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Bad Guys

The European Commission is coming for your free speech. Musk's X is in the way

Adina Portaru
RealClearPolitics
Mon, 02 Mar 2026 21:55 UTC
eu censor fine musk twitter european union
© NurPhoto Via Getty Images
Last week, Elon Musk's X launched a landmark legal challenge against a $140 million fine issued by the European Commission last December under the Digital Services Act, an EU censorship law. The case was filed at the General Court of the EU, which hears high-stakes challenges to EU regulatory and enforcement actions.

The commission claims the fine, the first to be issued under the DSA, was for alleged transparency and procedural breaches, all of which X denies. But the real reason the company was targeted is clear: X is a free speech platform, and Elon Musk refuses to implement online censorship in the EU and around the world.

This case, which ADF International is proud to support, concretizes the severe threat to free speech posed by the DSA. The EU law, which came into force in 2024, requires "very large online platforms," like X, Meta, and Google (platforms with more than 45 million users per month), which operate or are accessible in the EU, to remove so-called "illegal content."

Comment:

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Wall Street

JPMorgan chief says Trump debanking lawsuit 'has no merit', then hypocritically rails against banking practices

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Tue, 03 Mar 2026 21:43 UTC
Jamie Dimon and Donald Trump
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase bank who has debanked Donald Trump and his businesses
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Monday that Donald Trump's $5 billion lawsuit over the closure of his accounts "has no merit," but added, "They have the right to be angry. I'd be angry, too."

Trump claims JPMorgan and other banks shut his accounts for political reasons, according to CNBC. Dimon said banks are often "forced" to debank clients due to legal and regulatory pressures tied to reputational risk. "We debank people because it causes legal, regulatory risk for us," he said, noting it's easier for banks to avoid that risk.

Trump sued JPMorgan and Dimon in January, part of a broader legal campaign that also includes claims against Capital One, media outlets, and the IRS. JPMorgan has acknowledged closing dozens of Trump-related accounts after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

"But I agree with them," Dimon said during an interview in Miami. "Like, why is a bank allowed to do that?"
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Star of David

Best of the Web: Operation Epic Disaster: The arrests that prove the US-Israel war Was built on coercion, not precision

Freddie Ponton
21st Century Wire
Tue, 03 Mar 2026 20:58 UTC
grapic israel bomb tucker carlson ocean mine
© 21st Century Wire
Read this sentence carefully. Read it like your understanding of the war depends on it... because it does.
"In Qatar and Saudi Arabia, authorities arrested Mossad agents planning on committing bombings in those countries."
Tucker Carlson spoke those words on March 2, 2026. While the United States and Israel were still basking in the afterglow of "Operation Epic Fury", still selling the world the story of a surgical precision campaign that had eliminated Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a single night of dazzling tactical brilliance, their own intelligence operatives were apparently sitting in handcuffs in Riyadh and Doha — caught red-handed, planning to blow up the very Arab capitals that host America's largest military bases in the region.

Not Tehran's agents. Not IRGC proxies. But rather, Israeli intelligence agents from the Mossad, who reportedly have been arrested by America's own allies for plotting to bomb them.
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Star of David

Planned Israeli strike led US to launch Iran war, Marco Rubio reveals


The Jerusalem Post
Tue, 03 Mar 2026 10:23 UTC
Rubio
© Nathan Howard/ReutersUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Planned Israeli action against Iran that would have seen retaliation against American forces prompted the United States to launch its weekend strikes against Tehran, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday evening. He told reporters:
"We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that they would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties."
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Attention

Not so 'Mission Accomplished'?

David Brady
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00 UTC
The whisper to trump
© Unknown"A word in your ear, Mr. President..."
The Iran intervention could well turn into an open-ended misadventure.

In the wake of the 1991 Gulf War victory, then-President George H.W. Bush rode on a wave of public opinion that would not carry him to reelection. Celebrating the recent victory in Kuwait, he uttered one of the most famous remarks of his administration: "It's a proud day for America. And, by God, we've kicked the Vietnam syndrome once and for all." American wariness over war stemmed from the quagmire that was Vietnam, along with its domestic protest movements and political instability. Today, we more often talk about Iraq Syndrome: an ill (it seems to some policymakers) where Americans are resistant to long-term foreign engagements and the underlying narratives that push the country toward them.

But, by God, we've kicked the Iraq Syndrome once and for all in the wake of the Trump administration's strikes on Iran last summer and seizure of Nicholas Maduro in January. According to the Edmund Burke Foundation VP and administration sycophant Will Chamberlain, the real problem with the Global War on Terror was its poor execution by the Bush and Obama administrations, as well as their prolonged length.

Comment: Excellent analysis disturbingly spot on.

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Explosion

Negotiation to Detonation

Michael Hudson
michael-hudson.com
Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00 UTC
Books and guy
© Amari Shutters/UnsplashNothing to read...?
Last Friday the mediator of the U.S. and Iranian nuclear negotiations in Oman, that country's foreign minister Badr Albusaidi, pulled the rug out from President Trump's deceptive pretense threatening war with Iran. Why? Because it had refused his demands to give up what he claimed was its own atom bomb. The Omani foreign minister explained on CBS's Face the Nation that the Iranian team had agreed not to accumulate enriched uranium and offered:
"Full and comprehensive verification by the IAEA - a breakthrough that has never been achieved any time before. And I think if we can capture that and build on it, I think a deal is within our reach" to achieve "agreement that Iran will never, ever have a nuclear material that will create a bomb. This is, I think, a big achievement."
Pointing out that this breakthrough "has been missed a lot by the media," he emphasized that by calling for "zero stockpiling" went far beyond what had been negotiated during President Obama's administration, because "if you cannot stockpile material that is enriched then there is no way you can actually create a bomb."

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who already had issued a fatwa against doing any such thing, and had repeated this position year after year - called Iran's Shi'a leaders and military chief to discuss ratification of the agreement to cede control of its enriched uranium in order to prevent war.
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No Entry

Wars and rumors of wars: Trump and Netanyahu open the gates of hell

Philip Giraldi
Global Research
Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00 UTC
Flags IranIsrael Trumpprofile
© Alexey Malaschev/KJNFlags of Iran and Israel • US President Donald Trump
So now the die is cast and the United States has joined Israel in an unprovoked attack on a non-threatening Iran to destroy its military capabilities and to bring about regime change.

This is a major mis-step that could easily turn out very badly as it is a pointless war of choice that could easily escalate to neighboring states and become nuclear if a reckless Israel decides it needs to "defend" itself against an Iranian response. US Navy vessels might also find themselves vulnerable to Iranian missiles.

As the attack took place, President Donald Trump announced the latest bit of nation destroying from his Florida home away from the White House, which he is also wrecking as part of a lavish and characteristically tasteless ballroom "reconstruction." By way of his Truth Social Platform, he declared early Saturday morning:
"We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally — again — obliterated. We're going to annihilate their navy."
The destruction of the missiles as a top priority was clearly under orders from Israel, which sees the weapons as the major threat against it. Trump also called on the Iranians to rise up and overthrow their government.
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Explosion

Pakistan and Afghanistan are at war. Here's the full story behind the clash

Farhad Ibragimov
RT
Fri, 27 Feb 2026 17:53 UTC
Afghan/Pakistan border
A complex mix of history, insurgents, and regional tensions explains the sudden outbreak of fighting.

On February 27, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif declared that his country had entered a state of "open war" with Afghanistan. Pakistani Minister of Information Attaullah Tarar reported strikes on Kabul and Kandahar, which Afghan authorities have confirmed. Asif claimed that the Taliban has "gathered terrorists from around the world in Afghanistan" and is "exporting terrorism." He also accused the Taliban of ties with India, with which Pakistan had entered into an armed conflict last May.

Mosharraf Zaidi, the spokesman for Pakistan's prime minister, described the military actions as a response to "unprovoked Afghan attacks." According to him, the strike by Pakistani forces killed 133 Taliban fighters, and another 200 were wounded; 27 Afghan posts were destroyed and nine captured. In turn, Afghan forces reported the death of 55 Pakistani soldiers and the capture of 19 posts. The Taliban acknowledged eight casualties and 11 injuries on their side. On February 26, Afghan news channel Tolo News reported clashes with Pakistani forces in the border provinces of Nangarhar, Nuristan, Kunar, Khost, Paktia, and Paktika.

Fighting also occurred near the Durand Line - the disputed border between the two nations, which Afghanistan does not recognize.

Comment: The 'trigger' for war seems to have many fingers these days.

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No Entry

Best of the Web: Spain refuses to provide military support for US attack on Iran

Miguel González
El Pais
Tue, 03 Mar 2026 20:24 UTC
Washington has withdrawn its tanker planes from the Morón air base in Seville after being denied permission to use it in Operation Epic Fury
spain base uasf moron
© David Arjona (EFE)Military aircraft at the Morón air base in Seville.
Spain is refusing to support the U.S. and Israeli military operation against Iran and has distanced itself from the position adopted by France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, which have shown themselves willing to undertake "proportionate defensive action" in response to Tehran's attacks on the Persian Gulf countries and Cyprus. "Each country makes its own foreign policy decisions. Spain has a very clear position: Europe's voice must be one of balance and moderation at this time, working towards de-escalation and a return to the negotiating table," Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said on Monday. "A logic of violence, as we are seeing, only leads to a spiral of violence, and unilateral military actions outside the United Nations Charter, outside any collective action, have no clear objective. Europe must defend international law, de-escalation, and negotiation," he insisted.

Comment: Trump has threatened to 'end all trade with Spain'.

He did so in front of the German Chancellor, who's visiting DC.

The Chancellor AGREED with the American president.


The EU is all but dead.

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Vader

U.S. Suffers Worst Day of Air Losses in Decades as Iran Conflict Spirals

Simplicius
simplicius76.substack.com
Mon, 02 Mar 2026 16:45 UTC
Iran israel war
© CNN
The Iran conflict is escalating, with the Trump administration desperate to keep a straight face on things as American casualties and losses begin mounting.

Today's major shock came when not one, not two, but an unprecedented three American F-15E fighter jets were mysteriously shot down over Kuwait. Note the official US military report admits that Iranian aircraft had been engaging them at a time when "air superiority" was allegedly long established:
kuwait f15 friendly fire
f 15 eagle cost
But not everyone is convinced these were "friendly fire" incidents. Iran announced it had downed the craft, which is at least plausible given that Kuwait is positioned well within reach of long-range S-300s.

There are even logical speculations that Iran had received the latest Geran drone tech from Russia which attaches air-to-air missiles onto the Gerans and Shaheds, allowing them to shoot down pursuing craft as Russia has now verifiably demonstrated against a number of Ukrainian aerial assets. It's impossible to know for sure, but friendly fire on three aircraft in a row strains credulity.
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