taffy

Three theatres are set: the Middle East #Iran, Europe #Russia, and Pacific #China. The pieces are nearly in place. Some are already in play. #WWIII

Distant thunder Andrew Wyeth

Trump is seeking to pay for his new $1.5 trillion military budget by cutting the following: $510 million - Grants for farmers and agricultural research $82 million - Loans for rural small businesses (Fully eliminated) $61 million - Support for farmers and food markets (Fully eliminated) $240 million - School meals and food education for children abroad (Fully eliminated) $659 million - Community building grants $47 million - Support for minority-owned businesses (Fully eliminated) $449 million - Economic development grants for communities $1.6 billion - Weather forecasting, fisheries, and coastal protection (NOAA) $993 million - Scientific research and technology standards $150 million - Support for American exports and trade $2.2 billion - Broadband and internet access programs $8.5 billion - Funding for public schools $1.5 billion - Vocational training and adult education (Fully eliminated) $2.7 billion - College access and higher education support $15.2 billion - Roads, bridges, and infrastructure projects $1.1 billion - Home energy efficiency and clean energy programs (Fully eliminated) $1.1 billion - Scientific research funding $386 million - Environmental cleanup programs $150 million - Cutting-edge clean energy research $4 billion - Help paying home heating and cooling bills for low-income families (Fully eliminated) $768 million - Refugee resettlement assistance $819 million - Care and shelter for migrant children $775 million - Local anti-poverty programs (Fully eliminated) $5 billion - Public health programs, mental health services, and disease prevention $5 billion - Medical research (NIH) $129 million - Healthcare quality and safety research $356 million - Emergency preparedness and disaster response $1.3 billion - FEMA community disaster preparedness grants $707 million - Cybersecurity protection for critical infrastructure $52 million - Airport and transportation security $40 million - Protection against chemical and biological weapons threats $53 million - Funding for homeland security operations $3.3 billion - Community development block grants for local neighborhoods (Fully eliminated) $1.3 billion - Affordable housing construction grants (Fully eliminated) $393 million - Programs to reduce homelessness $529 million - Housing assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS (Fully eliminated) $489 million - Housing and services for Native American communities $50 million - Grants to help communities build more housing (Fully eliminated) $60 million - Enforcement of fair housing and anti-discrimination laws $58 million - Homebuyer and renter counseling services (Fully eliminated) $45 million - Renewable energy development programs (Fully eliminated) $1.7 billion - Grants for local law enforcement and public safety $20 million - Civil rights mediation and legal access programs (Fully eliminated) $1.6 billion - Job training for at-risk youth (Fully eliminated) $395 million - Jobs program for low-income seniors (Fully eliminated) $234 million - Worker safety and labor protection programs $101 million - Enforcement of equal pay and workplace anti-discrimination laws $46 million - Programs to combat child labor and forced labor abroad $2 billion - International humanitarian aid $1.2 billion - Food aid for hungry families abroad (Fully eliminated) $4.3 billion - Global health and disease prevention programs $2.7 billion - Funding for the United Nations and international partnerships $642 million - International economic and treasury programs $315 million - Democracy and anti-corruption programs abroad $486 million - Grants for public transit projects $4.2 billion - Electric vehicle charging infrastructure $372 million - Airline service for rural and small communities $145 million - Grants for sustainable and equitable infrastructure $204 million - Loans and investment for underserved communities $1.4 billion - IRS taxpayer services and enforcement $100 million - Air pollution monitoring and reduction programs (Fully eliminated) $1 billion - EPA grants to states for environmental protection $2.5 billion - Clean drinking water and wastewater infrastructure funds $90 million - Grants to reduce diesel pollution (Fully eliminated) $3.4 billion - NASA space and earth science research $297 million - NASA technology innovation programs $1.1 billion - International Space Station operations $143 million - STEM education programs $309 million - Small business development and entrepreneurship programs $170 million - Small Business Administration operations $158 million - Loans for small businesses

It's always yes to bombs, but no to our babies. This is what America last looks like.

Even now, Palestinian women still pick wild mustard flowers. Holding onto life is how we resist.

It's so wild how we keep seeing reports that Iran's retaliation caught the US off guard. For all the years I've been paying attention to this issue I've been reading reports from experts and analysts saying if the US attacks Iran, Iran can close the Strait of Hormuz and strike US bases and the energy infrastructure of US allies in the region. I have zero military training or expertise — on military matters I'm just some schmuck with internet access — and yet nothing Iran has done has surprised me. It's playing out exactly how the experts warned it would play out. There's no way any literate, thinking person didn't see this coming. Trump's war machine is either made up of liars, morons, lying morons, or (most likely), an eclectic mixture of all three.

I love how Joe Rogan will entertain the most out there conspiracies, but Theo Von points out the obvious reality we’re all experiencing and Rogan’s all “you’ve lost your marbles! Come hang out with the ruling class, they’ll assure you it’s fine!” 😂

Former Israeli MP Moshe Feiglin on Israel's most watched news show: "As Hitler said, 'I cannot live if one Jew is left,' we can't live here if one [Palestinian] remains in Gaza.” When people tell you who they are, believe them

Some of the reactions to this are odd to me. I know it’s an unpopular opinion on here but this is a very young person just starting out and entering the world where there’s no hope of stability or even a half decent standard of living and all the pathways to that have been foreclosed due to an undemocratic government that has eroded everyone’s quality of life consistently for 50+ years, while wreaking havoc globally. This undemocratic government is starting wars nobody wants and making her life even harder all for the sake of drenching the world in blood so a few people at the top can profit. The way to help people like her understand why things are the way they are isn’t to blame her for the actions of a government over which she has no control, it’s to empathize and then show her that she needs to organize against it to change things. When I was her age I was so poor and immiserated and always on the brink of homelessness that I had no time to even think about politics, I was just trying to survive. Poverty is hell and made me contemplate suicide many times. I wish people realized that young people like this are ripe for radicalization because they feel the effects of a government that does not care about them, but you can’t intervene by laughing at their struggles, which are real even if they are nothing compared to the struggles of those whom this satanic government is bombing. It’s all connected and making those connections is how you bring people in to eventually change things. I think it’s very understandable for someone who has been the victim of our imperialism to not make distinctions but for us here we should realize that the people who “deserve it” are the ones who are totally unaffected by what this country does. The rest of us pay while those destroying the world profit.

They’ll try to dismiss/discredit Theo but these are the conversations being had at the dinner table across America & there’s nothing they can do to stop it.

Hope people are watching. None of our leaders give a fuck about us or our peaceful protests. The only thing that calls to them is fear & they're not remotely afraid of your chants & signs. Change that.

A French general after learning of Trump’s plan to invade Iran and build a runway to fly out the uranium under active bombing: “American officials should stop snorting cocaine between meetings!!!”

Joe Biden's "empathy"

For the full year 2025, Amazon.com Inc. reported a significant rise in profitability, with a net income of 77.6 billion! The company’s annual gross profit for 2025 reached $360.51 billion. If they didn't charge you more, how will they survive! Think of the billionaires in need of their 20th home and disregard the fact that you can't even afford your first, or food that isn't poisoned! This isn't about you, you are here to serve them. Stop being selfish!🤡 This disaster was created to push you into a world of total control. They create the chaos and offer you the solution at the loss of freedom. A tale as old a zionist cime... Oops, time. Same difference. Cancel your amazon! It'll be one of the best things you ever do! Shop local, family owned businesses! You probably don't need half the crap you buy, anyway! Keep your vibe high and spread love to those around you! We have to save ourselves from this hellhole! It starts and ends, with us! 💞 PS, it's a great day to start a garden (Preferably indoors, if possible) and meet your neighbors! Community project?!

Israel's goal in this war is to ensure that Iran becomes a failed state. Complete state collapse. Since Trump has no plan of his own, by default he is following Israel's lead. Hence Trump's comments about bombing Iran back to the stone age...

At this point there is no use for the federal government. They just take from the working class and squander money on genocidal warmongers in Israel. Congress is also effectively useless. The only thing they seem to succeed in is slashing programs that benefit Americans, meaning the very programs WE PAY into.

Revisting one of my personal favourites tonight - an Autochrome taken in colour 116 years ago by American photographer Thomas Shields Clarke. Whenever I scroll past it on my computer I always stop to open it - I find it such a captivating image with beautiful lighting. A nun tends a white dove - the symbol of peace (four years before the world was convulsed by war). It is an orignal colour plate process from 1910 and not colourised.

AOC’s only purpose in life is to shepherd ignorant, naive, and gullible progressives into the Zionist Democratic tent. If voting against providing arms to Israel is required, then she will do it, knowing that the funding will pass without her.

We all called the 2028 play too early so now they’re scrambling to find another angle. But we know what this is. AOC is tasked with capturing the progressives & leftists to ultimately shepherd them into voting for Gavin Newsom because 2028 is the new most important election ever.