David Sutherland

storyteller, father, lover of good food and good times, in awe of nature and science, pies fan, loyal friend. live gratefully on land that was never ceded

[💧Michael West @MichaelWestBiz]

Greens conundrum. If they make David Shoebridge leader Parliament loses the best politician in the country to management - impossible to replace his scrutiny on #AUKUS and the #genocide

[Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) @adamscochran]

15/15

TL;DR:

-Trump made the SI executive order to try and force companies to brand as “SI” instead of “AI”

-In the past 60 days insiders bought thousands of .si domain names

-They’ve profited hundreds of millions of dollars so far.

[Ryan Rozbiani @RyanRozbiani]

Iran's IRGC Publishes 26-Page Open Letter To Directly to AMERICANS

I read the entire letter. It is FAR more extensive than the excerpts circulating online.

The IRGC DIRECTLY addresses American citizens, students, academics and journalists, laying out its view of the war, decades of U.S.-Iran hostility and what it believes Americans should do next.

Key points:
• IRAN CLAIMS VICTORY: The letter argues the U.S. and Israel failed to achieve their objectives despite vastly greater military spending. It points to Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz, continued weapons production, national unity and damage inflicted on U.S. regional bases.

• WHY IRAN DID NOT BREAK: The IRGC says Iran's strength ultimately comes not from missiles or drones, but from Quranic principles, national unity and religious leadership. It devotes several pages to Karbala and the Shia principle of resisting oppression regardless of the cost.

• "DEATH TO AMERICA SLOGAN": The IRGC says the slogan targets America's ruling political establishment, NOT ordinary Americans. It argues that Iranians and Americans are both victims of the same political elite.

• 73 YEARS OF HOSTILITY: The letter traces the conflict from the 1953 coup through the Shah, the Iran-Iraq War, sanctions, Flight 655, the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the 2025 war, the January 2026 unrest and the current war.

• IRGC TERRORISM DESIGNATION: The Guards argue Washington designated the IRGC a terrorist organization because it repeatedly blocked U.S. attempts to weaken or overthrow the Islamic Republic.

• NUCLEAR PROGRAM: The letter calls allegations that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons one of Washington's biggest lies. It notes that U.S. officials have claimed for 25 YEARS that Iran was only "weeks or months" away from building a bomb, yet Iran still has no nuclear weapon.

• ISRAEL: The IRGC argues U.S. support for Israel has damaged America's interests, reputation and finances, while American taxpayers continue funding Israeli military operations.

• AMERICAN DECLINE: The letter blames foreign wars, military spending, national debt, deindustrialization and poor leadership for weakening the U.S. It contrasts this with China's continued advances while Washington spends enormous resources fighting wars abroad.

• CLOSE THE BASES: The letter urges Americans to demand the closure of roughly 800 U.S. overseas military bases, bring American troops home, end aid to Israel and redirect that money toward science, advanced manufacturing and domestic prosperity.

• CHANGE U.S. LEADERSHIP: Americans are urged to use their votes to remove politicians the letter describes as corrupt and dishonest. It specifically mocks politicians who think they can buy Americans' votes with a $5,000 payment.

• THE WARNING: The IRGC warns that continuing the war could trigger broader political and economic backlash against U.S. interests around the world.

• THE OFFER: Despite its attacks on the U.S. government, the letter tells Americans:
"We can live together in peaceful coexistence."

• THE ENDING: The final paragraphs invoke JESUS CHRIST and IMAM MAHDI, saying Iran awaits their return to establish justice and hopes Americans will ultimately stand alongside Iranians.

The central message across all 26 pages is a clear distinction between the AMERICAN GOVERNMENT and the AMERICAN PEOPLE.

The IRGC portrays the conflict as the result of decades of U.S. policy while telling Americans that a completely different relationship with Iran remains possible.

[💧joan kunze @madameshawshank]

“They had coordinated tweets ready, printed posters, and not one person caught it or questioned it. This is maga “Four Seasons Landscaping” levels of stupid. @amyklobuchar explaining the difference was priceless.”

[Mike Carlton @MikeCarlton01]

Every day there’s yet another photograph of the grotesque Trump falling asleep at his desk, with a semicircle of grovelling sycophants competing with each other to heap flattery upon his fat, orange head. God it’s tedious.

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

He goes to the airport to greet (1) a communist dictator and a (2) Russian imperialist who has slaughtered hundreds of thousands, and (3) praises a ruthless autocrat in North Korea, but...

Canada is one of the best countries in the world.

This is not normal.

I find it hard to understand how anyone could still support this foreign policy.

It does not advance American nationalist interests or American values.

[Assal Rad @AssalRad]

Now this is how you do a front page story.

[Brett Erickson @BrettErickson28]

NEW: Speaking to reporters today, President Trump states that “Iran will give up.”

This is astonishing levels of misunderstanding from the President of the United States.

There is ZERO, and I do mean zero, chance Iran will “give up” to the United States because this would INCREASE exponentially the chances that the government inside of Iran is toppled from hardline factions.

Right now, Iran has almost no chance whatsoever of being toppled internally. They have the guns, they have control of the money, and if people DID rise up… the Iranian government would kill them.

Without the credible threat of being overthrown then, and knowing that your risk INCREASES if you surrender…

Why would Iran “give up”?

[Jo @JoJoFromJerz]

@atrupar The fact that somehow—some fucking how—this country handed Donald Trump the very office he tried to steal will forever be one of the most shameful stains on American history.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Jack Smith: "Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation ... rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power"

[Nury Vittachi @NuryVittachi]

HERE'S WHAT THE WORLD WAS TOLD YESTERDAY: Suspected Iran-linked terrorists were caught with vans filled with explosives near a US airbase in the UK. US president Donald Trump said his intelligence people had been watching the men for a “long time” because they “were looking to do big damage”.

This morning, what do we learn? The story above is all WRONG.

- It has now been revealed that “no explosive material had been found” in the vehicles, police said.

- The vans contained diesel, the value of which has soared because of unnecessary conflicts, such as the US-Israel attack on Iran.

- The vehicles were branded “Fuel 2You”, suggesting they were openly transporting fuel.

- Also, “All five men were British Nationals”.

- Further, no tip-off came from US intelligence but from a local farmer in her 50s who called the police after seeing men with white vans.

- Photos turned out to have been creatively spun out of one blurred original by an OpenAI program.

- Most notably, all the men were released on bail, indicating that they were not considered dangerous.

.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE
What a difference a day makes. It’s worth recalling what yesterday’s headlines actually said.

“Counter-terror police investigate Iran link over suspected bomb plot at RAF base used by US,” the Guardian said. “Five men arrested on terrorism charges after explosives found near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire”.

The photos with added AI-generated faces were shared on social media by several groups, including the British Army Veterans Group, and spread quickly, viewed at least 1.6 million times.

It’s certainly valid to report that men apparently acting suspiciously were found in part of rural Britain near an airbase, RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. That’s no excuse to report that they had vans of explosives to blow up an airbase and point the finger at Iran.

.
THE REAL STORY
As people with a little healthy skepticism know, the actual truth (as opposed to what the headlines say) can usually be found buried deep inside the text.

And so it is with this story.

The very last paragraph of the latest report on this tale in the Guardian says that the UK’s Iranian embassy said the reports of this being an Iranian operation were false, and pointed to the real illegality in the conflict:

"The circulation of such fabricated speculations, particularly in the aftermath of the criminal acts of aggression committed by the United States and the Israeli regime against the Iranian people, will serve no purpose other than to fuel Iranophobia propaganda in the UK."

The irony, of course, is that diesel thefts have soared worldwide as the doubling of prices have led to literally millions of people being unable to run their factories and vehicles.

A global fuel crisis was triggered by the US-Israel attack on Iran on February 28—which the UN has agreed is an ongoing war crime.

And can we name one of the bases the US is using for its operations?

Yes. RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, UK.
.
.

[Vanessa Beeley @VanessaBeeley]

A wonderfully wry look at the most pathetic false flag ever at RAF Fairford:

"For the past few months, we’ve been told by people with a crystal ball that an attack on UK soil was imminent, and now it’s finally happened. There was an incident at RAF Fairford last night that resulted in 85 homes being evacuated. The media would like you to know this incident was terrifying. So terrifying, in fact, that you should probably get ready for war.

This is an emerging story, but here’s what I’ve managed to piece together so far. Given the media seems to be making this up as it goes along, some of the details are probably gonna change. Needless to say, they have plot holes to fill…

A farmer was driving home in the early hours of the morning and she noticed three white vans blocking the road. No one was inside them. She turned around and spotted a bunch of Middle Eastern-looking boys running off into the woods. Those woods were incredibly dark, but thankfully, she has the eyes of an owl. She was able to work out their ethnicity through the shadow of the trees, despite the fact they were wearing masks.

She called an emergency line that locals had been given for just such a scenario, but no one could be bothered to answer. She called 999 and police came out within ten minutes of her call. When they arrived, they said they’d first been notified nearly an hour ago, but hadn’t bothered doing anything. There were no routine security patrols around the base either. It’s basically the sloppiest security effort since Netanyahu gave standdown orders on October 7.

Luckily for the police, those Middle-Eastern-looking boys were still hanging around 25 minutes later and were arrested under the Explosives Act.

We are told the vans had been driving around the base for hours before they parked up. It’s like they were making their arrival as visible as possible and then they just waited around to be caught. Either it was deliberate or they were just as useless as the police and base security.

Somehow it gets even worse. The vans were parked just six metres from houses, and the company names and telephone numbers on them were fake. Yet it took police around five hours to give evacuation orders. Maybe they knew the vans weren’t a threat, or maybe they’re staggeringly incompetent. I guess it could be both.

Prior to the incident, the base was on its highest alert, and one local said they’d been stopped at gunpoint by Americans. If you didn’t know, this is an American base on out soil, or a “fort” as Trump called it. The US president was giving interviews about the incident shortly after it happened. He said “it worked out great”, which is an odd choice of words, don’t you think?

Trump said the US had been investigating the suspects for a long time. Not sure if he meant “investigating” or actually meant “working with”. All I know is the British are insisting the arrests weren’t intelligence-led and that a farmer basically saved the country.

We are now being told by the war-hungry media it was Iran, Iran, Iran… or maybe Russia, according to one news reader who mumbled something about this is why we need tactical nukes. Yelp.

Now I’m still not clear what these “Iranians” were hoping to achieve. Park vans packed with explosives near a base and blow the whole thing up? Unless they had a nuke, best they’d achieve is damage to a few nearby houses and trees.

If the Iranians wanted to pull this off, they would not hire a bunch of kids to drive in circles for hours around a base that’s on its highest alert and then hide in the woods until they were caught. They would quickly launch drones and disappear.

It seems more likely this was a performance rather than a serious attack. Shortly after it happened, we had a news crew flying above Fairford in a helicopter, showing the location of B1 Stealth Bombers and other sensitive things. If there was a real threat, that’s the last thing they would allow.

Now you have to ask yourself which parties would benefit from this. Israel needs us to join its war, the US needs to keep using Fairford to bomb Iran, and the UK needs to justify its involvement.

Even though we attacked Iran first, they will probably spin it into something like this: “Iran is attacking the UK, even though we are a neutral party. Therefore we have no choice but to get involved”. This would be a terrible legal and moral argument, but it just needs to convince stupid people. We have to take sure stupid people are not taken in by this crap."

Via: Council Estate Media on Substack

https://t.co/HDWfLIt5od

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

Let me get this straight.

A farmer spots hooded, masked men and three vans outside a US bomber base in the middle of the night.

Armed police. Major incident. 85 homes evacuated. A bomb-disposal robot. Two apparent controlled explosions. An 8km no-fly zone. A US Embassy security alert.

The President of the United States says they'd been watched for "a long time" and were out to do "big damage."

A day and a half later, all five are home on bail.

And the government's line is that the farmer who called it in only had a "partial picture."

Join the club.

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

This endless destruction is why Netanyahu does not allow journalists into Gaza. If he actually believed that Israeli had shown great restraint and that public perceptions were mistaken, we'd all be invited in with cameras. But Bibi doesn't want the devastation documented or the survivors interviewed.

[Kathleen Tyson @Kathleen_Tyson_]

It makes sense that the 5 men arrested were out stealing red diesel from vulnerable farm bowsers. Thefts of farm diesel are up over 300% in 2026 as the diesel price shot up after Trump-Netanyahu's elective war against Iran.

The fake fuel company signage would be good cover for diesel thieves. Oil barrels in the vans are also consistent with fuel thefts. Pumps for emptying farm bowsers were probably found as well.

Just some London lads nicking diesel from vulnerable farms would explain the early release on bail while the media hyperventilation about terrorism continues.

[Mohamad Safa @mhdksafa]

If updated Google satellite images of Gaza have not troubled you, see a doctor. Supporting mass killing and distribution on this scale is really a pathological issue.

[Carolina ❤️‍🔥 @realCarola2Hope]

Google Earth updated the images of Gaza. It's devastating.

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

Former diplomat Cormac Smith calls Putin a cornered rat, and the image is worth keeping. A cornered animal does not negotiate. It lashes out at whatever is nearest, and Smith's warning is that the nearest thing is now NATO's eastern flank, where Moscow is quietly preparing a second front.

That should surprise nobody who has watched the drones over Poland and the jets over Estonia. Russia probes because probing is cheap, and it escalates because escalation has so far cost it nothing.

The lesson is simple. A cornered rat is dangerous precisely because it is losing. That is not the moment to loosen the trap.

[Israel Exposed @xIsraelExposedx]

Shame on western journalism for forcing us do the work they are too afraid to do.

[The Hormuz Report @HormuzReport]

BREAKING: The Strait of Hormuz is now completely empty, with today’s Sentinel 2 satellite imagery showing no vessels currently visible anywhere in the waterway.

The imagery comes after Iran’s IRGC announced it struck 19 “violating” ships across the Strait over the past two nights.

The Strait of Hormuz is now showing virtually no visible maritime traffic as Iran continues enforcing its closure.