x01a Research Archives

Blurb:

Iran launched two missiles at the United Kingdom‘s base in Diego Garcia, missing but exposing greater missile capabilities than previously known.

After the U.K. announced it would allow the U.S. to use its bases for defensive strikes against Iran, Tehran launched two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, over 2,000 miles away, U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal. Both missiles missed, with one failing and landing in the sea and a U.S. Navy warship firing an SM-3 interceptor at the other, though it’s not known if the interceptor made contact.

The missile launches, though unsuccessful, are hugely significant, likely changing many countries’ calculus regarding Tehran.

Blurb:

An illegal alien previously released twice before by sanctuary city Chicago is now in custody again and charged with murdering an 18-year-old woman on Thursday.

“Sheridan Gorman had her whole life ahead of her before this cold-blooded killer decided to end her life. She was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who RELEASED this illegal alien TWICE before he went on to commit this heinous murder,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement released Sunday:

“According to local reports, 18-year-old Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman was shot and killed on Thursday morning around 1:00 am while she was walking in a park with friends. Medina-Medina is accused of approaching her while wearing a mask and armed with a gun.

“As she attempted to flee, he fired his gun and shot her. Gorman was shot and pronounced dead at the scene.”

Blurb:

James Talarico may have won the Democratic primary for Senate in Texas based on electability, but that’s only relative to his competition, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.

In the past few weeks, Talarico — a state representative, former teacher, and Presbyterian seminarian — has had his past statements prove just how marginal the relative electability advantage really was.

In the latest of a trove of opposition research that’s gone over well with the left but will get played from now until Election Day for normal Texans, Talarico said that not only did he think positively of the illegal immigrant students he taught, but they were actually more American than Americans.

“Before I was a politician, I was a public school teacher in San Antonio, Texas, on the west side of the city, and I taught a lot of undocumented students, and those students tended to be my most patriotic students,” Talarico said in an interview last week.

“They understood something about this country that a lot of us who are native-born forget: that this is supposed to be the land of opportunity,” he continued.

Blurb:

An Israeli airstrike on a bridge in Lebanon has left large parts of the southern region disconnected from rest of country.

The Qasmiyeh bridge In Tyre was largely destroyed after Israel struck it on Sunday.

On Monday, an Israeli airstrike destroyed another bridge on the Litani river in the south.

Monday’s strike on the bridge in the southern village of Qaaqaaiyet al-Jisr cut a main link between the southern city of Nabatiyeh and al-Hujair valley region further south.

Blurb:

 

The role of Israel’s hijacking of Iran’s street cameras in the killing of the country’s supreme leader underscores how surveillance systems are increasingly being targeted by adversaries in wartime.

Hundreds of millions of cameras have been installed above shops, in homes and on street corners across the world, many connected to the internet and poorly secured. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have enabled militaries and intelligence agencies to sift through vast amounts of surveillance footage and identify targets.

On Feb. 28, Israel vividly demonstrated the potential of such systems to be hacked and used against adversaries when Israel tracked down Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with the help of Tehran’s own street cameras – despite repeated warnings that Iran’s surveillance systems had been compromised, according to interviews and an Associated Press review of leaked data, public statements and news reports.

Blurb:

In a lengthy Truth Social post on Friday, President Donald Trump laid out the U.S. objectives for winding down the conflict with Iran and re-opening the vital Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint responsible for handling 20 percent of global oil exports and large quantities of other valuable commodities.

“We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran,” the president wrote. He went on to list a number of objectives for the operation, many of which have already been achieved, according to the Pentagon.

Blurb:

 

House Democrats blocked legislation to establish a “Women’s History Museum” because of an amendment requiring the new institution to only honor real women, not gender-confused men.

“The Museum shall be dedicated to preserving, researching, and presenting the history, achievements, and lived experiences of biological women in the United States,” the bill states.

The legislation forbade the museum from depicting a “biological male as female.”

This drew the ire of members of the House Administration Committee, which considered the legislation yesterday, according to Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY).

Blurb:

The main U.S. indexes were on track to open higher on Monday after President Donald Trump said he would order the military to postpone strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure following “productive conversations” with Tehran.

Iran’s Fars News Agency, however, disputed Trump’s statement, citing a source who said there had been no direct communication with the United States, nor via intermediaries. Israel’s military said it was conducting strikes on Iran.

Still, global markets staged a sharp recovery after Trump’s comments, with Europe’s STOXX 600 and precious metals turning positive, while oil prices fell, signaling improving risk appetite.

Blurb:

Scientists have made an astonishing finding that brings us closer than ever to the concept of ‘Green Mars’, by discovering a desert moss species – Syntrichia caninervis – which may be able to act as a pioneer in colonising the Red Planet. A paper published in The Innovation (Cell Press) details the abilities of this amazing plant to lose more than 98 per cent of its cellular water and completely resume its photosynthetic activity within two seconds of being rehydrated.This moss has been tested under ‘Mars Simulation’ conditions, where it has survived extreme temperatures as low as -196 degrees Celsius and received high doses of radiation, all of which would be fatal to the vast majority of living organisms on Earth. It was pointed out by the Chinese Academy of Sciences that this moss is therefore classified as ‘extremotolerant’ and has exhibited greater survivability than tardigrades, providing a biological model in which to assist future terraforming efforts and produce sustainable oxygen on other planets.

Blurb:

Whenever the weather changes suddenly, or the skyline becomes shrouded in a windy haze, Fernanda Camarillo braces herself for an asthma attack.

Her condition has become more manageable, but the 27-year-old said it’s still scary when her chest tightens and she starts to wheeze. It was one of her first thoughts when she heard about plans to develop a massive data center next to her home in Imperial County, a farming community near the border of Mexico that struggles with poor air quality.

Blurb:

In the middle of a worship song on Sunday, the morning after Cuba’s electrical grid collapsed for a second time in six days, the preacher at Renewal in Christ Church in Havana said he had a message to share that came to him in a dream.

Sunlight splashed in through an open window to the right of the raised platform where he stood, as a battery-powered light affixed to the ceiling shone weakly over the pulpit. A row of desk fans, plugs dangling, lined the top of the concrete walls of the shadowed sanctuary.

Almost every plastic and metal chair was filled at this small evangelical church, built from two housing units along a block of row housing in East Havana, which, like most of the city on this morning, had no power.

“If you are thinking of giving up, don’t give up, keep going, keep going,” said Pastor Daniel Cisnero, sweat on his brow, eyes closed, his voice a shout.

“It’s not the time to give up, it’s the time to keep walking holding God’s hand.”

Blurb:

Canada and allies say in a joint statement they are willing to “contribute to appropriate efforts”  to ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing war in Iran.

In a statement co-signed with the United Kingdom. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan, the nations “call for an immediate comprehensive moratorium on attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations.”

“We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning,” the statement reads.

The statement comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump called upon NATO and other U.S. allies to help secure the Strait from Iranian attacks.

Blurb:

We’ve just heard from Pete Hegseth. He reiterated the claim from Donald Trump that the US president knew nothing about the attack on Iran’s South Pars gasfield.

However, Reuters is reporting that Israel says its attack on the gas facilities was coordinated with the United States.

Israel has not publicly acknowledged responsibility for the South Pars attack. On Wednesday night, Trump said in a social media post that Washington “knew nothing about this particular attack” and that Israel would not attack the gas field further unless Iran again attacked Qatar.

The three Israeli officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said that Israel was not surprised by Trump’s comments.

They described the dynamic as similar to one that played out after Israel struck fuel depots in Iran several weeks ago. After those attacks, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that in “that particular case those weren’t our strikes”.

Blurb:

Members of Iran’s national women’s football team were greeted with a welcome ceremony upon their return to the Islamic Republic after several of the players had sought asylum in Australia.

“First of all we are so happy to be in Iran, because Iran is our homeland,” midfielder Fatemeh Shaban said.

People in the crowd waved flags, while some players held bouquets of flowers and signed what appeared to be miniature soccer balls. Iranian media had reported that the team returned Wednesday.

Blurb:

In a significant escalation of U.S. military presence in the Middle East, the Pentagon has ordered the deployment of an Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and attached Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), totaling roughly 4,000 service members. The latest deployment will include approximately 2,500 Marines and units specializing in amphibious operations, according to a report from Newsmax.

The report, which citied multiple U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, elements of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, based in Japan, along with the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli, were initially redirected toward the region. This was done as part of a broader reinforcement, with the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and 11th MEU from the West Coast accelerating their deployment ahead of schedule to join operations.

Blurb:

Just days after the Trump Justice Department proposed a rule to combat the left’s use of “barfare” to destroy conservative lawyers, the legal disciplinary authority in the Department’s own backyard may have vindicated its effort by launching an attack on U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin.

On March 6, the Washington, D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed charges and initiated disciplinary proceedings against the MAGA stalwart in a case that could drag on for months or longer, waste precious taxpayer resources, and result in sanctions up to and including disbarment.

Blurb:

Students and staff at colleges across the United States include relatives of Iran’s political elite, even as Iran’s leaders continue to oppose the United States in public rhetoric. According to reporting from The New York Post, children of senior Iranian officials have studied or taught at prestigious universities including the University of Massachusetts, Union College in New York and George Washington University in Washington, DC.The presence of these individuals in American academic institutions raises questions, given their family connections to the Iranian regime. Critics describe this as a striking contrast between Iran’s public hostility to US and the private choices of its elite to send their children abroad for education and careers.

Blurb:

A U.S. F-35 fighter jet was forced to make an emergency landing at a U.S. air base in the Middle East after taking fire believed to have come from Iran, according to two sources familiar with the incident.

Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, said the fifth-generation stealth aircraft was “flying a combat mission over Iran” when it had to divert and land.

“The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition,” Hawkins said. “This incident is under investigation.”

Blurb:

President Donald Trump bragged that the military might of the United States against Iran had led to members of the Middle Eastern nation’s military abandoning it during a Thursday bilateral in the Oval Office.

“There’s a lot of military defections. You have a lot of military defections in Iran,” Trump said while seated next to the visiting Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. “I don’t blame them.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent prompted Trump’s comments, saying during the bilateral meeting that the U.S is “seeing defections at all levels” in the Iranian military and that the regime will probably “collapse” into itself.

Blurb:

The Pentagon appears to be seeking hundreds of billions of dollars from Congress for the War with Iran.

However, with slim majorities in both chambers and a partisan divide over the conflict, will Republican leaders be able to squeeze that sum out of Congress?

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported the Pentagon “has asked the White House to approve a more than $200 billion request to Congress to fund the war in Iran.”