reaches an equilibrium with no one changing position. The model has a good record predicting things like the fall of the Shah in Iran, and some business negotiations. Using historical data, it was able to "predict" the outcome of the Cold War.
In a dictatorship, personal relationships are important. The guy at the top has a handful of trusted henchmen he needs to stay in power. Likewise, the henchmen have their own hench minions, and so on.
When somebody dies, their henchmen are up for grabs. With Mojito officially gone, his guys would need a new patron to hench for. Who exactly depends on which group or faction can offer them the best deal.
The other day there was a curious news blurb about sanctions being dropped on an IRGC-affiliated airline. Being "news", there was no context or backstory provided. Perhaps a carrot for someone thinking of changing sides, part of an on-going negotiation...
tl;dr: It may be too early to put them all to the sword. We can always play that card later. And if it finally does come to pass, won't the anticipation make it all the sweeter?
#4
I definitely agree that at least the public is not getting all the information about what is going on in Iran. I only hope Mossad is giving the US the information their agents inside Iran are collecting. The US has always relied on technology for intelligence gathering at the expense of human assets. From what I have read, the US and Israel have not attacked any or not very many regular Iranian Arny bases or equipment.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
”
