[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] As the White House plotted the dramatic capture of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro a rather cruel joke is said to have circulated behind the scenes - that Tulsi Gabbard's title of DNI stood for 'Do Not Invite.'
Officials denied that the president's top spy had been left out of critical planning meetings, or that she had ever been referred to as anything other than Director of National Intelligence.
But the incident pointed to a fundamental dissonance that beset Gabbard's presence in President Trump's top team.
The 44-year-old Iraq veteran's entire political career had been based on opposition to US military adventures, or what she would see as misadventures, overseas.
It was a conviction she shared with JD Vance, who also served in Iraq and had his world view influenced by that experience.
Perhaps the most important lasting impact of Gabbard's departure is that it will now deprive the Vice President of a key ally in the Cabinet.
With Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the forefront of America's interventions in Venezuela, Iran, and perhaps soon Cuba, the isolationist Vance now looks increasingly isolated himself.
And, as his ideological support within the Cabinet evaporates, speculation is mounting that Vance is no longer Trump's natural successor in 2028.
Information gathered from former IS Somalia members who left the group suggests that the Al Karar office within the network led by Abdulkadir Muumin has played a role in financing ISIS-linked groups… pic.twitter.com/RsDbyLccbt
— Abdurahman Sheikh Azhari (@HOA_ANALYST) May 22, 2026
Text:
#AfricaSecurityAlert
IS Somalia Funding Other ISIS Branches in Africa
Information gathered from former IS Somalia members who left the group suggests that the Al Karar office within the network led by Abdulkadir Muumin has played a role in financing ISIS-linked groups operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mozambique. According to these accounts, IS Somalia generates income through several streams, including the sale of gold allegedly exported to Arab countries, the extraction of minerals from mountainous areas under its control, and financial contributions from sources both within Somalia and abroad. Defectors further alleged that, at various points, the group transferred unspecified sums of money to ISIS-affiliated networks in Central and Southern Africa, particularly those active in the DRC and Mozambique.
In the DRC, the Islamic State presence is primarily represented by the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP), whose Congolese branch developed from the Ugandan-origin Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). After formally aligning with the Islamic State between 2017 and 2019, the group adopted ISIS ideology and pledged allegiance to the organisation’s global leadership while continuing to operate with considerable local autonomy.
The movement is widely believed to be led by Musa Baluku, who succeeded ADF founder Jamil Mukulu and strengthened the group’s ideological and operational ties to ISIS. While IS Core provides branding, propaganda, strategic legitimacy, and at times financial or logistical backing, operational decisions are largely made by commanders on the ground, particularly in eastern DRC’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces. Follow the henna More at the link
Posted by: badanov ||
05/23/2026 00:00 ||
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[1770 views]
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🇲🇱 #Mali - 🇷🇺 #Russia: Anti-Russian protests continue to surface in Mali amid Russian-linked forces operating alongside the Malian army.
Yesterday, anti-Russian graffiti appeared in the capital, Bamako, including slogans reading: “Russia is a traitor,” “Russians, leave,” and… pic.twitter.com/T97dAlaM72
Anti-Russian protests continue to surface in Mali amid Russian-linked forces operating alongside the Malian army.
Yesterday, anti-Russian graffiti appeared in the capital, Bamako, including slogans reading: “Russia is a traitor,” “Russians, leave,” and “Russia is killing Mali.”
Separately, demonstrations were reported in Tinzaouaten, Kidal region, where people were protesting against the use of cluster munitions against civilians in Azawad by Malian forces and Russian personnel linked to the Africa Corps.
[FoxNews] A French court convicted the world's largest cement manufacturer in April for providing material support to ISIS
In November 2017, Chief Petty Officer Kenton Stacy was injured in Raqqa, Syria while clearing the second floor of a hospital that ISIS had booby trapped with explosives.
Now a quadriplegic, Stacy, his wife Lindsey, and their 4 children are part of a lawsuit brought by military families against the French cement company, Lafarge, recently found guilty by a French Court of paying millions of dollars in bribes to ISIS to keep their factory open in ISIS-controlled territory in Syria.
"I mean, they were essentially funneling money to fund terrorists and ISIS and all these heinous crimes and evil acts," Lindsey Stacy told Fox News while standing by the side of her husband, the former Navy Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) specialist, who just had another surgery to deal with injuries sustained in Syria 9 years ago.
"It's very overwhelming, Kenton struggles mentally and physically with his own battles and the kids and I. We have our own struggles," she continued. "It's hard to juggle, especially when our oldest son has cerebral palsy, and he requires his own 24-7 care."
President Trump praised Stacy's service to the nation in his 2018 State of the Union Address to Congress. Army Staff Sergeant Justin Peck bounded into a booby-trapped building to rescue Kenton and then gave him more than 2 hours of CPR while medics worked to save his life.
"Kenton Stacy would have died if not for Justin’s selfless love for a fellow warrior. Tonight, Kenton is recovering in Texas. Raqqa is liberated.…All of America salutes you."
In a landmark ruling in April, a French court convicted Lafarge, the world’s largest cement manufacturer, of providing material support to a terror group and sentenced its former CEO to 6 years in prison. Eight former Lafarge employees were found guilty. Lafarge is appealing.
The company acknowledged the court’s finding describing the issue as a "legacy matter," which was "in flagrant violation of Lafarge’s Code of Conduct."
Nearly 1,000 plaintiffs, most of them military families, are part of earlier litigation in the Eastern District of New York.
"They were killed in Syria by a gruesome terrorist organization that was funded in part by Lafarge. And that's not an allegation. That is undisputed fact. Lafarge pled guilty to doing that in 2022."
Todd Toral, the lawyer from Jenner & Block, is representing Stacy and about 25 other families.
Toral, who is also a US Marine, is seeking compensation for those families from the $777 million Lafarge paid to the Justice Department as part of the settlement. The DOJ has had that money since Oct 2022.
"I think the ruling by the court in France is significant generally, because it's the first time in many, many years that a corporation, and not just the corporation, but executives at a corporation have been held to account for their misconduct in aiding terrorism," Toral said in an interview with Fox.
In order to operate in ISIS-controlled areas of Syria, Lafarge paid more than $6.5 million to ISIS from 2013–2014 through its Syrian subsidiary to keep production facilities running. The cement produced at its factory in Jalabiya, a factory which was bought for $680 million months before the Syrian uprising began in 2011, was also used for tunnels and bunkers, which helped the terrorist group.
The lawsuit is significant because it marks the first time a company has faced U.S. charges for supporting a terrorist group.
In October 2022, Lafarge settled with the DOJ before the French ruling, paying more than $777 million into an asset forfeiture fund currently controlled by the DOJ, funds which are supposed to compensate victims of the ISIS attacks, many of them American Gold Star families, like Hailey Dayton, whose father was the first American killed by ISIS in Syria on Thanksgiving Day 2016.
"I was 15 when my dad was killed," Hailey Dayton told Fox from her home in Florida. "I saw six guys in Navy white step out of the van. I got so excited because I thought my dad came back to surprise us. I remember opening the door, huge smile on my face, and I was looking at the men, trying to find my dad and I didn't find, I didn't see him, but instead I saw six guys with tears in their eyes."
The Biden Justice Department denied requests to distribute the Lafarge funds while the case was still pending before a French Court. Lafarge was found guilty by that court in April. In February, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., pressed then-Attorney General Pam Bondi on when the DOJ planned to release the funds to the families.
"In February 2025, my colleagues and I sent you a letter urging the department to review the petitions for remission submitted by the families of those fallen service members, including several of my constituents. The previous administration ignored these victims and our requests and left their petitions unresolved," Biggs asked Bondi during a Congressional hearing.
"Congressman, we are aware of that and we're committed to doing everything we can to support the victims and work with you. Thank you for that question," Bondi replied. That was more than a year ago and the DOJ has still not distributed the compensation funds.
Now the plaintiffs, most of them military families, say the decision to release the funds rests with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
"I don't know why. I don't know why they're ignoring us. To me, it feels like being a pawn. My dad, he went in when he was 19, he served 23 years," Dayton, the Gol Star daughter of Chief Petty Officer Scott Dayton, said.
"To the current Department of Justice, I would, say, make things right."
Lindsey Stacy, who says she and her family have difficulty making ends meet given Kenton Stacy’s severe injuries, added, "There's a lot of families out there that could benefit from these funds. I mean, it's been almost nine years. It would be nice to, you know, for justice to be served."
"They have been convicted recently in their own country, guilty. It has been a long battle, but it'd be nice just for it to come to an end, get some closure and be able to just take care of our family," she added. "I mean he made a huge sacrifice for our country and it would just be nice if they'd stand right by us and all the other co-plaintiffs."
"We can think of no group of people who are more worthy of receiving compensation from that victim's compensation fund than these families who lost a son, lost a brother, lost a husband, and they deserve to be treated better by the United States of America," Toral, who continues to press his clients’ case said in an interview ahead of Memorial Day Weekend.
The Department of Justice, which controls the $777 million dollars in penalties forfeited by Lafarge, issued the following statement:
"The Department is committed to compensating all victims to the maximum extent permitted by law. While we cannot comment on a pending matter, the Department will always engage in the appropriate process to evaluate claims and ensure that our brave servicemembers receive any amount of compensation to which they are entitled."
Posted by: Skidmark ||
05/23/2026 01:54 ||
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#1
"In February, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., pressed then-Attorney General Pam Bondi on when the DOJ planned to release the funds to the families."
[IsraelTimes] Amid Israeli denials, accusations of ‘blood libel’ and threats of a defamation suit, newspaper says Nicholas Kristof’s opinion column was rigorously edited before publication and checked again after ‘challenges’ raised
In response to an outcry and accusations of "blood libel" over a recent opinion column detailing alleged systematic sexual abuse of Paleostinian security prisoners in Israeli detention, The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... on Thursday defended the article, with the newspaper’s opinion editor saying it was "built upon a growing body of evidence."
In an extensive response to "your questions" published in the outlet’s opinion section, the column’s author, Nicholas Kristof, and Times Opinion head Kathleen Kingsbury, defended the piece amid mounting backlash, including criticisms from the Times’ readership, denials and condemnations from Israeli officials, and an announcement by the Israeli government that it intends to sue the newspaper for defamation.
Kingsbury wrote that Kristoff’s reporting was rigorously fact-checked before publication "to ensure that every testimony and anecdote he personally reported was supported by independent sources." After publication, she added, "We reviewed the factual challenges that readers and others raised... Editors found no errors.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in a joint statement issued days after the op-ed’s publication that it was "one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press." The Israel Prison Service called the allegations "false and entirely unfounded."
The column, titled "The Silence That Meets the Rape of Paleostinians," published on May 11, alleged "a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children — by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards."
Among the incidents Kristof referenced was the alleged 2024 sexual abuse of a Gazook detainee at the Sde Teiman prison. He also cited testimony from Paleostinians who said they were routinely stripped naked in detention, groped and forcibly penetrated with various objects.
One of the most controversial testimonies featured in the piece came from a Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... journalist detained in 2024, who alleged that Israeli security personnel trained dogs to mount and rape prisoners. A canine training expert said the allegations of dog-rape were implausible if not completely impossible.
The allegation, which has circulated in anti-Israel media for some time, was recently amplified by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, a key source cited in Kristof’s report.
Added for searchability from Skidmark’s article in comments, below:
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a staunch critic of Israel, has met with Sheikh Fadhel Al-Sahlani, imam of the Al-Khoei Islamic Center in Queens — who also has a disturbing record of denying the Holocaust — at least three times since January 2025.
#3
They could work around these accusations by shooting them in the head while being arrested,
Posted by: Chris ||
05/23/2026 11:34 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Who cares? Who is possibly on the side of terrorists getting shock batons shoved up their asses and turned on?
This could be a hit TV series. The screams alone could be mixed with Oct 7 footage and become a hit music video
[RedState] As RedState’s Ward Clark reported earlier in May, an Iraqi militia commander, part of an Iranian-backed terrorist group called the Kataib Hezbollah, was arrested in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... and was shipped to the U.S. to face charges of plotting numerous terrorist attacks, mostly against Jewish targets.
On Friday, The New York Post brought more disturbing details about the hard boy, 32-year-old Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, and his diabolical quest to kill the president’s eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump:
First Daughter Ivanka Trump was targeted for liquidation by an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) trained terrorist in a twisted plot to avenge the president taking out his mentor, The Post has learned.
Recently captured Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, made a "pledge" to kill Ivanka and even had a blueprint of her Florida home, sources claimed.
The Iraqi national was allegedly targeting President Donald Trump ...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!... ’s family in response to the killing of Iranian military chief Qasem Soleimani in a US dronezap in Baghdad six years ago.
"After Qasem was killed, he [Al-Saadi] went around telling people ’we need to kill Ivanka to burn down the house of Trump the way he burned down our house,'" Entifadh Qanbar, a former deputy military attaché in the Iraqi embassy in Washington told The Post.
Al-Saadi didn’t seem to be making his desire secret, because he posted a map of their home on social media and wrote, "I say to the Americans look at this picture and know that neither your palaces nor the Secret Service will protect you. We are currently in the stage of surveillance and analysis. I told you, our Dire Revenge is a matter of time."
Hopefully, his Dire Revenge is "no longer a matter of time," but it is a matter of "never." That being said, this is pretty scary stuff and is yet another reminder of the evil we’re facing from the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran. This plot, thankfully, appears to have been snuffed out.
Unfortunately, there are many more threats still out there.
[Breitbart] Israel established a secret elite intelligence task force in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre to track down and kill or capture every terrorist involved in the attack — from senior commanders who orchestrated the assault to individual gunmen who crossed into southern Israel during the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
According to a detailed Wall Street Journal report published Wednesday, the unit — known as NILI, a Hebrew acronym derived from a biblical verse meaning “The Eternal One of Israel Does Not Lie” — was formed by Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service and military intelligence shortly after the Hamas-led attack that killed roughly 1,200 people and saw 251 Israelis taken hostage, most of them civilians.
They did the same to go after the Munich Olympics hostage takers, I believe.
[IsraelTimes] Tehran publishes map asserting its control over area that extends into coastal waters of Oman and UAE; Rubio denounces move, five Gulf states protest it, Oman reportedly discussing it with Iran
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 asserted expanded control over the Strait of Hormuz, publishing a map showing its claims extending into the coastal waters of the United Arab Emirates and Oman, and holding talks with Oman about sharing fees from ships traversing the waterway.
The move was denounced on Friday as unacceptable by US Secretary of State Mario Rubio, who urged all countries to oppose it, and prompted a letter of protest from five Gulf states. US President Donald Trump ...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried.... on Thursday stressed, "We want [the Strait of Hormuz] open, we want it free. We don’t want tolls. It’s an international waterway."
Iran’s newly created Persian Gulf Strait Authority announced the new arrangements on Wednesday, declaring there would henceforth be a "controlled maritime zone" at the strait.
The authority set the zone as the "line connecting Kuh-e Mobarak in Iran and southern Fujairah in the UAE at the eastern side of the strait, to the line connecting the end of Qeshm Island in Iran and Umm Al Quwain in the UAE at the western side of the strait," and published a map of the designated area in both English and Persian.
"Transit in this zone for passage through the Strait of Hormuz requires coordination with the Persian Gulf Strait Authority and permission from this entity," it declared.
On Friday, The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported that Iran has been holding talks with Oman on charging fees from ships that traverse the strait, with the US-allied Gulf state potentially sharing in the profits, despite Washington’s insistence that freedom of navigation be restored to the blockaded waterway.
A new map published Persian Gulf Strait Authority details the regulatory jurisdiction defined by the Islamic Republic of Iran for the management of the Strait of Hormuz.
Two people familiar with the talks cited by the Times said that the discussions are ostensibly about fees, which are charged for services rendered to transiting vessels, rather than about tolls, which are charged for the transit itself and are illegal under international law.
"Still, if the fee system is just a toll by another name, it will not be considered legal," the report quoted experts saying.
Oman, a US ally, originally dismissed the idea of partnering with Iran in the strait, but has more recently realized the scheme could benefit Muscat and expressed willingness to push the plan with Gulf neighbors and with the US, the Times said, citing two Iranian officials.
The Guardian reported Friday that Iran’s ambassador to La Belle France confirmed that Iran was seeking Oman’s cooperation with the plan, but it said Oman was wary of the idea.
It further reported that five other Gulf states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... , Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... and the United Arab Emirates — have written to the global shipping watchdog, the International Maritime Authority, denouncing the move and urging that it be prevented.
"Iran’s purported route should be seen for what it is, an attempt to control traffic through the strait by forcing vessels to use a route within its territorial waters, which can be exploited for monetary gain through the imposition of toll fees," the joint letter stated. "Any understanding or recognition of Iran’s proposed route and PGSA as an alternative would set a dangerous precedent."
US Secretary of State Rubio warned that Iran was "trying to create a tolling system. They’re trying to convince Oman, by the way, to join them in this tolling system in an international waterway."
Speaking in Sweden on Friday, Rubio added, "I don’t know of a country in the world that’s in favor of it except Iran, but there’s no country in the world that should accept it."
United Arab Emirates’ presidential advisor Anwar Gargash declared that "the regime is trying to establish a new reality born from a clear military defeat." But, he went on: "Attempts to control the Strait of Hormuz or infringe on the UAE’s maritime illusory sovereignty are nothing but pipe dreams."
Underlining its proprietary claims, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Friday that its navy had given "permission" for 35 vessels, including oil tankers, container ships and other commercial vessels, to transit the Strait of Hormuz over the previous 24 hours.
Tehran has largely blocked shipping through the strait, a vital global energy conduit, since the outbreak of war with the United States and Israel on February 28. The United States imposed its own naval blockade in the strait on April 13, despite a ceasefire.
Since the ceasefire took effect on April 8, diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran have been underway in an attempt to reach a broader lasting agreement. However,
denial ain't just a river in Egypt... negotiations have been repeatedly hindered by disputes over control and access to the Strait of Hormuz, as well as longstanding disagreements surrounding Iran’s nuclear program.
The war has wreaked havoc on the global economy, with the surge in oil prices stoking fears of rampant inflation. About a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments travelled through the Strait of Hormuz before the war.
The US dollar was near its highest level in six weeks on Friday amid the uncertainty over the peace talks, while oil prices climbed as investors doubted the prospects of a breakthrough.
Tehran submitted its latest offer to the US earlier this week.
Tehran’s descriptions suggest it largely repeats terms Trump previously rejected, including demands for control of the Strait of Hormuz, compensation for war damage, lifting of sanctions, release of frozen assets and the withdrawal of US troops.
#1
This tells me that iran has no intention of honoring any agreement(s).
Just blast the Iranians until there's noo ne left then let the civilians take over.
Might be cheaper and faster to buy the land in the Tip that Oman and UAE owns bordering on the border with UAE/Oman and dig a channel through wide enough and deep enough to allow the supertanker sized ships through. Maybe wide enough to allow two super-ships to pass each others or a parallel channel so each channels can allow one way traffic without risk of collisions?
maybe from Hisn Diba in Oman to a point due East-West ending just South of Ra's Al Khaymah. Both Oman and UAE can share in the operation of the channel via some sort of authority.
Best part is that both Oman and UAE can pay for it themself.
GASBUDDY (https://www.gasbuddy.com/charts )
shows gas prices went from $2.93 on 2-28-26
to $3.42 by 03-04-2026. 5 days
OK! Given there is an average 2-week plus oil delivery time from the Middle East. Then refinement, blending and delivery to the Gas pumps.
OR
1 week for local US Oil to gas pump cycle.
See example: https://www.dailyoilfutures.com/archives/2138
Given Canada and Mexico are the largest US OIL IMPORT sources. Not the Middle East.
SOME QUESTIONS:
Why the 50cent jump in prices 12 days before the 1st drop reached the US from the Middle East?
Why ANY price increases given we mainly use US, Canada, and Mexico Oil fields, even for the initial 7 days?
Given the US is exporting more than it imports example: In 2025, the US exported more crude oil and petroleum products than it imported.
That's right, US Petroleum and petroleum product exports totaled about 10.7 million barrels per day, while US imports were about 7.9 million barrels a day. That’s a -2.8 million barrel a day MORE EXPORTED than imported per day.
ALSO Why did we sell off the Emergency strategic reserves?
So why have US GAS prices increased from $2.93 to $3.99 a gallon (today)
about a 36.17% increase at all.
Is it Big Oil, the owners, and the DC Swamp playing with our wallets again?
#6
In the US we shouldn't be getting the "next shipment". They just raise the goddamn prices because they can.
Posted by: Chris ||
05/23/2026 11:30 Comments ||
Top||
#7
My old Ohio Valley Hardware story:
Years ago I knew a family who owned a small country hardware store. They traveled to Indiana to buy wholesale stock at Ohio Valley. Restock was simple. Just price the new hammers at the mark-up rate and hang them on top of the old ones. They never worried about re-pricing the old hammers, that was the mark-up when they were purchased.
If you wanted a hammer, you picked from the stock hanging in the back.
Obviously oil companies rush to the mark-up regardless of their purchase price. They also linger to lower price changes.
#9
/\ Yep, the consumer gets stuck when the wholesale prices goes up.... or down. The only way to combat the marketing/pricing method is for the consumer to buy less (when possible) of the price swinging product.
'Supply and demand.' Key word here is "demand." Reduced demand pushes prices down.
#10
Telling on my age...
But I remember when GAS price increases had to be STATE approved.
1966-73 GA. 16.9 cents a gallon and that came with FULL Service and a check under the hood also.
Which all disappeared at 52.9 cents a gallon, during the 1973 Arab oil embargo (1973-74?).
[IsraelTimes] WSJ says Babak Zanjani has moved some $850M for Islamic Republic on Binance, which is being ‘used as a financial artery for the IRGC’ despite Trump’s pardon of the firm’s founder
Iranian tycoon Babak Zanjani, whom the US has sanctioned for processing funds for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, carried out cryptocurrency transactions worth some $850 million on behalf of the regime on the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The transactions are said to have taken place over two years, with most of them originating from a single trading account that was active for at least 15 months as of January, a month before the start of the US-Israel war against Iran. The report said "the vast sums show how Binance has been used as a financial artery for the IRGC," using the acronym for Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The transactions, comprising both deposits and withdrawals, went through despite repeated red flags from Binance’s internal Sherlocks, and led to an estimated $425 million being funneled into the Iranian military, the Journal said, citing Binance documents, law enforcement officials and other sources familiar with the activity.
According to the report, the transactions were carried out through a network of accounts operated from the same devices by Zanjani and associates, including his sister, romantic partner and a director of one of Zanjani’s companies.
Zanjani has long been a key figure in Iran’s sanctions-evasion networks. He was sentenced to death by Iranian authorities in 2016 for embezzlement. His sentence was commuted in 2024. But Zanjani remains locked in a public spat with Iran’s central bank, which accused him of failing to repay the stolen billions, and in December he published wallet addresses on social media that enabled outside crypto analysts to uncover a complex sanctions-evasion scheme, with Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex at its core.
Zanjani’s network is said to have facilitated the transfer via Binance of over $1.7 billion that was flagged internally last November, "moving from Chinese clients into digital wallets used by 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... to finance its proxies." The Journal reported earlier this year that Binance dismantled the team investigating that cash flow.
According to the newspaper, foreign law-enforcement officials tracking billions of dollars flowing through Binance accounts to Iranian entities associated with the regime have identified transactions "as recently as this month."
Binance, which has sued the Journal over its past reporting, insisted the transactions reportedly linked to Zanjani "have nothing to do" with the crypto platform, and that "Binance has zero-tolerance for illicit activity on its platform."
In 2023, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty in the US to violating money-laundering and sanctions laws. US President Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... pardoned him last year, though Binance is again being investigated over Iran’s suspected continued use of the platform. Binance is a chief backer of the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial.
The Journal report came days after Rooters reported that Nobitex has processed at least $2.3 billion since 2023 BNB Chain and Tron, blockchains established respectively under Zhao and fellow crypto billionaires Justin Sun, and that Iranian money has kept moving through those two digital ledgers during the recent war. Users of Tron and BNB Chain pay fees to use the blockchains, which serve as secure, tamper-resistant record keepers.
Like Binance, Sun is a prominent backer of World Liberty Financial, though there is no suggestion that the Trump family knew of Nobitex’s use of Tron and BNB Chain.
Since taking office, Trump has launched a suite of crypto-friendly policies and US regulators have paused enforcement actions against crypto companies and moguls. The Securities and Exchange Commission settled a lawsuit against Sun for alleged fraud in March for $10 million without Sun admitting any wrongdoing.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] The United States and Iran, with Pakistan as the mediator, have agreed on a final draft of a peace agreement. The Iranian news agency ILNA reported this on May 22.
According to the report, the agreement provides for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire on all fronts, a mutual renunciation of attacks on infrastructure, freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz with a joint monitoring system, and the gradual lifting of sanctions against Iran.
The document also states that negotiations will continue on unresolved issues for seven days.
The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. In response, the Islamic Republic struck its adversaries' targets in several Middle Eastern countries. Tehran and Washington began negotiations in early April, but no agreement has yet been reached. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened Iran with renewed attacks.
On May 20, the US Senate passed a resolution to end military action against Iran for the first time. The initiative was drafted by Democratic Party members and was supported by 50 senators, including four Republicans.
Posted by: badanov ||
05/23/2026 00:00 ||
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[1796 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
A "peace agreement" with unresolved issues? Sounds like another Brooklyn Bridge sale to me. Just another stall to re-arm.
Posted by: Oregon Dave ||
05/23/2026 1:01 Comments ||
Top||
#2
^Exactly. The document also states that negotiations will continue on unresolved issues for seven days.
Like the nuclear development issue?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/23/2026 1:27 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Prediction Based On History
Peace agreement (STALL) agreement signed.
Russia & CCP rearm IRAN.
USA rearms.
IRAN starts its usual BS again.
War resumed in less than 30 days
IRAN HAS JUST STARTED HANDING OUT GUNS… TO CHILDREN! 🚨 Is Iran READY to SIGN A TREATY? OR are they GETTING READY FOR WAR?!? POTUS JUST ORDERED THE PENTAGON TO PREPARE FOR BOMBING… AT A “MOMENT’S NOTICE” 💣 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/DYpd9zH0ly — Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) May 20, 2026
#9
None of the parties expect anything more than a hudna at best, I suspect, but each hopes the other will see reason before all that tough talk is actualized, as they say.
What odds those armed women and children will turn their guns against American and IDF long distance weapons?
#10
Vance speeding back to WH, Trump cancelled plans to be at his son's wedding today, NSC summoned to WH, pretty good clues kaboom, part two underway in moments..
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...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
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