Mark Brake

Writer of award-winning books on science, history, and culture. Retired professor of scicom. Red. 20-6-8-3-10-1

[Mark Brake @marklbrake]

@grok is this true?

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

What. A. Freak.

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

Yesterday Google announced its UK tax bill will be just £50 million despite nearly £6 billion of sales in our country.

As our public services are being slashed, the Tories are letting an elite few get away with not paying their fair share.

We're not broke, we're being robbed.

[Mohamad Safa @mhdksafa]

No one is born racist, it’s taught. Quit teaching it.

[Barry Malone @malonebarry]

You will never see the media go harder on the “where will the money come from?” question than when a policy is aimed at helping the working class.

[679 Enthusiast @marionumber4]

MAGA when enriching uranium

[Amir @AmirAminiMD]

If you’re a US soldier currently being deployed to the Persian Gulf, know this:

1. I am sorry that this is what your life has come down to.

2. You’re going to die.

But before you die, before it’s too late for you and your loved ones, know this:

You are not doing this for your country.
You are not doing this for freedom or democracy.

You are doing this for a five-time draft-dodging billionaire pig who has absolutely no idea what he’s doing and is only trying to save his own ass.
You are doing this for a genocidal cunt in Tel Aviv who doesn’t give a flying fuck about you or your country.

You are going to die in Iran.
Worse, you’re going to die while committing war crimes.
You are going to die invading, bombing, and murdering people that you have never met, and who have never -and would never- have hurt you.

There’s no honor in this.
The world will not remember you as a hero.
Not even the American people believe this is a just war.

You are going to die for the political survival of a bunch of pedophiles, war criminals, and billionaires who would never send their own children to serve and die alongside you.

Refuse to do it. Resist.

They will punish you.
But humanity will be on your side.
The world won’t forget your bravery.

Go home to your loved ones.
It’s the honorable thing to do.
And it’s the brave thing to do.

This isn’t your time and place to die.

Resist. Go home.

[Patricia Marins @pati_marins64]

Not a single word from the Russians, the Chinese, the European Union, or the entire global community about this scandalous episode.

My impression is that we are regressing by decades, perhaps even centuries, in just a few years.
No one knows where this money is going, while the White House has become a partner in Venezuela’s poverty.

And in the face of this, some real idiots in Israel and the Pentagon expected an uprising in Iran.

Who would be crazy enough to rebel against their own nation when a foreign power is brazenly threatening to loot their country’s coffers?

It is astonishing what we are witnessing in these times amid the global silence.

Trump has placed the US in such a position of low moral standing that there is no way the world can place any confidence in either the dollar or in American foreign policy.

Whoever comes to govern America after Trump, and this will only happen after a great deal of internal chaos, will have an immense task ahead that will take many, many years.

[Kentucky Statesman @ky_statesman]

I officially apologize to the families of our fallen troops for voting for this demon three times. I realize now that we were deceived when he called himself the "President of Peace" & I pray he is impeached & removed from office before any more American troops lose their lives.

[Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @NotHoodlum]

It’s absolutely incredible that Trump is bragging that his tax cuts for the wealthy made it possible for his friend to buy a private plane, while the rest of us struggle with higher bills because of his tariffs, unnecessary wars, and reckless policies.

[Financial Times @FT]

FT Exclusive: The Trump administration has collected more than $13bn in revenues from Venezuelan oil sales this year, according to FT calculations, but has said almost nothing about what has happened to the money. https://t.co/j1PIzzMlZf

[Trisha Hope - National Delegate-TX @JustTheTweets17]

I believe this man to be the greatest FRAUD ever perpetrated on the American people.

I say this as someone who walked the halls of congress for him 3 times, attended 42 rallies, became a state delegate and then a national delegate all to get him in office so he could keep the PROMISES he made.

He is a lying fraud who I sincerely hope is impeached and removed from office.

This time instead of walking the halls of congress for him, I will be walking the halls to have him removed and it can't come soon enough.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

He lies like the rest of us breathe. This is the most unpopular war for decades, per almost every poll.

[Aaron Bastani @AaronBastani]

West and Central Asia are incredible. There are Iranian nomads who look like they play amateur cricket in East Sussex.

[Brett Erickson @BrettErickson28]

Just moments ago, President Trump stated that every time Iran strikes a vessel, the United States will destroy a bridge or power plant inside of Iran. At the most basic level, this is what we call "looking for a reason to commit atrocities".

The most likely scenario in the US/Iran War is that the United States continues to waged all-out economic warfare against Iran. This is done via a combination of maximum-pressure sanctions, the US blockade, and the systematic and overwhelming targeting of civilian and economic infrastructure inside of Iran.

The goal is undeniable: maximum civilian suffering.

That IS the goal here. Blowing up a bridge is not going to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Neither will destroying a power plant. If there is anything we have all learned throughout this conflict, it's that Iran's asymmetric warfare capabilities, when paired with their geographical positioning, borders on insurmountable.

No. The GOAL from targeting economic and civilian infrastructure inside of Iran is to make the civilian population suffer as much as possible, and this is where the Trump Administration has a fundamentally broken understanding of economic warfare.

The best, and perhaps only, chance that the United States has to win this war is by the Iranian civilians rising up in protest and toppling the regime. Unfortunately, this is something that President Trump has made almost a fantasy due to a plethora of missteps throughout this war that have garnered domestic support, and undoubtedly turned the Iranian people against the United States.

It started on the very first day of the war. Not only did we assassinate a religious leader in the Ayatollah, but we also killed 168 children in a triple-tap bombing of the school in Minab. Even worse? We tried to cover it up and sweep it under the rug. Then came President Trump's threat to wipe out Iran's entire civilization. Not "the regime", their entire civilization. Then we bombed pharmaceutical, petrochemical, and steel manufacturing plants that put almost a million people out of work. After this came a blockade specifically meant to cut off Iran's ability to access wheat, medical supplies, cooking oil, and proteins. Then we bombed their water storage facilities, water infrastructure, and water desalination.

There IS NO HOPE for the Iranian people rising up and toppling the regime anymore. President Trump has ensured that this is nothing but a delusion at this point.

So what is the PURPOSE behind striking bridges and power plants? It's certainly not to reopen the Strait of Hormuz at this point. We've tried that for five months with no success. Iran still has a plethora of missiles and drones. They still have divers with limpet mines. They still have fast boats. They still have mines that can be released from boats.

The only purpose that the intentional targeting of bridges and power plants inside of Iran would serve is to make the innocent Iranian civilians suffer. They're not going to rise up and topple the regime. We're not going to be able to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by pursuing this strategy.

This is only about making civilians suffer.

[Robert A. Pape @ProfessorPape]

President Trump's chilling new "tit-for-tat" policy

vowing to destroy one bridge or power plant near Tehran for every tanker Iran strikes

Pushes the Middle East to a dangerous precipice

Spiraling escalation threatens to choke global trade and send world economies reeling

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

The more Trump and Rubio escalate, the more they lose the MAGA base.

Half of Trump’s base thought Iran’s war was worth its economic costs in May. Now, just a little more than a third do.

https://t.co/eubdPasFMt

[Amir @AmirAminiMD]

This is unprecedented in modern human history. There was absolutely no reason or benefit for the US to do this.
No sovereign country would’ve done that to itself.
Mark this day as the day the US voted for a coup d’état on itself -the day the US voted to screw itself for eternity.

[Chris Hedges @ChrisLynnHedges]

The United States is not a fascist country yet. But the process to become one is unfolding rapidly. The primary reason for this is the capitulation of the Democratic Party to the corporate donor class. The liberal class — intent on crushing any attempts to subvert the agenda of its oligarchic masters — has ushered in this new dark age.

[Acyn @Acyn]

CNN split screen comparison of what Hegseth was saying months ago on the Iran War and what he said today.

[Turnbull @cturnbull1968]

I’m assuming that Trump lost interest in his Board of Peace after collecting the $1B entry fee from all the members?

The open corruption is jaw dropping and not a peep from Democratic leadership.