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US Congress: Trump White House Has "No Plan" For Dealing With Strait of Hormuz

 We're entering the heart of the "find out" phase. But what else do you expect from a real-estate slumlord-turned-reality show host-turned president?  Anyway, via Middle East Eye : Democratic senators said on Tuesday night that the US has “no plan” for the war on Iran, after President Donald Trump’s administration conducted a two-hour behind-closed-doors briefing for the Senate Armed Services Committee. This absence of any coordinated strategic thinking extends to the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy chokepoint, regime change in Iran and the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme. Following the Trump administration’s briefing on Tuesday, a procession of opposition senators came out to condemn what they described as the illegality, incoherence and lies surrounding the war, with Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland saying Trump was simply doing what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had wanted to do for 40 years. “ What you hear behind closed do...

Like Others Before Them, The Trump White House Thinks They Can "Message" Themselves Out Of Trouble.

  Case in Point : "mass deportations" is OUT and "removing violent criminals" is IN: The Trump White House is reportedly urging House Republicans to cease touting the mass deportation strategy it has championed ahead of this fall’s midterm elections. According to Axios’s Katie Santaliz and Marc Caputo, “White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair privately urged House Republicans on Tuesday to stop emphasizing ‘mass deportations’ and instead focus their messaging on removing violent criminals.” President Donald Trump and his allies have long touted immigration and border security as one of his top priorities, and Trump moved back into the White House last year after promising to initiate a mass deportation program on the campaign trail. His advantage on the issue has shrunk, however, amid a rash of controversial stories, and especially the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both of whom were shot by federal agents in Minneapolis earlier this year. Trump decided...

Google: "How Long Does It Take The United States to Make a Tomahawk Missile?"

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 I asked Google: "How long does it take the United States to make a tomahawk missile?" Google responded: It takes approximately 18 to 24 months for the U.S. to build a single Tomahawk cruise missile. Production is slowed by a thin supplier base for specialized components, such as solid rocket motors and advanced sensors. While the minimum sustainment rate is about 90 units per year, the Pentagon is working to increase production.  Production Time: 1.5 to 2 years per missile. Production Rate: Approximately 90 per year (minimum), with capacity to scale. Bottlenecks: Shortages in the solid rocket motor supply chain and specialized, single-source components. Cost: Roughly $2.2 million per missile. Considering that the United States was not fully stocked before they attacked Iran, and the likelihood that other similar ammunitions were neither fully stoked nor being manufactured at a faster rate, people really need to start asking how long the United States can continue before ente...

How The United States Lives And Dies By Oil (Illustrated By Headlines)

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  If this is true, I say:

"Short-Term Pain For Long-Term Gain"

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The President Who Coined "Fake News" Believes In Fake Polls

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Happy Harriet Tubman Day

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Could the Draft Return To the US?

  Apparently : As the United States continues to strike Iran roughly 10 days since ordered by President Donald Trump, questions about how long the war may last have been coupled with the prospect of a military draft that administration officials admit remains "on the table.” Six U.S. soldiers have been killed in the war that Trump has continually defended on the backdrop of what he and other senior officials have attributed to “an imminent threat” posed by Iran towards the U.S., Israel and other Middle East nations. The potential length of this conflict has drawn many assumptions, as Trump has floated a “4-5 weeks” duration while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been more clandestine in presenting any particular timeframe due to not giving away U.S. military strategies. That, in turn, has led to questions of whether U.S. troops could ultimately be on the ground in Iran due to airstrikes historically not providing enough military might over time for sustainability.  On Sunday...

Iran's Not In the "Surrendering" Mood.

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 Two Rachel Blevins videos explain. First, her interview with Foad Izadi who addresses the logic of some of the military targets: Then, there is Sharmine Narwani who discusses the impact on the Gulf: Bottom Line: Iran has more leverage than most people thought going into this conflict.

Meet the New "Iran Man"

 Mojtaba Khamenei, son of assassinated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has been chosen to succeed his father. The world and the markets react .