Skye Bennett 🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈

[Skye Bennett 🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈 @_Skye_John_]

In Remembrance of my grandfather, V. Ray Bennett, whose inventions in respiratory care paved the way to modern day breathing machines saving people everyday, I’m sharing some history about his life’s work. May he continue to inspire & live through the lives he's touched. 1/10

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

If you were young in 2001, or weren’t even born yet, it can be hard to imagine what 9/11 felt like. The shock of that beautiful, cloudless morning. The heartbreak of the families whose loved ones were taken with such swiftness and cruelty. The realization that the forces of malevolence and violence were closer, and the future less certain, than we knew.

But in the days that followed, we felt something else, too. Pride in the rescue workers who had rushed to the scene, and the passengers who had stormed the cockpit. Admiration for the men and women who left behind lives of comfort to serve their country. A deep resolve that nothing would break the will of a truly United States of America.

Today Michelle and I are remembering those we lost that day, and those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the wars that followed. We pray for their families. And we hope Americans everywhere remember the true lesson of 9/11: that we can survive even our darkest days as long as we move forward as one nation and one people.

[Jamie Metzl @JamieMetzl]

America is ultimately a centrist nation. The vast majority of us do not want to be represented by people who were celebrating on September 11, January 6, or October 7.

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

On Memorial Day, we pay tribute to the brave men and women in uniform who gave their lives for this country that we love. It is a debt we can never fully repay, but we must never stop trying. I’ll always be grateful to our fallen heroes and their families, whose sacrifice reminds us of what it means to live for something greater than ourselves.

[U.S. Senator John Fetterman @SenFettermanPA]

Mob of Pro-Hezbollah / Hamas shitheads raging against law enforcement and terrorizing the NYC Jewish community near a synagogue and day care.

Where’s my party’s condemnation?

[Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 @PollTracker2024]

Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) in Washington Post op-ed

“My values have not changed, and I have always turned to those kinds of ideals that defined being a Democrat. I remain strongly pro-choice, pro-weed, pro-LGBT, pro-SNAP, pro-labor and even pro-rib-eye over bio slop.”

“I refuse to cave on my conscience because Pennsylvania deserves someone who is honest and can work across the aisle.”

[Jamie Metzl @JamieMetzl]

For my entire life, I have supported Palestinian rights and a two state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict based on mutual recognition, mutual security, and mutual indigeneity.

Having said that, the level of malicious, ahistorical ignorance of the far left is unimaginable. Although there may be some well-intentioned ignoramuses among them, these ignorant bigots are doing far more harm than good.

[Congressman Jared Moskowitz @RepMoskowitz]

Hatred against Jews is a virus that continues to spread.

I had a plot against my life simply because I’m Jewish. Many in our community have lived with this same reality. The fact that Americans are being threatened, assaulted, or murdered because of their religion is simply unacceptable. We must do better as a country.

[Batya Ungar-Sargon @bungarsargon]

Wow really nice to see 70% of Democrats want Iran to stop funding Hamas/Hezbollah and recognize Israel's right to exist.

[Mark Penn @Mark_Penn]

Strait of Hormuz

The president had many choices. He could have given in to Iran demands and paid them money like Obama did.
He could have sent in massive ground troops in as Bush did.

He chose the method of JFK and created a blockade that would not abandon the goal and minimize putting US soldiers in harm’s way. This is war and anything can and will happen but it was a careful choice.

As successive waves of officials take control of Iran, they are learning a lesson that whether there will be regime change or not there will be regime modification and the US is not backing down from its position of no nukes and limited ballistic missiles.

And the regime that gunned down 30,000 of its own citizens, oppresses women, fakes the “elections” and has to shut down the internet to suppress opposition, is decrying that the US is not respecting its “rights.” Of course, only the UN could add Iran to a human rights panel.

Unlike Europe, we are not backing down and the only chits Iran has are its continued threats to take the rest of the world down economically and it can try but we are moving to block that and flip the script to close them down economically instead.

It won’t happen but Dems should get on board with supporting this quarantine of Iran and show some national unity and resolve. 47 years of oppression, threats, terrorism, nuclear enrichment, and deaths to us soldiers is enough.

[Mark Dubowitz @mdubowitz]

To those arguing we should concede enrichment so the regime in Iran can “save face” or “get a win.”

The regime wants enrichment because it wants to build nuclear weapons. You do not absorb $1.5 trillion in economic damage, face economic collapse, risk repeated massive protests, get battered in two wars, lose your supreme leader, top military and political leadership, half your missile arsenal, and your navy and air force — all for civilian nuclear energy you could obtain for free (see U.S. offer in Feb.) from foreign suppliers.

[UN Watch @UNWatch]

“The Islamic regime in Iran murders its own people, hunts its critics worldwide, arms terror proxies, and exports terrorism on four continents. It is a revolutionary engine of hate, terror, and chaos.”
—Hillel Neuer destroys opposition at Oxford debate
📽️: https://t.co/JeyMhWtfAl

[Van Jones @VanJones68]

It's been more than 45 days since Iran's internet went dark. And the Iranian regime is burning through MILLIONS per day to keep 92 million people offline.

Why spend so much to silence your own country? Because when you control the internet, you control the story. When a government won't let its OWN PEOPLE speak, question the narrative the outside world is hearing.

[Admiral James Stavridis, USN, Ret. @stavridisj]

Job one: Shut down Iran. Job two: Open the Strait for everyone else. Discussed the new blockade with @JessicaDean on @CNN today. We also touched on the ‘win’ for Ukraine and the EU as Viktor Orbán is unseated in Hungary—a major moment for the power of the ballot box.

[Dennis Ross @AmbDennisRoss]

The blockade always made more sense than seizing Kharg Island. It stops Iran’s exports, its revenues, is a counterpoint to their closing the Straits. They may attack Gulf oil facilities but it puts greater pressure on Iran. It also puts great pressure on China to pressure Iran.

[Robin Brooks @robin_j_brooks]

A blockade collapses Iran's imports to zero because there's no cash from oil exports to pay for anything. It sends Iran's currency into a devaluation spiral and the economy into hyperinflation. There's pros and cons to a blockade, but the pros dominate...
https://t.co/P8ylpTutU6

[Miad Maleki @miadmaleki]

10/10 BOTTOM LINE: A naval blockade imposes ~$435M/day in combined economic damage. Storage fills in 13 days, forcing well shut-ins that cause permanent reservoir damage. The rial enters terminal collapse. Iran's alternatives outside the Strait can replace less than 10% of Gulf throughput. The blockade makes continued resistance economically impossible.

[Miad Maleki @miadmaleki]

1/10 The U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would cost Iran approximately $276M/day in lost exports and disrupt $159M/day in imports, a combined economic damage of ~$435M/day, or $13B/month.

Over 90% of Iran's $109.7B in annual trade transits the Persian Gulf. Oil/gas accounts for 80% of government export earnings and 23.7% of GDP. Kharg Island alone generates ~$53B/year, or as I noted to @TIME, "$78 billion a year in energy revenue.

[Karim Sadjadpour @ksadjadpour]

Former senior U.S. Treasury official @miadmaleki (who grew up in Iran and knows the country well) on the potential economic impact of a U.S. naval blockade of Iran:

[InteractivePolls @IAPolls2022]

CBS News Poll: What is important for the U.S. to do regarding Iran?

Open Strait of Hormuz & oil access (87%)

Make sure Iran's people are safe and free (81%)

Stop Iran from threatening other countries (76%)

Permanently stop Iran's nuclear programs (76%)

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Putin keeps losing his allies around world— Assad in Syria, Maduro in Venezuela, Khamenei in Iran, and now Orban in Hungary.

What Putin friend is next to fall?