https://www.sott.net Signs of the Times: The World for People who Think. Featuring independent, unbiased, alternative news and commentary on world events. en-us Original content Copyright 2026 by Signs of the Times/Sott.net. For other content, see our Fair Use Policy at www.sott.net. Mon, 06 Apr 2026 22:38:14 +0000 https://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net https://www.sott.net https://www.sott.net/article/505591-Revisiting-the-four-Iran-War-endgames-The-peak-pressure-points A Yogi Berra Kind of Weekend There is something special about "home openers." The baseball season can drag on, but the home opener is such a great reminder that summer is on the way and that the possibility of winning it all remains in your reach. Maybe that is why I have Yogi Berra on my mind. Or maybe, and far more likely, it is because a lot of recent discussions seem to lend themselves well to Yogi-isms. It is easy to start a conversation with a mindset of "we are pulling out soon, with a weak deal," and wind up ending at "we are all-in" for a final victory. And vice versa. It ain't over 'til it's over. When you come to a fork in the road, take it. I didn't really say everything I said. The future ain't what it used to be To name a few. On Wednesday we published our take on the likely and possible paths we would be on after the Presidential Address. After the address, all we could say was - all the paths are still in play. If that isn't in the realm of Yogi Berra, nothing is. https://www.sott.net/article/505591-Revisiting-the-four-Iran-War-endgames-The-peak-pressure-points Mon, 06 Apr 2026 22:35:41 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505590-The-most-pristine-star-yet-found-in-the-known-universe An unusual team of astronomers used Sloan Digital Sky Survey-V (SDSS-V) data and observations on the Magellan telescopes at Carnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to discover the most pristine star in the known universe, called SDSS J0715-7334. Their work is published in Nature Astronomy. Hunting for the universe's earliest stars Led by the University of Chicago's Alexander Ji — a former Carnegie Observatories postdoctoral fellow — and including Carnegie astrophysicist Juna Kollmeier — who leads SDSS, now in its fifth generation — the research team identified a star from just the second generation of celestial objects in the cosmos, which formed just a few billion years after the universe began. "These pristine stars are windows into the dawn of stars and galaxies in the universe," Ji explained. Several of his and Kollmeier's co-authors on the paper are undergraduate students from UChicago, whom Ji brought to Las Campanas on an observing trip for spring break last... https://www.sott.net/article/505590-The-most-pristine-star-yet-found-in-the-known-universe Mon, 06 Apr 2026 22:01:13 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505589-Florida-Mississippi-join-wave-of-states-tightening-citizenship-rules-for-voter-eligibility Mississippi's act takes effect on July 1, while Florida's measure follows on Jan 1, 2027 Florida and Mississippi voters will soon face new citizenship verification rules after governors signed the measures into law Wednesday, triggering at least two lawsuits in the Sunshine State. The measures, signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, are aimed at upholding election integrity as similar legislation by President Donald Trump remains stalled in Congress. Mississippi's measure is expected to take effect on July 1, with Florida's law following on Jan. 1, 2027. Under both laws, voters will be required to provide citizenship documents — such as birth certificates, passports or naturalization certificates — if local officials challenge their eligibility after cross-referencing databases for voter registration applications. If individuals fail to provide the required proof of citizenship after being flagged, both states are required to remove them from their... https://www.sott.net/article/505589-Florida-Mississippi-join-wave-of-states-tightening-citizenship-rules-for-voter-eligibility Mon, 06 Apr 2026 21:51:50 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505588-EU-Parliament-shocks-Brussels-cabal-Rejects-chat-surveillance-approves-deportation-centers Brussels' assault on industry and small-to-medium businesses is a child of German ideology. This applies not only to the absurd climate battle; German statism also reveals itself in the proposed spying system of EU-wide chat surveillance. The open-border policies, executed in the style of a hippie state, can be attributed equally and without hesitation to Germany's political record of this century. Three dramatic political miscalculations, three intellectual detonations, leading to devastating societal consequences. All made in Germany, but certainly not made for Germany. Berlin's climate crusade and hippie ideology have inflicted severe economic and societal damage on the European Union, sparking a social movement that points to deep internal cultural and social conflicts. The next generation will struggle to preserve its identity in Europe and assert itself politically. That this identity is not even articulated on a national German level guarantees the exclusion of the AfD under... https://www.sott.net/article/505588-EU-Parliament-shocks-Brussels-cabal-Rejects-chat-surveillance-approves-deportation-centers Mon, 06 Apr 2026 20:04:03 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505587-Why-Iran-is-becoming-Trumps-forever-war As long as attacks and demands continue unabated, reasonable voices for peace will never be heard More than a month into the war with Iran, Washington is confronting the strategic nightmare it tried to avoid. What began as a campaign that many in the US and Israel appear to have imagined as short, punishing, and politically manageable has instead become prolonged, expensive, globally destabilizing, and increasingly difficult to define as success. The battlefield logic is now inseparable from the political logic, and on both fronts the pressure is mounting on Donald Trump's administration. Reuters reports that the conflict, launched on February 28, has disrupted global energy flows, driven oil sharply higher, pushed US gasoline prices above four dollars a gallon, and dragged US President Donald Trump's approval rating down to 36%, the lowest level since his return to office. How to sell a war A domestic audience can be persuaded to see a short war as an act of decisive leadership,... https://www.sott.net/article/505587-Why-Iran-is-becoming-Trumps-forever-war Mon, 06 Apr 2026 19:35:32 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505586-Trump-says-Tuesday-deadline-for-Iran-to-accept-ceasefire-final-wont-change-Israel-takes-out-experienced-IRGC-intel-chief Summary: A Sunday night Axios report on a US-proposed 45-day ceasefire has by Monday morning been rejected by Iran, which later on Monday issued a 10-point letter via Pakistan. Israel strikes large petrochemical plant at South Pars, which is responsible for half of the country's petrochemical production. Trump reaffirms Tuesday deadline before vital infrastructure gets attacked as 'final', calls Americans opposed to Iran war 'foolish' - saying it's all about Tehran not getting a nuke. Israel kills experienced longtime head of IRGC intelligence; Iranian missile strike on Haifa residential complex kills 4. With all that in mind, the odds of a ceasefire by April 30, 2026 are rising (but still low)...28% IRGC Intel Chief Taken Out; Israel Suffers Heavy Casualties The head of the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed in a Monday airstrike, according to confirmation in Iranian media. IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency reported that the IRGC... https://www.sott.net/article/505586-Trump-says-Tuesday-deadline-for-Iran-to-accept-ceasefire-final-wont-change-Israel-takes-out-experienced-IRGC-intel-chief Mon, 06 Apr 2026 19:34:52 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505585-Agents-of-Influence-How-Netanyahu-through-Trumps-family-circle-dragged-America-into-war-to-save-his-own-skin The Resignation That Exposed the Mechanism of Betrayal of U.S. National Interests. On March 19, 2026, an event occurred that, in a normal political system, should have caused an earthquake. Joe Kent, Director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, resigned. But not for family reasons or due to "differences over strategic issues" — the euphemisms Washington typically uses to cover up the departure of those who have fallen out of favor. Kent stepped down with a public statement that reads like an indictment: "I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran." This is not just a resignation. It's the removal of a seal behind which lay the ugly truth about how foreign policy decisions are actually made in the United States. Kent, a veteran of special forces and the CIA, a man whose wife died in Syria while on duty, stated what Washington usually prefers to keep quiet: the Trump administration launched a war with Iran under pressure from Israel and its powerful lobby.... https://www.sott.net/article/505585-Agents-of-Influence-How-Netanyahu-through-Trumps-family-circle-dragged-America-into-war-to-save-his-own-skin Mon, 06 Apr 2026 19:34:18 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505584-Araghchi-demands-UN-action-to-condemn-US-Israeli-war-crimes-in-phone-call-with-Russian-FM Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has held a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during which he outlined the systematic crimes perpetrated by the United States and the Israeli regime against the Iranian people over the past 37 days. Araghchi on Sunday condemned the repeated US and Israeli aggressions that have targeted Iran's industrial and production infrastructure, hospitals, schools, residential neighborhoods, as well as its nuclear facilities and scientific centers. He stressed that these barbaric attacks represent flagrant violations of international law and basic humanitarian norms, and demanded urgent action from relevant international bodies -- especially the United Nations Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency -- to officially condemn the crimes and bring the aggressors to justice. https://www.sott.net/article/505584-Araghchi-demands-UN-action-to-condemn-US-Israeli-war-crimes-in-phone-call-with-Russian-FM Mon, 06 Apr 2026 19:32:42 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505583-Treasury-unveils-whistleblower-portal-to-combat-transnational-Medicare-Medicaid-fraud-rings Whistleblowers are encouraged to report abuse of Medicare, Medicaid, and other government health benefit programs, the Department of the Treasury announced on March 30, while warning that sophisticated fraud schemes are siphoning billions from them. In an advisory, the Treasury detailed the way in which transnational criminal organizations — working with domestic fraudsters and organized crime groups — create fake health care providers, employ cover people to pose as owners who are not U.S. residents, and steal the personal data of actual beneficiaries to submit false claims for care that was never provided or was not needed. Proceeds are then laundered through wire transfers, digital assets, and culpable bank co-conspirators before being transferred overseas. The department said its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has published a proposed rule to fully implement a whistleblower program that would reward 10-30 percent of penalties collected in successful enforcement... https://www.sott.net/article/505583-Treasury-unveils-whistleblower-portal-to-combat-transnational-Medicare-Medicaid-fraud-rings Mon, 06 Apr 2026 19:31:52 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505582-What-the-Iran-Iraq-war-can-tell-us-about-the-US-Israeli-war-on-Iran When the United States and Israel launched their illegal war on Iran on February 28, they called on the Iranian people to rise up. They then proceeded to bomb not just military targets, but civilian housing, universities, schools, hospitals, commercial buildings and historical sites. In the sound of explosions today, many Iranians hear echoes from the past: from the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988. In the fall of 1980, when Iraq invaded Iran, I was a 20-year-old student at Tehran Polytechnic University and a member of an opposition group. The first time I saw the impact of war firsthand was in October of that year. One evening, my friend Farhad and I were standing in line to load two boxes of antigovernment pamphlets onto a bus heading to Isfahan; given the restriction of movement and the checkpoints set up by the Revolutionary Guard, this was the only safe way to transport such materials. Suddenly, the thunderous shots of air defence systems shook the ground and lit the sky with blue,... https://www.sott.net/article/505582-What-the-Iran-Iraq-war-can-tell-us-about-the-US-Israeli-war-on-Iran Mon, 06 Apr 2026 19:31:21 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505581-The-Demise-Of-Trial-By-Jury Justice isn't blind anymore: Multiculturalism has made impartial justice impossible "Law grows with the growth, and strengthens with the strength of the people, and finally dies away as the nation loses its nationality." — Friedrich Carl von Savigny On Tuesday, October 3, 1995, the verdict in the O. J. Simpson criminal trial was broadcast live across the globe, a truly defining moment of the late twentieth century. In the now-iconic split-screen imagery, as the words "not guilty" reverberated through the Los Angeles courtroom, black spectators erupted in celebration and applause, raising their fists in jubilation. Conversely, white spectators sat frozen in stunned, horrified silence, grappling with an incomprehensible subversion of the evidentiary record. The stunning juxtaposition of the visual perfectly captured the fracture of a society devoid of a shared moral consensus. This was obviously not an exercise in blind justice; it was an exercise in racial grievance. Decades later,... https://www.sott.net/article/505581-The-Demise-Of-Trial-By-Jury Mon, 06 Apr 2026 18:22:42 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505580-The-Tyranny-Of-Compelled-Speech While censorship is often the main focus of discussions about free speech, there's a related phenomenon that can do just as much damage to a free society. Not by preventing people from saying things they believe in, but by forcing them to say things they do not. Compelled speech requires people to use certain words or phrases, or to partake in upholding certain ideological beliefs. It is just as dangerous to free expression as overt censorship. The constant recitation of indigenous "land acknowledgements" illustrates Canada's shift towards enforced mass-compliance on complicated social issues. These statements have become ubiquitous in Canadian public life: at schools, workplaces, government functions, ceremonies, and sporting events. Institutions display them on websites, documents, email signatures, and social media. A busy person in Canada may come across dozens of land acknowledgements per day in various contexts. Although framed as optional gestures of respect, many... https://www.sott.net/article/505580-The-Tyranny-Of-Compelled-Speech Mon, 06 Apr 2026 16:16:45 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505579-Its-Official-US-Boots-On-Ground-Deep-Inside-Iran-Amidst-Another-Day-of-Humiliating-Losses The morning broke with news of a large-scale US operation to supposedly extract the second downed pilot (WSO - Weapons Systems Officer) from Iran, who had ejected from his shot-down F-15E on Thursday. The scale of losses for this operation alone turned out to be massive, as the US lost hundreds of millions worth of planes allegedly getting the airman back to safety. The operation involved all kinds of Special Forces units which amounted to "boots on ground" inside Iran for the first time — at least officially. The story is roughly as follows: The F-15E went down over "southwestern Iran" on Thursday, with the second crewman reportedly making first radio contact around noon on Friday, wherein he had climbed a mountain to transmit his emergency signal. https://www.sott.net/article/505579-Its-Official-US-Boots-On-Ground-Deep-Inside-Iran-Amidst-Another-Day-of-Humiliating-Losses Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:02:34 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505578-Angola-hit-by-deadly-floods-at-least-15-dead-and-thousands-displaced Severe flooding has killed at least 15 people in Angola and forced thousands to flee their homes, according to local authorities. The floods, caused by heavy rains, have affected several regions of the country, worsening an already fragile humanitarian situation. The floods caused significant material damage, sweeping away homes and destroying essential infrastructure. In some areas, roads were cut off and villages isolated, complicating access for emergency services and slowing aid operations for the affected population. Authorities are reporting widespread destruction. Thousands of people have been displaced, often in emergency situations, and are now homeless. Living conditions in the affected areas are particularly precarious, with limited access to clean water, food, and healthcare. Humanitarian organizations are warning of the risk of disease spreading in the flooded areas. https://www.sott.net/article/505578-Angola-hit-by-deadly-floods-at-least-15-dead-and-thousands-displaced Mon, 06 Apr 2026 12:28:14 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505577-Fun-With-AI-3-Learned-Helplessness-The-Architecture-of-Self-Disabling Learned helplessness isn't just a psychological quirk — it's one of the most elegant control mechanisms ever engineered. In this installment, Mandatory Intellectomy dissects how modern institutions (from schools to healthcare to finance) systematically train people to doubt their own capabilities, defer to 'experts,' and collaborate in their own disempowerment. Properly prompted AI cuts through the noise to reveal the pattern: the System doesn't need constant brute force when people police themselves from the inside. Today, we present another fun discussion between Mandatory Intellectomy and his friendly AI sidekicks. But, before we dive in, I'd just like to remind the reader of a few salient facts about using AI. Knowledge isn't mere accumulation of data but a navigation of perceptions, biases, and justifications toward ontological alignment (what is). Consider two books: "Thinking: Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman and "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. Yes, we humans can make mistakes... https://www.sott.net/article/505577-Fun-With-AI-3-Learned-Helplessness-The-Architecture-of-Self-Disabling Mon, 06 Apr 2026 12:25:08 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505576-Meteor-fireball-over-Alberta-on-April-5 We received 7 reports about a fireball seen over Alberta on Sunday, April 5th 2026 around 06:29 UT. For this event, we received one video and 2 photos. https://www.sott.net/article/505576-Meteor-fireball-over-Alberta-on-April-5 Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:29:22 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505575-Meteor-fireball-over-Georgia-and-3-other-states-on-April-5 We received 26 reports about a fireball seen over AL, FL, GA and SC on Sunday, April 5th 2026 around 01:35 UT. For this event, we received one video. https://www.sott.net/article/505575-Meteor-fireball-over-Georgia-and-3-other-states-on-April-5 Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:25:02 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505574-Meteor-fireball-over-Italy-and-2-other-countries-on-April-5 We received 23 reports about a fireball seen over Bayern, Emilia-Romagna, Kärnten, Lombardia, Marche, Toscana, Umbria, Valle d'Aosta and Veneto on Sunday, April 5th 2026 around 00:49 UT. For this event, we received one video. https://www.sott.net/article/505574-Meteor-fireball-over-Italy-and-2-other-countries-on-April-5 Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:21:56 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505573-Ukraine-aims-to-build-a-temple-dedicated-to-Nazi-criminals-against-humanity Director of the Ukrainian presidential administration General Kyrylo Budanov chaired a meeting on March 28, 2026, for the "creation of a pantheon of eminent Ukrainians". He said: "This is the reburial on the territory of Ukraine of prominent Ukrainians who died abroad. This is not an easy task, as they are scattered across the globe — both in friendly and unfriendly countries. We need to start as soon as possible, because the restoration of historical memory is a very important issue, especially in times of war for sovereignty and independence." Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa said she had identified the burial sites of 98 Ukrainians in 21 countries. According to her, these include political, military, cultural and public figures from the Ukrainian People's Republic, the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, the OUN-UPA, the government-in-exile and national liberation movements. https://www.sott.net/article/505573-Ukraine-aims-to-build-a-temple-dedicated-to-Nazi-criminals-against-humanity Mon, 06 Apr 2026 01:13:37 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505572-The-Palantir-Panopticon In my book Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom (2019), I argued that the main danger with AI is not a rogue super-intelligence that might rebel against humanity; the far greater danger is perfect AI obedience. AI could function as the ultimate instrument of authoritarian "elites," faithfully executing total surveillance, behavioral scoring, and preemptive social control. Further, AI reliance risks the wholesale abdication of human agency and the flattening of human intelligence and sociality. As decision-making authority is ceded to algorithms, people will become passive nodes in a system that replaces human thinking with AI information processing — "Bots R Us" — eroding autonomy, creativity, and genuine deliberation. https://www.sott.net/article/505572-The-Palantir-Panopticon Mon, 06 Apr 2026 01:09:57 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505571-The-Netflix-prize-How-a-1M-competition-changed-home-movie-viewing-forever "We need to go win a million dollars." Lester Mackey was just a senior computer science major at Princeton when a friend burst into his dorm room in a hysterical fit of excitement. "We need to do this." In October 2006, Netflix, then a service peddling discs of every movie and TV show under the sun, announced "The Netflix Prize," a competition that lured Mackey and his contemporaries for the computer programmer equivalent of the Cannonball Run. The mission: Make the company's recommendation engine 10% more accurate -- or die coding. Word of the competition immediately spread like a virus through comp-sci circles, tech blogs, research communities, and even the mainstream media. ("And if You Liked the Movie, a Netflix Contest May Reward You Handsomely" read the New York Times headline.) And while a million dollars created attention, it was the data set -- over 100 million ratings of 17,770 movies from 480,189 customers -- that had number-crunching nuts salivating. There was nothing... https://www.sott.net/article/505571-The-Netflix-prize-How-a-1M-competition-changed-home-movie-viewing-forever Sun, 05 Apr 2026 22:00:58 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505570-Beware-of-Pseudo-Science-In-Defense-of-Melatonin Against cardiovascular disease, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and other conjunctive tissue anomalies (and for multiple other conditions too!) Whenever the American Heart Association publishes an abstract that is not peer-reviewed for a study that is not even published, you have to turn on your BS meter and apply some good old common sense. In "Long-term use of melatonin supplements to support sleep may have negative health effects", they took electronic records and highlighted those who were taking melatonin, correlating with heart failure. Mind you, if you're in heart failure, you'll have insomnia because you can't sleep due to your symptoms. So you'll need to take something. If you don't have heart failure, you sleep better and hence don't require anything. Correlation doesn't equal causation, making this another case of the firefighters getting blamed for the fire. Melatonin doesn't require a prescription in the U.S., hence it is over-the-counter, and this alone could bias the results... https://www.sott.net/article/505570-Beware-of-Pseudo-Science-In-Defense-of-Melatonin Sun, 05 Apr 2026 20:25:42 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505569-The-unforeseen-consequences-of-Iranian-resistance By resisting the illegal attack on their country by Israel and the United States, the Iranians brought the "paper tiger" to its knees. In a matter of days, they demonstrated that the Pentagon's sophisticated and expensive weapons were ill-suited to their highly economical approach to warfare. They disrupted the global oil market, which underpins the US dollar. Finally, they provided a new model that all opponents of Anglo-Saxon dominance are now considering. It has already led China to completely revise its defense plans in the event of a US attack on Taiwan. The war against Iran is unlike any other. For the first time, the targets destroyed are of little importance. The protagonists are focused on the economic consequences of their actions. This experience is revolutionizing the way wars are waged and has already led the Chinese People's Liberation Army to revise its battle plans. A Shaheh drone costs approximately $35,000. To shoot it down, the United States would need to launch... https://www.sott.net/article/505569-The-unforeseen-consequences-of-Iranian-resistance Sun, 05 Apr 2026 20:07:12 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505568-Inside-Irans-underground-fortress-How-Irans-missile-bases-survive-most-powerful-US-and-Israeli-bombs While Donald Trump claimed that Iran's capabilities were mostly destroyed, data shows that Iran continues to launch a high number of missiles and drones without major decline. A recent report by U.S. intelligence agencies says that Iran still has strong attack capabilities, even after more than a month of U.S. and Israeli strikes. According to the report, nearly half of Iran's missile launchers are still intact, and it also has thousands of one-way attack drones. A source said that Iran is still capable of causing major destruction across the region. In addition, Iran still has a large number of missiles and coastal defense cruise missiles, which could play an important role in controlling the Strait of Hormuz. Claims vs Reality: What Did the U.S. President Say? The U.S. President, Donald Trump, claimed that Iran's missile and drone capabilities have been almost destroyed. However, the actual situation appears different. Since February 28, Iran has launched around 6,770 missiles... https://www.sott.net/article/505568-Inside-Irans-underground-fortress-How-Irans-missile-bases-survive-most-powerful-US-and-Israeli-bombs Sun, 05 Apr 2026 20:04:03 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505567-Israels-push-for-Somaliland-base-raises-fears-of-wider-war A security presence in the Horn of Africa could draw an already fragile region into Middle East war. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Israel is in talks with Somaliland officials to form a strategic security partnership, which might include granting Israel access to a military base or other security installation along the Somaliland coast from which it can launch attacks against Yemen's Houthi rebels. With war raging in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa is a particularly important geoeconomic and geopolitical puzzle piece. Its location near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, which connects ships traveling through the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, makes it a strategic location from the perspective of global shipping, 10% to 12% of which travels through the strait annually. For Israel, Somaliland's strategic importance stems from its close proximity to Yemen. Israeli military officials have long sought to destroy the capability of Houthi rebels to attack Israel as... https://www.sott.net/article/505567-Israels-push-for-Somaliland-base-raises-fears-of-wider-war Sun, 05 Apr 2026 20:02:47 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505566-Acting-AG-Todd-Blanche-Investigating-ActBlue-allegations-is-a-top-priority The Democratic Party's premier fundraising machine is in serious legal jeopardy, and the new man running the Justice Department just made clear he intends to do something about it. The New York Times reported on Thursday that ActBlue's own lawyers had warned its leadership in early 2025 that it may have lied to Congress about how it screens out illegal foreign donations. In 2023, ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones sent a letter to Republican congressional investigators assuring them the platform used rigorous safeguards. The letter described "multilayered" screenings that helped "root out" overseas contributions. What the platform's own legal team later discovered was considerably more inconvenient: those protections weren't consistently applied in practice. "This presents a substantial risk for ActBlue," the law firm, Covington & Burling, wrote in one of two memos expressing legal concerns. One memo raised the specter of a criminal investigation if prosecutors believed that... https://www.sott.net/article/505566-Acting-AG-Todd-Blanche-Investigating-ActBlue-allegations-is-a-top-priority Sun, 05 Apr 2026 20:01:17 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505565-The-myth-that-wont-die-War-is-good-for-the-economy War is the ultimate government intervention. It is the excuse for all kinds of evils to be imposed on the governed. From confiscation through taxes and inflation to restriction of freedom of speech and the redirection and even nationalization of whole industries, nothing increases state power such as war. As the state is predatory and produces nothing of use, it is the ultimate impoverishing situation. From an ideological point of view, it is even worse, mixing love for one's culture and homeland with the state itself. It reduces individual's resistance to loss of liberty and creates in their minds the myth of the protecting government. There is also another insidious idea that a lot of people hold: That is that war has economic and other benefits, not to certain individuals or groups, but to the community at large. It is worth examining these supposed benefits to show that no, war does not benefit the community, it is just death and destruction. https://www.sott.net/article/505565-The-myth-that-wont-die-War-is-good-for-the-economy Sun, 05 Apr 2026 19:59:59 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505564-Homes-flooded-roads-swamped-in-Miaoli-Taiwan-after-heavy-rain Heavy rain on Saturday triggered mudslides and flooding in Miaoli County, inundating homes and roads, disrupting traffic and leaving residents stranded in muddy water. https://www.sott.net/article/505564-Homes-flooded-roads-swamped-in-Miaoli-Taiwan-after-heavy-rain Sun, 05 Apr 2026 19:32:50 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505563-How-Native-Americans-shaped-gambling-and-probability-long-before-the-Old-World A new Colorado State University study presents evidence that the earliest known dice in human history were made and used by Native American hunter-gatherers on the western Great Plains more than 12,000 years ago - at the end of the last Ice Age and long before the earliest known dice from Bronze Age societies in the Old World. Published in American Antiquity, research by author and Ph.D. student Robert J. Madden indicates that dice, games of chance and gambling have been a persistent feature of Native American culture for at least the last 12,000 years, with the earliest examples appearing at Late Pleistocene Folsom-period archaeological sites in Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. These artifacts predate the earliest known Old World dice by more than 6,000 years. "Historians have traditionally treated dice and probability as Old World innovations," Madden said. "What the archaeological record shows is that ancient Native American groups were deliberately making objects designed to... https://www.sott.net/article/505563-How-Native-Americans-shaped-gambling-and-probability-long-before-the-Old-World Sun, 05 Apr 2026 18:01:48 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505562-DNA-reveals-a-mysterious-human-lineage-no-one-knew-existed-in-Asia A genetic study has uncovered a previously unknown human lineage that survived the end of the last Ice Age, challenging long-held assumptions about how ancient populations evolved and interacted during one of the most transformative periods in human history. The discovery, published in the journal Current Biology, centers on ancient human remains unearthed at the Donghulin archaeological site near modern-day Beijing. By analyzing DNA extracted from these remains, scientists have revealed a complex and surprisingly resilient human story — one in which multiple lineages coexisted, adapted, and sometimes disappeared without leaving a lasting genetic trace. A Hidden Branch of Humanity Emerges At the heart of the discovery is an approximately 11,000-year-old individual whose genetic profile does not match any previously identified human population. Researchers, led by Qiaomei Fu, found that this individual belonged to a deeply divergent northern East Asian lineage that likely split from... https://www.sott.net/article/505562-DNA-reveals-a-mysterious-human-lineage-no-one-knew-existed-in-Asia Sun, 05 Apr 2026 17:50:02 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505561-Flotilla-coalition-prepares-renewed-mission-to-break-Gaza-siege The international flotilla of over 80 boats and 1,000 activists will sail from Barcelona to challenge Israel's blockade on Gaza and demand humanitarian access A coalition of pro-Palestine activists announced on 3 April that it will launch a new maritime mission from Barcelona on 12 April to challenge Israel's blockade on Gaza, according to reports citing statements by the Global Sumud Flotilla. The group said more than 80 boats and around 1,000 international participants will take part in the initiative in a renewed attempt to reach the besieged enclave by sea. It follows a previous high-profile journey across the Mediterranean that drew global attention before Israeli forces illegally intercepted the vessels and detained activists near Gaza. https://www.sott.net/article/505561-Flotilla-coalition-prepares-renewed-mission-to-break-Gaza-siege Sun, 05 Apr 2026 16:44:16 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505560-Congress-demands-Dept-of-War-release-46-secret-UFO-videos-You-re-gonna-see-some-weird-f-kingst Members of Congress are demanding 46 military videos from the Department of War which insiders say offer convincing proof that advanced, non-human craft are operating on Earth. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) requested the long list of explosively titled files on Wednesday, which include 45 previously unreleased military clips. The presence of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena "in and around the sensitive airspaces of US military installations poses a threat to the security of the armed forces and their readiness," according to the April 1 letter addressed to Secretary Pete Hegseth. https://www.sott.net/article/505560-Congress-demands-Dept-of-War-release-46-secret-UFO-videos-You-re-gonna-see-some-weird-f-kingst Sun, 05 Apr 2026 15:02:53 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505559-Lightning-strike-kills-65-sheep-in-Balochistan-Pakistan At least 65 sheep were killed after being struck by lightning in Balochistan's Mashkhel district, leaving the affected herder in deep distress. According to details, the tragic incident occurred during heavy rainfall when a sudden lightning strike killed 65 sheep instantly, causing losses worth hundreds of thousands of rupees. The herder said the incident had destroyed everything he owned, describing the livestock as his entire livelihood. Media reports stated that the incident took place in a suburban area of the district. In addition to those killed, 15 sheep were seriously injured, further compounding the herder's losses. Speaking to the media, the distressed herder broke down in tears, saying he had been left completely helpless. Local residents and the herder have appealed to the provincial government and district administration for financial assistance. https://www.sott.net/article/505559-Lightning-strike-kills-65-sheep-in-Balochistan-Pakistan Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:33:29 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505558-Bumblebees-have-a-brain-the-size-of-a-sesame-seed-but-they-ve-still-got-rhythm Humans are creatures of rhythms. As far as we know, humans have always sung and always danced. We can recognise a song by its rhythm alone, regardless of whether it is played fast or slow. We seem to have an almost effortless capacity to pick up on rhythmic patterns, and we have presumed this ability to require the very large and powerful human brain. But our new research, published today in the journal Science, shows humans are not alone in mastering rhythm. Even the bumblebee, which has a brain the size of a sesame seed, has an ability to quickly learn abstract rhythms. A world full of rhythms Rhythms are everywhere in nature. We hear them in the songs of birds and frogs and the ultrasonic hunting chirps of bats. And we see them in the flashing displays of fireflies, the rhythmic shakes of a peacock's tail, the waggle dances of honey bees and the courtship dances of fruit flies. But, up to now, we have assumed these were innate rhythmic patterns: the animals are not learning a... https://www.sott.net/article/505558-Bumblebees-have-a-brain-the-size-of-a-sesame-seed-but-they-ve-still-got-rhythm Sat, 04 Apr 2026 23:04:48 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505557-Reclaiming-our-own-birthright-We-might-need-to-amend-the-Constitution "Well, it's a new world. It's the same Constitution." Those words from Chief Justice John Roberts during this week's oral arguments signaled that the conservative justices are unlikely to reject birthright citizenship. Of course, nothing is certain until this summer when the Court issues its opinion in Trump v. Barbara. However, we need to consider the need for a 28th Amendment to reaffirm the meaning of citizenship. As some of us stressed before the oral argument, the odds were against the administration prevailing in the case, given more than a century of countervailing precedent. There are good-faith arguments against reading the 14th Amendment as supporting citizenship for any child born in this country. It is doubtful that the drafters of the 14th Amendment could have envisioned millions of births to illegal aliens. They surely did not imagine foreigners coming to this country for the purpose of giving birth — or even, without ever entering the U.S., contracting multiple U.S.... https://www.sott.net/article/505557-Reclaiming-our-own-birthright-We-might-need-to-amend-the-Constitution Sat, 04 Apr 2026 21:50:45 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505556-Colorado-forcing-lawyers-to-swear-they-wont-help-feds-catch-illegals Lawyers in the Mile High State are now being strong-armed by Democrats into signing a radical anti-immigration-enforcement pledge just to do their jobs. Starting March 30, 2026, every private attorney logging into Colorado's official Courts E-Filing system (CCE) must certify - under penalty of perjury - that they will never use or share non-public personal information from court records to assist federal immigration authorities. Refuse? You're shut out of the system entirely. No filing lawsuits, no checking case files, no representing clients in state court. Period. The certification reads in part: "I certify under penalty of perjury that I will not use personal identifying information obtained from the database... for the purpose of investigating for, participating in, cooperating with, or assisting in federal immigration enforcement, including enforcement of civil immigration laws and 8 U.S.C. sec. 1325 or 1326, unless required by federal or state law or to comply with a... https://www.sott.net/article/505556-Colorado-forcing-lawyers-to-swear-they-wont-help-feds-catch-illegals Sat, 04 Apr 2026 21:37:52 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505555-ActBlue-lawyers-privately-feared-the-organization-likely-lied-to-Congress-about-illegal-foreign-donations ActBlue told Congress in 2023 that it took "multilayered" steps to "root out" illegal donations from foreign citizens. But it turns out "some of the steps ... described were not always followed," according to a new report from The New York Times ActBlue Chief Executive Regina Wallace-Jones claimed in a 2023 letter to Congress that ActBlue conducted "'multilayered' screenings of contributions that helped 'root out' those from overseas," the New York Times reported. Such screening claimed to have included processing donations that came from foreign mailing addresses only if the donor had a U.S. passport number. Wallace-Jones also reportedly told Congress that ActBlue would refund donations to those who did not provide a passport number. But Covington & Burling, the firm then representing ActBlue, found "some of the steps [Wallace-Jones] had described were not always followed." As The Times reported, citing a memo Covington sent to ActBlue, donors who used Apple Pay, PayPal or... https://www.sott.net/article/505555-ActBlue-lawyers-privately-feared-the-organization-likely-lied-to-Congress-about-illegal-foreign-donations Sat, 04 Apr 2026 21:15:50 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505554-Trump-has-no-good-options-to-resolve-the-disaster-he-created-in-Iran Trump faces a disaster of his own making in Iran. He had no plan to address Iran's predictable retaliation, including closing the Strait of Hormuz, but even if he did, he faces another problem: Israel, his disastrous choice for a partner in crime. U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the American public on Wednesday, but he didn't have anything new to say. That lack of any substance is emblematic of the entire criminal and foolish war he agreed to launch on Iran. The American war effort is a disaster. While the United States and Israel have inflicted enormous damage on Iran and killed and injured thousands of innocent civilians both there and in Lebanon, the actual gains are minimal, and to the extent that there were any goals for this war, they haven't been achieved. When Trump announced that he would speak Wednesday night, many thought he was going to announce a timetable for an American departure from this war, but all we got was more of the same "four weeks" guesswork that we... https://www.sott.net/article/505554-Trump-has-no-good-options-to-resolve-the-disaster-he-created-in-Iran Sat, 04 Apr 2026 20:22:20 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505553-US-lifts-sanctions-on-Venezuela-acting-president This comes as the US warms to Caracas after kidnapping President Nicolas Maduro and forcing his government to comply. The US has removed the sanctions on interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, according to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. The move was announced on Wednesday and marks a significant policy shift as Washington builds closer ties with Caracas after kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this year. US President Donald Trump previously warned Rodriguez that she could face an even higher price than Maduro if she did not comply with the administration's conditions. However, he later changed his rhetoric and called relations with her "very good." Trump said last month that the US "formally recognized" the interim government. In March, Reuters cited four people familiar with the matter as saying that the Trump administration was quietly building a legal case against Rodriguez. Federal prosecutors reportedly put together... https://www.sott.net/article/505553-US-lifts-sanctions-on-Venezuela-acting-president Sat, 04 Apr 2026 20:15:18 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505552-Sharia-Law-in-Texas-Rep-exposes-Muslim-only-enclaves-operating-next-to-police-HQs Parallel societies are already functioning in defiance of American law. Texas Congressman Keith Self has dropped a bombshell on the growing reality of Sharia-adherent communities taking root inside the United States. Far from some future hypothetical, these enclaves are here, now, and operating openly in his own district. Self laid it out plainly: "Sharia is alive, well, and operating in Plano, Texas. Right now, as I speak, there is an existing Sharia-adherent enclave run by the East Plano Islamic Center in my congressional district. It's been functioning for 12 years right in our midst. This is not a hypothetical or future threat. It is here, now and operational. "It is a parallel society, a de facto Sharia enclave operating in defiance of full assimilation into American law situated immediately adjacent to the very law enforcement facilities meant to protect our communities." https://www.sott.net/article/505552-Sharia-Law-in-Texas-Rep-exposes-Muslim-only-enclaves-operating-next-to-police-HQs Sat, 04 Apr 2026 20:13:13 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505551-Caltech-team-finds-useful-quantum-computers-could-be-built-with-as-few-as-10000-qubits Theoretical discovery opens the door to building quantum computers with significantly reduced resources. Quantum computers of the future may be closer to reality thanks to new research from Caltech and Oratomic, a Caltech-linked start-up company. Theorists and experimentalists teamed up to develop a new approach for reducing the errors that riddle today's rudimentary quantum computers. Whereas these machines were previously thought to require millions of qubits to work properly (qubits being the quantum equivalent to 1's and 0's in classical computers), the new results indicate that a fully realized quantum computer could be built with as few as 10,000 to 20,000 qubits. The need for fewer qubits means that quantum computers could, in theory, be operational by the end of the decade. The team proposes a new quantum error-correction architecture that is significantly more efficient than previous approaches. Quantum error correction is a process by which extra, redundant qubits are... https://www.sott.net/article/505551-Caltech-team-finds-useful-quantum-computers-could-be-built-with-as-few-as-10000-qubits Sat, 04 Apr 2026 20:08:35 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505550-Desert-turns-snow-white-Unexpected-hailstorm-blankets-parts-of-Rajasthan-India The golden sands of the Thar Desert underwent a startling transformation on Friday, April 3, 2026, as a massive hailstorm turned parts of Rajasthan into a landscape resembling the snow-capped valleys of Kashmir. Residents in the Arjunsar and Rajiyasar areas of Bikaner district witnessed a rare atmospheric event that saw temperatures plummet and roads disappear under a thick layer of ice. WHY DID THE THAR DESERT TURN WHITE? While the visuals shared by IFS officer Parveen Kaswan looked like a winter wonderland, this was actually the result of an intense hailstorm triggered by a Western Disturbance. A Western Disturbance is a weather system that originates over the Mediterranean region and travels eastward, bringing moisture and cooling to northwest India. When this moisture-laden air met the intense heat of the desert, it created powerful updrafts. https://www.sott.net/article/505550-Desert-turns-snow-white-Unexpected-hailstorm-blankets-parts-of-Rajasthan-India Sat, 04 Apr 2026 19:03:08 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505415-Extreme-weather-severe-flooding-and-landslides-in-Afghanistan-leaves-99-dead-UPDATES Severe flooding, a landslide and thunderstorms in parts of Afghanistan have left 17 people dead and 26 injured over the last 24 hours, authorities said Sunday, the latest casualties from extreme weather in the country this season. The number of casualties could increase as crews from the country's National Disaster Management Authority survey the affected areas, the authority's spokesman Yousuf Hammad said in a statement. Thirteen of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, mostly in the western, central and northwestern parts of the country, were affected. The severe weather also left 147 homes either completely or partially destroyed, wiped out 80 kilometers of roads and destroyed agricultural land and irrigation canals, Hammad said. Earlier this year, heavy snowfall and flash floods left dozens of people dead across the country. https://www.sott.net/article/505415-Extreme-weather-severe-flooding-and-landslides-in-Afghanistan-leaves-99-dead-UPDATES Sat, 04 Apr 2026 18:10:48 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505549-End-of-NATO-The-military-bloc-is-an-essential-tool-for-US-warmongering U.S. President Trump threatened again this week that he would quit the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He called the military alliance a "paper tiger" and said the withdrawal of the United States from the bloc was "beyond consideration." It is extraordinary the spectacle of contempt from a U.S. president towards a supposed pillar of the Western order. And it is amusing to see how European vassals are clutching their pearls, fearful of "daddy" abandoning them. There is indeed a historic rupture in the transatlantic alliance that has defined eight decades of U.S.-European relations. The rupture is a positive sign of weakening Western imperialist powers, leading to fractious infighting and recriminations. But it is too early to pronounce the end of NATO. That's because ultimately, U.S. warmongering relies on the bloc as a tool, militarily and politically. Trump's contempt for NATO goes back to his first administration (2017-2021), when he first warned that he would take the... https://www.sott.net/article/505549-End-of-NATO-The-military-bloc-is-an-essential-tool-for-US-warmongering Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:47:06 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505548-Americas-socalled-energy-independence You've heard it. Trump says it. Energy secretaries say it on Fox News with straight faces. "America is energy independent. We produce more oil than we consume. We're a net exporter". It sounds great. It's also, at best, a half-truth dressed up in a tuxedo. I went down this particular rabbit hole so you don't have to. As this is not my main area of expertise: if (when) I get something wrong → the comments are right there below. Crude oil is what comes out of the ground. It's the raw stuff. You ship it to a refinery, the refinery cooks it, and out the other end comes gasoline, diesel, jet fuel. That's what moves your car, your truck, and your country. The US produces a lot of crude. Record amounts, actually - around 13.6 million barrels a day in 2025. Nobody produces more. And yes, the US does export some of that crude to other countries. But the US also imports crude. A lot of it. 6.2 million barrels a day, to be exact. https://www.sott.net/article/505548-Americas-socalled-energy-independence Sat, 04 Apr 2026 13:19:16 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505547-6-0-magnitude-quake-hits-90-km-SE-of-Sarangani-Philippines-USGS An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted 90 km SE of Sarangani, Philippines at 10:34 GMT on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter, with a depth of 99.6 km, was initially determined to be at 4.89 degrees north latitude and 126.10 degrees east longitude. https://www.sott.net/article/505547-6-0-magnitude-quake-hits-90-km-SE-of-Sarangani-Philippines-USGS Sat, 04 Apr 2026 11:40:04 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505546-Landslide-triggered-after-torrential-rain-kills-mother-and-6-children-in-Equatorial-Guinea A landslide triggered following torrential rain in Equatorial Guinea killed a mother and her six children, the central African country´s rescue services said on Friday. The bodies of the victims buried by the landslide were recovered on Friday, including that of the 36-year-old mother, who was eight months pregnant. Witnesses said the landslide happened on Thursday afternoon when downpours fell on the city of Malabo. "A concrete retaining wall collapsed onto their house... followed by a landslide," neighbour Dominica Ada said. "The mother and her six children were all inside," she added. AFP https://www.sott.net/article/505546-Landslide-triggered-after-torrential-rain-kills-mother-and-6-children-in-Equatorial-Guinea Sat, 04 Apr 2026 11:18:41 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505545-5-8magnitude-quake-hits-Afghanistan-Pakistan-8-dead-in-Kabul An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 rattled parts of northern and eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan late Friday. The spokesperson for Kabul's governor said at least eight people are dead. The region is highly seismically active, and quakes have caused thousands of deaths in recent years. Friday's earthquake had an epicenter in the Hindu Kush mountain range, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the Afghan city of Kunduz, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center and the United States Geological Survey. With the epicenter at a depth of over 180 kilometers, the quake was felt across a wide swathe of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was felt in the areas of Islamabad, Peshawar, Chitral, Swat and Shangla, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department. Afghanistan's Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said Kabul and provincial health authorities had been put on alert. https://www.sott.net/article/505545-5-8magnitude-quake-hits-Afghanistan-Pakistan-8-dead-in-Kabul Sat, 04 Apr 2026 11:01:20 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505544-Apr-3-2026-Fuego-Volcano-in-Guatemala-produces-large-eruption-at-night The camera is about 8km away from the top of Fuego. Sometimes you'll be able to hear the eruptions. Due to the speed of sound, it'll take about 26 seconds after you see an explosion before you hear it. https://www.sott.net/article/505544-Apr-3-2026-Fuego-Volcano-in-Guatemala-produces-large-eruption-at-night Sat, 04 Apr 2026 10:39:31 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505543-Meteor-fireball-over-Italy-on-April-3 We received 38 reports about a fireball seen over Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Lombardia, Marche, Toscana, Trentino-Alto Adige, Umbria and Veneto on Friday, April 3rd 2026 around 19:47 UT. For this event, we received 2 videos. https://www.sott.net/article/505543-Meteor-fireball-over-Italy-on-April-3 Sat, 04 Apr 2026 09:45:17 +0000