Cuba Is Next!

I was wondering when the idiots would get around to this…..it started with Lindsey Graham making the statement earlier this month….

“Cuba’s next. They’re gonna fall,” Graham said of the revolutionary government in Havana that’s outlasted a dozen American presidents, despite decades of US-led assassination attempts, sabotage, and subversion. “This communist dictatorship in Cuba, their days are numbered.”

The remarks by Graham – who previously berated Trump as a “jackass,” “nut job,” and “loser” unfit to be commander-in-chief – come amid reporting that Trump is feeling buoyed by what he views as successful attacks on Iran and Venezuela.

“The president is feeling like, ‘I’m on a roll,’ like, ‘This is working,’” one unnamed Trump administration official told the Atlantic‘s Vivian Salama over the weekend.

This, from a president who said he deplored regime change and vowed “no new wars” while running for reelection.

(antiwar.com)

Now Donny has made it official by stating that Cuba would be next on his hit list….

The remarks by Graham – who previously berated Trump as a “jackass,” “nut job,” and “loser” unfit to be commander-in-chief – come amid reporting that Trump is feeling buoyed by what he views as successful attacks on Iran and Venezuela.

“The president is feeling like, ‘I’m on a roll,’ like, ‘This is working,’” one unnamed Trump administration official told the Atlantic‘s Vivian Salama over the weekend.

This, from a president who said he deplored regime change and vowed “no new wars” while running for reelection.

“What’s happening with Cuba is amazing. And we think that, we want to finish this one [Iran] first,” Trump said. “But that will be just a question of time.”

Trump and his allies have frequently threatened Havana, ratcheting up economic pressure with the aim of overthrowing the country’s communist government.

After the US abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January, Trump stated that the country’s supply of oil to Cuba, an essential economic lifeline for the island that has been under heavy US sanctions for years, would be totally cut off.

Trump has embraced the threat of overwhelming military force to advance his priorities around the world, including in Latin America, where he has previously said that Cuba looks “ready to fall” in the near future.

(aje.com)

Apparently Donny just cannot help himself.

Seems we are always looking for the low hanging fruit….it is safer that way.

Well Cuba would make a great haven for all the billionaires to hide the ill gotten profits.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Regime Change From 30,000 Feet

For a week the US and the Israelis have been plummeting Iran with airstrikes…..and the idea of this is not something Americans think is a good idea.

Americans are mostly lukewarm—or outright opposed—to Washington’s latest show of force against Iran. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds just 27% back the US strikes that killed Iran’s leader, while 43% disapprove and 29% aren’t sure. The survey, conducted as US and Israeli strikes were underway and before US casualties were announced, also shows 56% of Americans think President Trump is too quick to use military force, a view held by 87% of Democrats, 60% of independents, and 23% of Republicans.

Republicans are more supportive of the strikes overall, with 55% in favor and 13% opposed, but that backing appears conditional. About 42% in the party say they’d be less likely to support the campaign if American troops are killed or injured. Another 45% of all respondents—including roughly a third of Republicans—say rising gas or oil prices would erode their support. The poll of 1,282 adults, with a margin of error of about three points, comes as crude oil prices surged more than 8% and Trump’s approval rating dipped to 39%.

With all the rockets, missiles, drones and bombs who will become the ‘new’ leader of Iran?

President Trump reportedly is weighing a limited deployment of ground troops to Iran, with the installation of a postwar government a potential goal. But US intelligence analysts have warned that even a broad military offensive is unlikely to dislodge Iran’s ruling system, according to a classified assessment described to the Washington Post. The National Intelligence Council report, completed about a week before the US and Israel began their strikes on Feb. 28, concludes that Iran’s clerical and security institutions are structured to survive the loss of top leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, three people familiar with the findings said.

The document examines possible outcomes of both limited strikes focused on senior figures and more extensive attacks on government and military infrastructure. In each case, the report says, Iran’s leadership would turn to established succession mechanisms aimed at preserving continuity of rule. The likelihood that Iran’s fractured opposition could take over was deemed unlikely, per the Post. “There’s no other force within Iran that can confront the remaining power that the regime has,” said Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution. The NIC report, according to those familiar with it, does not view the Iranian system’s grip on power as fragile. Outside experts said there is little evidence so far of large-scale unrest or serious fractures within Iran’s security apparatus.

One expert who has studied air power for three decades said airstrikes alone aren’t likely to remove Iran’s government, either, per CBS News. “The fact of the matter is, for over a century, states have been trying to topple regimes with air power alone and—I’m choosing my words carefully— it has never worked,” said Robert Pape, a University of Chicago professor. The White House did not say whether Trump has been briefed on the intelligence assessment.

In other words to effect a complete regime change it will take boots on the ground and all the downside that comes with troops actively taking part in this war.

What will Donny do?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Does Donny Want A Full Blown Invasion?

The initial strikes of the war have begun and this will continue until a sufficient amount of damage has been inflicted and then the second phase will be instigated.

Second phase?  Ground troops…..how long will this last?

The US military is preparing for the possibility that the US-Israeli war against Iran lasts until September of this year, according to a report from POLITICO, far beyond President Trump’s initial four-week timeline.

The report said that US Central Command is asking the Pentagon to send more intelligence officers to its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to support operations against Iran for at least 100 days, but likely through September.

The news of the Pentagon preparing for a long war comes as US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said that the US is sending more forces to the Middle East and will be escalating its bombing campaign.

(antiwar.com)

But what about the ground troops?

Senate Democrats said after receiving a classified briefing from the Trump administration on Tuesday that they’re increasingly concerned about the US-Israeli war on Iran dragging on “forever”—and involving American troops in a ground invasion.

“I am more fearful than ever, after this briefing, that we may be putting boots on the ground,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told reporters, criticizing the Trump administration for not providing the American public with information that was given to senators behind closed doors.

(commondreams.org)

But what about the prez….what does he want?

President Trump has been talking privately about putting a limited number of US troops on the ground in Iran, multiple current and former US officials tell NBC News. According to those sources, Trump has floated deploying a small, targeted contingent rather than launching a large-scale ground invasion. The discussions, said to have been held with aides and Republican allies outside the White House, reportedly have centered on scenarios such as securing Iran’s uranium stockpiles and helping to set up a post-war government friendly to US interests, including cooperation on oil production similar to the US-Venezuela relationship after Nicolas Maduro’s capture.

NBC’s sources say no decisions have been made and no orders issued. Publicly, Trump has kept the option open without endorsing it. “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground,” he told the New York Post earlier this week, saying he “probably” wouldn’t need them but could use them “if they were necessary.” The White House also said on Wednesday that ground troops in Iran are “not part of the plan … at this time,” per PBS. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC its report was based on “assumptions from anonymous sources” outside the president’s national security team and insisted that Trump “always, wisely keeps all options open.”

Is that a good sign?  No it is not…..

The Army just yanked the headquarters staff of elite paratrooper unit out of a major training drill, and it’s setting off alarms about what might come next in the widening conflict with Iran. The 82nd Airborne Division’s headquarters, which oversees rapid deployments of its 4,000- to 5,000-strong Immediate Response Force, was told to remain at Fort Bragg instead of heading to a planned exercise in Louisiana, officials tell the Washington Post reports. No orders have been issued, and the Pentagon insists it won’t discuss potential movements, but one official summed up the mood as “preparing for something—just in case.”

Analysts say any land operation could include seizing Kharg Island, a key oil hub. Michael Rubin at the conservative American Enterprise Institute tells the Post that securing the Persian Gulf island would be a “no-brainer.” Rubin says it appears that the administration is “coming around to the idea that Iran is a much greater problem set than perhaps they went in thinking.” Any such operation, however, would expose US forces and deepen political risks for Trump, who faces broad public opposition to a ground war.

Donny has seen that this is unpopular now that war dead are returning home and he has to have an out to prevent as mass opposition to this war…..and what would that be?

Donny and his band of idiots are trying to con the Kurds into being the spear tip on the ground…..

President Trump is leaning on the Kurds as he weighs whether to send US troops into Iran. Trump has phoned key Kurdish leaders in Iran and Iraq in recent days, offering “extensive US aircover” and other assistance if Iranian Kurdish opposition groups move to seize territory in western Iran, the Washington Post reports, citing US and Kurdish sources. Sources tell CNN that the CIA has been working to arm Kurdish groups in an effort that began months before the war.

  • In a Sunday call, Trump told Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Bafel Talabani that the Kurds must pick a side—”either with America and Israel or with Iran,” a senior PUK official said. Masoud Barzani of the Kurdish Democratic Party received a similar pitch, with US officials described as seeking Iraqi Kurds’ permission and logistical help, not their direct participation.
  • Trump also spoke with Mustafa Hijri, head of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, part of a new coalition of six Iranian Kurdish parties that has urged Iranian troops, especially in Kurdish regions, to stop backing Tehran’s security forces, the Post reports.
  • The outreach comes as Israel has been targeting police and Revolutionary Guard facilities in Iran’s Kurdish areas, in what analysts describe as a deliberate effort to weaken Tehran’s grip there while US strikes focus on military assets in other parts of the country.
  • The gambit carries substantial risks. Iraqi Kurds have long hosted Iranian Kurdish groups on the condition they do not launch attacks into Iran and have pledged not to let their territory be used as a staging ground. Kurdish leaders, wary of past US reversals and fearing Iranian retaliation if any uprising falters, are signaling caution. Ankara could also balk if Washington moves to arm Iranian Kurdish factions linked to the PKK, which is in a fragile peace process with Turkey.
  • “We are in a very delicate position,” a PUK official tells the Post. If a Kurdish offensive fails, “we do not know what Iran’s reaction against the Kurdistan region of Iraq would be,” the official says. “At the same time, we cannot simply reject Trump’s request—especially when he personally calls and asks for it.”
  • Asked Wednesday about reports of plans to arm Kurdish groups, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “None of our objectives are premised on the support or the arming of any particular force. So, what other entities may be doing, we’re aware of, but our objectives aren’t centered on that.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump spoke to Kurdish leaders “with respect to our base that we have in northern Iraq,” but denied that any specific plan was agreed to, the AP reports.

Will the Kurds fall for this con job?

My guess is yes they will.

I hope that if and when the ground forces start that the killed in action will get more respect from Donny than he showed those that just returned over the weekend.

But that is too much to ask I fear.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

It Will Be All Over Soon

So Donny tells us in his usual lying way.

Just recently Donny has stated that this operation is pretty much complete….a highest magnitude lie.

President Trump suggested Monday that the war in Iran could be nearing the finish line. “I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” he told CBS News correspondent Weijia Jiang. “They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force. Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones. If you look, they have nothing left. There’s nothing left in a military sense.” Trump previously said the war, now in its second week, could last four to five weeks. He said Monday, however, that it is “very far ahead of schedule.”

Asked about Iran’s new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, Trump said, “I have no message for him. None, whatsoever.” He said he had a person in mind to replace him, but declined to elaborate In a post on X, Jiang said Trump told her he was thinking about “taking over the Strait of Hormuz. She said he told her, “They’ve shot everything they have to shoot, and they better not try anything cute or it’s going to be the end of that country.” Trump, who is scheduled to hold a press conference in Miami at 5:30pm Eastern, said wrapping up the war “is all in my mind, nobody else’s,” per the BBC.

It is all in his mind?  Perfect.

Everybody is looking for a good excuse for why this war has started…..of course mental midget Donny has a good one…..from his Monday press conference….

At a news conference Monday, President Trump was asked about his comments earlier in the day in which he told a reporter that the war was “very complete,” while the Pentagon said on social media: “We Have Only Just Begun to Fight.” Trump was asked whether it was the end or the beginning and said, “It’s the beginning of building a new country,” a comment that seemed to suggest the US might be engaged in the building of a new Iran, the AP reports. Trump suggested that the war was for the benefit of other nations, especially those dependent on oil that’s shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. “I mean, we’re doing this for the other parts of the world, including countries like China,” Trump said.

  • War over “pretty soon.” Trump said the war would be over “pretty soon,” but added: “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough.” He said the US was saving some of the “most important” targets, including Iran’s electrical grid, for later strikes, if necessary, France24 reports.
  • New nuclear site. Trump told reporters that the war with Iran began because that country was starting work on a new site for developing material for nuclear weapons. Trump said the new site was meant to replace facilities bombed last year by the US. “But they were starting work at another site, a different site, different kind of a site—and that was protected by granite,” Trump said. The president added that Iran wanted to use the “exponentially growing ballistic missile threat to make it virtually impossible to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” claiming that Iran would have otherwise been able to take over the Middle East.
  • Iran would have attacked “within a week.” The president dismissed criticism from some Democratic officials that there was no reason for the US and Israel to strike Iran. “Well, I’ll give you the best reason of all. Within a week they were going to attack us, 100%. They were ready,” Trump said. He did not offer any information to support that statement but said Iran had “all these missiles, far more than anyone thought.” However, Trump administration officials told congressional staff in private briefings that US intelligence did not suggest Iran was preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the US, the AP reports.

We wait to see what Donny will do as soon as he can pull himself away from worrying about NCAA sports.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Joe McDonald–R.I.P.

The name may not mean much to the younger readers but I one served in Vietnam then Country Joe and the Fish was the anti-war song that meant the most.

The anti-war icon has died….

A voice that helped soundtrack the Vietnam era has gone quiet, USA Today reports. “Country Joe” McDonald, the frontman of Country Joe and the Fish and a defining figure of 1960s protest music, died Saturday in Berkeley, Calif., at 84 from complications of Parkinson’s disease, his band announced. He was “surrounded by his family,” according to the statement; no public memorial is planned.

Born Joseph Allen McDonald in Washington, DC, and raised in California, he served in the Navy before emerging in Berkeley’s folk and protest scene and co-founding Country Joe and the Fish in the mid-1960s. Their 1967 debut, Electric Music for the Mind and Body, helped cement San Francisco’s psychedelic rock sound, but McDonald became best known for his biting anti-Vietnam War song “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” (a “talking blues” song done in the “deadpan” style of Woody Guthrie, the Guardian reports) and his expletive-laced cheer at Woodstock—moments he later said “changed everything in America.” NPR calls the song “a signature anthem of the 1960s counterculture,” and the Woodstock performance “one of the defining scenes of the festival.” The cheer, however, did once get McDonald arrested and fined after he used it at a Massachusetts show.

After his band broke up, McDonald continued to perform and release solo work for decades, often focusing on civil rights, environmental causes, and humanitarian issues, before retiring to focus on his family. He also expressed consistent support for the troops, and was involved with veterans’ issues throughout his life. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, five children, and four grandchildren; the family suggests donations to Swords to Ploughshares or the Michael J. Fox Foundation in his memory.

For me his voice and conscience will be missed for he help us antiwar protesters get through all the torment….

Thank you for your help and your voice in protest to a dumb ass war…..you and your morals will be missed.

Plus old farts like me will not forget what you did in our name.

His most famous antiwar song in remembrance of a great musician for the cause.

Thank you Country Joe and may you rest in peace.

chuq

Vlad Gives Intel

The story broke that Russia may be giving intel on US assets to Iran for retaliatory strikes….

Russia has allegedly provided Iran with information that could help it strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region, two officials familiar with US intelligence said.

The officials, who were not authorised to comment publicly on the sensitive matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that US intelligence has not uncovered that Russia is directing Iran on what to do with the information as the US and Israel and Iran fires retaliatory salvos at American assets and allies in the Persian Gulf.

Still, it’s the first indication that Moscow has sought to get involved in the war that the US and Israel launched on Iran a week ago.

(euronews.com)

I have also read the concerns of some about this possibility.

Yes it is a dastardly move to help destruction to rain down on US assets….but think about it…..is not the US giving intel to Ukraine to be used in retaliatory strikes against Russia?

This is why I was not surprised by the news at all….for is that not what allies do in time of need?

But since Iran and Russia are trading partners this Donny war may be a windfall for Russia.

“For our budget, the attack on Iran is a big plus,” a Russian TV host proclaimed Monday. The Guardian digs into the potential truth of that statement. Russia’s oil and gas revenues are a linchpin of its war financing, and they hit a five-year low last year as sanctions squeezed the flow of exports and prices retreated. But disrupted Gulf supplies could push big buyers like India and China toward more Russian barrels, strengthening Moscow’s leverage after months of having to sell at deep discounts. “When a good fifth of global oil supply and roughly a quarter of seaborne trade is effectively locked up, that’s a boon for Russia,” energy expert Sergey Vakulenko tells the paper.

Some oil that had been languishing on tankers “will definitely find buyers” now, Vakulenko says, and likely at better prices. Al Jazeera reports the price of Russia’s Urals crude, battered by Western sanctions, hit a $40-per-barrel low in late February. On Monday, as the price of the international benchmark Brent crude jumped 13% to $82 per barrel, Urals was lifted to $57.

From a financial point of view this war makes good sense for Russia and the longer they can prolong the conflict the more profit can be made.

And is that not what war is all about….profits?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Last Week At The Sh*t Show–08Mar26

This past week has been full of the bright shiny object for us to fixate on and sucks all the air out of anything else…..war with Iran…so some of the silliness was not noticed as much as usual.

First we had huge banners of Donny’s mug hung off the Dept. of Labor building and now we have that far right loud mouth Kirk’s mug hanging off the dept. of education.  Both are tacky at best.

Then he wants to give himself a birthday present….we know he has destroyed the White House for his stupid ballroom and his silly arc de Trump and now a stadium…..

President Donald Trump says he plans to build a 100,000-seat stadium near the White House to host a UFC fight on his birthday.

The president confirmed the MMA event last year, although his critics have branded the plan to build an arena for the event as “Kim Jong Un-level insanity.”

“They are going to put up something that’s really amazing,” Trump told reporters. “It’s really having to do with our great 250th birthday, where we’re having so many wonderful things.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-ufc-fight-dana-white-b2933211.html

Then there is Pistol Pete bitching about dead Americans….

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remark Wednesday about U.S. troops dying in the Middle East was so callous it reportedly stunned everyone—including Pentagon officials.

During a press briefing, Hegseth claimed that the press was only reporting on the deaths of American soldiers in order to “make the president look bad.”

“But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front-page news,” he said. “I get it, the press only wants to make the president look bad—but try for once to report the reality.”

The Atlantic’s Nancy Youssef, who was present for the briefing, told her colleague that Hegseth’s comment “sent a stunned silence through the briefing room.”

She claimed that some members of Hegseth’s staff appeared to flinch at what he was saying, while others ducked their heads.

https://newrepublic.com/post/207400/pete-hegseth-dead-troops-aides

Seriously?   That is the best he can say about dead Americans?  I want some MAGA idiot to explain why that is not offensive.

Not really as moronic as something Donny said….

“The situation with a very bad and very sick group of leaders, who were killing a lot of people,” he said. “A lot of our people were being killed. They were being maimed. They were being destroyed with their bombs all over the place, planted in roads, and we called them the roadside bombs. Walking around without legs, without arms, face blasted. Killed many, many people.”

To be fair he was talking about our last Iraq War and roadside bombs….

Just a little something to think about….

The daily price tag of US President Donald Trump’s illegal war on Iran would be enough to cover the daily costs of federal nutrition assistance for more than 40 million Americans, as well as daily Medicaid costs for the roughly 16 million people expected to lose health coverage due to the Republican budget package that Trump signed into law last year.

That’s according to an analysis published Thursday by the National Priorities Project (NPP), which noted that—on an annual basis—the estimated $1 billion-per-day cost of the US war on Iran is “higher than the appropriated budget of any federal agency except the Pentagon itself.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/daily-cost-iran-war

Is this something out of Bay Watch?

The U.S. Coast Guard has obtained a new tool in their arsenal for patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border: jet skis.

In a video posted to Instagram in February, the Coast Guard confirmed that they are deploying ‘Coasties’ on jet skis to control, secure, and defend the border.

This investment came as Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Kevin E. Lunday said that despite a large infusion of cash from the federal government, the Coast Guard still needed higher annual funding appropriations, according to the Military Times.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/coast-guard-border-security-jet-ski-b2933218.html

Seriously?  Jet skis?

We know the favorite pastime of Repubs is to blame everything they have done on the Dems….and that includes retaliatory strikes by Iran….

The reality is President Trump started the war unilaterally, without making the case to Congress or the American public. He did not attempt to obtain congressional approval, and would likely veto any constraints the legislature passes. He has already said publicly to expect more American deaths. If there were ever a clear shot to entirely fault one party, it’s this one.

But Republicans are already laying the groundwork to blame Democrats, should the (politically) worst occur: retaliatory violence on U.S. soil. (Law enforcement is already investigating an early Sunday mass shooting in Texas for motives; the shooter reportedly wore a shirt with an Iranian flag emblem.)

…

“Now would be a good time for Democrats to drop their opposition to DHS funding and pass the bill to support our homeland security,” wrote Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA). “Continuing to play political games with our national security given the unfolding situation in the Middle East is dangerous.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things-stand/republicans-are-laying-the-groundwork-to-blame-democrats-for-irans-retaliatory-strikes

GOP trying anything to get that despicable DHS funding through Congress.

Now that I have upset your day allow me to try and make things better.

Years ago I lived in Colorado and my best friend was a Husky named Nikita and when I saw this video it reminded me just what a character he was….

I hope that cheered you up a bit….

Have a wonderful Sunday and as always…..Be Well and Be Safe…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–07Mar26

The first full weekend of March and the wishful thoughts of Spring fill the air.

Local–WE still have had little to no winter this year….even at night we have 90-100% humidity….very sticky.

We leap forward at 2 am….just worthless waste of time.

Personal–March is a month I dread….while others are looking forward to the arrival of Spring all I have is dread for the month…..24th four years ago my son-in-law died and last year on the 12th my beloved wife passed away….so March holds no joy for my family.

This year the US celebrates it’s 250th year of existence and our founding documents are going on a national tour….

Some of the United States’ most important historical documents are beginning a first-of-its kind journey Monday as part of the country’s 250th anniversary commemoration. Typically housed in highly controlled vaults under the watch of preservation experts at the National Archives, documents such as the 1783 Treaty of Paris that formally ended the Revolutionary War and the 1774 Articles of Association that urged colonists to boycott British goods are rarely moved. But those documents, signed by George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and other American revolutionary leaders, will be making their way across the country and put on display for free at local museums, reports the AP.

Among the planned activities are a fleet of mobile museums driving across the country, a story collection initiative, and a Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The “Freedom Plane” departed DC on Monday and headed to its first stop in Kansas City, Missouri, where the documents will be transferred to the National WWI Museum and Memorial. The records include a rare original engraving of the Declaration of Independence printed in 1823 from a copperplate of the original; the Oaths of Allegiance signed in 1778 by George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and other officers of the Continental Army; and a rare draft copy of the Constitution that includes handwritten notes by the delegates.

Since I am battling cancer I try to find the different attempts to try and control the disease….

We’ll bet you didn’t have this on your 2026 bingo card. Scientists have been experimenting with using bacteria to eat cancerous tumors from the inside out, and – thanks to some clever genetic tweaks – it’s proving surprisingly effective. So much so, the authors of a new study say they hope to progress to preclinical studies in the not-too-distant future.

The bacteria that have been enlisted for this cancer-fighting quest are called Clostridium sporogenes. They usually live in soil, because they need an environment with no oxygen at all. As it turns out, the inside of a solid tumor – full of dead cells and starved of oxygen – is pretty much the perfect habitat for these microbes.

“Bacteria spores enter the tumour, finding an environment where there are lots of nutrients and no oxygen, which this organism prefers, and so it starts eating those nutrients and growing in size,” explained chemical engineering professor Dr Marc Aucoin, from the University of Waterloo in Canada, in a statement.

https://www.iflscience.com/bacteria-that-literally-eat-tumors-from-the-inside-out-may-be-the-future-of-cancer-treatment-82669

Ever heard of lab grown brains?

Back in 1907, American biologist Henry Van Peters Wilson discovered that sponges will re-form into living creatures after their cells are broken apart through a fine mesh screen — demonstrating that the cells of living organisms contained something telling them how to build complex, multi-cellular structures.

Researchers dined out this for decades, and their subsequent discoveries led to the isolation of pluripotent stem cells — “master cells” that can divide endlessly and become any type of cell in the body — first from mouse embryos in 1981, then from human embryos in 1998.

Lab-grown brains finally came onto the scene in 2013, when a team of scientists led by Madeline Lancaster created the first brain “organoid”: a tiny, three-dimensional cell culture mimicking the human brain. These mini-brains, made out of stem cells, contain real neurons, thus allowing researchers to study brain development, model neurological diseases, and test drugs before human trials. (As you might guess, the practice is not without controversy.)

Now, scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz are taking lab-grown mini-brains into their toddler era, after demonstrating that brain organoids can process information in real time.

https://futurism.com/health-medicine/lab-grown-brain-organoid

Every heard of ‘Aquamation?

Memento mori tells us it’s good to remember that one day we will die. It gives you a kind of agency to live life on your terms, agency that can extend to choosing how you go out when the time comes.

Human funerary practices have come a long way, but until recently your main options were either burial or cremation using gas and/or fire. Now, green alternatives like water cremation are becoming more popular, and Scotland just became the first country in the United Kingdom to allow this sustainable funerary alternative. So, what is it?

Water cremation – also known as aquamation, biocremation, resomation, or flameless cremation – uses alkaline hydrolysis to dispose of human or animal remains. Touted as an eco-friendly alternative to cremation, it uses a heated alkaline solution to break down the body, leaving behind only the skeleton.

During aquamation, the body is placed inside a pressurized vessel filled with a mixture of water and potassium hydroxide (lye) and heated to around 90-150°C (200-300°F). As the container is pressurized, the solution doesn’t boil and instead gently gets to work breaking down the organic matter over several hours.

https://www.iflscience.com/dissolving-the-dead-scotland-becomes-first-uk-country-to-allow-aquamation-a-green-alternative-to-cremation-82727

Fascinating.

Some entity known as ‘Vast’ has a plan for space….

Vast wants to extend humanity’s footprint into the final frontier, and it now has a lot more money to funnel toward that goal.

The California startup, which is developing a line of private space stations called “Haven,” announced today (March 5) that it has raised $500 million in new funding.

The financing consists of $300 million in “Series A” equity and $200 million in debt, according to Vast. (Series A funding is the round that follows initial “seed capital.”)

“The funds will be used to expand facilities, grow the team, and advance the company’s proposed successor to the ISS, Haven-2, designed to ensure continuous human presence in low Earth orbit for the United States and its allies,” Vast wrote in the statement.

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/vast-500-million-dollars-funding-haven-private-space-stations

I would love to see the people and companies being taken in by this con.

Would you pay for recycled toilet water?

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Similarly, the water in your toilet bowl could be another person’s drink — after it’s rigorously filtered and becomes so pure that treatment facilities actually need to manually add minerals back into the water so it doesn’t, dare we say, flush important nutrients out of your own system.

Icky as it may sound on paper, recycled sewage or waste water may be the next game changer for water conservation, with many cities across the US already depending on these systems.

And encouragingly, a new study highlighted by Grist shows the public is open to the idea of drinking water recycled from their own sewage. In a survey of small communities of fewer than 10,000 people published in the journal Water Resources Research, residents said they’d be willing to pay an average of $49 per month to have access to reused water. And hey, astronauts do it — so why shouldn’t the rest of us get access as well?

https://futurism.com/science-energy/average-american-drink-toilet-water

Time for me to move on….I hope everyone has a great Saturday and as always…..Be Well and Be Safe…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

I Say Who Will Be Leader

Now that we have a war going on with Iran and the US is looking for regime change but not really looking…..Donny thinks he should decide who the leader of the country should be.

President Trump says he doesn’t just want a say in Iran’s future leadership, he insists he has to help pick the next supreme leader. In an interview with Axios on Thursday, Trump said he considers Mojtaba Khamenei, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son and widely seen favorite to succeed him, “unacceptable” and “a lightweight.” He argued that if Iran chooses a leader who sticks to the current line, the US could be drawn back into war within five years. “We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said, adding that he must be “involved in the appointment, like with Delcy in Venezuela.” Delcy Rodriguez took power after US forces ousted President Nicolas Maduro in January.

Trump made similar remarks in an interview with Politico, declaring he would have “a big impact” on who leads the country. “We’ll work with the people and the regime to make sure that somebody gets there that can nicely build Iran but without nuclear weapons,” he said. The comments mark a striking assertion of US influence over Iran’s internal succession process and appear to cut against repeated statements by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials that Washington is not seeking “regime change,” Axios notes

In the Politico interview, Trump dismissed concerns about the effect rising gas prices could have on the midterm elections. “People are loving what’s happening,” he said. “We’re taking out a threat to the United States of America, major threat … and doing it like nobody’s ever seen before.” He said the war had already “decimated” Iran’s military.

Seriously?  I would think that if we are so concerned about democracy in Iran should not the Iranian people choose their next leader or will they accept the shah’s son which I am sure is Donny’s choice.

Keep in mind the US has never accepted a democratically elected leader in Iran…..think 1950s…..so it makes sense that Donny should pick and choose the leadership.

I know that this war has never been about bringing democracy to Iran….it is about installing a puppet that is dependent and pliable…..and the shah’s son will be both as well as an ass to the people that threw his father out of the limelight.

Any thoughts on this?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

DHS Barbie Out On Her Ass

Noem has been fired…..I am surprised for being such a Donny enabler that she might weather this storm after her days testifying….I was mistaken.

She is gone and we await the next d/bag in line for the hallow halls of DHS.

Kristi Noem’s turbulent run atop the Department of Homeland Security is ending with a reassignment and a replacement drawn from the Senate. President Trump announced Thursday that Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma will take over as DHS secretary, calling him “highly respected,” while saying Noem will shift to a new post as “Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas,” part of a Western Hemisphere security push the White House says it will roll out Saturday. The change takes effect March 31.

  • Months of speculation. The firing follows months of speculation about Noem’s future as public support for Trump’s aggressive deportation drive has eroded and even some Republicans questioned her leadership.
  • Trump “not a happy camper.” The president was unhappy with Noem about DHS’s heavily criticized surge in Minnesota, where two US citizens were fatally shot by officers, and about Noem’s Senate testimony on Tuesday defending a $200 million ad campaign that prominently featured her, sources tell the Washington Post. Noem told senators Trump had approved the campaign. GOP Sen. John Kennedy said Trump was “not a happy camper” when he spoke to him later that day. “The president’s recollection and her recollection are distinctly different,” he said.
  • Her new role. The White House says the Shield of the Americas is a regional policy initiative, guided by Trump’s “Donroe Doctrine,” to ensure security for the Western Hemisphere, the Hill reports. Noem’s role, like her role at Homeland Security, will include dealing with issues like illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Noem didn’t mention her ouster during an appearance at an event in Nashville on Thursday, but she later thanked Trump in a post on X. “In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise, I forged over the last 13 months as Secretary of Homeland Security,” she wrote.
  • Mullin. In a post on X, Mullin, whose appointment needs to be confirmed by the Senate, said, “I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the Senate and carrying out President Trump’s mission alongside the department’s many capable agencies and the thousands of patriots who keep us safe every day.” Mullin “has been a fighter for Oklahoma and will fight to keep our nation secure,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement, per the Oklahoma Voice. “There isn’t a better choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security.” He said he would appoint a “strong, small government conservative voice” to replace Mullin.
  • Democrats welcome the news. Democrats largely cheered her departure, the Post reports. Independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, called Mullin “an upgrade, absolutely,” adding that “pretty much anybody is.” Sen. Cory Booker said Noem should still be “held to account for the corruption that she has shown with the contracting” and for what he described as violations of Americans’ constitutional rights. The Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights said her departure is “long overdue,” the AP reports. “For immigrant communities across the country, her leadership represented a dangerous escalation of policies that treated families and workers as targets rather than as human beings,” the advocacy group said, adding that her replacement must ensure agencies like ICE treat immigrants with “basic human respect.”

Her ousting was more about taking the heat off Donny than her….she will not go far for as an enabler Donny needs her close.

I do not believe this will be a new chapter for DHS just a continuation of the Donny policies.

Whatcha you think?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”