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Briefcase

Best of the Web: Deal is reached to end Iran war, Trump orders stop to US naval blockade

Munir Ahmed & Julia Frankel
Associated Press
Sun, 14 Jun 2026 06:32 UTC
trump dana white UFC
The United States and Iran have reached an agreement to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, offering relief to the global economy more than three months since fighting began.

Details of the deal were not immediately available. Key mediator Pakistan said the signing will be Friday in Switzerland. Key issues like Iran's nuclear program are expected to be addressed later.

U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed a deal had been reached and said he had authorized an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, imposed in retaliation for Iran's grip on the crucial waterway.

Trump wrote on social media:
"Congratulations to all! I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade."
The U.S. previously said it would ease its blockade of Iranian ports as the strait reopens, and would agree to relax sanctions to allow Iran to sell more of its oil and strengthen its battered economy.

Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed the agreement on state television but said Iran would not start implementing it until it was signed on Friday. He said the deal followed over 14 hours of talks in Tehran with a representative from Qatar, another mediator.
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Cowboy Hat

Best of the Web: Gabbard: Fauci, Biden Admin threatened those who attempted to expose US-funded foreign gain-of-function biolabs

Ian Schwartz
RealClearPolitics
Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:54 UTC
tulsi gabbard
Outgoing ODNI Director Tulsi Gabbard
Outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Friday revealed there are more than 120 taxpayer-funded biolabs located in 30 countries, and the Biden administration "threatened" people who attempted to expose their existence. Gabbard alleges an intentional cover-up by powerful figures, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Biden administration, regarding the existence and gain-of-function research conducted at these labs, some in high-risk areas such as Ukraine.

"These biolabs include labs in places like Ukraine, which could be at risk of compromise due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war," Gabbard said. "In fact, the intelligence community had previously warned that a U.S.-funded biolab in Ukraine likely housed dangerous pathogens and remained vulnerable to long-standing threats of Russian attack, seizure, or damage."

Comment: Nothing like tossing a match as you are going out the door, not to mention vindicating Russia's decades-long allegations. Kudos, Tulsi! Dilyana did yeoman work when no one would believe her:

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Seismograph

Best of the Web: 61 killed, 1,200 injured after 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocks southern Philippines - 3 aftershocks of mag. 6.5, 6.0 and 6.0 (UPDATE)

Jim Gomez
Independent (UK)
Mon, 08 Jun 2026 11:01 UTC
People stand near a collapsed building after a magnitude 7.8 quake in General Santos, Philippines, June 8, 2026.
© ReutersPeople stand near a collapsed building after a magnitude 7.8 quake in General Santos, Philippines, June 8, 2026.
A powerful offshore earthquake struck southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least 32 people and injuring over 200.

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake also triggered tsunami waves exceeding a metre that impacted nearby coastlines.

The city of General Santos bore the brunt of the event, experiencing building collapses and significant damage to critical infrastructure. The bustling port city is home to some 700,000 people and a hub for the tuna export industry.

Tsunami damage was reported in at least one coastal village while smaller waves were observed as far afield as Indonesia, Palau, and southern Japan.

"It's a major earthquake and we're expecting damage," Teresito Bacolcol, the director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said.


Comment: Details of the 3 aftershocks from Earthquake Track available here, here and here.

Update June 13

The Anadolu Agency reports:
The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck the southern Philippines earlier this week has risen to 61, authorities said Saturday, as search and rescue teams continued operations in the hardest-hit areas of Mindanao.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said deaths increased after additional bodies were recovered in affected areas.

The GMA News broadcaster said 33 people are missing while 1,221 have been injured.

Authorities indicated that search, rescue and retrieval operations are ongoing as emergency crews continue to look for survivors and recover victims trapped by landslides and collapsed structures.

The Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center (DROMIC) reported that the earthquake affected 553,068 people in the Mindanao region.

About 9,393 people are staying in evacuation centers, while 54,274 have sought temporary shelter with relatives and friends outside official evacuation facilities, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Initial damage assessments indicate that 8,865 houses were destroyed and 36,691 sustained partial damage.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by aftershocks, unstable buildings and damaged roads, making it difficult for aid workers to reach some affected communities.


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HAL9000

Best of the Web: AI data centers: The real reason they're going up everywhere


The Golden Order
Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00 UTC
data center
AI Data Centers: The Real Reason They're Going Up Everywhere Who's paying for them. Why it's happening this fast. What the buildout is for. Why you should care.

I live in Montana but I am from Pennsylvania so I follow a Facebook page called I live In Pa. I kept seeing AI data centers on this channel split-screened against the farmland and covered bridges they're replacing. Larry Fink's picture and shareholder letter, where he said the quiet part out loud about how they get paid for. So I sat down and pulled the threads.

This is what came out of it. It's longer than I usually publish. Every cut lost something the rest needed, so here it is at full length. By the time everyone agrees on what this buildout is for, the concrete will already be poured. Right now is the window — the language is still being decided, the legal challenges are still possible, and the public memory of similar buildouts is still warm.

What an AI Data Center Actually Is

"AI data center" sounds like a server room — abstract, technical, somebody else's business. The vagueness is doing work. You can't organize against something you can't picture.

Comment: See also:

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Cruise Missle

Best of the Web: Lebanon red line: Iran establishes escalation dominance with first-ever non-retaliatory strike on Israel

Simplicius the Thinker
simplicius76.substack.com
Mon, 08 Jun 2026 18:48 UTC
Yesterday Iran struck Israel with ballistic missiles after Israel's bombing of a Beirut neighborhood which had been a red line for Iran.

The attack was in some ways unprecedented, as it represented Iran preemptively striking Israel for the first time without Israel having struck Iran first.

For the first time on the back foot, it was Israel and the US that were forced to "defensively" retaliate in kind:
iran war airstrikes us
Iran has shifted the entire calculus and achieved something long thought impossible. For years it was considered unthinkable that Iran would ever strike Israel directly, even after Iran was hit first. Then Iran began responding to Israeli attacks, first with 'demonstrative' strikes, then increasingly crippling ones.

Now Iran has established total strategic dominance of the escalation ladder to the point where it can treat Israel as Israel has treated other regional countries since its founding, punitively hitting it at will for violations that no longer necessarily include direct attacks on Iran's home territory.
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Gold Seal

Best of the Web: Massie takes to House floor to call for the truth about Israel's 1967 attack on the USS Liberty

blueapples on X
Ashes of Acacia
Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:23 UTC
US Liberty damage israel attack
© US NavySevere damage sustained by the USS Liberty (AGTR-5) following an attack by Israeli forces on June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War.
Massie's speech gives a voice to the servicemen whose country has forgotten them in the name of fighting for Israel instead of America.

For generations, the attack on the USS Liberty by the Israel Defense Forces ("IDF") has served as a catalyst that shifted the paradigm of how the American public views the United States' relationship with its supposed "greatest ally." For the current generation of Americans, Kentucky representative Thomas Massie has been the catalyst that has opened their eyes to the reality of the lengths that Israel will go to in order to shape the governance of the U.S. toward pursuing the Jewish state's interests instead of those of the American people. Massie's defeat against Ed Gallrein in the Republican primary for the 4th Congressional District of Kentucky, like the attack on the USS Liberty, is a distillation of how Israel has subverted the American democratic process, virtually transforming the U.S. into its vassal state. The parallels between the attack on the USS Liberty and the pro-Israel lobby's assault on Massie make it fitting that the outgoing congressman from Kentucky will be dedicating a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives on June 8th, 2026 to honor the memory of the American servicemen who lost their lives aboard the USS Liberty at the hands of IDF.

Comment:

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Snowflake Cold

Best of the Web: Russia starts June cold, from Krasnodar to the Siberian Belt

Cap Allon
Electroverse.substack.com
Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:52 UTC
Summer hasn't started for everyone: where in Russia will frosts reach -5 and sleet fall?
© Legion-MediaSummer hasn't started for everyone: where in Russia will frosts reach -5 and sleet fall?
Russia, broadly, has opened June cold.

In the south, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, on the Sea of Azov, set a new daily minimum record on June 2. The temperature fell to 10.3C (50.5F), beating the previous June 2 record of 11.1C (52F), set in 1951.

It followed a sharp late-May chill across Krasnodar Krai.

On May 31, record lows were reported in Sochi, Tuapse, Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Krasnaya Polyana. Sochi fell to 8.6C (47.5F), beating a mark from 1904. Tuapse dropped to 9.6C (49.3F), undercutting its 1956 record. Krasnaya Polyana fell to 3C (37.4F).

Russian reports blamed prolonged rain, heavy cloud and, crucially, an intrusion of Arctic air. Snow fell in the mountains. Heavy rain hit the coast. The cold carried into June and is threatening to break further records along Russia's southern edge.
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Fireball 4

Best of the Web: Power of meteor fireball explosion over the US on May 30 reached 300 tons of TNT — NASA


Tass
Sun, 31 May 2026 10:01 UTC
mmmmmm
© Shutterstock/Triff
An official at the authority says that the fireball broke up at a speed above 120,000 km per hour

The fireball causing the loud boom in the State of Massachusetts in the United States broke up at a speed above 120,000 km per hour, a NASA official told TASS.

"Current available information puts the fireball's speed at roughly 75,000 mph [120,700 km/h - TASS], and it appears to have fragmented at an altitude of 40 miles [64.3 km - TASS] above extreme northeast Massachusetts/southeast New Hampshire," the NASA official said. "The energy released at breakup is estimated to be equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT, which accounts for the loud booms," the official noted.

This fireball "was a natural object and not a re-entry of space debris or a satellite," the official added.

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Star of David

Best of the Web: The true bane of real US conservatives

Tarik Cyril Amar
RT
Fri, 29 May 2026 21:30 UTC
graphic israel american soldier handshake
© Getty
Thomas Massie's fall shows what really destroys principled US conservatism: not the left, but obedience to the Israeli lobby

As an inveterate leftie with an irrepressible intuitive sympathy for genuine, decent conservatives - that term excludes, obviously, gutless mainstream centrists - I am always looking for exemplars of this old and venerable political species. For one thing, they are much more fun to talk to than woked-out liberals, washed-out social-democrats, or hysterical warmongers of the German variety of (camouflage) Green.

Genuine, decent conservatives tend to have much to say - about, for instance, such vital things as religion, culture, and the family - that is well worth listening to, whether you agree or not. And unlike dour, doctrinaire, and frequently neurotic centrists, genuine conservatives often have the calm self-confidence that comes from being authentic, and thus they can afford tolerance and a sense of humor, even humility.

Alas, it seems that, in the West, such decent conservatives are if not on the verge of extinction, then at least seriously endangered. And, ironically, their worst enemies are not my sort of people, the often all-too-toothless left.
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Syringe

Best of the Web: Inside the FDA's 'cover-up' of child deaths linked to Covid vaccines

Maryanne Demasi
Brownstone Institute
Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00 UTC
bulletin board police
© Shutterstock
In September 2025, then-US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr Marty Makary publicly acknowledged that the agency was investigating reports of child deaths following Covid-19 vaccination.

"We do know at the FDA...that there had been children who have died from the COVID vaccine," Makary said during a CNN interview.

By that stage, however, a fierce internal dispute had already emerged inside the FDA over what investigators believed the evidence showed — and whether the public should ever see the full findings.

"It really did feel like there was some sort of cover-up going on about the Covid-19 vaccines," said one individual familiar with the discussions.

MD Reports spoke with several current/former agency officials, advisers, and individuals briefed on the discussions, all of whom requested anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss internal FDA deliberations.

At the centre of the controversy was an internal FDA review led by Dr Tracy Beth Høeg, a physician-scientist who was working as a senior scientist inside the FDA's vaccine division at the time.

FDA officials examined roughly 96 paediatric death reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the government database used to detect potential vaccine-related adverse events.


Comment: MD Reports is a leading provider of electronic medical record (EMR), practice management (PM), and report writing software.

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