Brian Petermann

[David Stockman @DA_Stockman]

A White House Murder Spree Without End

By Daniel Larison

Some of the more than 220 people murdered by our government at sea were likely not involved in drug trafficking at all:

The US military’s strikes on alleged drug boats have likely illegally killed “individuals who are not involved in narco-trafficking,” Sen. Tim Kaine told the White House on Monday, following “a careful review” of classified information he has seen so far.“They are murder victims,” the Virginia Democrat wrote in a letter to President Donald Trump.

Sen. Kaine is right to call our attention back to the president’s ongoing murder spree. I would emphasize that the government has no right to take anyone’s life because of alleged ties to drug trafficking. It bears repeating that everyone killed in these boat strikes is a murder victim. Some of them have been fishermen, and some may have been victims of human trafficking, but they are all victims of a mindless campaign of summary executions carried out on the president’s illegal orders.

The boat strikes haven’t made a dent in the flow of drugs into this country, nor was there ever any reason to believe that they would. Combating drug trafficking was the official excuse to start the killing, but it was always just an excuse. In the last ten months, the campaign has taken on a life of its own. It makes no difference to the president or Hegseth that the campaign is a failure on its own terms. They are killing these people at least in part to show their contempt for the law and to prove that they won’t be bound by it. They are testing to see how far they can go before they encounter serious opposition.

There is no sign that the administration will stop killing civilians at sea unless it is forced to. So far, Congress has done nothing to stop the murders. Sen. Kaine’s letter is a welcome reminder of what is happening, but it is going to take a lot more than that to halt the strikes.

The administration’s justification for this lawless killing has been a rotten lie from the start. The U.S. is not engaged in an armed conflict with any of the groups it has named as terrorists. The military is dealing out death and destruction, but no one is fighting back.

Americans have become so accustomed to illegal military strikes over at least the last twenty-five years that these boat strikes have tended to fade into the background. The president and the military have both become so unaccountable for what they do overseas that it scarcely shocks us anymore when they slaughter civilians and then brag about it. We should not tolerate a status quo where the military executes civilians and then hides behind bogus claims of fighting terrorism to justify their crimes.

The president’s murder spree has been overshadowed by his criminal war against Iran, but he and his henchmen in the administration must be made to answer for these crimes. The officers responsible for executing the president’s illegal orders should also face charges for their part in carrying out these executions. The architects and the perpetrators of this murder spree should all be in prison.

The next administration will need to rescind Trump’s bogus terrorist designations. These designations don’t give the president the authority to launch attacks, but they provide a political fig leaf for the murders. As long as they can hide behind the lie that they are killing “terrorists,” that lets them dress up the executions as having something to do with national security. These strikes have absolutely nothing to do with defending the United States or any other country. They are, as one U.S. official put it, “murder for murder’s sake.”

[Tucker Carlson @TuckerCarlson]

Obviously this little freak could go volunteer to fight the war himself, but of course he won’t. He’s got no interest in making any kind of personal sacrifice. None of them do. Israel’s finance minister bragged the other day that having American soldiers fight Netanyahu’s wars “is the best for us.” Smotrich doesn’t want to die for Israel. Neither does Ben Shapiro. Dying for Israel is your job. You’ve got to wonder how people like this — liars without honor, wisdom or loyalty to the United States — wound up in positions of such profound influence throughout our society. How did Mark Levin get the president’s cell phone number? Why is Adm. Brad Cooper, the man in charge of the Iran war, secretly taking strategic advice from crazed Israel shill Mark Dubowitz? It’s all so nuts, and ultimately suicidal. Future generations will struggle to understand it. In the meantime, Trump will likely obey Ben Shapiro, as he has consistently for months. We can predict the results, because every neocon “victory” is identical: huge numbers of innocent people killed, disproportionately Christians, economic destruction, famine, mass migration and deepening authoritarianism at home. That’s what they’re demanding because that’s what they want. What can we do to stop it? Apparently not much. But we can remember what happened and why, so that history records the truth. Otherwise, when the war ends in disaster, as it inevitably will, Ben Shapiro will be able to blame you for it.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

When’s the speech about Israeli interference in U.S. elections? 🍿

[Roger Seheult, MD @RogerSeheult]

“Daylight Saving Time puts the sun where I can actually make use of it. In the evening time and not before I wake up.”

Tell me that you don’t understand circadian biology without telling me that you don’t understand circadian biology

There is growing evidence that daylight entering the bedroom shortly before awakening helps the body transition from sleep to wakefulness.

In a randomized crossover trial, 19 participants received natural daylight either for 20 minutes before waking, from dawn until waking, or not at all. Light during the final 20 minutes produced less sleepiness, less fatigue and greater alertness. Starting too early sometimes disrupted sleep.

Wang X, et al. Building and Environment. 2025;273:112733.
https://t.co/KqsrWWylxC

In another crossover study, gradually increasing light for 30 minutes before awakening significantly increased the normal cortisol awakening response—the physiologic rise in cortisol that prepares the body for daytime activity.

Thorn L, et al. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2004;29:925–930.
https://t.co/H1mYmKSewL

A third study found that simulated dawn beginning 30 minutes before waking produced a smoother rise in heart rate and better parasympathetic regulation during the transition from sleep to wakefulness—potentially reducing the abrupt cardiovascular stress of awakening.

Viola AU, et al. Sleep Medicine. 2015;16:457–461.
https://t.co/4wa3BEYn1I

Together, these studies suggest that the body is designed to receive increasing light before or around the time of awakening. This improves morning alertness and influences hormonal and autonomic physiology.

This is also one reason permanent Standard Time makes more biological sense than permanent Daylight Saving Time: Standard Time allows more people to awaken closer to natural dawn rather than forcing them to begin their day in darkness.

[Save Standard Time @SaveStandard]

Tell your congress members to sponsor the new Sunshine for Our Kids Act, H.R.9638 (Scanlon/Harrigan), to ditch Daylight Saving Time the healthful and safe way!

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

Republicans are in charge because we promised:

to Make America Healthy Again.
to start No New Wars,
to put people above corporations,
to put America above foreign countries,
to release the Epstein files,
to not spy on citizens,
to eliminate fraud,

what the hell happened?!

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

Look what would have happened if Kamala had won!

[Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 @infolibnews]

PBS FRONTLINE compiles a powerful highlight reel of Trump pledging "no new wars" on the campaign trail.

[Michael Heise @MisesChair]

Just an FYI as somebody who has successfully taken over the Libertarian Party on a shoestring budget before:

The cost and effort to take over the LP, inherit its ballot access and do whatever else you want with it from a rebrand / name change to a bylaws and platform reset, etc is *significantly* less than starting a new party or getting a candidate on the ballot. Orders of magnitude less.

It takes like 3000-4000 people across the country winning positions and delegate spots at the state party level conventions and, if you really want to go hard and overwhelm it, like $1 million to buy airfare and hotel rooms to make it as easy as possible to get 700 people to the national convention ready to change shit.

The sticky part is this cant be done suddenly right before election season. They have a national convention this weekend and will have another one in like 2 years. That process needs to be engaged, at a maximum, in like a year from now in order for it to work.

This is incredibly small potatoes compared to the energy out there ready to coalesce around an America first movement and what it would take to start from scratch.

[Voice of Rabbis @voiceofrabbis]

Zionist leaders like Benjamin Netanyahu continuously conflate Judaism with the the State of Israel, and weaponize accusations of antisemitism to shield Zionism from criticism, it tragically fuels resentment toward Jews worldwide.

Source @authenttorahjew @TorahJudaism

[Alex @EuropaActual]

Notice how every post about the KY-04 race is either pro-Massie or anti-Massie?

No one is pro-Gallrein. That should tell you everything you need to know.

[Shawn Ryan @ShawnRyan762]

Massie: $5.5M raised. Average donor gave $100. His opposition: $32 million. Three billionaires, Secretary Hegseth on the ground, four presidential attacks in one day, all to silence the guy fighting for the Epstein files. Trump calls elections rigged. Look in the mirror. Go Massie.

[Kirsten Gillibrand @SenGillibrand]

We are in the middle of a war with Iran, and where is the Secretary of War? Campaigning in Kentucky.

Unbelievable.

[Owen Shroyer @OwenShroyer1776]

All this to stop a nuke that didn't exist and open a strait that wasn't closed.

[Bret Weinstein @BretWeinstein]

Targeting @RepThomasMassie is an egregious breach of the President’s promise to put Americans first. With a flood of dirty cash, Pres. Trump made this race a national referendum on self determination and the consent of the governed. We must now fight for Kentucky—nationally—in order to Rescue the Republic.

I’m donating to Massie’s campaign, and helping spread the word. I hope you will as well. We must draw a line—and hold it.

Please RT

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

It continues to be a bizarre aspect of US politics that so many American Christians defend Israel even when it attacks Christian villages and churches and kills Americans and/or Christians (as Israel often does), and even seem grateful to pay for it.

The Mike Huckabee complex.

[Jonathan Haidt @JonHaidt]

Phone free schools cause
--increased laughter in hallways
--very loud lunchrooms
--increases in books checked out of school library

[Joe Kent @joekent16jan19]

This is a good move—it buys us time. It’s essential that we use it wisely.

Acknowledge that under current conditions, there are no military solutions and a true settlement is unlikely.

Follow the Reagan-in-’84 model: pull our forces out of the region, let our Gulf allies negotiate to reopen the SOH, and refocus on the issues at home and winning the next election, like Reagan did.

This is the opposite of what Israel wants us to do. To prevent Israel from pulling us deeper into this war, we must impose real restraint by limiting military aid to Israel.

The escalation game is a losing hand. Dump it and walk away.

[JP Sears @AwakenWithJP]

I think Trump may have been right about "Low IQ Alex Jones." Find out the shocking truth here.
@RealAlexJones

[JP Sears @AwakenWithJP]

WHY are we at war with Iran? This should eliminate any confusion. You're welcome.