Lemonbalmj

Trump's Iran strikes came at the behest of an 'unusual pair' of allies: report President Donald Trump may have been led to strike Iran alongside Israel by an "unusual pair" of allies, a new report revealed. The Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing four sources familiar w...

Trump's decision to conduct a series of strikes against Iran's ballistic and nuclear missile facilities came at the behest of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who had been lobbying for the strikes for weeks, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Apollo with the dodgeball of prophecy

Years ago in another life I gave a guest lecture at The Hague warning “AI weapons” could be invoked to remove accountability for war crimes from the chain of command. I said “there are no autonomous weapons, only unsupervised ones,” and sadly it seems I was cooking with that one

Really concerned to hear the Defence Secretary refuse to rule out UK's involvement in future strikes on Iran.

Iraq lessons must be learned.
Further escalation in the Middle East makes us all less safe.

Starmer must rule out UK involvement immediately.

Is Convicted Felon Donald Trump’s super-duper secure SCIF with soft banquet-hall curtains, open air top, unsecured electronic devices, and roving guests located next to the bathroom where the classified documents are stored?

Israel, immediately after vaporizing a bunch of little girls:

TRUMP: “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties.”

Another war of choice. We have learned nothing.

if the media had any integrity — and it doesn’t anymore — they’d be pointing out on a loop that Obama made a deal with Iran, Trump cancelled it because Obama is Black, and then Trump started a war on the pretense there is no deal

#caturday
Waiting for Spring

World War Epstein

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has emailed staff urging those wishing to leave the country to depart "today”. He warns of likely high demand for flights from Ben Gurion Airport and stresses the importance of a rapid exit. NYT has seen the email.

Trump’s Surgeon General nomination, Casey Means is a whack job!

The top public health voice in America should never have to have their qualifications questioned!

Lives are not a political experiment!

If you weaken public health leadership, people will die. Period.

#SheShed
#HealthCrisis

CBS, Fox, the Washington Post, and Twitter are all owned by Trump-loving billionaires and soon CNN will be too. Here's why American media has a liberal bias problem.

It’s breathtaking to see how much American media will end up controlled by regime-aligned oligarchs.

by Viktor Orbán

"Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, Members of the Committee... as a former Senator, I have respect for legislative oversight and I expect its exercise, as do the American people, to be principled and fearless in pursuit of truth and accountability. As we all know, however, too often Congressional investigations are partisan political theater, which is an abdication of duty and an insult to the American people. The Committee justified its subpoena to me based on its assumption that I have information regarding the investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Let me be as clear as I can. I do not. As I stated in my sworn declaration on January 13, I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices. I have nothing to add to that. Like every decent person, I have been horrified by what we have learned about their crimes. It's unfathomable that Mr. Epstein initially got a slap on the wrist in 2008, which allowed him to continue his predatory practices for another decade. Mr. Chairman, your investigation is supposed to be assessing the federal government's handling of the investigations and prosecutions of Epstein and his crimes. You subpoenaed eight law enforcement officials, all of whom ran the Department of Justice or directed the FBI when Epstein's crimes were investigated and prosecuted. Of those eight, only one appeared before the Committee. Five of the six former attorneys general were allowed to submit brief statements stating they had no information to provide. You have held zero public hearings, refused to allow the media to attend them, including today, despite espousing the need for transparency on dozens of occasions. You have made little effort to call the people who show up most prominently in the Epstein files. And when you did, not a single Republican Member showed up for Les Wexner's deposition. This institutio…

as the public who also want to get to the bottom of this matter. My heart breaks for the survivors. And I am furious on their behalf. I have spent my life advocating for women and girls. I have worked hard to stop the terrible abuses so many women and girls face here and around the world, including human trafficking, forced labor, and sexual slavery. For too long, these have been largely invisible crimes or not treated as crimes at all. But the survivors are real and they are entitled to better. In Southeast Asia, I met girls as young as twelve years old who were forced into prostitution and raped repeatedly. Some were dying of AIDS. In Eastern Europe, I met mothers who told me how they lost daughters to trafficking and did not know where to turn. In settings around the world, I met survivors trying to rebuild their lives and help rescue others - with little support from people in power, who too often turned a blind eye and a cold shoulder. If you are new to this issue, let me tell you: Jeffrey Epstein was a heinous individual, but he's far from alone. This is not a one-off tabloid sensation or a political scandal. It's a global scourge with an unimaginable human toll. My work combatting sex trafficking goes back to my days as First Lady. I worked to pass the first federal legislation against trafficking and was proud that my husband signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which increased support for survivors and gave prosecutors better tools for going after traffickers. As Secretary of State, I appointed a former federal prosecutor, Lou CdeBaca, to ramp up our global antitrafficking efforts. I oversaw nearly 170 anti-trafficking programs in 70 nations and directly pressed foreign leaders to crack down on trafficking networks in their countries. Every year we published a global report to shine a light on abuses. The findings of those reports triggered sanctions on countries failing to make progress, so they became a powerful diplomatic tool to drive concrete…

Infuriatingly, the Trump Administration gutted the Trafficking in Persons Office at the State Department, cutting more than 70 percent of the career civil and foreign service experts who worked so hard to prevent trafficking crimes. The annual trafficking report, required by law, was delayed for months. The message from the Trump Administration to the American people and the world could not be clearer: combatting human trafficking is no longer an American priority under the Trump White House. That is a tragedy. It's a scandal. It deserves vigorous investigation and oversight. A committee endeavoring to stopping human trafficking would seek to understand what specific steps are needed to fix a system that allowed Epstein to get away with his crimes in 2008. A committee run by elected officials with a commitment to transparency would ensure the full release of all the files. It would ensure that the lawful redactions of those files protected the victims and survivors, not powerful men and political allies. It would get to the bottom of reports that DOJ withheld FBI interviews in which a survivor accuses President Trump of heinous crimes. It would subpoena anyone who asked on which night there would be the "wildest party" on Epstein's island. It would demand testimony from prosecutors in Florida and New York about why they gave Epstein a sweetheart deal and chose not to pursue others who may have been implicated. It would demand that Secretary Rubio and Attorney General Bondi testify about why this administration is abandoning survivors and playing into the hands of traffickers. It would seek out officers on the front lines of this fight and ask them what support they need. It would put forth legislation to provide more resources and force this administration to act. But that's not happening.

Instead, you have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump's actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers. If this Committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein's trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files. If the majority was serious, it would not waste time on fishing expeditions. There is too much that needs to be done. What is being held back? Who is being protected? And why the cover-up? My challenge to you, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, is the same challenge I put to myself throughout my long service to this nation. How to be worthy of the trust the American people have given you. They expect statesmanship, not gamesmanship. Leading, not grandstanding. They expect you to use your power to get to the truth and to do more to help survivors of Epstein's crimes as well as the millions more who are victims of sex trafficking."

Here is Hillary Clinton’s opening statement to House Oversight on Epstein.

Clinton says she does not recall ever encountering Epstein and says she knew nothing about his crimes.

She also says that Trump should testify under oath and criticizes the committee for not holding any public hearings.

Black-and-white portrait of civil rights organizer Ella Baker speaking into a microphone, with a subtle gold line above a dark bottom band. White text reads: “We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.” — Ella Baker.

Freedom was never abstract to Ella Baker. It was urgent. It was daily work. She didn’t just believe in freedom. She built movements.

Mentor. Organizer. One of the most influential voices of the civil rights movement. Co-founder of SNCC.

Black History. Always. 🖤

#SheShed #Voices4Victory

Zero Republicans showed up in person for Les Wexner’s deposition.

They are all in attendance for Hillary Clinton’s deposition today.

Weird.

If another country suspects that Americans have drugs on their boat are they allowed to blow it up and kill everyone too, or are only we allowed to do that?

Also—just a hunch here—they probably didn't want their Olympic gold medal achievement to be overshadowed by being photographed and filmed with an adjudicated sexual abuser of women.

BREAKING: The chairman of the House Oversight Committee just said it's "very possible" Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick could be asked to come in and testify in the panel's Epstein investigation.

This is why you can't really collaborate with the feds under any circumstances. If your policy is "we will only collaborate with them when it's unrelated to civil immigration enforcement" then the Trump administration will just lie about what they're doing!

Rep. Garcia: “A survivor that has made serious accusation and allegations against not just Jeffrey Epstein but also against President Trump…We have seen the DOJ files and the archive manifest that clearly shows that the interviews and information around this survivor have been removed."

Is Lutnick next?

Rep. Ansari: “It is abundantly clear that this is the most egregious cover-up in American history…The DOJ…as they refuse to release the full and unredacted files have withheld fifty pages of allegations against President Trump.”

Elon Musk's Starlink is the preferred satellite service of Mexico's cartels.

We will force a vote on Rep. Thomas Massie and my bipartisan resolution to stop Trump from launching an illegal war in Iran next week. This perhaps will be the most consequential vote in Congress on war or peace since the Iraq war vote in 2002.

'IT ENDS TODAY': A federal judge in NJ says the Trump admin has continued to violate court orders in immigration cases and says he's prepared to haul in DOJ and DHS officials under oath. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Hillary Clinton in her opening statement to the House Oversight Committee on Jeffrey Epstein:

“You have held zero public hearings, refused to allow the media to attend them, including today, despite espousing the need for transparency on dozens of occasions…

Hillary Clinton just posted her opening statement to the Comer Committee which she is testifying before today. It's part of the Save Donald from Epstein Investigation. The committee has essentially taken over the town of Chappaqua for the purpose. @hillaryclinton.bsky.social

Schumer: "It was a bunch of lies. He says manufacturing jobs have gone way up. They're down 100k since he took office. He says job creation is up. Job creation is the lowest its been in a non-recession year since 2003. He's in a bubble."