Supreme Court rulings are significant not only for their decision on who wins, but also for their reasoning. A victory for common sense may sometimes be pyrrhic if it benefits the party that wins the dispute but relies on reasoning that erodes individual liberty in the longer term.

In that context, while the outcome in the recent case of Chiles v. Salazar, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (decided March 31, 2026), was welcomed, the emphasis it placed on “viewpoint discrimination” is unfortunate. It is one more step down the road to conceptualizing free speech as an application of the non-discrimination principle, rather than as an emanation of individual liberty.

The majority of the court in Chiles ruled that therapists should be permitted to conduct “sexual orientation change efforts.” Because the case was brought under the First Amendment, the reasoning was that restricting this form of talk therapy amounts to “discrimination on the basis of viewpoint.” This framing reflects the trend of subsuming all jurisprudence within egalitarian principles of non-discrimination—in this case, the principle being that all licensed therapists have an equal right to practice their chosen form of talk therapy. Forbidding one form of talk therapy discriminates against the therapists who wish to choose that form.

Conceptualizing free speech as an equal right to express one’s views is a stark departure from the libertarian view of free speech as an emanation of self-ownership and property rights.

In this case, a Colorado therapist, Kaley Chiles, successfully argued that Colorado law banning her preferred form of treatment violated her right to free speech. Colorado’s defense, which ultimately failed, was that the case did not involve the regulation of speech but only the regulation of forms of treatment. The state tried, in vain, to frame the case as one that merely involves licensing the practice of medicine.

Therapists should, of course, be free to exercise their professional judgment. Most human activity involves speech in one form or another, so in that sense, political disputes could be said to be “free speech” disputes. A dispute over gender ideology—in this case, whether a boy who feels he is a girl should really just be talked out of it—was, therefore, framed as a dispute about free speech.

But, if every political and ideological dispute is framed as a First Amendment dispute over viewpoint discrimination, the substance of the dispute itself—in this case, the gender ideology dispute—is sidelined while the courts debate whether the complainant has been discriminated against. The First Amendment then functions as yet another “protection from discrimination” platform. Free speech risks being collapsed into the non-discrimination principle.

The Supreme Court in Chiles held that the First Amendment prohibits states from “regulating speech based on viewpoint,” or from regulating “communicative content.” This was described as “content-based restriction.” The First Amendment was held to protect the right of citizens to decide “how best to speak.” The court followed the reasoning in Rosenberger v. University of Virginia (2015), which held that,

When the government seeks not just to restrict speech based on its subject matter, but also seeks to dictate what particular “opinion or perspective” individuals may express on that subject, “the violation of the First Amendment is all the more blatant.”

This seems to imply that, while regulating the content of speech is a violation of the First Amendment, doing so in a discriminatory manner is an “all the more blatant” violation. The court said:

Colorado’s law does not just regulate the content of Ms. Chiles’s speech. It goes a step further, prescribing what views she may or may not express. (emphasis added)

By this reasoning, the notion of “discrimination” is elevated as the overriding principle—silencing people is wrong, but viewpoint discrimination is worse. The Court described viewpoint discrimination as an “egregious” and “most blatant” violation of the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court in Chiles also cited the previous case of Iancu v. Brunetti (2019), which held that “the government cannot discriminate based on viewpoint.” In earlier cases, the courts had also held that it may be permissible to bar “fighting words,” but such words cannot be barred “based on viewpoint,” that is, in a discriminatory manner.

The principle being emphasized in these cases is that the government cannot discriminate in regulating speech content. Yet, the First Amendment is not, on its face, about prohibiting discrimination. It prohibits the abridgment of free speech. The problem is that the two foundational principles—liberty and equality—are now deemed to be synonymous, or at least interchangeable. It is deemed less significant that speech was restricted, and more significant that the restrictions went “a step further” to restrict speech in a discriminatory manner.

The champions of equal opportunity would argue that this is good because we should not have a situation where those with favored views are free to express them, while those with disfavored views do not have an equal opportunity to do the same. This notion of “non-discrimination in the expression of viewpoints” is then read into the First Amendment, gradually turning it from a principle of liberty into a principle of “non-discriminatory regulation” of speech.

Thus, in Chiles, the Supreme Court emphasized that protecting all speech equally is key: “The Constitution does not protect the right of some to speak freely; it protects the right of all.”

Justices Kagan and Sotomayor—the liberals on the bench—wrote a separate opinion which went even further, stating that “because viewpoint-based laws always raise that specter [of official suppression of ideas], they are the most suspect of all speech regulations” (emphasis added). They added that,

Once again, because the State has suppressed one side of a debate, while aiding the other, the constitutional issue is straightforward.

It would, however, be less so if the law under review was content based but viewpoint neutral.

The key issue, as they see it, is that the state has favored some citizens while discriminating against others. The implication is that it would be less egregious if the state silenced everyone equally, because there would be no viewpoint discrimination. This irony is inherent in the comparative framework of the non-discrimination principle. For example, when employers were forbidden by “equal pay” laws from paying men higher wages than women, they corrected that by docking the men’s pay. All is equal, all is well. The fact that this was achieved by essentially punishing one group is deemed immaterial.

Categorizing different forms of First Amendment violations as to which are worse than others partly reflects the sliding scale of “heightened scrutiny.” This ranges from cases where the free speech restriction is not too serious—silencing speech in a viewpoint-neutral manner—to a higher level of scrutiny where the restriction is considered egregious because it is viewpoint-discriminatory. Kagan and Sotomayor said,

We apply our most demanding standard when there is any “realistic possibility that official suppression of ideas is afoot: – when, that is, a (merely) content-based law may reasonably be thought to pose the dangers that viewpoint-based laws always do… But when that is not the case – when a law, though based on content, raises no real concern that the government is censoring disfavored ideas – then we have not infrequently “relaxed our guard.”

But why should judges “relax their guard” when the state silences everyone in a viewpoint-neutral way? Surely government censorship is always objectionable, regardless of whether it discriminates against a particular viewpoint.

Even worse, Kagan and Sotomayor justified their categorization of violations by reference to the fear of “driving certain ideas or viewpoints from the marketplace.” They have been discriminated against, and they have been excluded from the marketplace. It goes against their precious principles of diversity and inclusiveness, their schoolmarmish desire to make sure everyone’s ideas are welcome and everyone feels equally heard.

This theme appears in many different areas of law, including criminal law, where there is a growing view that discriminating against others is worse than “ordinary” crimes—murder is bad, but murdering someone based on his race or religion is worse. That is the rationale behind “hate crimes.”

Paradoxically, the more the law devolves into double standards—where victims of discrimination get special protection, and everyone else can go fly a kite—the more concerted effort courts take to frame free speech in the language of non-discrimination. It is a timely reminder of the dangers of deviating from individual liberty and the right to self-ownership as the conceptual foundation of free speech.

In the libertarian ethical system, there is no non-discrimination principle because people are at liberty to discriminate in any manner they deem appropriate. As the economist Walter Williams often said, discriminating simply means choosing. Further, in a Rothbardian system, the dispute in Chiles would not have arisen in the first place because nobody would need a license from the state to offer “talk therapy” to boys who believe they are girls.

• • The U.S. Embassy in Beirut has issued its highest-level advisory (“Level 4: Do Not Travel”) and is telling all American citizens to leave Lebanon immediately while commercial flights are still available. The embassy warns that the security situation is getting worse fast and that neither the U.S. nor the Lebanese government can guarantee their safety if violence breaks out in the country.

• • The warning comes as the Middle East is engulfed in violence. Hezbollah is threatening to join the war against Israel, Syria is firing missiles, and Iran is supporting Hamas. Other events include rioters setting fire to the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and Israel bombing airports in Syria.

• • Just before the embassy warning, Iran fired on and seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for global oil. This has caused oil prices to surge past $100 per barrel, raising costs for food and other goods worldwide and costing Europe an estimated $600 million per day.

• • The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is under severe strain. Hezbollah continues to launch drones and rockets, and Israel is preparing for the truce to collapse “at any moment.” An Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon recently wounded journalists and complicated rescue efforts.

• • For those who choose to stay, the embassy warns of major threats, including terrorism, kidnapping, and unexploded bombs. It also tells people to avoid protests and large gatherings, as these have blocked major roads, including routes to the airport. Travelers are advised to make emergency plans and monitor the news closely.

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut has issued an urgent and stark warning to American citizens in Lebanon: leave the country immediately while commercial flights are still operating, as the security situation deteriorates at an alarming pace. The Department of State raised its travel advisory to the highest possible level, “Level 4: Do Not Travel,” instructing all non-essential embassy staff and family members to evacuate without delay.

The warning comes amid a cascade of escalating violence across the Middle East, including missile strikes, drone attacks, and threats from Iran-backed militant groups.

“The security environment remains complex and can change quickly,” the State Department wrote. “We urge U.S. citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial flight options remain available.”

For those who choose to remain, the embassy offered grim advice: prepare contingency plans for emergencies and monitor news for breaking developments. The warning also highlighted the dangers of unexploded ordnance in areas ravaged by military activity, urging Americans never to touch anything resembling unexploded munitions.

Terrorism and kidnapping remain the primary threats. The embassy noted that locations frequented by Americans in Beirut and elsewhere could become targets for attacks.

It also warned demonstrators to avoid protests and large gatherings, which have blocked major roads, including routes between downtown Beirut, the embassy compound, and the Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport.

The advisory comes at a time when the region is already on fire. Rioters set fire to the U.S. Embassy in Beirut after Hezbollah called for a “day of rage.”

Syria is firing missiles on the Golan Heights as the U.S. provides surging support for Israeli operations in Gaza. Hezbollah has declared it is “prepared and ready” to join the war against Israel.

Iran’s supreme leader has praised Hamas and warned Israel of “greater disaster” if it continues bombing civilians in Gaza.

Israel, meanwhile, bombed airports in Damascus and Aleppo just before the arrival of Iran’s foreign minister.

The U.S. Embassy made clear that neither the Lebanese government nor the embassy can guarantee the safety of American nationals in the event of sudden violence or armed conflict.

Iran escalates maritime attacks

The embassy’s warning came hours after Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and seized two of them, marking a dramatic intensification of its assault on shipping in the strategically vital waterway. The attacks followed President Donald Trump’s decision to extend a ceasefire while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports.

The standoff has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the strait, where 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime. Iranian media reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was bringing the two seized ships to Iran, signaling further escalation.

BrightU.AI‘s Enoch AI engine explains that the conflict has sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region, raising the cost of food and countless other products. Brent crude oil, the international standard, surged past $100 per barrel, a 35% increase from prewar levels.

European Union Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen warned of lasting damage for consumers and businesses, comparing the disruption to major energy crises over the last half-century. He said the disruption is costing Europe approximately 500 million euros ($600 million) each day.

Israel fears ceasefire collapse

Meanwhile, Israel is preparing for the possibility that its ceasefire with Lebanon could collapse “at any moment,” according to military officials. The fragile truce is under severe strain as Hezbollah continues to launch drones and rocket fire into Israeli territory.

On April 22, Lebanese media reported that two journalists, Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj, were wounded in an Israeli airstrike in the village of A-Tiri in southern Lebanon.

Red Cross teams were dispatched, but reports later indicated that two bodies and Faraj were recovered, while Khalil remained trapped. Lebanese officials blamed Israel for difficulties in reaching her.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said he was following developments and instructed the Red Cross to continue rescue efforts. A senior Lebanese army official told Reuters that an Israeli drone dropped a grenade near rescue teams, and that Lebanon had appealed to Israel through the United States to allow access to the area.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the area had been evacuated of civilians and that the incident is under review. The military stated that two vehicles were seen leaving a Hezbollah military structure and approaching troops after crossing the forward defense line.

After determining they were violating the ceasefire, the air force struck one vehicle and later targeted a building where the operatives fled. The IDF had claimed that it does not target journalists and is not preventing rescue teams from accessing the area.

Israeli officials acknowledged that operational flexibility is being limited by American pressure, as the U.S. urges both sides to maintain the ceasefire while negotiations with Iran continue.

Hezbollah, officials said, is attempting to establish new “rules of the game” during the truce and reorganize its forces.

“The ceasefire is fragile,” Israeli military officials warned. “It could collapse at any moment.”

The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has been called back to Washington for consultations. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem said he returned to take part in another round of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon led by the State Department. U.S. officials expressed cautious optimism, saying progress is possible if Hezbollah is excluded from the process.

For American citizens in Lebanon, the message is unmistakable: the window to leave safely is closing fast.

Watch this clip of Israel bombing Lebanon.

This video is from the Cynthia’s Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

Healthy life expectancy (HLE) in the UK has fallen by about 2 years, to just over 60 years for both men and women, making Britain one of only five wealthy nations where people live fewer years in good health, according to a new analysis by the Health Foundation charity.

This means that the amount of life a person spends in good health has decreased.

The findings, based on data from the Office for National Statistics between 2012–2014 and 2022–2024, show the measure dropped from 62.9 to 60.7 for men and from 63.7 to 60.9 for women, according to a report by The Guardian. 

Andrew Mooney, the think‑tank’s principal data analyst, has warned of “a significant economic cost, with poor health driving people out of the workforce and locking young people out of education, employment and training.”

The Health Foundation has blamed the decline in HLE on a combination of poverty, poor housing, obesity, the lingering effects of the Covid‑19 pandemic, and a surge in mental health illnesses, especially among young people.

UK Rulers Quietly Published Report Confirming the Vaxxed Account for 94% of all COVID-19 Deaths

According to the analysis, wealth inequality has become a major indicator for HLE, with data showing that those in the wealthiest 10% of areas could expect to have around 20 more years of good health than those in the poorest.

In London’s upscale suburb of Richmond, healthy life expectancy for women was 70 years, while in the industrial northern port town of Hartlepool it is just 51 years. In more than 90% of areas in the UK, HLE now falls short of the state pension age of 66, and is below 55 in one out of ten areas. London was the only region where the measure improved.  -RT

The Health Collapse: How America’s Sickness Doomed Its Civilization

The Golden Dome system is expected to cost around $175 billion over the next decade, according to initial estimates by the Trump administration, although Pentagon projections have since risen to roughly $185 billion, and some analysts warn the final price could be substantially higher, according to a report by RT. 

The ruling class has been asking questions about Washington’s missile defense capacity since the beginning of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Some reports suggest that interceptor stockpiles used in systems such as THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and Patriot have been significantly depleted, potentially requiring years to rebuild.

The U.S. started depleting its weapons stockpiles when it began helping Ukraine with its war.

US Halting Some Weapons Shipments To Ukraine As Own Military Stockpiles Plummet

It isn’t just depletion either. The upgrade to U.S. defense systems is urgently needed, as the country has “a very limited ground-based single-layer homeland defense system that was specifically designed against a small-scale rogue attack,” Assistant Secretary of War for Space Policy Marc Berkowitz said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Monday.

The country would face serious issues against ballistic missiles and has “no defense against hypersonic weapons or cruise missiles today,” he stressed.

Trump Wants New “Golden Fleet” Of Future Battleships For Hemispheric Defense

Michael Guetlein, who leads the Golden Dome program within the US Space Force, testified that both China and Russia are continuing to modernize and expand their missile arsenals, accoridng to a report by RT.  He pointed specifically to hypersonic missiles, those capable of maneuvering at high speeds within the atmosphere after launch

These systems, Guetlein said, are “designed to challenge the tracking and engagement capabilities of our sensors” and ensure a “responsive and survivable strike capability.”

Stagflation is a toxic combination of stagnant economic growth, high inflation, and high unemployment. It last gripped the US in the 1970s and early 1980s, when an OPEC oil embargo sent energy prices spiraling. It took the US Federal Reserve a series of brutal rate hikes – pushing borrowing costs above 20% – to finally break the cycle, at the cost of a severe downturn. –RT

“We are certainly in a stagflationary period,” Dalio said. He also warned the U.S. Federal Reserve against cutting interest rates at this point, arguing that “you will lose your credibility.”

The Federal Reserve responded to Dalio’s assessment, claiming that it “overstates” the problems caused by the Iran war. Dalio added that the war is causing a breakdown of the global order, adding that it is a “problem” for the US, as the world is watching to see if it has the will for a sustained military campaign and is able to meet its key goals.

But JD Vance claimed that the U.S. has already met its goals in Iran. So what’s the point of a continued war then?

JD Vance Says “We’ve Accomplished Our Objectives” In Iran

“The more checks that are missing, particularly who controls the Strait of Hormuz, has big implications. Not only there… it has implications all around the world. So, when you’re thinking about, let’s say, the Strait of Malacca, who controls that? And is it good as a benefit or not a benefit to have a military base in your country?… Those analogous questions are being looked at by people around,” Dalio said.

Dalio has also warned that the U.S. is in a “debt death spiral.”  Within several years, this spiral could be triggered by unsustainable interest payments and a falling demand for U.S. assets.

They aren’t telling you the truth about what is coming. Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens tomorrow, and there is no way that is going to happen, oil production will not return to pre-war levels for years. In other words, we are facing an extended global energy crisis no matter what happens now.

Of course, if the fighting resumes and more oil and gas infrastructure is destroyed, the consequences that we will experience will be even worse. We are already witnessing rationing and shortages in some parts of Asia because they are more dependent on energy from the Middle East than anyone else. But as nations all over the world run through their strategic reserves, rationing and shortages will become a lot more widespread during the months that are ahead of us.

Most people living in the Western world have no idea how much damage has already been done to oil and gas infrastructure in the Middle East.

According to Goldman Sachs, oil production in the Persian Gulf has declined by a whopping 57 percent from pre-war levels…

The war with Iran is having an enormous impact on the global oil market. According to an estimate by Goldman Sachs, oil production from the Persian Gulf region is down 57% from its pre-war level, or about 14.5 million barrels per day. The world is currently covering the shortfall by drawing oil from storage, including a record 400 million barrel release by members of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

If the war ends soon, some of that production will be quickly restored.

But there are many oil and gas facilities that have been completely destroyed, and it is being projected that it could take up to 50 billion dollars to rebuild that infrastructure…

Repair and restoration costs for energy-linked infrastructure as a result of war in the Middle East could hit $58 billion, Rystad Energy analysis shows, with the total for oil and gas facilities potentially up to $50 billion. Three weeks after we published an initial estimate of $25 billion in repair costs across Gulf energy infrastructure, the scope of damage has expanded materially. The continuation of military strikes drove up the number of impacted assets across the region before largely subsiding following an 8 April ceasefire between the US and Iran. This pushed the estimate for the average in potential total repair and restoration spending to $46 billion – representing the midway point in the range of $34 billion to $58 billion – across oil and gas infrastructure, inclusive of an average of $5 billion across industrial, power and desalination assets. The ceasefire, combined with stalled negotiations and renewed escalation risk, continues to shape the operating environment, alongside risks of disruption and potential blockades affecting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Even if reconstruction begins immediately, it would likely take until 2029 or 2030 before all of the oil and gas facilities in the region are fully restored.

So what is the rest of the world supposed to do while we wait for that to happen?

At this moment, everyone is running through their strategic reserves.

For some countries, those reserves will last for months, but for other countries, those reserves will only last for weeks.

Once the reserves are gone, shortages will start making a lot more headlines, and prices will escalate significantly.

Of course, the price of oil has already risen to very painful levels…

Oil prices climbed almost 3% Monday as hopes for a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran dimmed and energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz remained extremely constrained.

The price of international benchmark Brent Crude was up about $3, or almost 3%, to $108.36 per barrel early Monday morning, its highest price point in three weeks. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was up 2.6% before U.S. markets opened, at $96.85.

This is going to affect virtually every man, woman, and child on the entire planet, because our entire way of life is fueled by energy.

When energy prices go up, our standard of living goes down.

Unfortunately, energy prices have been going way up since the start of the war…

In the United States, the cost of a gallon of gas has increased by over a dollar since the strait closed, and the cost of diesel is up nearly 50 percent. Gas prices in Europe have increased by around 10 percent, and the region is facing a jet fuel shortage and concerns about the flow of liquid natural gas (LNG). Asia is being hit even harder. Roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil and LNG passes through the strait. Over 80 percent of this fuel goes to Asia. Several Asian countries, such as the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea, are now facing a real energy crisis.

Some Americans are now spending more than $100 to fill up their vehicles, and the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States has now surpassed the four-dollar mark…

The average price of gasoline in the U.S. rose 7 cents over the last week and currently stands at $4.04 per gallon, according to new data released by GasBuddy, an app that tracks gas prices across parts of North America and Australia. Within the U.S., that data comes from more than 12 million price reports at roughly 150,000 gas stations nationwide, according to the company.

What has shocked me is the apathy that I am seeing out there.

Most people just assume that everything is going to work out just fine somehow.

Our attention spans have become so short that most of us can no longer see what is coming just a few months down the road.

Thanks to the crisis in the Middle East, we are facing the worst fertilizer crisis in history.

If nitrogen fertilizer is not applied to annual crops such as wheat and barley each season, yields will be way down…

Nitrogen-based fertilisers such as urea must be applied each season for many crops and directly influence annual yields as well as quality parameters, including protein content in wheat.

Farmers can cut back on other core nutrients, such as phosphate and potash, without immediate yield losses.

Many farmers all over the world will not be applying nitrogen fertilizer this year.

As a result, those particular farmers will be growing a lot less food in 2026.

I don’t know why this is so hard for some people to understand.

Right now, harvest forecasts are being slashed all over the planet…

Agricultural bodies, including the International Grains Council, are already cutting their forecasts for the next harvests, ​however. And the United Nations, which is trying to ​negotiate shipping access for fertiliser through the Gulf, has sounded ⁠the alarm over food security in developing nations.

This is not a drill.

This is really happening.

What we desperately need is for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened as soon as possible.

Sadly, we are farther away from an agreement between the U.S. and Iran than ever.

The Iranians feel like they have won the war and have all the leverage, and so at this stage they are not even willing to talk about their nuclear program with the United States at all…

Iran is no longer willing to negotiate over its nuclear program at all, per Tasnim. Discussions will only cover ending the war, sanctions relief, compensation, and lifting the blockade. Nuclear issues “could be addressed later in a separate agreement,” only after the war has ended.

Nuclear was the central issue in the first round of Islamabad talks, with Trump saying it was “the only point that really mattered.” Iran has now removed it from the table entirely.

Trump says the war won’t end without a nuclear deal. Iran says nuclear won’t be discussed until the war ends.

The Iranians expect the Trump administration to give in, and the Trump administration expects the Iranians to give in.

But neither side is going to give in, and it appears that it is just a matter of time before more fighting breaks out.

Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz continues to be closed, and it is likely to remain that way for an extended period of time.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book, entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next,” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com, including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books, you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream, and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Summary

• Trump TS claim: Tehran has informed Washington they are in a “state of collapse” and that the Iranians want the US to “open the Hormuz Strait” – as ‘tank tops’ loom.
• Trump doesn’t appear open to Iran’s proposal, which hinges on the US naval blockade ending & nuclear issue being pushed to future negotiations (CNN).
• First crude-laden Japanese tanker from Saudi port exits Hormuz Strait successfully without Iranian interference.
• An Iranian analyst describes that Tehran believes it can outlast Trump & the standoff with the US in Hormuz, citing “munitions, markets, and the midterms.”

*  *  *

Trump claims Iranians are in ‘State of Collapse’

Literally one minute before market open, President Trump issues the following big claim: he says that Tehran has informed Washington they are in a “state of collapse” and that the Iranians want the US to “open the Hormuz Strait”. Of course, even if it were true, why would the Iranians admit such a thing to their enemy during a state of war?

There have been some signs of political fracture – especially tensions between IRGC and civilian leadership – but so far the evidence has been anecdotal at best. Currently, the internal Iranian government debate seems to be on whether to talk to the US or not – but again, amid the fog of war… all Western MSM can do is speculate, aside from the rare Iranian ‘anonymous’ source that might whisper in a reporter’s ear.

Oil Rises to 3-week High as Trump Doesn’t Appear Open To Iran Proposal

Reporting from Monday evening and overnight says President Trump doesn’t appear open to Iran’s latest proposal to end the war, which hinges on the US naval blockade being lifted but pushes the nuclear issue off to later negotiations. As a result, oil prices have continued to rise, climbing above $110 a barrel Tuesday morning – a first in three weeks, amid concerns of a prolonged strait closure. As for the latest tankers to actually make it through, CBS describes:

Four civilian ships appeared to leave the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday without Iranian interference, including a Japanese oil tanker carrying some two million barrels of crude from Saudi Arabia. 

The Panama-flagged crude oil tanker Idemitsu Maru called at Saudi Arabia’s Juamyah industrial port in early March, according to open source data from the MarineTraffic ship tracking website. For the past week it had remained anchored off the coast of Abu Dhabi in the Persian Gulf, until late Monday, when it sailed toward Iran’s Larak island in the Strait of Hormuz. 

On Tuesday morning, tracking data showed the vessel passing south of Iran’s Larak island, which analysts say the regime had used as a “toll booth” to collect fees from some ships before military authorities declared the strait entirely closed again last week.  

The White House has insisted that there would be no scheme for Iran collecting tolls as part of any future deal, but the Iranians appear to be forcing the issue, and have said the funds will help with the country’s reconstruction after the devastation wrought by US-Israeli bombing raids.

via Reuters

Three M’s

Independent news organization Drop Site says that Iran is now setting its own terms for ending the war as President Trump’s narrative on negotiations flails. One Iranian analyst has said that Tehran believes it has the three M’s on its side: “munitions, markets, and the midterms.”

The report cites Hassan Ahmadian, a well-known Iranian analyst and associate professor at the University of Tehran, who explains: “The Iranians are saying time is working in our favor for the three Ms: munitions, markets, and the midterms. These three Ms help Iran in its position and weaken the US position.”

“Obviously in the U.S., they want something to say, ‘We squeezed Iran and we got this.’ My perception is that the Iranians are keen to deny the United States that – they wouldn’t give what Trump wants as a victory,” he added.

A separate Iranian official, privy to negotiations and so remaining anonymous, stated: “We’re currently moving forward with our own design, and we feel continuing negotiations doesn’t make sense until the U.S. government lifts the maritime blockade.”

“The scope of the conflict has expanded, and naturally the issue is no longer purely nuclear,” the official added. Indeed, the latest proposal for a ceasefire out of Tehran focuses on the US Navy ending its blockade, and leaves the nuclear issue for future consideration, given that it has proven an impasse in the prior Islamabad talks.

But Washington has been asserting its own leverage:

‘Tank Tops’ Loom

President Trump explained – in his own inimitable manner – what we described last week: time is running out for Tehran… as oil blockade stalls the flow state of Iran’s economy permanently… 

Trump told Fox News on Sunday that the US blockade on traffic to and from Iranian ports is putting major pressure on the country’s export infrastructure:

“When you have, you know, lines of vast amounts of oil pouring through your system, if for any reason that line is closed because you can’t continue to put it into containers or ships, which has happened to them — they have no ships because of the blockade — what happens is that line explodes from within, both mechanically and in the earth.”

“It’s something that happens where it just explodes. And they say they only have about three days left before that happens. And when it explodes, you can never, regardless, you can never rebuild it the way it was.”

As Hugh Hendry noted, time is running out for Iran:

“Iran’s oil system is not built to pause. It’s built to flow. It’s a flow system.

Oil cannot simply sit in the ground while strategists argue over maps and how much uranium dust to give over. It has to move. Iran and its system has to move continuously from the rock underground to the tanker in the harbor to the Chinese buyer in Asia.

Pause long enough, and the whole machine breaks.

Interrupt that flow. And the problem isn’t just lost revenues of like forty, fifty, sixty billion dollars. It’s the least of your concerns. The problem is physical and is irreversible.

Because when you suddenly shut the well, remember there’s no physical storage. They pump, they load, they ship.

If they can’t load, if they can’t ship, they can’t pump. And when you suddenly shut the wells, the pressure underground drops fucking fast. 

Do you know what happens?

The heavy, sticky crap in the oil, it gums up, gums up in the tiny holes within the rocks and becomes like glue. It traps the oil. It makes it really fucking hard to extract. And once that damage is done, it’s permanent. You lose a big chunk of the oil. 

The more Iran is actively either through theater or through bluff, the more that it sits in a standoff, the more it is actively destroying the one thing that it actually depends upon. 

That’s the trap. And you’re not reading in in the press, but you’re damn well reading it on your screens.

Because this is where the gap between the narrative of the media and the price stops being subtle and irrelevant, and it’s why stock markets have priced something entirely differently.

The Iranian system, the adversary, cannot afford to stay disrupted without hurting itself. That’s what’s in the equity market’s price.”

We covered the timeline for ‘tank tops’ here in detail – less than 15 days before shut-ins begin.

Tehran Won’t Talk Without JD Vance Present

The failed second round of Pakistan talks, which fell apart before they even began, was supposed to see Vice President JD Vance heading up the US side. This was reportedly something the Iranian side desired to see, and is likely still what its negotiating team would rather be dealing with. On the other hand, per Drop Site, “Iran has total disdain for Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and views him as both oblivious of diplomatic processes and totally ignorant of technical issues.”

This is because “Kushner is viewed by Iran as Israel’s man at the table.” This has led to the following view and alleged conclusion: “Iran, the senior official said, does not see any reason to deal with these two without a figure like Vice President JD Vance present.”

Bombs have grown quiet across the Gulf amid the extended ceasefire, with the exception that fighting in southern Lebanon still rages, despite the US-mediated ‘Lebanon ceasefire’:

Last week, as an avalanche of headlines said that a second round of talks was imminent, and after the Iranian foreign minister had already landed in Islamabad for bilateral discussions with Pakistani mediators, there were premature reports that Vance was en route to Islamabad. The mainstream media claimed that it was Iran essentially begging Washington for negotiations. “But Vance, it turned out, was not on a plane, and Iran continued to deny it had any intention of meeting with U.S. officials in Pakistan,” Drop Site underscores.

According to multiple sources, including Axios, Iran has passed a new offer to Washington, which includes a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, while deferring nuclear negotiations to a later stage.

While speaking on Fox News on Monday, as reported by RT, Rubio was skeptical of the latest overture. “If what they mean by opening the straits is, ‘Yes, the straits are open, as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we’ll blow you up, and you pay us’ – that’s not opening the straits,” he said.

Rubio also argued that Iran’s control over the waterway would create a dangerous precedent. “This is not the Suez Canal, this is not the Panama Canal, these are international waters. And if that’s normalized, not only does that set a precedent in the Middle East, it sets a precedent all over the world,” he argued, calling the strait “the equivalent of an economic nuclear weapon that they’re trying to use against the world.”

“Suffice it to say that the nuclear question is the reason why we’re in this in the first place,” he said, referring to Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran continues to insist that its program is for peaceful purposes only, a claim which the U.S. continues to reject.

Rubio also said that the Islamic Republic does not have any true moderates among its leadership.  “They’re all hardliners in Iran.” “There’s no doubt in my mind that at some point in the future if this radical clerical regime remains in charge in Iran, they will decide they want a nuclear weapon… That fundamental issue still has to be confronted. That still remains the core issue here.”

But the U.S. is trying to push for a radial theorcracy too. From war chief Pete Hegseth, to the president, Donald Trump, the push for Christian Nationalism is all to real and noticeable.

Christian Nationalism and Trump’s Weaponization of Religion

Trump has been briefed on Iran’s propsal, but was unhappy with it. Multiple people briefed on the discussions told the New York Times that the president was not satisfied, and a U.S. official has suggested accepting it could appear to deny Trump a victory, because his repeated insistence that Iran’s nuclear program should be dismantled.

Palantir has unmasked itself, revealing its authoritarian face and desire for control over humanity.

To be fair, Palntir is only one of several major technology companies that sell their technologies to systems of repression and human rights violations, and has been condemned by international human rights organizations. It has been participating in and enabling forced deportations, mass surveillance, and the persecution of dissidents.

According to a report by TruthDig, the most damning of all in this manifest were documented reports that have revealed a direct partnership between this company, alongside other Western technology companies such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, and the Israeli military, providing data and targeting systems that were used in operations in Gaza, making it an actual partner in documented war crimes against Palestinian civilians.

Palantir Technologies’ vision of a “Technological Republic” arrives as a manual for the refinement of the boot, the one destined to remain on the human face, provided the boot remains equipped with the latest predictive sensors. In the spirit of a clear-eyed look at the clock striking thirteen, we must dissect the alliance between corporate algorithmic power and the Zionist state. This is a new Newspeak, where “defense” is a moral debt and “deterrence” is the silent humming of an algorithm deciding who shall disappear.

Trump’s Executive Order “Genesis Mission” Ensures Digital Prison For All

This creates a dangerous accountability gap, a form of “algorithmic plausible deniability.” When an AI-informed strike levels an apartment complex, the blame is diffused into a “black box.” The developer claims the software only “suggests,” the data scientist claims the inputs were “objective,” and the military commander claims the machine’s logic was “optimal.” Alex Karp recently boasted to shareholders, “We are in the business of building things that scare our enemies and, on occasion, kill them,” a chilling affirmation of the firm’s central role in the escalating hostilities against Iran. –RT

This digital prison won’t only be used to kill those living in other countries. It could certainly be deployed against Americans, including those who reject whatever regime happens to be in power at the time.

“The Iranians are clearly stronger than expected, and the Americans clearly have no truly convincing strategy in the negotiations either,” Merz said during a visit to a school in Marsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Iran Offers To Open The Strait Of Hormuz, Then Hold Nuclear Talks

“The problem with conflicts like this is always that you don’t just have to get in – you also have to get out again. We saw that very painfully in Afghanistan for 20 years. We saw it in Iraq,” the chancellor said, according to Deutsche Welle. “At the moment, I do not see what strategic exit the Americans will choose, especially since the Iranians are negotiating very skillfully – or very skillfully not negotiating,” he added.

Merz argued that “an entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, particularly by the so-called Revolutionary Guards.”

The New York Times and Reuters, citing US officials, reported on Monday that President Donald Trump was not satisfied with Iran’s most recent proposal to reopen the strait and end the conflict. On Sunday, the president canceled his envoys’ trip to Pakistan for talks with Iran, arguing that he has “all the cards.” –RT

The U.S. and Israel began a bombing campaign against Iran on February 28th, with the stated goal of dismantling Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. However, despite intense airstrikes, the allies have been unable to stop Iran from launching missiles and drones at Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East.

Trump has also failed to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran closed to “hostile” shipping, while JD Vance’s attempts to end the war with peace talks have failed.

Vance Fails In Iran: No Peace Deal

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