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Mr. President, @realDonaldTrump The Islamic Republic is a terrorist regime. It has made one thing brutally clear: the lives of its own people mean nothing to it. It kills them. Then it demands money from their families to return their bodies. And if those families dare to grieve, dare to demand justice, they are threatened with gang rape and then arrested. For years, I have said clearly: the Islamic Republic is not a normal government. It is a terrorist occupying force that will only respond to strength and decisive pressure. But with the reported 48-hour ultimatum regarding the Strait of Hormuz, I feel a moral and patriotic duty to issue a critical warning: Targeting Iran’s power plants and civilian infrastructure does not weaken the regime. It punishes the Iranian people. A nationwide blackout in Iran would hand the regime exactly what it wants, a propaganda victory. The IRGC thrives on blaming foreign enemies for the suffering it has created, redirecting public anger away from itself. It would also put millions of civilians at risk. Power outages mean hospitals shut down, water systems fail, and ordinary people who are already struggling under extreme economic pressure are pushed further into crisis. And it would weaken the very people standing up to this regime. A population fighting for basic survival in darkness and desperation has far less capacity to organize, protest, and resist. If the goal is deterrence or disabling the regime, then the target set must be clear and precise: IRGC command centers, missile infrastructure, and the regime’s security and repression apparatus. Disable the regime’s war machine, not the lives of the Iranian people. The Islamic Republic has held Iran hostage for decades. At this critical moment, do not allow it to use our national infrastructure as a shield for its survival. The objective must be the liberation of Iran, not its destruction. #Iran💔

Maryam Iqbal, who is still a student at @BarnardCollege and is a leader of @ColumbiaBDS and @ColumbiaSJP, is currently in Lebanon. She appears to be there for “personal reasons.” We theorized that Iqbal is in Hezbollah training school based on what she is posting on her X account. In one tweet, Iqbal explicitly says that she hopes this is Israel’s “final war,” implying she hopes Israel is successfully wiped off the map by her comrades. Why is Iqbal still enrolled at @BarnardCollege? This student is a literal national security risk and does not belong in the U.S. or anywhere near the youth of America, whom she wants to poison with her Jew hatred and turn into literal terrorists. @EdWorkforceCmte @ClaireShipman @preslrosenbury

We made a blind taste test to see whether NYT readers prefer human writing or AI writing. 86,000 people have taken it so far, and the results are fascinating. Overall, 54% of quiz-takers prefer AI. A real moment! nytimes.com/interactive/20…