Tag: corruption

Missile Fragment From Iran School Massacre Marked ‘Made in USA’ – But Trump Keeps Lying

As Iranian officials displayed US-marked fragments of a missile believed to have been used in Saturday’s massacre of around 175 mostly school children in Minab, President Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on his unfounded claim that Iran carried out the strike.

The president suggested during a press conference at his Trump National Doral Miami resort that Iran may have used a US Tomahawk missile to carry out the February 28 attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab.

Trump falsely claimed that Iran has “some” of the highly restricted cruise missiles after one of them was recorded hitting an Iranian military facility near the school just after Saturday’s strike there.

“A Tomahawk is very generic,” Trump added. “It’s sold to other countries.”

New York Times reporter Shawn McCreesh pressed Trump on his claim, asking, “You just suggested that Iran somehow got its hands on a Tomahawk and bombed its own elementary school on the first day of the war… Why are you the only person saying this?”

Trump replied: “Because I just don’t know enough about it. I think it’s something that I was told is under investigation, but Tomahawks are, are used by others. As you know, numerous other nations have Tomahawks. They buy them from us.”

Iran has no Tomahawks, which are not “generic.” Originally developed by General Dynamics and now manufactured by Raytheon, the BGM‑109 Tomahawk is a specific long-range cruise missile designed and produced in the United States. Only two other countries – Australia and the United Kingdom—are known to have Tomahawks in their arsenals, although Japan and the Netherlands have also agreed to buy them.

The US also does not sell weaponry to the Iranian government – with the extraordinary exception of the Iran-Contra Affair, in which the Reagan administration secretly sold arms to Iran in order to fund anti-communist Contra terrorists in Nicaragua.

Trump’s Monday remarks followed his Saturday comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, where he said that the bombing “was done by Iran.”

However, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was accompanying Trump, notably declined to back Trump’s claim, saying only that “we’re certainly investigating” the strike.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz also did not endorse the president’s assertion, telling ABC News’ Martha Raddatz Sunday that he would “leave that to the investigators to determine.”

Waltz – a former Army Special Forces officer who served in Afghanistan – also told NBC News’ Meet the Press Sunday that “we never deliberately attack civilians.”

More than 400,000 civilians in over half a dozen countries have been killed in US-led wars since 9/11, according to the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.

Hundreds of Iranian civilians have been killed by US and Israeli bombing since February 28. Israeli airstrikes have also killed hundreds of Lebanese civilians during the same period.

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Trump’s lies reveal the real story about the Iran war

A recent poll in the U.S. concluded that Donald Trump tells the truth only about 3 percent of the time during his public announcements at press conferences. Perhaps it was his stint at being a celebrity on TV that taught him how gullible people in America are when fed the most fanciful, moronic lies a leading figure can tell, through the American media. Of course, it’s also about the journalists as well, and if there’s one thing that the Trump administrations have taught us, it is how poor the general level of journalism is in America these days. American journalists are not afraid to ask difficult questions or disbelieve what they are told. They simply don’t know how to do this in the first place.

Covering the Iran war, it is breathtaking, some of the brazen lies he tells while being questioned by journalists who are complicit in his dirty work. The mere idea that Iran, for example, acquired a Tomahawk missile and used it to kill its own schoolgirls is beyond absurd. How could journalists not question such a reply when it is so clear that Trump is lying through his teeth?

Because of this lying, we can see how Trump works, though. Unlike other U.S. presidents who have some shame and discomfort in lying to the press, Trump suffers no such handicap and so can take on bolder, more daring ventures on the global stage. In this environment, there is no respect for international law or even due process within the political framework of how Congress works. Trump hasn’t worked out how to defeat Iran, but he has all the contingent narratives to lay out afterwards to explain why everything that goes wrong is not his fault. We see that he is already preparing himself for the day of judgement by the press pack in the coming days and weeks by telling them that it was Jared Kushner, Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff who told him to hit Iran.

The direction towards these three is revealing. Of course, we have learned the simple rule of Trump when it comes to decisions. When things go well, everything was his decision; when things go badly, blame others.

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Georgia Legislature Can’t Vote For Clean Elections, But Has Time To Change The State Flower

The Georgia Senate has passed a bill to change the state flower from the Cherokee rose to the sweetbay magnolia.

The sweetbay magnolia is native to Georgia, while the Cherokee rose is not.

“The Cherokee Rose was adopted as the state flower in 1916 under the incorrect assumption that it was native to the state and also a legacy of the Cherokee people,” Rep. Deborah Silcox, who carried the bill in the House, said. “It is neither.”

“While the Cherokee Rose is not sold or encouraged as a landscaping plant because of its invasive tendencies, the Sweetbay Magnolia is widely available and can be planted in all regions of the state,” the Georgia Native Plant Society said, reported WRDW.

The vote comes on the heels of the legislature refusing to vote for paper ballots for the November election. Georgia is well known for its corrupt elections that are influenced by voting machines, dirty voter rolls, and illegal immigrants.

Georgia senators shot down a bill that would have switched the state’s voting method to paper ballots filled out by hand before this November’s elections.

The bill’s defeat sets up a scramble for Georgia lawmakers to find a way to remove computer QR codes from ballots this year, as required by a state law passed two years ago, reported WABE.

The Senate voted 27-21 on the bill, two votes short of the majority needed for legislation to pass in the 56-member Senate. Seven senators skipped the vote following warnings of election “chaos” if it passed.

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While Pushing New Book, Jill Biden Claims Joe Biden Made the ‘Unprecedented Decision’ Not to Seek Reelection in 2024

Former First Lady Jill Biden is releasing a new book about her time in the White House because of course she is. What else are she and Joe going to do for money other than write books and go on book tours?

In a video she released on social media, she claims that it was Joe who made the unprecedented decision to not seek reelection in 2024. That seems like a bit of historical revisionism.

Actor George Clooney wrote an op-ed for the NY Times demanding that Joe Drop out of the race and many people suspect that Obama played a role in the writing of the piece. Joe only dropped out of the race when Democrat donors made it clear that they would not donate another dime as long as Biden was the nominee. Chuck Schumer had private meetings with Biden and so did Nancy Pelosi.

But it was Joe Biden’s decision to drop out? OK.

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US News Orgs Nearly Silent on Israel’s Violent Suppression of Journalism

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recently published two meticulous reports that further expose Israel’s violent repression of journalism, in its ongoing genocide in Gaza and elsewhere.

CPJ published a report on February 19 titled ‘‘’We Returned From Hell’: Palestinian Journalists Recount Torture in Israeli Prisons.” CPJ collected 59 in-depth testimonies from Palestinian journalists released from Israeli custody since October 7, 2023.

The report goes into excruciating and painstaking detail about the experiences of 56 journalists, who told CPJ they were “repeatedly beaten inside prisons by authorities, as well as during arrest and transfer to the facilities.”

Less than a week later, CPJ published a report (2/25/26) that found “Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all journalist and media-worker killings in 2025”—86 of the 129 deaths CPJ recorded.

That was an uptick from 2024 (when Israel was responsible for 85 out of 124) and 2023 (78 of 99), CPJ revealed.

Taken together, these reports added more evidence of Israel’s illegal and shameless targeting of the journalists who cover its war crimes.

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Pete Hegseth’s Defense Department Blew $22M On Steak and Lobster in a Single Month, Watchdog Claims

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s Defense Department allegedly blew through $22 million on lobsters and ribeye steak as part of a wild September 2025 end-of-year spree.

According to an analysis by nonprofit watchdog Open the Books, Hegseth’s DoD spent $93.4 billion on grants and contracts in Sept. 2025 alone — nearly 50 percent of which was expended in the last five business days of the month.

Open the Books, run by the American Transparency charity founded in 2011, collects and publishes government spending data, including expenditures down to the lobster tail.

Per the analysis by Open the Books, in September, the Pentagon spent $2 million on Alaskan king crab, $6.9 million on lobster tail, $15.1 million on ribeye steak, and $1 million on salmon. Dessert included 272 orders of doughnuts for $139,224 and ice cream machines for $124,000.

While the Pentagon does not technically have to spend all its congressionally allocated funds, “use-it-or-lose-it” policies often push it to do so. Any leftover funds could be removed from the budget the following year. So, extravagant sprees are not unusual at the end of a fiscal year.

For example, the group noted in its report, “Furniture is near the top of the military’s wish list at the end of every fiscal year. Since 2008, the DoD has spent an average of $257.6 million on furniture every September — a 564% increase above the norm. In months besides September, furniture costs the military only $38.8 million on average.”

Speaking to Open the Books, the CEO of Govly, an AI company that assists government contractors, compared Sept. 30 to “Amazon Prime Day” for the federal government.

Extravagant spending sprees are also not unusual for Hegseth’s DoD. The report noted that the department also spent more than $7.4 million on lobster throughout four months in 2025: March, May, June, and October.

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CNN Edits Shameful Post Framing Suspected ISIS Inspired Terrorists as ‘Pennsylvania Teenagers Enjoying a Day in NYC’ After Backlash

CNN edited a shameful social media post that framed two suspected ISIS-inspired terrorists as throwing a homemade bomb in an attempt to kill protesters at an anti-Islam rally, as a couple of Pennsylvania teenagers who were out to enjoy an unseasonably warm day.

The Gateway Pundit reported that on Saturday, two male Islamist terrorists threw a homemade bomb in an attempt to kill protesters at an anti-Islam rally outside Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s official residence. The bomb was laced with metal and powerful explosives, according to the New York Times.

One of the men screamed “Allahu Akbar!” while getting arrested.

NYPD outlined what terror suspects said about their alleged ISIS inspiration after being arrested following the failed attack.

“Kayumi said in recorded, post-arrest statements that he had watched ISIS propaganda on his phone and his actions that day were partly inspired by ISIS.”

“Balat made spontaneous statements without being questioned by NYPD officers… He said, ‘This isn’t a religion that just stands when people talk about the blessed name of the prophet. We take action. We take action.’”

“As well as, ‘If I didn’t do it, someone else will come and do it.’”

“After waiving his rights, he requested paper and wrote a message declaring in part, ‘I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State, die in your rage, you Kufar’… ‘Kufar’ is an Arabic term that refers to non-believers.”

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O’Keefe Media Group Releases Undercover Video of Chenega & Cherokee Federal Executive Admitting “Native-Owned” Firms Cheat Government Contracts

The O’Keefe Media Group on Tuesday released undercover video of a Chenega & Cherokee federal executive admitting that “Native-owned” firms cheat US government contracts and outsource the work while they collect millions.

Ricky Longhurst, Senior Account Executive at Cherokee Federal, told the undercover OMG journalist that companies are claiming ‘Native’ ownership to “cheat” the government.

Mike Montgomery, a Chenega Architecture and Design President, disclosed the revenue split: “We give 37% back to the tribe for infrastructure… 63% goes back to the business.”

“So, how do you do that because you don’t look Native?” the OMG journalist asked Mike Montgomery.

“I’m not Native, no. No, they hire business executives, that understand the federal marketspace – but the board members are all Alaskans in the Chenega Tribe,” he said.

Per the O’Keefe Media Group:

In OMG’s previous undercover footage, ATI Government Solutions Contract Manager Melayne Cromwell admitted, “We only do 20%… the rest goes to subs.”

New undercover footage involving executives connected to Chenega Architecture and Design and Cherokee Federal describes similar arrangements and admits they are cheating.

Ricky Longhurst, Senior Account Executive at Cherokee Federal, summed up the system bluntly: “It’s cheating really.”

These companies are claiming Native ownership on paper to access and secure 8(a) government contracts worth $100+ million.

Mike Montgomery of Chenega Architecture and Design described how the revenue is split: “We give 37% back to the tribe for infrastructure… 63% goes back to the business.”

He also stated, “We have an incentive because of the Alaskan Native ownership.”

Following our first report, Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced major enforcement action.

Loeffler stated that the “SBA suspended 1,091 firms from the 8(a) Program,” and the agency took “immediate action” against companies taking advantage of the program.

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AP Shills For Big Pharma Antidepressants With ‘Bewildering’ Hit Piece

Cruising through X last week a weird story caught my eye: it reported that The Food and Drug Administration’s top drug regulator, Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, was trying to hire a “friend” who wants the FDA to add warnings to antidepressants about “unproven pregnancy risks.” The story makes several claims that are bewildering and appear to be fabricated. I sent several questions to AP’s global health editor Jonathan Fahey, but he did not respond to repeated requests to explain the article’s puzzling errors.

AP reporter Matthew Perrone later blocked me on X. I’ve pasted my email to Fahey at the bottom of this article.

The person AP’s Matthew Perrone identifies as a “friend” of FDA’s Hoeg is Dr. Adam Urato, chief of maternal-fetal medicine at Metro West Medical Center in Massachusetts.

One passage in the AP story stood out to me:

Within the agency, Hoeg’s close relationship with Urato is viewed as a clear conflict of interest that, under normal FDA standards, would result in her recusing herself from any work on the petition. But Hoeg is actively working to speed up the agency’s review of her friend’s proposal, according to the people familiar with the situation.

I have never seen the term “friend” defined as a “conflict of interest” by any federal agency. Nor have I run across “friend” defined as a “conflict of interest” in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. It’s a conflict of interest that doesn’t seem to exist.

And I happen to know quite a bit about conflicts of interest in science, because I’m an expert on the matter.

While I was a Senate staffer, I wrote a law on conflicts of interest called the Physicians Payments Sunshine Act. The bill I wrote was later passed into law and you can now go look up doctors on the government’s Open Payments website to see who is giving them money. I’m sure AP reporters use this website all the time. During my time in the Senate, I also helped to reform conflicts of interest at the National Institutes of Health. This took thousands of hours, untold numbers of meetings, and years of work to complete.

When I left the Senate and joined the Safra Ethics Center at Harvard, I was celebrated as the “Father of Sunshine” for this work to reform conflicts of interest in medicine.

Confused by the AP’s confusing reporting, I contacted Health and Human Services (HHS) and FDA, sending them almost the exact same questions that I sent to AP’s Jonathan Fahey.

“Being a friend is not a violation of ethics or conflicts of interests’ laws,” wrote HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon, in an email. Several senior FDA officials told me that HHS doesn’t even have a legal definition for what a “friend” is and no government conflict of interest form asks people to identify who their friends are.

“It’s a hit piece from industry against Dr. Hoeg, who is doing an amazing job at the FDA,” said one FDA official.

Hoeg did not respond to requests for comment, but during a phone call, Urato told me the AP story was filled with fake facts. The FDA has not offered him a full-time job as AP reported, and if they did, he couldn’t take it as he has a full-time clinical practice with hundreds of patients. FDA has expressed interest in offering him a limited, part-time position as an “advisor,” but nothing has been formalized.

He’s known Hoeg for only a couple years, and met her once when he went to DC to testify in favor of a labelling change for antidepressants that warns pregnant women about the documented risks for fetuses.

“This whole thing is being made up, and it’s an absurdity,” Urato said. “I’m not close friends with her as we’ve only discussed work. But If I say I’m not friends with her, then it’s like saying I’m her enemy.”

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We visited “ground zero” for hospice fraud: Los Angeles, California

At age 69, Lynn Ianni is a pickleball whiz, zipping from dinks to drives energetically. When she suffered an injury on the court two years ago, she sought physical therapy, and was surprised to learn her Medicare insurance wouldn’t cover it.

She was, according to Medicare records, dying and in hospice.

“They said, ‘you’re in hospice.’ And I said, ‘what? What are you talking about?” Ianni said. “‘Are you kidding me? Do I look like I’m in hospice?’”

Ianni’s Medicare number had been stolen, and used by a company to fraudulently enroll her in hospice – specialized, compassionate care for terminal patients nearing the end of their lives. It was another example of fraud in the hospice industry, long a nationwide problem. But her case arose well after officials had promised to stamp it out in California, where the problem has been especially acute.

Medicare is federally administered, and hospices must be certified for reimbursements. But the state issues the licenses for hospices to operate.

Three years ago, California’s state auditor sounded the alarm that Los Angeles County had seen a 1,500% increase in hospice companies since 2010 – more than six times the national average relative to its elderly population.

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