Blog

New Bill Would Give Israel Access to B-2s, Massive Bombs to Strike Iran

A new bipartisan bill in Congress would give Israel access to US weaponry to conduct strikes on Iran’s nuclear facility, similar to the one ordered by President Donald Trump last month. 

The Bunker Buster Act was introduced by Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Mike Lawler (R-NY). “Iran, the leading state sponsor of terror, and one of America’s top enemies, can never have a nuclear weapon. That’s why I strongly supported our military actions earlier this month,” a statement from Gottheimer said. “Iran has killed scores of Americans, including our service members, and repeatedly attacked our key democratic ally, Israel. Israel must be able to defend herself against Iran, and ensure that Iran cannot rebuild its nuclear capabilities.”

Gottenheimer introduced similar bills in previous Congress sessions. If passed, it would give Israel access to American B-2 bombers and 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs that are currently only used by the US. 

On June 22, Trump deployed B-2s and the massive bombs to strike nuclear facilities in Iran. 

While the legislation would require Iran to be working on a nuclear weapon before having access to American arms, politicians in Washington and Tel Aviv have long asserted that Tehran was building a nuclear weapon without evidence. 

Keep reading

The First Amendment Protects CNN’s Reporting on ICEBlock and Iran

President Donald Trump has routinely taken umbrage with journalists exercising their freedom of expression to report on the news, which the First Amendment absolutely protects. CNN is the president’s latest target.

At a Tuesday press conference, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that her agency was “working with the Department of Justice” to see if the administration could prosecute CNN for its reporting on an app that alerts users about federal immigration enforcement activity in their area. Noem said CNN “is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement.” Trump immediately followed Noem’s comments by saying, “We’ll maybe prosecute them also for having given false reports on the attack in Iran.”

CNN published a story on Monday covering software developer Joshua Aaron’s ICEBlock app, which lets “users alert people nearby to sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their area.” CNN reports that the app, released in April, has amassed over 20,000 users. The app, which is only available on the App Store (Aaron is concerned about the mandatory data collection on Android devices), allows users to specify where they’ve spotted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity and alerts other users within a 5-mile radius via push notification. The function of the app is not dissimilar from Waze and Google Maps, which help drivers avoid encounters with police officers monitoring highways and roads for traffic violations.

The First Amendment protects ICEBlock, just as it does Waze and Google Maps. Even if it didn’t, it still would protect CNN’s coverage of it. Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), tells Reason that prosecuting CNN for reporting on ICEBlock “would be like prosecuting a news outlet for reporting on Virginia drivers illegally using radar detectors to avoid speeding tickets.” Moreover, the First Amendment protects the development and use of the ICEBlock app itself because “putting out general information that someone, somewhere might use to evade law enforcement” is not aiding and abetting but “just providing others true information,” says Terr.

(CNN doesn’t provide users the link to download ICEBlock from the App Store, which is also protected speech.)

Trump’s threats against CNN for its coverage of early U.S. intelligence assessments regarding the strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites are similarly unfounded. Trump’s personal attorney, Alejandro Brito, alleged that CNN’s and The New York Times’ June 24 coverage of the strikes was false and defamatory, reports CNN. At the Tuesday press conference, Trump again insinuated that CNN defamed the pilots who carried out the operation. Establishing a defamation claim against CNN for its reporting on the efficacy of the American strikes against Iran would be hard, if not impossible.

To defame somebody, you must identify a person—the identities of the pilots are secret; publish information about them—CNN published information of public interest, but not about anybody in particular; the meaning of the publication must be defamatory—even if the pilots failed to completely destroy the sites, that would not be an indictment of their characters; the statement must be false—the extent of the damage to Iran’s nuclear sites remains nonspecific; the statement must be an objectively verifiable statement of fact—it is unclear how anybody could prove CNN’s statements as false, especially at the time of reporting (Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said himself that “the impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran”); and the statement must be damaging and cause injury, which CNN’s reporting did not. All of these elements must be met to establish defamation. CNN’s Iran reporting does not satisfy a single one.

Keep reading

Report Estimates US Used $1.25 Billion Worth of THAAD Interceptors To Defend Israel From Iranian Missiles

A report from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz estimates that the US used 93 interceptors from its THAAD missile defense system to defend Israel from Iranian missiles during the 12-day US-Israeli war against Iran.

At $13 million per interceptor, that means the US launched an estimated $1.25 billion worth of THAAD munitions during the war. The Israeli military also used its Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 interceptors, which are jointly produced with the US. The Haaretz report said that the total cost of the Arrow and THAAD interceptors used was about $1.5 billion.

Haaretz reached its figures using open-source videos that showed 84 interceptors being launched from Israel during eight Iranian missile salvos. Extrapolating from there, the paper estimated that the US and Israel launched an estimated 195 interceptors, including the 93 THAADs, 80 Arrow 3s, and 22 Arrow 2s.

A report from Military Watch Magazine came up with similar numbers, estimating the US used 60 to 80 THAAD interceptors during the war, accounting for 15% to 20% of its global THAAD arsenal. The Biden administration first sent a THAAD system to Israel and about 100 troops to operate it in October 2024, ahead of an Israeli attack on Iran.

In April of this year, reports said the US sent a second THAAD battery to Israel, which would mean that the US has two of its seven THAAD missile defense systems stationed in Israel.

Keep reading

Assessing the Effect of the U.S. Strikes on Iran

There has been much commentary about the U.S. airstrike last weekend against three key nuclear sites deep inside Iran: Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan. The attack—President Donald Trump’s boldest use of military force to date—was designed to stunt if not destroy Iran’s nuclear program and bring Iran back to the nuclear negotiating table in a much weaker position. As the dust settles over the American missile and bomb craters, questions continue to swirl about the effectiveness of the U.S. strikes and their impact on the region more broadly.

Operation Midnight Hammer was designed to destroy and degrade the key bottleneck in Iran’s nuclear program: its enrichment capacity, including its most advanced and large-scale centrifuge cascades. The lion’s share of Iran’s operational IR-6 centrifuges were believed to be housed in the three facilities struck by the United States last weekend. Iran’s near nine-hundred pound stockpile of 60 percent enriched Uranium, which can fit in the equivalence of the trunks of ten cars, remains unaccounted for. But this stockpile will be of little use for any Iranian nuclear weapons program in the near term if their enrichment capabilities were wiped out.

The battle damage assessment remains murky. Though Trump has repeatedly claimed the country’s nuclear program is “completely and totally obliterated,” comprehensive assessments of the damage take time. Neither the United States nor Israel has released a final assessment on the strikes’ consequences for the nuclear program. It’s still early days. Earlier this week, a preliminary classified report by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, estimated that the program had been delayed, albeit no more than six months. The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said that the centrifuges at Fordow are “no longer operational” and that there was “no escaping significant physical damage.” U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan “Razin” Caine also emphasized that the United States had every reason to believe the strike was successful, while adding that the defense department had been preparing to destroy Fordow for more than a decade.

Keep reading

Iranian Hackers Say They Have 100GB Of Trump Emails

Hackers claiming ties to Iran say they possess 100GB of emails from President Donald Trump’s inner circle and may soon leak or sell the trove, after previously distributing a batch to the media before the 2024 U.S. election.

In online conversations with Reuters on Sunday and Monday, the hackers—who use the pseudonym “Robert”—claimed to possess about 100 gigabytes of emails from the accounts of “White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan, Trump adviser Roger Stone and porn star-turned-Trump antagonist Stormy Daniels.”

Robert mentioned the potential of selling the material but did not provide further details about their plans or the content of the emails.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi described the breach as “an unconscionable cyber-attack.”

The White House and FBI responded with a statement from FBI Director Kash Patel, who said:

“Anyone associated with any kind of breach of national security will be fully investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) posted on X that “This so-called cyber ‘attack’ is nothing more than digital propaganda, and the targets are no coincidence. This is a calculated smear campaign meant to damage President Trump and discredit honorable public servants who serve our country with distinction”

Keep reading

Hawaii Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill, After Calling One Of Its Provisions ‘A Grave Violation Of Privacy,’

On the heels of signaling a possible veto of a bill meant to expand access to medical marijuana in Hawaii, Gov. Josh Green (D) instead signed the measure into law over the weekend, regardless of a provision he recently described as “a grave violation of privacy.”

HB 302 will make two main reforms around patient access. First, it allows a patient’s primary treating medical provider to recommend marijuana for any malady they see fit, regardless of whether it’s a specified qualifying condition in Hawaii. It also allows patients to receive medical cannabis recommendations through telehealth visits rather than having to establish an in-person relationship with a provider.

Before lawmakers sent the bill to Green, a conference committee revised the plan, inserting a provision to allow the state Department of Health to access medical marijuana patient records held by doctors for any reason whatsoever.

The revised bill authorizes the Department of Health to “inspect a qualifying patient’s medical records held by the physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or hospice provider who issued a written certification for the qualifying patient.” Providers who don’t comply with a department request for a patient’s records could see their ability to issue medical cannabis revoked.

Advocates initially supported HB 302 as a means to expand access to patients with conditions beyond those specified under state law. But many withdrew support following the conference committee’s changes.

An additional provision establishes a new Class C felony for unlicensed operation of a dispensary, adding another major charge on top of the state’s existing laws against illegal distribution of marijuana.

In early June, Green himself put the cannabis measure on a list of bills he intended to veto—an indication, though not a commitment, that he was leaning towards rejecting it.

“Although this bill’s authorization of medical cannabis certifications via telehealth expands access to medical cannabis,” his office wrote at the time, “provisions authorizing the inspection of patients’ medical records without warrant constitute a grave violation of privacy.”

Keep reading

The Military-Industrial Complex Is Riding High

The Senate is on the verge of passing the distinctly misnamed “big beautiful bill.” It is, in fact, one of the ugliest pieces of legislation to come out of Congress in living memory. The version that passed the House recently would cut $1.7 trillion, mostly in domestic spending, while providing the top 5% of taxpayers with roughly $1.5 trillion in tax breaks.

Over the next few years, the same bill will add another $150 billion to a Pentagon budget already soaring towards a record $1 trillion. In short, as of now, in the battle between welfare and warfare, the militarists are carrying the day.

Pentagon Pork and the People It Harms

The bill, passed by the House of Representatives and at present under consideration in the Senate, would allocate tens of billions of dollars to pursue President Trump’s cherished but hopeless Golden Dome project, which Laura Grego of the Union of Concerned Scientists has described as “a fantasy.” She explained exactly why the Golden Dome, which would supposedly protect the United States against nuclear attack, is a pipe dream:

“Over the last 60 years, the United States has spent more than $350 billion on efforts to develop a defense against nuclear-armed ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles]. This effort has been plagued by false starts and failures, and none have yet been demonstrated to be effective against a real-world threat… Missile defenses are not a useful or long-term strategy for keeping the U.S. safe from nuclear weapons.”

The bill also includes billions more for shipbuilding, heavy new investments in artillery and ammunition, and funding for next-generation combat aircraft like the F-47.

Oh, and after all of those weapons programs get their staggering cut of that future Pentagon budget, somewhere way down at the bottom of that list is a line item for improving the quality of life for active-duty military personnel. But the share aimed at the well-being of soldiers, sailors, and airmen (and women) is less than 6% of the $150 billion that Congress is now poised to add to that department’s already humongous budget. And that’s true despite the way Pentagon budget hawks invariably claim that the enormous sums they routinely plan on shoveling into it — and the overflowing coffers of the contractors it funds — are “for the troops.”

Much of the funding in the bill will flow into the districts of key members of Congress (to their considerable political benefit). For example, the Golden Dome project will send billions of dollars to companies based in Huntsville, Alabama, which calls itself “Rocket City” because of the dense network of outfits there working on both offensive missiles and missile defense systems. And that, of course, is music to the ears of Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), the current chair of the House Armed Services Committee, who just happens to come from Alabama.

The shipbuilding funds will help prop up arms makers like HII Corporation (formerly Huntington Ingalls), which runs a shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the home state of Senate Armed Services Committee chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss).  The funds will also find their way to shipyards in Maine, Connecticut, and Virginia.

Those funds will benefit the co-chairs of the House Shipbuilding Caucus, Representative Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Representative Rob Wittman (R-VA). Connecticut hosts General Dynamics’ Electric Boat plant, which makes submarines that carry ballistic missiles, while Virginia is home to HII Corporation’s Newport News Shipbuilding facility, which makes both aircraft carriers and attack submarines.

The Golden Dome missile defense project, on which President Trump has promised to spend $175 billion over the next three years, will benefit contractors big and small. Those include companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon (now RTX) that build current generation missile defense systems, as well as emerging military tech firms like Elon Musk’s Space X and Palmer Luckey’s Anduril, both of which are rumored to have a shot at playing a leading role in the development of the new anti-missile system.

Keep reading

Spying on Iran: How MI6 infiltrated the IAEA

Leaked confidential files indicate the International Atomic Energy Agency was infiltrated by a veteran British spy who has claimed credit for sanctions on Iran. The documents lend weight to the Islamic Republic’s accusation that the nuclear watchdog secretly colluded with its enemies.

A notorious British MI6 agent infiltrated the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on London’s behalf, according to leaked documents reviewed by The Grayzone. The agent, Nicholas Langman, is a veteran intelligence operative who claims credit for helping engineer the West’s economic war on Iran.

Langman’s identity first surfaced in journalistic accounts of his role in deflecting accusations that British intelligence played a role in the death of Princess Diana. He was later accused by Greek authorities of overseeing the abduction and torture of Pakistani migrants in Athens.

In both cases, UK authorities issued censorship orders forbidding the press from publishing his name. But Greek media, which was under no such obligation, confirmed that Langman was one of the MI6 assets withdrawn from Britain’s embassy in Athens.

The Grayzone discovered the résumé of the journeyman British operative in a trove of leaked papers detailing the activities of Torchlight, a prolific British intelligence cutout. The bio of the longtime MI6 officer reveals he “led large, inter-agency teams to identify and defeat the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons technology, including by innovative technical means and sanctions.” 

In particular, the MI6 agent says he “worked to prevent WMD proliferation through… support for the [IAEA] and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW] and through high level international partnerships.”

Langman’s CV credits him with playing a major role in organizing the sanctions regime on Iran by “[building] highly effective and mutually supportive relations across government and with senior US, European, Middle and Far Eastern colleagues for strategy” between 2010 and 2012. He boasts in his bio that this achievement “enabled [the] major diplomatic success of [the] Iranian nuclear and sanctions agreement.” 

Keep reading

8 In 10 Marijuana Consumers Use It As A Substitute For Prescription Drugs, New Survey Finds

A whopping eight in 10 marijuana consumers say they use cannabis, at least in part, as an alternative to traditional prescription drugs, according to a new poll.

The survey from the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD, which was shared exclusively with Marijuana Moment, asked cannabis consumers a simple question: “Do you use cannabis as a replacement for prescription medication?”

Of the 485 respondents, 79.6 percent affirmed that they did, in fact, use marijuana as a substitute to pharmaceuticals, compared to 20.4 percent who said they did not.

“Pharmaceutical interests know the substitution effect cannabis has on their products is real,” Andrew Graham, head of communications at NuggMD, told Marijuana Moment. “Federal prohibition locks in a lot of demand for their addictive and potentially fatal drugs by depriving millions of Americans of legal access to the plant, and I can’t name a single interest aligned with Big Pharma that’s stated support for ending it.”

“Our newest poll shows the substitution effect may well be a lot higher than the pharma industry thinks that it is,” he said. “It estimates that around 40 million Americans use cannabis to some degree as a replacement for prescription drugs. That’s costing Big Pharma billions annually in lost profits.”

“I genuinely want Big Pharma to see this data and decide to spend yet more resources fighting against the plant. Because the more noise they make against cannabis, the more popular our movement becomes. They are that unpopular,” Graham added.

Notably, a majority of respondents in the survey sample did not report having a state medical cannabis card, indicating that the substitution effect extends beyond the registered patient population.

Keep reading

Gaza’s Hunger Games

Israel’s weaponization of starvation is how genocides always end.

I covered the insidious effects of orchestrated starvation in the Guatemalan Highlands during the genocidal campaign of Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt, the famine in southern Sudan that left a quarter of a million dead — I walked past the frail and skeletal corpses of families lining roadsides — and later during the war in Bosnia when Serbs cut off food supplies to enclaves such as Srebrencia and Goražde.

Starvation was weaponized by the Ottoman Empire to decimate the Armenians. It was used to kill millions of Ukrainians in the Holodomor in 1932 and 1933.

It was employed by the Nazis against the Jews in the ghettos in World War II. German soldiers used food, as Israel does, like bait. They offered three kilograms of bread and one kilogram of marmalade to lure desperate families in the Warsaw Ghetto onto transports to the death camps.

“There were times when hundreds of people had to wait in line for several days to be ‘deported,’” Marek Edelman writes in The Ghetto Fights. “The number of people anxious to obtain the three kilograms of bread was such that the transports, now leaving twice daily with 12,000 people, could not accommodate them all.”

And when crowds became unruly, as in Gaza, the German troops fired deadly volleys that ripped through emaciated husks of women, children and the elderly.

This tactic is as old as warfare itself.

The report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Israeli soldiers are ordered to shoot into crowds of Palestinians at aid hubs, with 580 killed and 4,216 wounded, is not a surprise.

It is the predictable denouement of the genocide, the inevitable conclusion to a campaign of mass extermination.

Keep reading