Iran's alleged nuclear program and Canada's support for the criminal Trump-Bibi war

Benyamin Netanyahu has been warning the world of Iran's imminent nuke since at least '92. For at least that long, plenty of well-placed experts have consistently called out that claim as bullshit. In December 2011 I published a post titled "Mossad boss dismisses Iranian nuclear threat." Tamir Pardo is long retired and still calling BS on Bibi's BS. Many other IDF, Mossad, and Shin Bet alum have joined him, but generally only after they retire. In 2007 a US intelligence report came to the same conclusion. Since then, the 18 US intel agencies have confirmed the same conclusion year after year.. Iran abandoned its nuke program in 2003. There has never been any evidence that it has been reconstituted. That conclusion has been reiterated as recently as June '25. In between, the Islamic Republic signed on to Obama's nuke deal which opened Iran to international inspectors. On March 3 the PM of Canada announced on his official website, his "regrettable" support for the absolutley illegal and unprovoked attack on Iran, in the midst of what Israel and the US pretended were negotiations. "Despite more than two decades of diplomatic efforts, Iran has not dismantled its nuclear program." No mention anywhere of the nuke deal negotiated under Obama. No mention of multiple reports from US intel debunking Netanyahu's serial lies. No mention it was Trump himself who kyboshed the nuke deal. Mark Carney prefers the lies of the warmongers to taking a stand. After all, when push comes to shove, keeping Trump happy far outweighs questions of principle.

Fuhrer Doug Ford shows true colours

I recall Doug Ford promoting himself as an everyman populist in his early political career. That was quite a long time ago. Alas, as he clawed his way up the greasy pole of power, his populism morphed into something else by the time he arrived at the top. We've had one dubious shenanigan after another where friends of Douggie, a crowd that includes every billionaire real estate developer Toronto has produced in the last 50 years, would make out like bandits at the expense of that quaint relic "the common good." Ontario Place, the Science Centre, that Greenbelt razzle-dazzle that would have added a few more billions to the accounts of a handful of real estate billionaires... oh Douggie, what have you become? I think the answer is clear. With his drive to exempt himself and his cabinet from Freedom of Information requests, he's become a full-fledged tyrant. If he can pull this off, democracy will be safe from prying pinkos who are forever trying to trip up good, or in the case of Fuher Ford, stupendously fabulous, responsible, and ethical governance.

Trump up Shit Creek, no paddle

There are decades when nothing happens; then there are days when decades happen. We're living through some of those days now. The American Empire is transitioning from gradual decline to chaotic freefall in front of our eyes. The biggest loser in this transition is Israel. Once the US is driven out of the Gulf, Israel as we know it, will cease to exist. It will, in the fullness of time, emerge as a single unified state wherein every citizen, Jew, Muslim, or Christian, has the same rights. Same rights to property. Same rights to a gun permit. The apartheid bastion of Jewish supremacy American largess has enabled for the last fifty years will be no more. It looks to me like the billionaires who bought the White House may be starting to have second thoughts. Apparently there was considerable White House lobbying among the hedgies to assure them the Iran war wouldn't disrupt markets for more than a few days, max. As Trump's three day war enters it's third week, Pentagon boss Pistol Pete Hegseth, the cartoonish Secretary of War, is dispatching 5,000 marines to the area. To do what? My guess is they're going there to die. When you listen to the speechifying of Hegseth or Trump, the hubris oozing out of them is utterly nauseating. Off-the-charts misplaced pride... biggly fall soon. Greatest in history!

Iran aims to collapse the US economy

Frankly, I think they could well succeed. Right now they're doing a job on Gulf States oil/gas infrastructure. That means even after Hormuz is navigable once again, it would be months to restore processing capacity. Air defence throughout America's Gulf allies is either exhausted or has been transfered to Israel. Trump claims he can open Hormuz. Even if he could, it wouldn't be anytime soon. Americans don't know or care that their society rots from within, but watch what happens when pump gas hits 7 or 8 bucks a gallon. Revolution for sure! If the oil shipments don't resume within weeks, GOP loses both House and Senate in November. There is also the problem that this war is unsustainable for Israel, and Israel is the only reason America is in this war in the first place. There is no place in Israel safe from enemy missiles. The economy is severely stressed. They goaded, cajoled, manipulated and possibly blackmailed Trump into this war believing American support ensured a quick victory. It hasn't and it won't. The billionaires who own this government will soon enough face a reckoning. Here's a fact they should keep in mind. It is only in the Western sphere that governments operate at the pleasure of the billionaire class. While Russia, China, and Iran all have billionaires, they can find themselves in jail, exile, or the ground if they defy the government. That may seem harsh, but I have a hunch the vast majority of Americans would applaud the reining in of the oligarchs.

They've been bullshitting us about self-driving cars for over ten years. Where are they?

I see where Waymo (short for way more bullshit, apparently) is doing yet another trial of driverless vehicles. These trials, and there have been dozens by various entities over the years, inevitably end the same way. Everything goes great 80 or 90 or 99% of the time, but just before regulatory approval, there's a front-page story about how 12 children on their way to Sunday-school were trapped in their driverless taxi for six hours when the door-locks malfunctioned, and are permanently traumatized. So the magic of driverless cars remains but a dream. Here's what I had to say about the matter more than ten years ago. ************* Saturday, May 31, 2014 Google's driverless car is the public transit of the future. Think about it. A car that doesn't require you to drive it can come to your house empty and pick you up. When it drops you off it can pick up somebody else somewhere else. You'll never have to worry about parking! With efficiencies of scale kicking in, one of these transportation pods will be makeable for a few thousand dollars. Goodbye multi-billion dollar street-car and subway infrastructure projects. The Google-mobile uses surface roads that are already there. Real-time GPS monitoring will make sure you get where you're going, and a vast network of hardware and software will ensure these "cars" are used as efficiently as possible. I think they're on to something! ********** Yup, we're still waiting! Meanwhile, the safety record of "self-driving" vehicles plummets, which doesn't boost confidence in fully autonomous tech. One thing I know for sure is if I'm getting in a car, I want a steering wheel and a brake pedal.

The war Israel and USA started ten days ago now threatens the future of both

I caught a brief CBC News segment where they had somebody on the ground in Israel showing damage from an Iranian missile. It's only in the last few days that Israel's information management system (otherwise know as censorship) has allowed foreign media limited access into the country. The segment still promoted the fiction that a missile landing in Tel Aviv is a novelty, as the vaunted Iron Dome + David's Sling + Arrow systems + Patriots and every other US Air Defense system take down at least 90% of incoming. In reality, ten days into the war on Iran, it has become obvious that AD has collapsed. Things have got so desperate the Israelis have concluded there's no longer any point in pretending. The reality in Israel right now is that both Iran and Hezbolla are raining down missiles and drones at will. The Iron Dome is shooting down next to nothing. Trump called Putin today, and the Russian transcript of the call looks to me like Donald is angling for Putin's help in finding an off-ramp. Meanwhile, we still see Rubio and Hegseth bragging up American greatness. My understanding is that every US base in the Gulf is at this point out of commission. US casualties, officially pegged at 7, are closer to 700. America can survive this. Being humiliated in Ukraine and the ME still leaves it with its usual vassals in the EU and the Western Hemisphere to slap around. But Israel? At least 200,000 Israeli's have left since Oct 7. The ones leaving tend to be from the highly-educated Ashkenazi elite. The ones clamoring for more death, more war, more genocide, are exemplified by the "hilltop youth." When they're not terrorizing the Palestinians, they're studying the Torah. I don't see much of a future for Israel.

Let's take a moment to consider our values

We are constantly reminded that Canada and our allies represent superior values than those held by our adversaries. We've had to struggle over that since the President of the US, the leader of the free and democratic world, has gone a bit nutso-kookoo in his second term. Some of his policies, for example the deportation of undocumented migrants, are an affront to Canadian values, which has motivated our PM to search for more agreeable allies amongst the remaining Nations of Virtue, as "Western Civilization" imagines itself. Not only have we been disappointed in our former Ally Number One, many Canadians have been shocked by the actions of one of our other bestest allies over the past two and a half years; to wit, Israel's holocaust in Gaza and the West Bank. For thirty months Israel has bombed, strafed, rocketed, and starved the captive population of Gaza. Most of the world correctly calls this genocide. On 28 February our two rogue allies joined forces to mount an entirely illegal attack on Iran. Our PM gave his qualified approval, but hinted that Canada would not join in with our allies. But wait a minute - seems a lot of our other allies with whom Carney was hoping to establish an anti-Trump coalition are signing up to support the Bibi-Trump war on Iran. Yesterday a German frigate arrived in Cyprus. Today Italy announced it would stand with the Free World's assault on Iran. France is sending it's aircraft carrier. Starmer planned to send the UK's carrier too, but alas, had to settle for a lesser contribution. Looks to me like all those toadies who were aggressively denouncing Trump mere weeks ago are now busying themselves sucking up to a pair of war criminals. I'm guessing it's just a matter of time before Carney caves and commits Canada to this war on Iran too. So much for "values." Empty talk won't butter our bread, but kissing up to billionaire war criminals just might.