Tag: infrastructure

Hegseth Says US ‘Locked and Loaded’ to Strike Iran’s Power Plants If No Deal Reached

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on April 16 urged Iran’s leadership to reach a deal with the United States, warning that a military operation against the country could be restarted quickly and that Iran’s power plants would be struck.

He said the U.S. government will ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon, which Trump administration officials say was a primary reason for launching strikes against the country in late February. Iran has long denied that it wants to obtain a nuclear weapon and insists that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.

“We’d prefer to do it the nice way through a deal led by our great vice president and negotiating team. Or we can do it the hard way,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon alongside the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine.

Hegseth called on Tehran to “choose wisely” in dealings with the United States.

“I pray you choose a deal, which is within your grasp for the betterment of your people and for the betterment of the world,” Hegseth added.

The U.S. military has kept up a naval blockade on Iran’s ports since April 13 in a bid to place economic pressure on the country’s leadership.

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Russia strikes Ukrainian military and energy sites after Kiev kills children – MOD

The Russian armed forces carried out mass strikes on Ukrainian military and energy sites on Thursday in response to a drone attack that killed two children in the country’s Krasnodar Region, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

Russian strikes hit facilities involved in the production of cruise missiles and medium- and long-range UAVs, the MOD said in a statement on Thursday, adding that energy infrastructure sites used to support Ukraine’s military were also targeted.

”In response to terrorist attacks by Ukraine against civilian targets on Russian territory, a mass strike has been carried out over the past day using long-range precision weapons launched from land, air, and sea, as well as strike drones,” the ministry statement read.

”The objectives of the strikes have been achieved. All designated targets have been hit,” it added.

The strike followed a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian Black Sea port city of Tuapse, in which two children aged five and 14 were killed.

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‘Legitimate targets’: Medvedev on Russian MOD’s Ukraine-linked drone network list

A list of Ukraine-linked manufacturing facilities scattered across Europe, which was published by the Russian military, should be treated as a register of potential targets, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said.

The Russian Defense Ministry rolled out the list earlier on Thursday, claiming that Kiev’s Western backers have been planning to sharply ramp up production of long-range drones to target Russia. The plan is bound to drag European nations involved in the effort closer to direct conflict with Moscow, the military warned.

Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, urged European nations to take the warning at face value.

“[The] Russian Defense Ministry’s statement must be taken literally: the list of European facilities which make drones & other equipment is a list of potential targets for the Russian armed forces. When strikes become a reality depends on what comes next. Sleep well, European partners!” the ex-president wrote on X.

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Europe vs. Russia in a War: Food, Energy, and Logistics Favor Russia

A companion analysis I conducted for The Gateway Pundit examined European versus Russian military capabilities without U.S. support, focusing on direct military hardware such as tanks, aircraft, carriers, submarines, and nuclear weapons.

It found that Russia holds decisive advantages in ground-force experience, armored production, submarine power, Arctic dominance, and tactical nuclear weapons. Europe’s theoretical hardware advantages are undermined by readiness failures, fragmented command, and a complete lack of peer-level conventional warfare experience.

Raw firepower is only part of the equation. Wars are won or lost on the ability to sustain operations over time. That means keeping weapons factories running, fuel flowing, soldiers fed, and supply lines open under fire. On every one of those dimensions, Russia’s position is stronger than Europe’s. In some cases, the gap is not even close.

European defense spending has risen sharply since 2022, but remains structurally insufficient for a peer conflict. At the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, allies committed to investing 5 percent of GDP by 2035, with at least 3.5 percent on core defense. Commitments and current reality remain far apart, however. Sixteen European allies barely exceed the 2 percent threshold, spending between 2 and 2.1 percent of GDP in 2025, and only Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland are projected to reach 3.5 percent this year.

By contrast, Russia’s total defense spending reached RUB 6.3 percent of GDP and 32.5 percent of the federal budget.

Putin claimed in December 2025 that since February 2022, Russia increased tank production by 2.2 times, aircraft by 4.6 times, strike weapons and ammunition by 22 times, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers by 3.7 times, electronic warfare and communications equipment by 12.5 times, and rocket artillery by 9.6 times, with the defense sector now employing approximately 4.5 million people and accounting for 20 percent of all manufacturing jobs.

General Christopher Cavoli told the US Senate Armed Services Committee in April 2025 that Russia is replacing battlefield losses at an unprecedented rate due to industrial expansion and full transition to a war economy.

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Patronizing Democrat MA Governor Maura Healey Uses Donuts to Explain Soaring Energy Costs to Suffering Constituents

Fresh off being booed on Red Sox opening day alongside radical Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, leftist Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey thinks the suffering her constituents are facing with rising energy costs is a joke.

She appears to think voters are too dumb to understand economics and, instead of talking to residents like adults, she pulled out donuts to dumb down her patronizing explanation.

“Energy bills are high. Everyone can see that. So lowering your energy bills is my top priority. Now, how does that happen? That’s a little more complicated,” Healey began.

“So let’s talk about energy in a way that everyone understands— with munchkins.”

“Picture this: you’re at work or school, wherever. It’s 9 AM, and no one’s eaten breakfast. Someone shows up with one of these. Demand is high.”

“Everyone wants a munchkin or two or three, but we’ve only got 25. That’s where we’re headed with energy. So how do we fix that? See this glazed munchkin? That’s wind.”

“Massachusetts already has an offshore wind project lowering our energy bills as we speak. And we need more. It’s affordable, homegrown energy, and it’ll create thousands of jobs.”

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IDF Issues Chilling Nationwide Warning to Iranian Civilians — “Stay Off Trains” Ahead of Suspected Rail Strikes

The situation inside Iran is rapidly escalating.

On Tuesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a rare and highly specific warning directly to Iranian civilians, urging them to avoid all train travel and railway infrastructure for roughly 12 hours.

According to reports, the warning was delivered in Farsi on social media and explicitly stated:

Urgent Warning to Users and Train Passengers in the Country of Iran.

Dear Citizens, for the sake of your security, we kindly request that from this moment until 21:00 Iran time, you refrain from using and traveling by train throughout Iran.

Your presence on trains and near railway lines endangers your life.

The directive remains in effect until approximately 9:00 PM local time in Iran.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Monday that Iran would face its heaviest round of US strikes ahead of Trump’s deadline for Iran to make a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face “complete demolition.”

He further revealed that the President had ordered “the largest volume of strikes since day one of this operation” before tomorrow’s deadline, where bombs will rain down “even more than today.”

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POWDER KEG EUROPE: Serbian President Vučić Says Explosives Were Found Near a Pipeline Carrying Gas From Russia to Serbia and Hungary

Serbia in the eye of the storm.

While the eyes of the world are fixated on the developing crisis in the Middle East, Europe is still getting more dangerous by the day, with an energy crisis worsening the socio-political mess and the divisions over the war in Ukraine.

In this context, countries that lead independent foreign policies, like Serbia, are under relentless pressure.

Today, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić came out publicly to disclose that explosives were found near a pipeline that carries gas from Russia to Serbia and Hungary.

Euronews reported:

“Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced on Sunday morning that army and police found explosives that had been placed near a pipeline that carries gas to Serbia and Hungary.

He said that ‘two large packages of explosives with detonators’ were found inside backpacks in northern Serbia’s Kanjiza, ‘a few hundred meters from the gas pipeline’.

The Balkan Stream pipeline is an extension of the TurkStream pipeline, and transfers Russian gas to both Serbia and Hungary.”

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Lavrov, Araghchi Call on to Cease Strikes on Iranian Civilian Infrastructure – Moscow

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi stressed the need to immediately halt reckless attacks on the Iranian civilian and energy infrastructure, including the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

“The ministers emphasized the need to immediately cease reckless and illegal attacks on civilian, industrial, and energy infrastructure, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which is under IAEA safeguards,” the ministry said in a statement following the call.

Both ministers also stressed the inadmissibility of threats to the nuclear power plant’s personnel and the risks of a radioactive disaster in the region, the ministry said. Lavrov also expressed his condolences to Araghchi over the death of a civilian employee of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, it added.

Earlier in the day, Lavrov held a phone conversation with Araghchi to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

During the call, Lavrov expressed hope for the success of efforts aiming at de-escalating the conflict in the Middle East, it said. In particular, the United States would contribute to such efforts by “abandoning the language of ultimatums and returning the situation to the negotiating track,” the ministry added.

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Iran hits energy sites in Kuwait as US says downed pilot rescued

Iran hit several energy sites in Kuwait, including the headquarters of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, which was reportedly struck by a drone. The barrage came after US President Donald Trump warned that “all hell will rain down” on Iran unless the Strait of Hormuz is unblocked within 48 hours.

Iran has closed the vital waterway to “enemy ships” following the first wave of US and Israeli attacks on February 28, driving up oil and gas prices worldwide. Trump has vowed to target Iranian power plants if shipping is not fully restored.

Meanwhile, the United States said it had successfully rescued a crew member of a downed F-15E Strike Eagle during what Trump described as “one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history.” The officer, whom Trump identified as a colonel, had been stranded in mountainous terrain inside Iran and was recovered by a large force of aircraft after sustaining injuries. He said the serviceman is now “safe and sound.”

Trump added that a second US pilot had been rescued in a separate operation a day earlier, which had not been disclosed at the time for operational security reasons, and said both missions were carried out without American casualties. The Pentagon has not publicly confirmed details of the operations.

Earlier reports had indicated intense fighting between US commandos and Iran’s Basij paramilitary force in the southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, where the aircraft was shot down on Friday, and that Iranian authorities had offered a reward for the pilot’s capture.

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Forget Minnesota – The Amount Of Fraud Uncovered In California Is Staggering

California is a cash machine. The state collects some of the country’s highest income, business, and fuel taxes, and now spends more than $300 billion per year. And yet, everywhere you look, California seems to be falling apart.

The roads are crumbling. Mismanaged wildfires have turned neighborhoods into ash. Drug addiction and homelessness have metastasized, turning parts of Los Angeles and San Francisco into no-go zones. And the cost-of-living crisis is pricing middle-class taxpayers out of basic necessities like groceries and gas, even as the state spends billions on welfare programs that never seem to lift anyone out of poverty.

Californians are beginning to ask: Where is all this money going? On paper, it funds hospitals, universities, schools, prisons, infrastructure, and other public services. But beneath the surface, something else is happening that California Governor Gavin Newsom does not want you to see: massive, systematic, brazen fraud.

We conducted interviews with public officials, fraud experts, and political figures, and reviewed hundreds of pages of government reports, state audits, criminal indictments, and other public records on California fraud. From unemployment insurance and Medicaid to failed homeless initiatives and welfare programs, seemingly every state program has been compromised by criminals. The best estimates suggest that, on the governor’s watch, fraudsters, scammers, and organized crime rings have stolen at least $180 billion from taxpayers.

Welcome to Gavin Newsom’s empire of fraud.

Fourteen months after Newsom began his first term as governor of California, the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world. Roughly 2.7 million Californians eventually lost their jobs. The state’s economy went into freefall as its leaders imposed some of the country’s most restrictive public-health measures. In response to the crisis, Newsom sought to dump pallets of cash across the state—as quickly as possible.

One way to inject money was through California’s massive unemployment insurance program (UI). Unemployment insurance is administered by the state’s Employment Development Department (EDD), which can process billions of dollars in payments monthly. Before the state turned on the cash machine, however, experts had warned that the system was ripe for fraud.

Haywood Talcove, one of America’s leading fraud specialists and CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions for Government, was one such expert. “I was begging [federal officials] not to let the money go out like that, because it was going to be the biggest fraud in the history of our country,” he said. “Obviously, I wasn’t successful.”

For many reasons, California was particularly susceptible to the large-scale fraud schemes Haywood Talcove saw on the horizon. Not only did the state have some of the most generous welfare programs in the country; its bureaucrats had also failed to implement some basic fraud controls during Newsom’s tenure.

“They literally suspended all of the rules for the [unemployment insurance] program,” Talcove said. “[That made] it possible for anyone to get that benefit even if they weren’t entitled to it. It was very intentional. They knew what they were doing. But it caught up to them because it just got so out of control.”

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