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IDF Vet-Turned War Critic Explains Why Israel’s Military is on the Brink of Collapse

Israel has been fighting a multi-front war since 2023, with the backbone of its forces “based on its reserve battalions, on people that are civilians and that are called by the army to serve,” former IDF officer Guy Poran told Sputnik, commenting on a top general’s warning that the IDF risks “collapsing in on itself” from operational strain.

“Under normal circumstances, they serve 30 days or 45 days a year. Now, because of the war in Gaza” and other conflicts Israel has found itself in, “many of those reserve battalions, the fighting units of the IDF, have been called up for hundreds of days,” Poran, an ex-IAF helicopter pilot-turned peace activist, explained.

Many soldiers have businesses that are falling apart, problems with family life, etc.

Compounding the crisis are the exemptions to service that the Netanyahu government has given to members of the Ultra-Orthodox community. This has created “a big conflict” in Israeli society, according to Poran.

“And this during the time that the army has clearly said that it requires something like 15,000 more soldiers just to be able to do the missions that it has” in Gaza, Lebanon (for which a whopping five divisions have been mobilized), the West Bank, etc.

On top of that, there is the growing realization in society that these conflicts are “political,” and not existential, in nature, Poran says.

In contrast to the wars of 1967 and 1973, which most saw “as wars that were absolutely necessary,” the wars since 2023, initially met with enthusiasm, now face skepticism – from the sense that the “destruction of Gaza” was not carried out for security reasons, from the government’s rejections of a ceasefire to bring hostages home, etc.

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Media Melts Down After Entertainer Nick Cannon (Correctly) Calls Democrats the Party of the KKK

Nick Cannon is known for being a rapper, a comedian and television personality. In other words, an entertainer.

There is a clip of him making the rounds in social media that’s getting a lot of attention because in the video he correctly points out that the Democrats are the party of the KKK.

He is right. They are.

But the media is reacting as if he said something shocking or untrue.

This is from Variety:

Nick Cannon Calls the Democratic Party the ‘Party of the KKK’ and Says ‘I F— With Trump’

Nick Cannon let his politics be known on a recent episode of his web talk show “Big Drive” (via TMZ), during which he called the Democratic Party “the party of the KKK.”

After his guest, model Amber Rose, said that Democrats “don’t care about people of color and the Republicans do,” Cannon replied, “I agree with you 100%. People don’t know that the Democrats are the party of the KKK. People don’t know that the Republicans are the party that freed the slaves. I mean, both of you and I have some conservative views. You’re just a little bit more outspoken than I am. And honestly, I don’t subscribe to either party. I rock with W. E. B. Du Bois, when he said there’s no such thing as two parties. It’s just one evil party with two different names.”

When discussing Donald Trump’s second term, Cannon enthusiastically said “motherfucker’s cleaning house” and is “doing what he said he was gonna do.”

“We got the Gulf of America now,” Cannon added. “He’s like the club. He’s charging a $5 million bottle service fee to get into the country.”

While factions of the Democratic Party were responsible for the rise of the KKK right after the Civil War, it’s not widely believed that the entirety of the party endorsed the formation of the white supremacist group.

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Israeli Forces Raise Flag Over Syrian Town In Latest Raid: ‘Provocative Act’

Israeli military vehicles rolled into the town of Hadr in Syria’s Quneitra Governorate days ago and raised the Israeli flag over the town’s entrance. Locals say they also closed all but one road leading into or out of the town, and established a checkpoint on that road as well.

Though Israel routinely raids Quneitra’s towns and villages of late, raising the Israeli government’s flag over a town is more provocative than what usually happens in these incidents, and like most of Israel’s military forays on Syrian soil, they’ve yet to issue a statement to even attempt to explain the purpose of the operation.

Hadr is a relatively small town of about 5,000 people along the frontier between Quneitra Governorate and the UNDOF demilitarized zone, a zone which has subsequently been occupied militarily by Israel. Some suburbs of Hadr extend into the demilitarized zone.

Israel also launched operations against multiple other villages in Quneitra earlier this week, including Saida al-Golan and Saida al-Hanout. They captured two young men who were herding sheep to the west of the village.

The troops also captured two village elders in Saida al-Golan, though the elders were ultimately released without incident. The fate of the shepherds remains uncertain, and again the IDF has not commented.

As for the flag-raising incident, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which the mainstream media had long relied on as its main anti-Assad source throughout the prior war, detailed the following of the “provocative act”:

Al-Quneitra province: Israeli forces raised the Israeli flag at the entrance of Hadr Town in northern Al-Quneitra countryside [on Wednesday], raising local questions regarding the escalation in the area.

According to sources, these forces closed secondary roads leading to the town from the side of Al-Qanaif checkpoints, and only kept the main road leading to the town open.

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BEYOND PARODY: No Kings Protesters Yell ‘Abolish the Police’ as They’re Being Escorted and Protected by Police

No Kings protesters marching in Washington, DC today could be heard yelling ‘abolish the police’ as they were being escorted and protected by police.

You could not make this up. No one would believe it.

The other interesting thing about this is that elected Democrats across the country have admitted that the ‘abolish the police’ movement was a huge political mistake. Apparently, their supporters didn’t get the memo, because they’re still saying it.

The Daily Caller reports:

Several “No Kings” protesters chanted anti-police slogans Saturday while uniformed officers could be seen ushering their march through the streets of Washington, video footage by the Daily Caller News Foundation shows.

Thousands of demonstrators flocked to the nation’s capital as part of the nationwide No Kings Day protests Saturday against President Donald Trump and his administration, particularly Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). During one portion of the Washington demonstrations, protesters chanted multiple times in favor of defunding or even abolishing the police — despite officers at the same time visibly protecting them.

“I said take it to the streets, abolish the police,” a male protester leading a chant yelled as multiple on-duty law enforcement officers walked with them, video by DCNF investigative reporter Hudson Crozier shows.

“Cops spent hours accompanying the protest and holding off traffic for about a mile, giving them the entire Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge along the way,” Crozier wrote in the post, referring to to the arch bridge crossing the Anacostia River in Washington’s southeast quadrant.

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IRGC targets US-linked aluminum industries in coordinated missile-drone strike

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced targeting two industries connected to US military and aerospace sectors in a combined missile and drone operation.

In a statement on Saturday, the Corps said the strikes were carried out jointly by its Aerospace Force and Navy in response to “the malicious actions of the US-Zionist enemy targeting the industrial infrastructure of our beloved country from the Persian Gulf’s littoral states.”

The two targeted facilities were identified as the Emirates Aluminum (EMAL) plant and the Aluminum Bahrain (ALBA) plant.

The statement highlighted their strategic significance, noting that EMAL houses the world’s longest aluminum production line with a capacity of 1.3 million tons, while ALBA operates with American investment and shareholding. The latter, it added, “plays a significant role in supplying the military-industrial production of the US terrorist army.”

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Woman visiting ER for back pain shocked after doctor suggests EUTHANASIA: ‘Last thing on my mind’

A Canadian woman who went to the emergency room with back pain said she was left shocked when a doctor immediately floated the suggestion of euthanasia. 

Miriam Lancaster, 84, was rushed to Vancouver General Hospital last April with a fractured sacrum, a break at the base of the spine relatively frequent in elderly people.

Lancaster said she was stunned by the doctors’ immediate suggestion upon examination.

‘I was approached by a young lady doctor whose very first words out of her mouth is we would like to offer you [euthanasia],’ Lancaster said in a video posted on X.

The retired piano teacher said she just wanted to find out why she was in pain and had never considered a medically-assisted death.

‘That was the last thing on my mind,’ Lancaster added. ‘I did not want to die.’

She said that she had been most upset by the ‘timing’ of the request.

‘A patient is already upset and disoriented and wishing they weren’t there,’ she told the National Post. ‘To give them a decision, a life-terminating decision, when they are in this condition, that’s what I object to.’

Lancaster added that she was not thinking about ‘cashing my chips,’ which her daughter agreed with.

‘To be offered [euthanasia] right off the bat for a non-life-threatening condition? It was a matter of pain management,’ she said. ‘Just because someone is 84 does not mean they’re ready to go on the scrap heap of life.’

She called the hospital’s treatment of her mother an ‘insult to seniors.’

Euthanasia is legal in Canada for those who are 18 and over, able to make decisions for themselves and have a ‘grievous and irremediable medical condition.’

That does not mean a fatal or terminal condition, but rather ‘an advanced state of decline that cannot be reversed’ or ‘unbearable physical or mental suffering.’

There have been 76,475 medically assisted deaths in the country since euthanasia was legalized in 2016, per the Canadian government.

Weaver said religious motives prevented her from accepting euthanasia, which is also known as medical aid in dying (MAID).

‘My mother and I are practicing Catholics,’ she said. ‘We would never accept MAID under any circumstances.’

Lancaster’s daughter claimed that other treatment options were only suggested after euthanasia was firmly rejected.

‘The doctor said, “Well, you could get rehab, but it will be a long road, and it will be very difficult,”‘ Weaver said.

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Israel Targeted Churches, Mosques, and Markets during the Genocide.

Gaza City is home to landmarks such as the Church of Saint Porphyrius, the Great Mosque and Gaza’s al-Zawiya and gold markets.

These landmarks testify to Gaza’s archaeological history, religious significance and commercial heritage.

But throughout its genocide in the Gaza Strip, Israel has wreaked havoc on these places.

The Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius is located in Gaza City’s al-Zaytoon neighborhood, with roughly 20 Christian homes standing around it.

The church is believed to be the third-oldest in the world.

But its heritage and status as a place of worship didn’t deter Israel from bombing the church on 19 October 2023, targeting the church’s annex building and killing 17 Palestinian Christians who were sheltering there.

“It was the greatest catastrophe of our lives,” Fuad Ayyad, a Christian working at the church, told The Electronic Intifada.

“I can still see the faces and bodies of the martyrs I collected with my own hands, the children I buried myself,” Ayyad, 44, said. “It was the first time in our history that a church – a house of worship – was directly targeted.”

The Christian community sought refuge in Gaza’s churches during the genocide.

More than 400 sought refuge in Saint Porphyrius, while a few hundred meters away, the Latin convent, which comprises the Catholic Holy Family Church, sheltered around 500 others.

On 16 December 2023, an Israeli sniper fatally shot two Christian women while they were sheltering at the Holy Family Church.

On 18 July 2025, an Israeli artillery shell struck the Holy Family Church, killing three Christians.

Churches weren’t safe havens only for Christians.

The Saint Porphyrius Church, Ayyad said, was also housing Palestinian Muslims.

But “the Israeli army makes no distinction between a Christian or a Muslim,” Ayyad said.

The 19 October 2023 bombing, he said, killed another Muslim man who was sheltering at the church.

“The church lost its majesty, but it still carries the memory of coexistence and love,” Ayyad said, referring to the 2014 Gaza war when the church sheltered Palestinian Muslims during Ramadan, Muslims’ holy month, where they broke their fasts and worshiped god.

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Hegseth Slashes ‘Faith Codes’ in Move to Make Chaplains the Spiritual Backbone of the US Military

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says his latest reforms will allow the Chaplain Corps to fulfill its mission of being the spiritual backbone of America’s military.

The number of faith codes used in the service has been winnowed down to 31, according to a War Department news release.

In 2017, the Pentagon issued a list of 221 groups that qualify as a religious group. The list included Wiccans and atheists, according to Stars and Stripes.

“The previous system had ballooned to well over 200 faith codes,” Hegseth said Tuesday.

“It was impractical and unusable, and many codes were never used at all,” Hegseth said, adding that most of the 82 percent of service members who identify as being religious used six of the codes.

The reduction “brings the codes in line with its original purpose, giving chaplains clear, usable information so they can minister to service members in a way that aligns with that service member’s faith background and religious practice,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth added that the chaplains will display their religious insignia on their uniforms instead of their ranks.

“A chaplain is first and foremost a chaplain, and an officer second. This change is a visual representation of that fact,” he said.

“While they will retain rank as an officer to those they serve, their rank will not be visible.”

Hegseth said his Chaplain Corps reforms are not over.

“These two reforms are big progress, but we’re not even close to being done. These are the first steps toward restoring the esteemed position of chaplain as moral anchors of our fighting force,” Hegseth said.

“Theirs is a high and sacred calling, but they can only be successful if they are given the freedom to boldly guide and care for their flock.”

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Chicago moves toward reparations with bus tours and town halls as $150M deficit looms

Chicago took its first step after establishing a reparations task force two years ago.

Now, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to hold a public engagement forum called Repair Chicago to “gather lived experiences of harm of Black Chicagoans” in an effort to provide reparations for Black residents.

“Your experience is evidence, and we’ve placed it at the center of our work,” Johnson said. “By engaging directly with residents, we are grounding this work in the voices and lived realities of the people it is meant to serve.”

The first event took place Tuesday, and two more events are scheduled through April.

Johnson’s office announced the Repair Chicago effort would involve “bus tours, panel discussions, town halls and hearings,” helping the task force members gather input for the administration’s reparations study. 

“The community engagement process will gather input from Chicagoans across the city to better understand Black Chicagoans’ experiences across generations and how systemic racism has shaped their lives, opportunities and well-being,” Johnson said.

The move comes two years after Johnson named his chief equity officer, Carla Kupe, to lead the reparations task force with $500,000 in funding. 

In 2024, Johnson signed an executive order establishing a reparations task force of 40 members that addresses “historical harms committed against Black Chicagoans and their ancestors through the form of reparations.”

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Exiled Iranian crown prince says at CPAC he intends to ‘make Iran great again’

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince of Iran, called on the American people to take a moment and reflect on what a free Iran would look like.

“No more nuclear threats. No more terrorism. No more hostage taking. No more closing of the Strait of Hormuz. No more blackmailing fo the global community. Imagine an Iran that instead of exporting terrorism, is promoting freedom,” he said at the conference.

“Stability to its neighbors. National security and economic opportunity for the United States and the free world,” he added.

“Can you imagine Iranians going from ‘Death to America’ to ‘God Bless America’?” he also said. “I can because I’ve seen the true soul of my people.”

The crowd began chanting, “USA.”

He said he can imagine an Iran that “exports engineers, instead of extremists” and “startups instead of suicide bombers.”

He said the Middle East will change when Iran is free.

“President Trump is making America great again. I intend to make Iran great again,” he said.

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