Iran Launches Ballistic Missiles at Critical UK-U.S. Strategic Airbase

Iran attempted to strike Diego Garcia, the Indian Ocean island base critically enabling U.S. strikes, with a pair of ballistic missiles.

Tehran launched what is believed to be an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) for the first time in an apparent bid to take out the runway at Diego Garcia. The joint British-American base in the Indian Ocean is a critical fulcrum for Western power projection in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, supporting the largest and heaviest bomber missions as well as warships.

Broadcaster CNN claims to have been told by a U.S. defence source that the attempted attack took place on Friday, but that both missiles failed to find their targets and there was no damage or injuries. Britain’s Daily Telegraph states that one of the missiles spontaneously failed mid-flight, and the second was brought down by an interceptor missile fired by a warship.

Unlike cruise missiles, which reach their targets by flying on a relatively flat trajectory through the atmosphere and often hugging the ground to confound anti-missile defences, ballistic missiles fly up into the outer atmosphere or near space before plunging back to Earth. This flight path makes them harder to intercept and, if destroyed while returning to earth, can still spread wreckage travelling at extremely high speed onto and around the intended target. (Read more from “Iran Launches Ballistic Missiles at Critical UK-U.S. Strategic Airbase” HERE)

Trump Asks ‘Why Didn’t You Tell Me About Pearl Harbor’ When Japanese Reporter Brings Up Lack of Warning on Iran

President Donald Trump on Thursday had a viral response for a Japanese reporter who asked why the United States did not give Japan advance warning of Operation Epic Fury.

During Trump’s bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae in the Oval Office, the reporter asked him, “Why didn’t you tell U.S. allies in Europe and Asia, like Japan, about the war before attacking Iran?”

“One thing you don’t want to signal too much. You know, when we go in, we went in very hard. We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise,” he said. “Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?”

“You believe in surprise, I think much more so than us, and we had to surprise them, and we did,” Trump added. “And because of that surprise… in the first two days, we probably knocked out…much more than what we anticipated doing. If I go and tell everybody about it, there’s no longer a surprise.”

Moments earlier, Trump commended Japan for “stepping up to the plate” on Iran while taking a dig at North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries. (Read more from “Trump Asks ‘Why Didn’t You Tell Me About Pearl Harbor’ When Japanese Reporter Brings Up Lack of Warning on Iran” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Ghislaine Maxwell ‘Imposter’ Bombshell as Top Surgeon Claims Jailed Ex-Madam Is a ‘Completely Different Person’

Recently released footage of Ghislaine Maxwell’s long-awaited congressional deposition has one top plastic surgeon wondering if that person is really the woman who once trafficked young girls for s– fiend Jeffrey Epstein, RadarOnline.com can reveal. . .

Beverly Hills board-certified plastic surgeon Michael Zarrabi is among them. He says side-by-side photo comparisons show “two completely different people” with “so many stark differences” between the images.

“You can see that the shape of the face has changed and the nose looks completely different,” he examined, before pointing out Maxwell’s eyelids appeared to be altered as well.

“Before, she had very heavy-set eyelids and a very low eyelid crease. And now it looks like she may have had plastic surgery of her upper eyelids.”

Zarabbi stressed if Maxwell’s new look isn’t from plastic surgery, there can be only one other option: “This is a completely different person.” (Read more from “Ghislaine Maxwell ‘Imposter’ Bombshell as Top Surgeon Claims Jailed Ex-Madam Is a ‘Completely Different Person’” HERE)

Trump’s Fiery Response to NATO Allies over Strait of Hormuz: ‘They will do nothing for us’

President Trump put NATO allies on notice Tuesday after they shunned his request for assistance in keeping the Strait of Hormuz open for international shipping.

Trump, both publicly and on social media, lashed out at European allies – including France and the UK – for their refusal to help and implied their defiance would have broader repercussions for the entire alliance.

“It’s certainly something that we should think about,” he told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if he would remove the United States from NATO. “I don’t need Congress for that decision, as you probably know, I can make that decision myself.”

The president has never been a fan of the Cold War era alliance, complaining, since his first term in office, that its members don’t pay an equitable share of dues and are too dependent on the U.S. for protection.

“I’m very disappointed in NATO, very disappointed,” he said. “We spend trillions of dollars on NATO. Think of it, trillions over the years, many trillions of dollars. It’s one of the reasons we have deficits.” (Read more from “Trump’s Fiery Response to NATO Allies over Strait of Hormuz: ‘They will do nothing for us’” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Rare Cause of Death Revealed for Newly Elected Mayor who Collapsed during Town Hall Meeting

A newly elected Idaho mayor was killed by a rare cardiac complication he suffered during a town hall meeting, the coroner confirmed Thursday.

City of Nampa Mayor Rick Hogaboam, 47, collapsed mid-speech during the Treasure Valley Partnership in Eagle on Wednesday evening.

Eagle Mayor Brad Pike, a former firefighter, was the first to attempt CPR. A coalition of cops, fire crew and medics rushed to unsuccessfully treat Hogaboam. He died at the scene.

His death was caused by a cardiac tamponade, the Ada County coroner said.

The complication, typically found in two out of every 10,000 people, is the buildup of blood or fluid around the heart that prevents the muscles from pumping blood properly, according to the Cleveland Clinic. (Read more from “Rare cause of death revealed for newly elected mayor who collapsed during town hall meeting” HERE)

Hegseth Confirms He wants $200B to Restock America’s Bombs, Missiles Post-Iran War: ‘It takes money to kill bad guys’

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth appeared to confirm Thursday that the Trump administration is contemplating asking Congress to approve $200 billion in supplemental defense funding amid the war in Iran.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon had asked the White House to make the $200 billion request to lawmakers in order to replenish America’s munitions stockpile, though it was not clear when or whether the Trump administration would decide to do so.

“As far as the $200 billion, I think that number could move, obviously,” Hegseth told reporters. “It takes money to kill bad guys. So we’re going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we’re properly funded for what’s being done.”

The amount requested is believed to be far beyond what the US has actually expended so far in its sweeping bombing campaign to cripple the Iranian regime, indicating a wider goal of beefing up America’s defense industrial base amid fears that the ability to rapidly produce weapons domestically has degraded over time.

“An investment like this is meant to say, ‘Hey, we’ll replace anything that was spent.’ And now … we’re reviving our defense industrial base and rebuilding the arsenal of freedom,” Hegseth added. (Read more from “Hegseth confirms he wants $200B to restock America’s bombs, missiles post-Iran war: ‘It takes money to kill bad guys’” HERE)

US War Stocks Getting Destroyed by War, Iran has Shot Down a Staggering 10% of US Reaper Drones

More than a dozen unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drones have been lost in combat as part of operations against Iran, two U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News.

The Reaper drones were lost either to Iranian missiles or were destroyed on the ground by incoming fire. . .

The loss of this number of Reapers is indicative of how many of these key unmanned aircraft must be operating as part of the U.S. operations against Iran.

The Air Force announced its final five-year purchasing contract for Reapers in 2020, and manufacturer General Atomics closed the production line last year after building 575 of them. The final lot cost about $16 million each when purchased in a batch of four, according to C. Mark Brinkley, a General Atomics spokesman. (Read more from “US War Stocks Getting Destroyed by War, Iran has Shot Down a Staggering 10% of US Reaper Drones” HERE)

Drones Hovering above Rubio and Hegseth’s Homes Leave Military Officials Baffled

A series of “unidentified” drones have been spotted hovering over the Washington D.C. military base where Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth live, prompting the U.S. government to consider relocating them.

The military is closely monitoring potential threats to senior government figures amid the Trump administration’s war on Iran, but according to a Washington Post report, the origin of the drones that have breached the airspace above Fort Lesley J. McNair remains a mystery.

The newspaper spoke to three people briefed on the matter, who, on condition of anonymity, said multiple sightings occurred on a single night within the past 10 days, prompting an immediate security review and a White House meeting on how to respond.

The incidents come at a moment of heightened alert as the U.S. and Israel continue striking Iran and the drone activity over McNair coincides with a broader tightening of security across the U.S. military.

Several domestic bases have raised their force‑protection levels to “Charlie,” a designation used when commanders have intelligence indicating a possible attack. Joint Base McGuire‑Dix‑Lakehurst in New Jersey and MacDill Air Force Base in Florida – home to U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations against Iran – were both escalated to Charlie this week. (Read more from “Drones Hovering above Rubio and Hegseth’s Homes Leave Military Officials Baffled” HERE)

Turns out Mar-a-Lago Wasn’t Overvalued, Tish

Forbes just estimated the value of Mar-a-Lago at about $560 million, again exposing the fakery in New York state Attorney General Tish James’ 2023 civil fraud persecution of President Trump.

James argued that Trump had wildly inflated the value of the resort and other properties to get better loan terms from Deutsche Bank.

Democratic hack Judge Arthur Engoron agreed, calling Trump’s half-billion-dollar estimate for the Palm Beach palace “an overvaluation of at least 2,300%, compared to the assessor’s appraisal.”

Bogus assumption No. 1 was that tax assessments reflect real market value; No. 2, that a sophisticated global powerhouse like Deutsche Bank would ever take a borrower’s word for what his assets are worth.

As National Review’s Andrew McCarthy notes, Forbes’ new list of billionaires bumped Trump into the ranks of the 1,000 richest people in the world, partly based on valuing the president’s Xanadu in the ballpark of Trump’s “original fraudulent” estimate. (Read more from “Turns out Mar-a-Lago Wasn’t Overvalued, Tish” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Megyn Kelly Fumes at Trump’s Revenge Plot

Megyn Kelly has warned that President Donald Trump’s apparent revenge campaign against internal critics could devastate Republican turnout in the midterms.

The right-wing podcaster lit up social media after news broke that Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, is under federal investigation for allegedly leaking classified information. Kent, 45, had just resigned in protest at Trump’s war on Iran—the first senior Trump administration official to do so. According to Semafor, the investigation predates his exit.

Before the probe became public, Kent, a former Green Beret, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show to reject Trump’s claim that Iran had posed an imminent threat, the central justification for the war that has cost the lives of 13 U.S. service members and an estimated 1,5000 Iranians.

Kelly’s response to the probe into Kent was unambiguous. “You wanna rip the GOP apart right to its core and prevent a single America First voter from participating in the midterms?” she posted on X Wednesday. “Indict Joe Kent and Tucker Carlson. See how that works out.”

She argues that pursuing Kent and Carlson—two figures with deep credibility among the anti-interventionist wing of the MAGA coalition—would look to America First voters like Trump using the justice system to silence dissent over a war he was never supposed to start. The result, she warned, would be a suppressed Republican turnout in the midterms. (Read more from “Megyn Kelly Fumes at Trump’s Revenge Plot” HERE)