Ted Cruz Admits Trump Accounts Are Designed to Privatize Social Security Over Time

 from Common Dreams

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said during a public conference this week that the so-called Trump Accounts established under the GOP’s 2025 budget law represent a viable path toward Social Security privatization—something the Texas lawmaker described as a “dirty little secret.”

During a panel discussion at the Milken Institute Global Conference in California, Cruz said that “conservatives in America, for 50 years... have been trying to do Social Security personal accounts.” Cruz, who lamented the failure of Bush-era efforts to privatize Social Security, described such personal accounts as vehicles into which the payroll taxes that finance current Social Security benefits could be diverted.

In the not-too-distant future, Cruz envisioned, “we’re going to be able to go to parents and say, ‘Hey, you know that Trump Account your kid has? ... Wouldn’t you like to be able to keep a portion of your tax payments that you’re paying already and, instead of sending it to Uncle Sam, wouldn’t you like to have a Trump Account just like your kid does?’'’

“My prediction is, within five years, that is going to have a really compelling constituency,” the Texas Republican added...

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8 cruise missiles, 24 drones launched at US Navy destroyers: Iran Army

from al Mayadeen English

Iran’s naval forces targeted a group of US Navy vessels attempting to move three of its "violating" destroyers from the Strait of Hormuz toward the Gulf of Oman, according to a statement from the Iranian military carried by the Tasnim News Agency on Friday.

The Iranian military said the operation was a coordinated attack involving eight cruise missiles and 24 one-way attack drones.

According to the Iranian military, one cruise missile and three one-way attack drones successfully struck the US destroyers, causing fires on board. The statement added that the missiles and drones made impact despite extensive attempts by the US Navy to repel the attack.

The operation has been codenamed “Martyr Mayouan” in honor of Captain Amir Bahador Mayouan, the commander of the Iranian destroyer Jamaran...

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Tehran blasts US’s ‘reckless military adventure’ in Hormuz

from al Jazeera

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says “Iranians never bow to pressure” and “every time a diplomatic solution is on the table the US opts for a reckless military adventure” after new US attacks.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States is expecting a response from Tehran on its latest peace proposal at some point today.

The United States and Iran traded naval attacks in the Strait of Hormuz with the US also bombing two Iranian ports.

Israel continues to attack southern Lebanon killing at least 20 people, including a paramedic, in one of the deadliest days since the war with Hezbollah broke out on March 2.

 

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Iranians never bow to pressure, says Araghchi after US ceasefire violations

from PressTV

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned that the United States tends to resort to military adventurism precisely when a diplomatic solution appears imminent, while stressing that the Islamic Republic will never yield to pressure.

“Every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the US opts for a reckless military adventure. Is it a crude pressure tactic? Or the result of a spoiler once again duping POTUS into another quagmire?” Araghchi wrote on the social media platform X on Friday.

“Whatever the cause, the outcome is the same: Iranians never bow to pressure, and diplomacy is always the victim,” he added.

The foreign minister’s remarks came after the Bahman Pier on Iran’s Qeshm Island was attacked late Thursday night during a fierce exchange of fire between Iranian armed forces and hostile units operating near the Strait of Hormuz.

According to Iran's Fars News Agency, portions of the commercial area at the vital Bahman pier on Qeshm Island were struck and partially damaged amid the confrontation...

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Novi Naps

by Scott Creighton

Yes I am wearing blue jeans. Yes I gotta watch her like a hawk. Yeah I'm a little nervous. Still don't know what the infection is... but you know, as I said before, she's a sweetheart. 

And who among us hasn't needed a second chance? 

 

The right thing to do is never the easy thing and rarely do folks tell you its the smart thing.

Maybe that's how you know...

Yuval Noah Harari: Human rights are "just a fictional story"

by Scott Creighton

Of course there isn't a human rights organ in your body just like there isn't a spot in your foot that keeps us from kicking this little prick's ass next time we see him walking down the street.

Human rights have been fought for since time began, one way or the other, and of course, sycophants to the powerful elites like Yuval Harari have always pushed back saying our rights aren't granted by God or aren't legitimate concerns listed in the constitution or some such other nonsense.

So here he goes again saying the same shit.

Notice he also says national borders don't really exist and gives the US and Israel as examples.

Is he saying Israel is a made up thing and has no right to exist? Of course not. He's saying Israel's borders aren't defined like they actually have been since 1949 via the Green Line so Glorious Israel is justified in stealing everyone else's land.

He mentions the US borders because he believes in open borders like all other neoliberals who want cheap labor to drive down wages in the endless race to the bottom... the bottom in this case would be slavery... which owning slaves is only really taboo if you believe in things like...

... human rights.

See how that works?

 

Israel kills son of Hamas' chief negotiator with 'Board of Peace'

from Daily Sabah

An Israeli airstrike killed the son of Hamas’ chief negotiator in U.S.-mediated talks on Gaza’s future, a senior Hamas official said Thursday, as the group’s leaders met in Cairo to shore up a fragile truce with Israel.

Azzam al-Hayya, son of ⁠Khalil al-Hayya, succumbed to his injuries Thursday after being struck in an Israeli attack Wednesday night, said senior Hamas official ​Basim Naim. He is the fourth son of Hamas' ​exiled Gaza ⁠chief to have been killed in Israeli attacks.

The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment. 

Al-Hayya, who has seven children, has survived multiple Israeli attempts to kill him. An Israeli strike in Doha last year targeting Hamas leadership killed his son, though al-Hayya survived. Two other sons were killed in past Israeli attempts on his life, in Gaza strikes in 2008 and 2014.

Speaking to Al Jazeera after the attack Wednesday night, before his son's death was announced, ⁠Hayya ⁠accused Israel of trying to undermine mediators' efforts to push ahead with U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza plan, overseen by his so-called "Board of Peace."...

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IRGC says it will allow ‘safe, stable’ transit via Hormuz ‘with aggressor threats neutralized’

from PressTV

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced that transit through the Strait of Hormuz will gradually become safe and stable as the security situation in the Persian Gulf improves "with the aggressor's threats neutralized."

The IRGC Navy said in a post on its X account on Wednesday that it had seen a good level of compliance with its regulations from shipping companies and staff seeking to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

It said that Iran would allow a resumption of transit in the key waterway, which is responsible for a fifth of global oil demand, now that threats from the US and the Israeli regime against Iran are subsiding.

“We thank captains & shipowners in the Persian Gulf & Gulf of Oman for complying with Iran’s Strait of Hormuz regulations & contributing to regional maritime security. With the aggressor’s threats neutralized & new protocols in place, safe, stable passage through SOH will be ensured,” said the post...

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Saudi Arabia denied US access to airspace, pressured Trump to pause Project Freedom

from Jerusalem Post

US President Donald Trump’s decision to pause a US operation to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz came as a result of pressure from Saudi Arabia, according to an NBC News report citing two US officials.

According to the officials, the US’s allies among the Gulf states were surprised by Trump’s Sunday announcement of Project Freedom, which was launched on Monday. 

Saudi Arabian leadership informed the US that it would not allow US military aircraft to fly from the Saudi Prince Sultan Airbase or through Saudi airspace to carry out the effort to escort stranded vessels out of the strait, the report continued.

Trump attempted to resolve the issue with a call to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to no avail, the officials stated. Trump was then forced to halt the effort in order to regain US military access to the strategically critical airspace.

During the US’s Operation Epic Fury against Iran and before the ongoing temporary US-Iran ceasefire, Saudi Arabia allowed the US to fly aircraft from the Prince Sultan Airbase, at which the US military maintains fighter aircraft and air defenses...

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Saudi Arabia forced Trump to pause Project Freedom after suspending US access to bases and airspace

from the Independent

President Donald Trump dramatically backtracked on Project Freedom after just two days because its Gulf ally Saudi Arabia blocked access to its military bases and airspace, according to reports.

Just 48 hours after announcing the operation to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the US leader paused the initiative to enable negotiations between Washington and Tehran. Iran had attacked ships across the Gulf and struck a port in the UAE, on Tuesday.

It has now emerged that Trump’s decision to pause the operation was driven by complaints by Saudi Arabia, two US officials told NBC News.

Saudi Arabia’s leaders had been angered by the announcement and the government told the US it would not allow American military forces to fly aircraft through Prince Sultan Airbase, located southeast of its capital Riyadh.

Officials said the Kingdom denied access for any US aircraft to fly through Saudi airspace as part of Project Freedom...

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