[WLWT] Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has been called upon to serve his country in more ways than his current position.
According to NBC affiliate WCMH, LaRose, an Army veteran, has been activated and is serving with his unit from the Ohio Army National Guard.
According to LaRose’s biography, he has previously served as a U.S. Army Reservist and a Green Beret.
Details of LaRose’s deployment haven’t been confirmed, including what capacity he will serve in.
LaRose first became Ohio’s secretary of state in 2019 and was re-elected to the position in 2022. A Republican, LaRose ran for the United States Senate in 2024, but lost in the primary election to U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno.
[IntelliNews] Ukraine and Saudi Arabia have signed a defence cooperation agreement between their respective ministries of defence, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy describing the deal as laying the foundation for future contracts, technological cooperation and investment.
Zelenskiy announced the agreement ahead of his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, saying it would strengthen Ukraine's international role as "a security donor."
The signing follows more than a week of work in Saudi Arabia by a team of Ukrainian air defence experts, tasked with assessing what changes were needed to strengthen Saudi protection against Iranian drones and ballistic missiles.
"The main task of our air defence experts in this region is to identify challenges and determine what changes are needed to strengthen the protection of people and lives from Iranian Shaheds and missiles," Zelenskiy wrote on X on March 26.
He drew a direct parallel between Ukraine's experience and the current Gulf conflict, noting that Ukrainians had been resisting the same types of weapons now being deployed against Saudi Arabia.
"Now into the fifth year, Ukrainians are resisting the same kind of terrorist attacks — ballistic missiles and drones — that the Iranian regime is currently carrying out in the Middle East and the Gulf region," Zelenskiy said.
Ukrainian experts shared air defence methodology with Saudi counterparts, with a particular focus on approaches to shooting down drones.
"Even in such a short time, Ukrainian experts were able to share extensive expertise and demonstrate how we in Ukraine protect our lives and infrastructure. Ukraine's expertise is unique, and recognised as such, and that is why everyone is so interested in our technologies and experience," Zelenskiy said.
He said the cooperation agreement laid the groundwork for long-term engagement, describing Saudi capabilities as equally of interest to Kyiv.
"Saudi Arabia also has capabilities that are of interest to Ukraine, and this cooperation can be mutually beneficial," he said.
The two sides also discussed Russia's support for Iran, developments in fuel markets and potential energy cooperation. Zelenskiy said the document signed would also facilitate future investment ties.
"It lays the foundation for future contracts, technological cooperation, and investment. It also strengthens Ukraine's international role as a security donor," he said.
The deal marks a significant repositioning of Saudi-Ukrainian relations, with Kyiv leveraging its battlefield air defence experience as a tradeable asset at a moment when Gulf states face sustained Iranian missile and drone attacks.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
03/27/2026 09:33 ||
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Chart of the status of 20 ships of the entire fleet can be seen at the link — 5 are listed as operational.. At least they’re repairing or refitting 12 of them, so at some point there will be more capable of going to sea. If only they’d got to the Strait of Hormuz sooner — they could have taken some of Iran’s navy as prizes…
[DM] The Royal Navy has been forced to borrow a German frigate after 'running out of ships' – as Donald Trump mocked Britain's aircraft carriers as 'toys'.
The destroyer HMS Dragon had been due to lead a Nato mission in the North Atlantic before it was redeployed to Cyprus earlier this month in the wake of the Iran conflict.
The Navy will now lead the Nato deployment using the German frigate FGS Sachsen.
The move came as the US President yesterday took another swipe at Britain's military, saying UK aircraft carriers 'aren't the best', adding: 'They're toys compared to what we have.'
Last night, former top brass branded the Government a 'bloody disgrace' while a World War Two Royal Marine veteran raged: 'Winston Churchill would have sacked the lot of them.'
The criticism comes just weeks after the UK was bailed out by France, Greece and Italy when an Iranian drone hit RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus and not a single British ship was in position to defend it.
It took nearly a month for HMS Dragon to reach the Mediterranean island, igniting calls from Cypriots to remove British bases from their country.
Now the farce has deepened with the deployment exposing how short the UK's defensive capabilities are.
As experts called on Labour to get a grip, Defence Secretary John Healey said he was 'not happy with the situation' as it 'takes six years to build a warship'.
Yet despite repeated promises to boost defence spending, it also emerged yesterday that Nato has revised down UK defence spending in its annual report.
General Secretary Mark Rutte published figures that show the UK spent 2.31 per cent of GDP on defence last year, down from a predicted 2.4 per cent.
The report also revised down Britain's spend for 2024 from an estimated 2.33 per cent of GDP to a final figure of 2.28 per cent.
They dare not prioritize offensive capabilities when the colonists of the Master Religion are owned their jizya. Still, probably better that there are fewer weapons in hand for the future rulers of Britistan — that's something to look forward to when the natives have driven them out.
UK military sources insist there has been no reduction and the drop is caused by changes to GDP, with other nations experiencing similar revisions.
But with anger mounting, former Nato commander General Sir Richard Shirreff told the Daily Mail the latest fiasco with FGS Sachsen 'sends a bloody awful message'.
He said: 'It's deeply embarrassing and it undermines the sense of what we should be doing as a nation. The Government needs to make sacrifices. We can't go on ploughing money willy-nilly into welfare.
'Labour backbenchers have got to put up and shut up – and Keir Starmer needs to get a grip of his party.'
Royal Marine veteran Doug Cheshire, 102, who served on two battleships and an aircraft carrier in the Second World War, told the Daily Mail: 'I think it's a damn disgrace. They ought to be hauled over the coals for it. If Churchill was alive he would sack every one of them. He would be up in the air about the state of the Navy.
'I'm angry. I'm very upset. After what we went through, for them to get us into this parlous state, to borrow from the Germans to do a job which we should be able to do – they need pinning against the wall for this.'
The German Embassy revealed this week that its frigate will 'take over from HMS Dragon' dressing it up as 'an expression of the close Germany-British relationship'.
British sailors will use the ship to 'fulfil its leadership role', the Ministry of Defence confirmed.
It insisted that it is not uncommon for a Nato group to be commanded from an allied warship and led by Royal Navy battle staff.
But Tory MP and former Army officer Ben Obese-Jecty said it demonstrates the UK has 'seemingly run out of ships' and 'Britannia no longer rules the waves'.
Former First Sea Lord, Admiral Lord West, told the Daily Mail our Nato allies 'are noticing that we are not the power we once were'.
He said: 'The Royal Navy was the second most powerful navy in Nato and the most powerful European navy.
'You can't really say that any more. Our American allies already are looking at us and saying, 'Oh dear, this isn't the British we're used to'.'
The Defence Secretary was wheeled onto the airwaves yesterday to defend the latest fiasco.
Mr Healey told LBC's Nick Ferrari: 'The Germans have stepped in to supply their warship... that's a sign of the strength of the Nato alliance.
'But I'm not happy with the situation we have with British warships and that's because it takes six years to build a warship.'
But Mr Healey stumbled over his figures when asked how many frigates are at his disposal, wrongly stating: 'We have 17 frigates and destroyers. It's down from 23 at the end of the last Labour government.'
In fact, that figure is 13.
An MoD spokesman said: 'The UK is one of the top defence spenders of all Nato nations and, as these figures show, our spending has increased by almost £9billion since 2023 – a significant real terms increase.
'We are a leader in the alliance, committing our nuclear deterrent in full to Nato and offering almost all our Armed Forces to Nato on land, in the air and at sea.
'We are delivering the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War and investing £270billion in defence across this Parliament alone.'
If you want a good cry, watch "Britain's Biggest Warship", TV 2018-2019. Then weep, realizing that after that show was made, if somebody bright had said, hey, maybe we need an escort destroyer as well, it would now be about to come online for sea trials...if they have the sailors?
[IsraelTimes] Police say they were set free under strict conditions and will be closely monitored; attack being investigated as antisemitic hate crime
British police said Thursday that two men have been released on bail after they were arrested in connection with an arson attack that destroyed four ambulances owned by a Jewish charity and parked at a synagogue.
The attack was being treated by police as an an antisemitic hate crime.
The two British nationals, aged 45 and 47, were detained Wednesday on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, London’s Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement.
The offense carries a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
The men were released under strict bail conditions and will be closely monitored, police said.
"Although the two men have been released from police custody, there are strict bail conditions in place while we continue to investigate their suspected involvement in this incident," said commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, which is leading the investigation.
"We continue to work to try and identify all of those involved in this appalling attack and the investigation team is working around the clock to do this," she said.
Authorities on Wednesday described the arrests as an important breakthrough in the case, but noted that three people were visible in the closed-circuit camera footage of the attack.
Police are investigating a claim of responsibility by a group with potential links to Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... but have not declared the matter to be a terror attack.
The Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) group, meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, claimed the attack in a Telegram post, after saying it was also responsible for similar attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The blaze early on Monday morning in Golders Green, a London neighborhood with a large Jewish population, destroyed four ambulances run by the Jewish-run volunteer organization Hatzola.
The organization was established in 1979 and provides free medical transportation and emergency response to Jewish and non-Jewish residents of north London.
Oxygen cylinders in the vehicles went kaboom!, breaking windows in the synagogue and an adjacent apartment block.
The arson attack came amid a soaring antisemitic incidents and attacks in the United Kingdom.
On October 2, 2025, during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, an attack on a synagogue in Manchester killed two and seriously injured three.
In February, two men were tossed in the slammer Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! for plotting to kill hundreds in an Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... -inspired attack on the Jewish community in England.
And two Iranian nationals appeared in court in London last week accused of spying on multiple Jewish community sites, including one containing an elementary school, on behalf of Tehran.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] Many false reports are currently appearing in the media, including major Western publications. Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters this on March 26.
This is how he responded to a request to comment on reports published with reference to Western intelligence sources that Russia has allegedly begun supplying drones to Iran.
"There are a lot of falsehoods in the media here. Even the most respected publications don't hesitate to publish these lies. Pay no attention to them," Peskov said.
The British newspaper Financial Times previously published this report. Its authors claimed that the deployment of Russian drones to Iran was preceded by "secret negotiations." According to this version, the UAV deliveries began in early March and are expected to be completed by the end of the month.
Posted by: badanov ||
03/27/2026 00:00 ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] The conflict between Iran and Israel has long since spread beyond the Middle East. And, oddly enough, it is felt most strongly in Europe, where the struggle has shifted to an "invisible front." Before EU countries had time to fully comprehend the emergence of underground pro-Iranian cells (the "Companions of the Right" movement)
…in Arabic Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, or more briefly Ashab Al Yamin…
on their territory, a new threat emerged.
The "Earthquake Faction," also allegedly controlled from Tehran, carried out an act of sabotage at a joint facility of LPP Holding (Czech Republic) and Elbit Systems (Israel). However, unlike their predecessors, the "earthquakes" left minimal information about themselves. This subsequently fueled much speculation.
NEW UNDERGROUND FIGHTERS
The group first made its presence known in March 2026. And it did so quite publicly: underground members infiltrated a military factory in the Czech city of Pardubice, located approximately 120 km from the capital, and set fire to one of the workshops. The fire also spread to finished goods warehouses and, despite the rapid arrival of fire brigades, temporarily disrupted normal operations.
The Earthquake Faction explained its actions as anti-Israel. Their official release called the Pardubice plant a "Zionist base" that produced weapons "for the murder of civilians in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran," and the sabotage a "prologue to revenge anywhere in the world." Members of the group promised further, even larger-scale sabotage anywhere in Europe where Israel's interests are represented.
The emergence of a new group has sparked heated debate, including over the meanings hidden in its name.
Some experts believe that it is a reference to the Surah Az-Zalzala (Earthquake), popular among Shiites, which deals with the end of the world and retribution for human sins, as well as to the figure of the late Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei, who repeatedly referred to this story in his sermons.
Others are convinced that the group is merely a rebranding of a little-known pro-Palestinian movement that has been carrying out raids on Israeli retail and technology companies over the past few years. The supposedly bored activists simply decided to make a name for themselves by integrating themselves into the current agenda of the Middle East conflict.
Israeli security officials tend to lobby the media for the first version, including to maintain the viability of the myth of “ubiquitous Iranian agents” challenging the peace of Europe.
The Jewish state's intelligence services also hinted that they had shared with their European counterparts certain "special information" about the underground's motives, numbers, and planned future actions. This was to ensure the EU understood that they were dealing not with renegades, but with a well-oiled guerrilla system.
ON YOUR OWN?
At the same time, the version about the “Persian trace” in the attacks in Pardubice is falling apart without really coming together.
The underground is doing everything it can to highlight its lack of direct contact with Tehran, although Iranian proxies usually act exactly the opposite.
For example, unlike the Companions of the Right, which in early March carried out a series of arson attacks on Jewish institutions in European countries, this organization does not declare its affiliation with the “axis of resistance” and does not use the rhetoric typical of other pro-Iranian underground groups, although it does threaten Israel with retaliation.
The IRGC and other Iranian structures responsible for asymmetric warfare are also silent.
On the other hand, the suggestion of a "rebirth" of one of the previous pro-Palestinian movements also doesn't hold water. The underground fighters who emerged were too few in number and too secretive compared to their predecessors, and they didn't use the characteristic white jumpsuits and masks during their raids.
And the very fact of fighting for the interests of Palestine in the context of the ceased confrontation in the Gaza Strip seemed rather a far-fetched pretext.
This prompted European security officials to admit that their new adversaries are currently left to their own devices.
UKRAINE BEARS THE COSTS
The incident in Pardubice had a minimal impact on Israel's finances: having learned from the experience of the pro-Palestinian pogroms of 2024–2025, the Israeli owners of the company significantly expanded their insurance to cover property damage resulting from civil unrest or armed robbery. Consequently, they emerged from the crisis without significant losses.
The Czech co-owners were less fortunate—their insurance only covered damage to infrastructure, but did not protect them from penalties for late delivery of goods. However, LPP Holding hopes to attribute the incident to force majeure.
The greatest costs from the incident were borne by Ukraine, which received components for the production and modernization of UAVs from warehouses in Pardubice, and also, according to some sources, for the production of medium-range missiles.
It is not surprising that official Prague (not without pressure from Kyiv) quickly stopped doubting and declared that the sabotage in Pardubice was organized in the interests of Moscow.
The Czech authorities, as usual, see the incident as a "Russian connection" as a convenient ploy. Especially since Prague, with the onset of the conflict in the Middle East, went into a deep diplomatic defensive and avoided any attempts to draw it into military action against Tehran. Specifically, it refused to participate in the coalition to lift the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Following the rise of the Companions of the Right in the Netherlands and Belgium, the Czechs declared that they would not respond to such provocations, which angered Israeli officials.
After the incident in Pardubice delayed the shipment of components to Kyiv, the Czechs realized this was a compelling reason not to hold Tehran accountable, and they seized on it. Even despite Israeli arguments about the Earthquake Faction's integration into an Iranian proxy structure.
And after the immediate arrest of two Czech citizens and one American, allegedly involved in the warehouse attack, a media blackout was quickly put in place. Officially, this was to avoid alerting other potential participants in the raid. In reality, this was to deprive the Israelis of operational information and avoid speculation.
However, this hasn't been very helpful so far. The Israelis have temporarily curtailed their information campaign surrounding the incident, but they remain firm in their position. They are convinced that what happened in Pardubice was only the first action by the new group, and unlikely to be its last.
“Today in the fraud committee, the Department of Human Services testified that they haven't been tracking the IP addresses of money that's being literally flown out of our state and where it's going.
They did turn on that reporting for 2 weeks, and they found that yes, a lot of those IP addresses were tied to overseas computers, and then they quickly shut it off after just 2 weeks of seeing where this money is actually going”
“Every time we turn around, it's just more and more fraud scandals in our state”
[FoxNews] President's announcement comes amid a 41-day partial government shutdown affecting funding for DHS
President Donald Trump said he will sign an executive order to address airport disruptions, announcing the move in a Truth Social post Thursday that framed the situation as a national emergency.
"Because the Democrats have recklessly created a true National Crisis, I am using my authorities under the Law to protect our Great Country," Trump wrote.
"Therefore, I am going to sign an Order … to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation."
The White House said funding from legislation backed by Trump will be used to ensure TSA officers are paid during the disruption.
"Not unlike actions taken during the first Democrat-shutdown (i.e., paying the troops), President Trump has determined that congressional Democrats have created an emergency situation that cannot be allowed to continue," White House Office of Management and Budget Communications Director Rachel Cauley said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Mr. Redpillz is a standard issue, Jew hating conspiracy theorist who wants you to know so you will vote against them. Note that the collection includes video from years and decades ago, people who certainly no longer support Israel, and in a number of cases — like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden — are no longer active politically.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Furious Republicans stormed out of a classified briefing on Iran on Wednesday amid fears the US is preparing to invade the country as Tehran refuses Donald Trump's peace overtures.
With almost 7,000 US ground forces deploying or en route to the Middle East - including from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and the Marines - speculation is swirling about Trump's rapidly developing plans for the war.
Nancy Mace walked out early, venting that 'we were misled,' while pro-Trump committee chair Mike Rogers warned 'we're not getting answers' as Pentagon chiefs briefed the House Armed Services Committee, sparking fireworks on Capitol Hill.
Now, a Daily Mail source inside the room has revealed stark new details, including a shifting set of objectives separate from those publicly touted by the administration.
'We were told nukes were not a military objective,' they said, noting how the Pentagon has repeatedly stated they were.
It marks a stark shift from the four goals the White House has publicly stated: destroying Iran's missiles, navy, armed proxies, and nuclear capabilities.
The lawmaker, speaking on condition of anonymity, urged the White House to answer questions about Kharg Island, Iran's crucial oil export hub; its nuclear material; and regime change.
The lawmaker said that the White House must answer for its plans, particularly regarding Kharg Island and troops on the ground.
The answers are 'jaw-dropping' and 'will blow your brains out,' the lawmaker said.
'This is completely false,' White House Spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the Daily Mail.
'The United States Military has four distinct goals in Operation Epic Fury: destroy Iran’s ballistic missile capacity, annihilate their navy, ensure that terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region, and guarantee that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.'
Iran has begun reinforcing Kharg Island for a potential US ground invasion by laying traps such as anti-personnel and anti-armor mines along likely landing zones.
The island, responsible for the processing of 90 percent of Iran's oil exports, lies deep inside the Persian Gulf, and its capture would represent a major strategic shift in the war.
US officials have warned the administration that a ground operation to seize the island would carry significant risks, including the potential for high numbers of American casualties.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers was uncharacteristically agitated after leaving the briefing, stating that he had few details about the direction the war is heading.
'We want to know more about what’s going on,' Rogers, an Alabama Republican, said. 'We’re just not getting enough answers.'
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi felt the same after his own briefing.
'I can see why he might have said that,' Wicker told Politico of Rogers' comments.
Nancy Mace wrote on X: 'The justifications presented to the American public for the war in Iran were not the same military objectives we were briefed on today in the House Armed Services Committee.'
But at least one of the new objectives, regime change, aligns with Israel's stated war aims. Trump has not mentioned regime change in his public messaging since the early days of the conflict, and it features nowhere in the White House's official goals.
Netanyahu has three goals: eliminating Iran's ballistic-missile stockpile, ensuring Tehran cannot develop a nuclear warhead, and fostering an environment within Iran for civilians to overthrow the Islamic regime.
On Wednesday, Iran flatly rejected a 15-point peace plan presented by the US.
The Republican walkout lays bare the fractures in the GOP over the Iran war, with skepticism growing among lawmakers about the timeline, scope, and purpose of the prolonged assault.
Members also expect the White House to submit a request for additional funding for the Pentagon.
The estimated price tag is $200 billion, roughly a fifth of the entire Pentagon's annual budget.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
03/27/2026 00:00 ||
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#1
Netanyahu has three goals: eliminating Iran's ballistic-missile stockpile, ensuring Tehran cannot develop a nuclear warhead, and fostering an environment within Iran for civilians to overthrow the Islamic regime.
Provided (1) & (2) are achieved, (3) is nice - but not really necessary.
#2
Nancy Mace walked out early, venting that 'we were misled,' while pro-Trump committee chair Mike Rogers warned 'we're not getting answers' as Pentagon
"No military plan survives the first movement to contact."
#4
Typical MSM reporting, lots of loaded words to get people's emotions involved. Anonymous source: real or made up by a reporter eager to get a headline?
Some of the loaded words: furious, stark, stormed, uncharacteristically agitated, fractures.
And unless Trump is planning on invading and holding territory in mainland Iran, the Congress Creatures show their lack of knowledge when it comes to military planning and operations.
Nothing is completely off the table, plans change and the enemy has a say in what goes on.
#6
I agree Chantry, the daily mail tends to make every thing about the admin sound like they are at each others throats everyday to make it sound like the liberals were right . IT's gotten to the point were I would believe the national enquirer before I would the .
Posted by: chris ||
03/27/2026 13:20 Comments ||
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[PJ] It sounds like some insane Orwellian satire and warning all rolled into one, but it’s actually just another day in shattered, staggering, dhimmi Britain. At one primary school in England, the administrator and teachers saw the writing on the wall and the direction in which Britain is heading, and took action accordingly: they instituted a program to teach their children how to pray as Muslims.
Adding to the dark cloud of cultural suicide that hangs over this entire affair is the fact that the place where this happened, which is unnamed in the news reports about the incident, is identified as a Church of England school. Now, the Church of England is a far-left institution that has long ago left behind most of the core elements of traditional Christianity, but to teach children how to pray after the manner of a rival faith that teaches that Christianity is false and will lead you to hell is taking leftism and apostasy to a whole new level.
The controversy began, according to a Wednesday report in the Telegraph, when a father of one of the children present lodged a complaint. "The father claimed his seven-year-old daughter’s class was shown a video of people kneeling on prayer mats in the direction of Mecca and reciting a prayer to Allah during a religious education lesson last Wednesday, before being told to ’have a go’ themselves."
The children duly complied, and this man’s daughter told him about it the following day: "We did prayers to Allah yesterday." However, the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln, "speaking on behalf of the school, disputed the claims." A Diocesan Board of Education wonk claimed that it was all perfectly innocent: "During the lesson, which began following the relevant lesson plan, pupils were invited to demonstrate some of the movements associated with Muslim prayer." Nothing wrong with that, now, is there, you racist, bigoted "Islamophobe"?
[IsraelTimes] Legislation, part of broader plan to combat antisemitism, has been criticized over claims it will harm free speech rights; Mamdani yet to say if he’ll sign bill into law or veto it
The New York City Council on Thursday passed legislation meant to protect houses of worship by a veto-proof majority despite opposition from leftist and anti-Israel groups, part of the council leadership’s broader push to rein in rampant antisemitism in the city.
The bill passed by a vote of 44 in favor and five opposed in the 51-member council.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin led the effort to pass the legislation, which came in response to two vitriolic protests outside synagogues in recent months that unnerved Jewish New Yorkers, who are targeted in hate crimes far more than any other group.
The legislation directs the NYPD to "establish a plan to address and contain the risk of physical obstruction, physical injury, intimidation, and interference at places of religious worship," and to make those plans public. The bill does not bar protests or establish buffer zones at any specific distance, and police already set up safety perimeters around houses of worship during protests.
"This provides transparency and accountability to a process that was very opaque before," Menin said at a Thursday briefing. "It also requires the NYPD to do community engagement, which didn’t exist before."
Police will be required to engage directly with houses of worship and protesters about security plans, Menin said.
A related bill requiring the NYPD to establish a similar plan at educational facilities passed by a smaller margin of 30 in favor and 19 opposed. Some of that legislation’s opponents cited concerns about infringing on protests on college campuses.
A coalition of activist groups protested against the legislation, framing it as an attack on free speech and oppressive toward Paleostinians, while mainstream Jewish groups backed the measure.
Nodding to those concerns, the bill’s text directs the NYPD to formulate its plans "while preserving and protecting the rights to free speech, assembly, and protest."
"It upholds both public safety and constitutional freedoms in the very same breath," Menin said.
"The bills don’t even talk about protesting," she said.
The legislation’s opponents included the New York Civil Liberties Union, the leftist Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace, and Pal-Awda, the group that led the synagogue protests.
Those demonstrations targeted events with ties to West Bank settlements, one that facilitated immigration to Israel and another that provided information about real estate.
During the demonstrations, protesters chanted in support of the Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... terrorist group, shouted "Death to the IDF," hurled vitriol and discriminatory epithets at Jews, and chanted, "We need to make them scared."
The New York Civil Liberties Union led a protest outside City Hall on Thursday ahead of the council’s vote, with demonstrators holding signs that said, "Protect free speech," and "Protect protest."
New York City’s branch of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America, the home base of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, instructed its supporters to tell City Council members to vote against the legislation.
"Julie Menin is trying to crack down on your right to protest and ramp up surveillance on New Yorkers. Don’t let the City Council erode our rights," the party said on Tuesday.
At Thursday’s rally, Jews for Economic and Racial Justice spokesperson Sophie Ellman-Golan said the group opposed the bill because "it grants total NYPD discretion for enforcement."
"And what we know is that the NYPD cannot be trusted to enforce something fairly," Ellman-Golan told The Times of Israel.
"At best, it does nothing. At worst, it emboldens NYPD abuse and selective enforcement. So why is this the solution to antisemitism, which is a real problem in New York City?" she said.
The synagogue legislation presents a challenge to Mamdani, putting him between his far-left allies, and the City Council’s leadership and mainstream Jewish groups that back the buffer zones. Mamdani has not confirmed whether he will support or veto the legislation.
After passing the City Council, the legislation will head to Mamdani for approval. If the mayor signs the bill, it becomes a local law; if he vetoes the legislation, the council can override the veto with a two-thirds vote. The 44 votes in favor surpasses that threshold, so the council will be able to pass the bill into law, even if Mamdani issues a veto.
The legislation initially called for a protected area of up to 100 feet (30.5 meters) around houses of worship, but was later watered down after the NYPD expressed concerns about enforcement logistics. The updated text removed mention of a specific distance.
Police representatives have said the legislation would not have a significant impact on how officers operate on the ground, but would increase transparency around their handling of protests.
"The bill would not change what we do day-to-day. It would require us to articulate, and put in words on paper, what our approach is in these situations," Michael Gerber, the NYPD deputy commissioner for legal matters, said at a hearing last month.
Menin is a moderate Democrat and the council’s first Jewish speaker. The role is a powerful position in the city government and a counterweight to the mayor’s office.
Discussing the legislation at the Thursday press briefing, Menin called the bill "deeply personal" due to her family history.
"I am the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. My grandfather was killed in the Holocaust. It’s not a new issue for me," she said.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has pushed a separate, but similar, statewide proposal for 25-foot buffer zones around houses of worship.
[IsraelTimes] Killing of security chief Ali Larijani has made it more difficult for less hawkish figures to push back on IRGC hardliners’ support for building a bomb and bolting NPT, sources say
The debate among Iranian hardliners over whether Tehran should seek a nuclear bomb in defiance of an escalating US-Israeli campaign is getting louder, more public and more insistent, sources in the country say.
With the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) now dominant following the killing of veteran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> at the start of the war on February 28, hardline views on Iran’s nuclear approach are in the ascendant, two senior Iranian sources said.
Iran, whose leaders are sworn to destroy Israel, denies seeking nuclear arms, saying Khamenei issued a religious ban on them and citing the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s membership in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
But Western leaders and intelligence services doubt Tehran’s assertions. Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities.
There is no plan to change Iran’s nuclear doctrine yet, and Iran has not decided to seek a bomb, one of the sources said, but serious voices in the establishment are questioning the existing policy and demanding a change.
The US-Israeli attacks on Iran, which came about a month into indirect nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran, may have changed the equation, convincing Iranian strategists that they have little to gain by forswearing a bomb or staying in the NPT.
The idea of quitting the NPT, which Iranian hardliners have previously threatened, has been increasingly aired on state media along with the idea — once taboo in public — that Iran should go outright for the bomb.
On Thursday, the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency published an article saying Iran should withdraw from the NPT as soon as possible while sticking with a civilian nuclear program.
Hardline politician Mohammad Javad Larijani, brother of top defense official Ali Larijani, who was killed in a recent strike, was quoted by state media this week, urging Iran to suspend its membership in the NPT.
"The NPT should be suspended. We should form a committee to assess whether the NPT is of any use to us at all. If it proves useful, we will return to it. If not, they can keep it," he said.
Earlier this month, state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
aired a segment with conservative commentator Nasser Torabi in which he said the Iranian public demanded to "act in order to build a nuclear weapon. Either we build it, or we acquire it."
NO CHANGE TO NUCLEAR POLICY YET
Nuclear policy has also been a subject of private discussion in ruling circles, said the two sources, adding that there was divergence between harder-line elements, including the IRGC, and those in the political hierarchy, over the wisdom of such a move.
Certainly, Iranian officials have threatened in the past to reconsider membership of the NPT as a negotiating tactic during more than two decades of talks with the West over Iran’s nuclear program, without ever having done so. The fresh public debate may represent just such a tactic.
It is also far from clear how quickly Iran might be able to push for a bomb after suffering weeks of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on its nuclear, ballistic and other scientific facilities, and after the 12-day war with Israel in June, during which the US also bombed key Iranian nuclear facilities.
Analysts have said the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s goal has been to attain the status of a "threshold state," able to produce a bomb quickly if needed, but without incurring the pariah status that could come with the weapon itself.
IRGC commanders and other senior figures had in the past warned that Iran would have to go straight for a bomb if the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s survival was threatened — a condition that the present war may meet.
Khamenei’s fatwa, or religious position, that nuclear weapons were not permissible in Islam, was made in the early 2000s, though never issued in written form. Khamenei reiterated it in 2019. Israel alleges that it was a ruse, and that Iran acted to obtain a weapon under the cover of the edict.
One of the two senior Iranian sources said that with the deaths of Khamenei and Larijani, who the source claimed had also pushed back against hardliners, it was becoming more difficult to counter the more hawkish arguments.
[IRANINTL] An official from Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the minimum age for participation in war-related support roles has been lowered to 12, according to remarks aired on state media.
Rahim Nadali, a cultural official with the Guards in Tehran, said an initiative called "For Iran" [child warriors or Islamic Youth Brigade] was recruiting participants to assist with activities such as patrols, checkpoints and logistics.
"Given that the age of those coming forward has dropped and they are asking to take part, we lowered the minimum age to 12," he said, adding that 12- and 13-year-olds could now take part if they wished.
The move comes despite Iran's commitments under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits the use of children in military activities.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/27/2026 00:00 ||
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[IRANINTL] Iranian police said on Thursday they had blocked 61 bank accounts belonging to users of Starlink satellite internet in the central city of Yazd, as part of a broader crackdown on unauthorized connectivity.
A local police commander said six Starlink devices were seized and six people detained following searches carried out with judicial approval.
Authorities accused the suspects of trading access to the service, sharing information with foreign-based outlets and engaging in activities deemed hostile. The individuals were referred to prosecutors, police said.
The move comes amid a broader wave of arrests across Iran, with authorities detaining dozens in recent days on security-related charges, including alleged links to militant activity, contacts with foreign media and online activity. Officials have also reported seizing weapons, explosives and Starlink devices in multiple provinces.
Starlink is banned in Iran, where authorities have imposed a near-total internet blackout during the war. Monitoring group NetBlocks says connectivity has dropped to around 1% of normal levels, leaving satellite services among the few ways to access the global internet.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] The cover of The Economist magazine. Globalists scoff at the misdirection of Epstein's coalition's aggression.
Iran is failing to be defeated, and the consequences of Iran's retaliatory actions are causing enormous damage to both the aggressors and the global economy. Naturally, globalists view Iran's resistance (which is also partly beneficial to them) as a way to undermine Trump's hold on power within the United States and, after the 2026 elections, begin his return to power.
Trump understands this and, under strategic time pressure, will act increasingly recklessly to reverse the negative trends. Therefore, the longer the war continues, the more likely it is that the United States will resort to a ground invasion of Iran (initially through amphibious operations).
Iran's main objective here is to continue stalling for time, making the costs of war unbearable for the United States. Iran has the capacity to do so. To some extent, thanks to this aggression and the way it was organized, Iran has a historic chance to inflict a serious defeat on the United States, because they will be looking for a way out of the war, and Iran may simply not provide one. It is in the interests of Russia and China to assist Iran in this matter.
Sucks he'll never get to read the Economist cover story about how much he's winning https://t.co/wRxooun2GP
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