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Can Democrats actually flip this red Kentucky district?

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Can Democrats actually flip this red Kentucky district?

Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) has locked down his House district for over a decade. Democrats think his Senate bid presents them an opening in a seat that has raced away from the party.

Kentucky’s 6th District — anchored by Lexington in the heart of the Bluegrass State — hasn’t elected a Democrat to Congress since Ben Chandler in 2010. Barr has held the seat since 2013 and has proven difficult to dislodge. The last time a Democrat came close was in 2018, when fundraising juggernaut Amy McGrath came within about 3 points of defeating him.

But Barr won his last reelection in 2024 by 26 points, outperforming President Donald Trump, who carried the district by 15 points according to calculations from The Downballot.

If Barr had sought another term, Democrats privately concede they stood little chance.

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But with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) retiring and Barr opting to run for his seat, a rare open seat is now in play — and firmly on Democrats’ target list.

In the Democratic primary, two candidates have emerged as frontrunners, according to national Democrats watching the race: Zach Dembo, a Navy veteran and former federal prosecutor, and Cherlynn Stevenson, a former Kentucky state representative. Each is offering a different theory for how to flip the deep-red district.

The question of how a Democrat could win the seat dominated a Democratic primary debate earlier this month, where candidates leaned on sharp criticisms of the Trump administration, ranging from its decision to strike Iran to affordability issues as a result of the president’s tariffs.

Stevenson has branded herself a “Mountain Democrat,” leaning into her Appalachian roots and pitching herself as someone who could mend the disconnect between the party and rural voters by focusing on cost-of-living pressures and access to affordable health care. She said her upbringing in a small mining town in eastern Kentucky and years living in Lexington allow her to bridge the district’s urban-rural divide.

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“Winning right here in Kentucky requires cultural fluency and trust,” Stevenson said in an interview. “I know how to talk to working families, rural communities and independents because I am one of those people.”

She’s also got experience flipping seats. She was the first woman and first Democrat elected to represent Kentucky’s 88th state House district, where she also served as state House minority caucus chair.

Dembo, meanwhile, is pitching himself as a “Beshear Democrat” — a nod to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who performed well in the 6th District during his 2023 reelection campaign.

“This is 100 percent a flippable district,” Dembo said in an interview, pointing to headwinds from “all of the terrible decisions of this Republican Congress.”

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He has emphasized his experience as a Navy JAG officer and former federal prosecutor, arguing his resume gives him crossover appeal in a Republican-leaning district. Dembo resigned from his position at the Justice Department during Trump’s second term, saying he could no longer remain in his role amid what he described as corruption and the Trump administration’s “abuse of the criminal justice system.”

Both Dembo and Stevenson have posted solid fundraising numbers. And Republicans have a contested primary as well, in a race that includes state Rep. Ryan Dotson and former state Sen. Ralph Alvarado.

“We’re giving Republicans a run for their money in places that they never thought they would have to compete before, and now they do,” said DCCC spokesperson Madison Andrus.

But the race will still be incredibly challenging for Democrats, even though the DCCC has had the seat on its “Red to Blue” battleground list. Kentucky’s federal delegation remains overwhelmingly GOP. The seat also got nominally redder during the post-2022 redistricting process, making it even tougher terrain than during McGrath’s close call in the last Trump administration midterms eight years ago.

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Most election watchers believe the seat is well outside the core House battleground as well, and it has not attracted notable outside spending, underscoring how steep the climb would be for Democrats to win even without an incumbent on the ballot.

Republicans dismissed the Democrats’ optimism outright.

“Democrats have been enjoying too much bourbon because their Kentucky 6 wishes are delusional,” said NRCC spokesperson Zach Bannon. “Republicans are poised to keep KY-06 red to retain and expand our majority.”

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Starmer lied, the UK is at war with Iran

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Starmer lied, the UK is at war with Iran

Keir Starmer’s government is playing an ever-increasing role in the destruction of Iran, despite his claims that the UK was “playing no role”.

The government’s lines about “regional defensive operations” are becoming harder to believe, as the UK’s actions appear to be contributing to the deaths of thousands of innocent Iranians.

British involvement under Starmer

Britain’s involvement began in January, when the UK and the US began moving weaponry to the Middle East.

According to Declassified UK:

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Britain moved “defensive assets” to Cyprus and Qatar in January and February “to ensure we were in a heightened state of readiness of any conflict beginning”, Starmer said last week.

The assets included fighter jets, air defence missiles, advanced radar and systems to take down drones.

Since then, the UK has allowed the US to use several of its air bases. The US has stationed one fleet of military planes at RAF Fairford in Gloucester.

But importantly, Starmer has only approved “defensive” US action from UK bases.

Despite this, the US military has been loading large explosives into B-1 Lancer bombers at the base.

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According to Declassified UK, US Planes have been passing through RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, both in Suffolk, as well as Prestwick civilian airport in Scotland.

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In total, over 100 fighter jets have left RAF Lakenheath for the Middle East since January.

At least one of the jets from Lakenheath was among those which crashed in Kuwait.

‘Reality of war’

British MP Sarah Sackman also claimed that the US strike, which murdered 165 little girls, was just a “reality of war“. The reality is actually more like an illegal and unprovoked attack, which violates international law.

Ultimately, this plays into the hands of the US and Israel. Instead of condemning their actions, Sackman has practically given the genocidal maniacs permission to continue.

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Starmer — Diego Garcia

The UK has a military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Importantly, the UK is illegally occupying the island.

In true British and US colonial fashion, both countries evicted the entire population to establish a joint UK — US military base which has operated since the 1970s.

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The US used it for strikes on Afghanistan from 2001, and both countries used it to bomb Iraq from 2003.  

Now it appears that a US submarine, operating from the base, was used to fire two torpedoes at the unarmed Iranian frigate. It then sank off the coast of Sri Lanka.

Clearly, that is not a defensive operation.

The UK is also allowing the US to use its military base on Cyprus – another country the UK previously colonised illegally.

The BBC reported that the UK was not allowing the US to use its bases in Cyprus for “defensive” strikes on Iranian missile sites. However, American U-2 spy planes are reportedly using the site.

The UK has also now sent HMS Dragon and two Wildcat helicopters to the eastern Mediterranean — supposedly to ‘protect’ RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.

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However, as the Canary previously reported:

The HMS Dragon is fitted with a Sea Viper missile system. It can launch eight missiles in under 10 seconds and guide up to 16 missiles simultaneously. Wildcat helicopters from the 815 Naval Air Squadron, equipped with Martlet missiles capable of taking out drones, will assist it.

On March 6, a British pilot flying from RAF Akrotiri shot down Iranian drones over Jordan, Qatar and Iraq.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence told the BBC:

Just this week, we have flown Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets on sorties around the region, shooting down Iranian drones and defending innocent civilians from Iran’s indiscriminate attacks.

Why aren’t we letting the US and Israel fight their own battles?

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Weapons

Additionally, the UK is still selling millions of pounds’ worth of weapons to Israel.

It provides around 15% of the components in the F-35 fighter jets, which Israel uses in airstrikes across Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.

According to Oxfam:

This includes the rear fuselage and active interceptor system, ejector seats, aircraft tyres, refuelling probe, laser targeting system, and the fan propulsion system.

The UK government supplies these parts to Israel via a global programme led by the US company Lockheed Martin.

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To make matters worse, the UK produces components for Israeli armed and surveillance drones. Factories in the UK make them and then send them to Israel for assembly. The drones are used for both spying missions and to attack civilians.

We can presume that the drones are also now being used to attack civilians in Lebanon and Iran.

From letting the US use British air bases to sending parts for fighter jets and drones to Israel, the UK is involved in Israel and the US’s illegal war against Iran, whether Starmer admits it or not.

Was it not bad enough that the UK was complicit in the murder of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza? Now, it’s also complicit in the murders of Iranians and Lebanese people.

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Starmer has even more blood on his hands.

Feature image via BFBS Forces News/YouTube

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Israel has no plan in the feckless war on Iran

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Israel has no plan in the feckless war on Iran

Israeli war criminals waging war on Iran, despite admitting to having no plan to beat Iran, will burn down the house and unleash chaos on the wider region. The heat is rising. Energy prices are soaring, ships are being rerouted, and we have even heard talks of maritime escort operations. So who cares if the general public opposes the conflict?

US-Israeli war threatens global oil supply

The massive spike in oil prices and the financial drain of a war whose first week cost USD 11 billion – US defence officials have admitted – has panicked Donald Trump. The arsonist who cried fire is now scrambling for an off-ramp, not to end suffering, but to save his purse, US finances, and the oil market.

But with the war killing 1,348 and injuring 17,000 in Iran, the IRGC-backed leadership wants to be sure the US and Israel think twice before launching another war like this.

Refusing to bow down to US-Israeli bullying, Iran has struck US allies in the Arabian Gulf. Missiles fired from Iran and Iraq – where it maintains proxies – have struck US military hardware, assets, and economic targets held by US allies in the region. This has left oil prices at a worryingly extreme high of $100 a barrel, forcing the International Energy Agency to order the release of emergency barrels.

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Soaring costs will likely have a big impact on global economic growth too. Iran, meanwhile, in a targeted message for the US and Israel to back down, has said:

Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security, which you have destabilised

What makes this even worse is that, despite Israel yearning for this war for decades, it knew the assault was only likely to do minimum damage to Iran and foment further anger.

“No clear plan for regime change”

A Guardian reporter in Jerusalem, Emma Graham-Harrison, spoke to Israeli security sources. She didn’t mention Israel’s genocide in Gaza or war crimes throughout the Middle East, but got some revealing admissions.

Citing these sources, Graham-Harrison said:

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say it was never realistic to expect an air war could immediately collapse the Iranian government or replicate the policy pivot forced on Caracas.

Instead, one argued, that was just “wishful thinking”. Another source with whom Graham-Harrison spoke believes that:

[a] popular uprising during war was always extremely unlikely.

Far from ending future possibilities of Iran seeking nuclear weapons (which Israel, on the other hand, already has), she said sources suggest:

The assassination of Ali Khamenei may have compounded the nuclear threat from Iran.

Khamenei had “for decades held off on… ordering construction of a weapon”, she continued. But the massive military aggression of the US and Israel may now have cemented in the minds of Iran’s leadership, she explained, that:

a nuclear deterrent is the only guarantee of survival.

Nonetheless, in Israel, across civil society and the security and intelligence apparatus, there appears to be overwhelming support for this war. Netanyahu favoured weakening Iran’s weapons stocks and devastating its economy – cognisant that it would unleash hell on the wider region (from which Israel is not immune). Not least, ordinary Iranians have borne the brunt of Western sanctions against Iranian officials and military actors.

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Israel, as the Guardian‘s sources suggest, seems likely to stay on course: war until the end. Israel doesn’t bother with the international rules-based order, which it repeatedly flouts. And firm support at home among Israeli society means that it’s business as usual. In other words, “a longer bombing campaign” is anticipated. As Graham-Harrison reported, Israel is:

willing to risk extending an open-ended conflict that began in Gaza and has lasted more than two years on shifting fronts, moving on to Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Yemen.

Critical voices must prevail

It’s clear that people in the UK and elsewhere in the West seriously doubt the reasoning behind the chaotic and devastating US-Israeli assault. And it seems X has even been drowning out these voices amidst the fog of war.

But polls continue to reveal that people keep opposing UK involvement in the mess its allies have created:

Even in the US, people distrust Donald Trump’s motives:

And in Europe, criticism is spreading too:

Whether social media platforms or establishment media outlets want to amplify public sentiment or not, the fact is there is massive opposition to the Iran war. And for the sake of peace and stability, we must fight to ensure ordinary voices prevail, and for war criminals to face the consequences.

Featured image via the Canary

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Rubio named as AIPAC asset in leaked conversation

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Rubio named as AIPAC asset in leaked conversation

Grayzone investigative journalist Max Blumenthal has obtained a leaked audio recording of Elliot Brandt, CEO of AIPAC, Israel’s biggest US lobbying group. In the recording, Brandt describes three politicians as tools for Israeli propaganda: Marco Rubio, now Donald Trump’s warmongering, Islamophobic secretary of state; deranged Israel fanatic congresswoman Elise Stefanik and former national security adviser, now US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, who was caught having secret war-planning meetings with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Isn’t that what a reasonable person would call treason? Watch below:

Featured image via the Canary

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TSSA rail union members organise demo against management

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TSSA rail union members organise demo against management

TSSA rail union members in revolt against the union management’s war on their democracy and branches have arranged a demonstration at the union’s HQ. The protest will take place on Tuesday 24 March from 5pm at Devonshire Square, London EC2M 4SQ.

The union’s deeply unpopular general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust moved, in February 2026, to disenfranchise all the union’s retired members — and boasted about it. Senior TSSA figures also said that she and her coterie lied to justify it and have put the union’s structures into collapse.

Worker and member revolt at TSSA

Eslamdoust claimed to be “proud” of what she had done, claiming that she was fulfilling the recommendations of the Kennedy Report, which exposed the bullying and sexual harassment of former general secretary Manuel Cortes and his cronies. Members and staff, furious at Eslamdoust’s endless war on union workers and member democracy, have not been shy about accusing Eslamdoust of propagating the abuses of the Cortes era rather than undoing them.

The Kennedy Report doesn’t say one word about closing retired branches.

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In fact, the report only mentions retired members — at all — a single time. It does not recommend closing their branches, instead saying that the union relies too heavily on them and needs to encourage more working members to take up positions.

It also notes that if working members are not actively engaged in the union, TSSA management can easily stitch up elections to key positions. Ironically, this was exactly how Eslamdoust was installed despite having no relevant experience. It is how her cronies have been kept in their positions despite huge election wins for their rivals.

Because of this risk, the report suggests that TSSA staff who are not TSSA members (most are GMB members, a union now de-recognised by Eslamdoust and her allies) must be allowed to challenge her for the top job. Rather than implement this, Eslamdoust declared war on the union’s branches that might organise and nominate against her.

Finally, for this foreword, I want the TSSA to examine its democratic standing and traditions. It appears that engagement at branch level is dwindling and is heavily orientated towards retired members. This can present a real problem. Not only because it detaches the leadership from the reality of the current world of work as it is being experienced by members, but also because it means there is no healthy throughput of talent to key roles within the organisation. Only TSSA members can stand for election to General Secretary (GS), the most powerful role in the union. The most likely candidate to be successful in a GS election is someone who knows the organisation inside and out – i.e. a staff member. Very few staff members belong to the TSSA. So, GS elections are, to all intents and purposes, uncontested (or are notionally contested by candidates who have little prospect of winning). A key individual is seen to be ‘groomed’ for the post by the small number of senior managers who hold power, and that individual is then ‘crowned.

That’s all clear enough — and not remotely what the management claims. So to try to persuade furious members that it is, Eslamdoust’s ally John Rees sent an email to retired members claiming that the change is “fully aligned” with Kennedy’s recommendations. And to embellish the claim, he added that it was “comprehensively and fully accepted” by the union’s annual conference after its publication:

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This change is fully aligned with the recommendations of the Kennedy Report, which was comprehensively and fully accepted by TSSA Annual Conference in 2023. The report set out a clear direction to consolidate retired members’ structures in order to strengthen representation, improve consistency, and ensure long-term sustainability.

Eslamdoust’s ‘wreckord’

In 2024, Eslamdoust and her allies wrecked the TSSA’s annual conference and blocked a planned no-confidence vote against her.

But this is just the tip of a very large iceberg of member, rep and staff disgust with their ‘leader’. The TSSA has been embroiled for years in strikes because of the union workers’ fury at Eslamdoust’s attacks on them and their GMB union reps, both public and private. The attacks culminated, in January 2026, with Eslamdoust de-recognising GMB as the workplace union — an outrageous move for a union boss, and one that came after Eslamdoust told the Guardian that she is only being criticised because she is female.

That demand for special treatment failed — and TSSA members and staff are now taking their fight to the public square right outside her front door.

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US tanker crashes as media parrot same line on Russia

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US tanker crashes as media parrot same line on Russia

A US military refuelling plane has crashed in Iraq. All of the six crew members are confirmed dead. An Iran-backed group in Iraq has claimed responsibility, according to Reuters. Yet unverified rumours of a midair collision are circulating.

Open source account Osint Defender posted an image of the surviving KC-135 Stratotanker at an airport in Israel. The image appeared to show damage to the aircraft’s tail:

US officials have denied the crash was due to enemy fire:

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Two aircraft were involved in the incident One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely. This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.

Press discipline

Meanwhile UK press discipline is fully intact. Numerous outlets uncritically quoted defence secretary John Healy’s claim that Russia was secretly supporting Iran after an attack on foreign bases in Iraq.

The Guardian, Mirror, Sky, Huffpost UK and the BBC (plus various international outlets) all leant heavily on the term ‘hidden hand’ from Healey’s speech on 12 March.

The Guardian, for example, said:

Vladimir Putin’s “hidden hand” lies behind Iran’s military methods, the UK defence secretary has said, after a night in which drones struck a base used by western forces in Erbil, northern Iraq.

They also cited a UK general:

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Lt Gen Nick Perry, the chief of joint operations, told Healey as he visited the UK’s military command centre in Northwood it appeared that Russia had since passed back tactical advice to Iran and its proxies on how to deploy them.

No firm evidence of hands (hidden or otherwise) was produced from what the Canary can see. One of the bases struck in Iraq houses UK special forces troops, it was reported. A French army officer seems to have been killed in the same  attack – or series of attacks – in Iraq:

Media analysts Media Lens said:

This sort of reporting is fast becoming a habit. On 7 March, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Times claimed the drone which hit a UK base in Cyprus on 1 March contained a Russian component. They did so without presenting any evidence or even stating who had told them.

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Clearly, Iran and Russia are allies and exchange tactics and technology – as do the US and UK. What this looks like – given no evidence has been presented – is manufacturing consent around Russia, rather in the style of George W. Bush’s 2003 ‘axis of evil’ rhetoric. The Canary, however, likes to see some receipts before uncritically parroting UK government claims.

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MAGA camp splinters over Iran war

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MAGA camp splinters over Iran war

The confusion and fear over Trump’s illegal war on Iran are fuelling anger, even in his own ranks in the MAGA camp.

MAGA podcaster Joe Rogan has called Trump’s war plan ‘insane,’ as military families are flooding hotlines, desperate to avoid deployment. The fallout is now reaching areas Trump likely never expected to be touched.

Disquiet on the home front

US army veteran Mike Pryzner of the Center on Conscience and War, says service members are flooding his hotline.

In an interview with journalist Rania Khalek, Pryzner spoke of hundreds of calls his organisation has received in under a week, mostly from active-duty troops. Some are from guard and reserve units being activated. Others haven’t received orders yet but are worried they will.

Pryzner explained that the real danger of a ground war is that it never ends. He pointed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam. Once you commit troops, even a small number, that number keeps growing. Then administrations won’t take responsibility for failure. They just kick it to the next one. That’s how you get endless war.

He also warned about who is in charge now. The same people who think the Iraq war was too soft, too “woke.” He called them monsters with no regard for human life. People who revel in killing civilians. A ground war means soldiers would have that on their conscience for the rest of their lives.

He pointed to the bombing of oil reserves as an example. He compared it to dropping a biological or chemical weapon on millions of civilians. The long term health impact would be catastrophic. His point was simple: don’t expect anything to get better. The question soldiers need to ask themselves is whether they can take part in a debacle led by terrible people at the top.

Joe Rogan feels betrayed

Even MAGA podcaster Joe Rogan has turned on Trump.  Rogan said that Trump’s supporters feel ‘betrayed’ by the  war on Iran,

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“Right, he’s 80, he doesn’t have much to lose. That’s the scary thing about old leaders — it’s like, death is imminent. It’s within a decade, if you’re lucky,” Rogan said. “That’s spooky.”

Who are the winners?

Pryzner said there is one group that is happy about all of this. A religious extremist faction inside the military—what he called a “crusader faction”—has been pushing for this war. They are the same people who think the Iraq war was not brutal enough.

For instance, the U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has got a kafir/كافر (infidel) tattoo under his Deus Vult tattoo  a Crusader slogan.

So, where do we currently stand?

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US soldiers are begging to get out. The MAGA podcasters call the president insane. And the men with Crusader tattoos seemingly are the winners of Trump’s second term.

Featured image via the Canary

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PSNI funding genocide via Israeli company

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PSNI funding genocide via Israeli company

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have confirmed they are financing occupation, apartheid and genocide by funnelling £5.5 million into the coffers of an ‘Israeli’ firm. The Ditch report that the Six Counties (a term for the North of Ireland) force have a seven year contract with the company. It started in November 2019 and will terminate in the same month this year.

However, the PSNI are refusing to provide any further details about the company or the nature of the contract. They cite “national security” fears as the reason, the catch-all term relied upon by government departments when they don’t want embarrassing info getting out. Not only that, but the police force acknowledge they are actively trying to protect the profits of the Zionist land thieves:

A release under Freedom of Information is considered a release into the public domain and would therefore be a release in effect to other competitors. Disclosing the winning bid proposal in this matter would provide an advantage to rival businesses and undermine the main contractor’s trading ability to tender for future contracts.

PSNI breaking BDS

Good – undermining the trading ability of Zionist companies is exactly what everyone should be doing. It is a key way of holding to account the rogue, terrorist pseudo-state, when Western ruling classes refuse to do so.

It is called for the the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to do in the Zionist entity in the same way boycotting wrecked the racist regime of apartheid South Africa. Boycotting Zionist tech is especially crucial, given the key role it plays in the military-industrial-genocide complex of so-called ‘Israel’.

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The PSNI elaborated on their “national security” worries by saying that releasing further information:

…would likely… endanger the physical or mental health or safety of individual officers.

They added:

Confirming or denying the existence of such arrangements on a blanket nationality basis could enable adversaries to build an intelligence picture across policing (the ‘mosaic effect’) and would be likely to prejudice law enforcement and/or national security functions.

If the firm is deeply tied into the Zionist entity’s recent mass slaughter campaigns, revealing its name would bring additional reputational damage to the PSNI. Though surprise, surprise – they don’t cite this as one of their reasons for refusing further details.

The PSNI have previously acknowledged they are looking into privacy breaching face scanner systems, known as Live Facial Recognition Technology (LFRT). British police have adopted the Zionist-made Corsight AI system as part of their roll-out of the notoriously unreliable tech. It is therefore possible that this firm is the one contracted by the PSNI. The company was founded in 2019, the same year the PSNI’s contract with the mystery apartheid firm started.

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The force has a long history of backing the Zionist entity

The Ditch also point out a 2021 report by The Detail which highlights the North of Ireland force’s previous involvement with Zionist terrorists. At the time, they reported:

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is working on at least four security research projects which involve the Israeli ministry responsible for police and prisons, or a company providing surveillance to Israeli settlements.

The ‘Israeli’ prison complex is a gulag system used for mass torture, rape, murder, and molestation of children. Settlements – better described simply as ‘stolen land’ – are part of the ongoing project of illegal dispossession of Palestinian territory that has gone on for a century and more. The PSNI has seen it as perfectly fine to funnel money into ensuring that continues, even now in the wake of a holocaust.

The force has essentially operated as a proxy of the Zionist entity – launching frivolous prosecutions of peaceful activists; assisting in mass arrests violating free speech of anti-genocide campaigners; and just recently, abducting a Belfast campaigner from his home and falsely imprisoning him.

Clearly the PSNI don’t want further highlighting of their Zionist sympathies revealed through details of their exact current relationships with law-breaking Zionist companies. However, their systematic and sustained attempt to eliminate peaceful and lawful anti-holocaust resistance in the North of Ireland and England has proven beyond all doubt where they stand.

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Israel is ‘cruel’ and ‘deadly’ says US political scientist

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Israel is 'cruel' and 'deadly' says US political scientist

American political scientist and professor John Mearsheimer warned in an interview that if Israel starts losing its war on Iran, it will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons.

He described Israel as the most ruthless state on the planet and warned that its influence in Washington has dragged the US into a war it never should have fought.

Israel have Trump in the palm of their hand

On the one hand – Mearsheimer describes Trump as a unilateralist who rejects international law and treats allies with contempt in the interview.

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However, Mearsheimer suggests that Netanyahu has such a powerful hold on him that Trump’s unilateralist, deal-making persona can’t stand up to the pressure from the Israel lobby.

His damning judgement on Israel was shared by social media users.

Furkan Gözükara described it as the “ultimate nightmare scenario” to emphasize that, according to Mearsheimer, a nuclear strike represents the absolute worst  outcome.

Iran won’t back down

In the interview, Mearsheimer stated that Israel’s goal is to “wreck” Iran.

He also pointed out that last year’s 12-day war ended because the Israelis and Americans decided to stop—not the Iranians.

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In the current conflict, because the war poses an existential threat to the Iranian state, Mearsheimer argued that Iran can play the “long game.” He noted that they have enough short-range missiles and drones to sustain a prolonged conflict.

Other Mearsheimer clips are gaining traction on X, including his reference to a Lancet report stating that between 1971 and 2021, the U.S. murdered 38 million people through sanctions.

As damning as Mearsheimer’s critique of Trump is, his judgment on Israel cuts far deeper.

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DWP trot out excuses for their Access to Work failure

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DWP trot out excuses for their Access to Work failure

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has insinuated that employers are abusing Access to Work. All so they don’t have to employ further staff or pay for reasonable adjustments.

Top DWP civil servants gave evidence at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and National Audit Office’s (NAO) joint inquiry into Access to Work. The department has rightly come under scrutiny for completely fucking up the scheme, which is supposed to help disabled people stay in work.

The department came under fire for not only horrendous delays to accessing the scheme, but how much they’re completely stripping away previously agreed support.

DWP blames employers for Access to Work failures

However, this is the DWP, so they had an excuse. And as expected it’s complete fucking bollocks. Instead of admitting that they’re cutting support to save a few quid, they blamed employers.

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DWP permanent secretary Peter Schofield said one of the problems was employers expecting Access to Work to provide things that should be covered under reasonable adjustments such as “ergonomic chairs”. Which to be fair, big employers should pay for, but it could also be a hindrance to employ a disabled person for smaller employers.

But then he also made an even worse claim:

The support worker plays a massively important role for so many customers, but we were seeing job aides whose role was not to help level the playing field up for customers with disabilities, but more to do a task that would be something that actually an employer would normally take on an additional employer to do.

So it was sort of misusing the scheme in a way that was inappropriate.

To put it clearly, the DWP is accusing employers of getting government-funded support workers instead of paying an extra employee.

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He then explained this more explicitly

You can just imagine in a busy office environment what exactly is your role? I mean, are you doing this really important support work that was described by this customer in this case study, or are you doing something that is actually enabling the employer to avoid having to employ an extra person on the taxpayer’s expense?

And there it is, the reminder that disabled people are scrounging off the taxpayer. This, coupled with comments on the “changing nature of disability” and eligiblity reminds you what the DWP truly thinks of disabled people.

Neil Couling proving he’s still the worst person at the DWP

Of course, Neil Couling couldn’t resist getting in on this. Couling is most recently known for saying the carers allowance was carers own fault, actually.

He made an even wilder claim about employers abusing the system:

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I’ve seen applications coming from big employers who, they literally have an access to work department, their job is in funnelling claims to DWP, I mean, at one level, I don’t mind that, if they also have a bigger reasonable adjustments team, they’re looking at what they can do in their own department under the Equalities Act, to do what they should be doing already.

He also attempted to justify why so many are now seeing their funding cut. Couling said:

We were making mistakes on cases in 23, 24, as we attempted to clear that backlog, as Peter suggested, in too much of a hurry,

So those cases are coming up now for renewal, and they are producing lower awards, and people are saying, ‘Why have I got a lower award? Nothing has changed in my life.’

But we’d wrongly gave them a job aide, normally for 100% of the time, and we should have given them about 20% of the time. Because the job aides are not designed to do the work, they’re meant to support, lift the disabled person to the same level of… an employee.

The end of this part here was truly bizarre to watch. Couling seemingly meant ‘nondisabled person’, not employee, but struggled to find the word. I’ve edited it out for clarity in the quote, but he actually said

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lift the disabled person to the same level of a, of a, umm yknow, of an an employee.

I can only speculate, but it appeared like his internal monologue was going ‘don’t say normal person, don’t say normal person!’

They just doesn’t care about disabled people

They also couldn’t resist a sly dig at neurodivergent and mental health conditions. Speaking on the subject, Bill Thorpe, DWP director for disability and health support said:

It’s a kind of societal phenomenon that is very challenging. The Department for Health and Social Care are looking at this in their review into prevalence and what’s the best approach to support people.

The review he’s referring to here is Streeting’s obsession with overdiagnosis, which was disproven last week by thirty-two experts. It’s also happening at the same time that the DWP is working to tighten eligibility criteria for PIP.

It’s clear from the DWP’s evidence that they still don’t hold the tiniest shred of guilt or shame over the way they treat disabled people. The DWP don’t actually care about fixing their problems to best support disabled people, they’d much rather make it everyone else’s fault. But they’d especially rather use any way they can to tear down the very people they’re supposed to support

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Featured image via the Canary

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Israeli war criminal threatens genocide

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Israeli war criminal threatens genocide

Indicted war criminal Yoav Gallant has issued a new call for genocide in Lebanon during an appearance on Israeli TV.

He said that, in Lebanon, Israel needed to:

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Eliminate everything that exists in Dahiya, Baalbek, Tyre, Sidon, Nabatieh, everywhere.

Israel is telling the world exactly what it is going to do to Lebanon.

It sounds a little bit like, erm, war crimes?

And it’s exactly what it did to Gaza.

International arrest warrant for man threatening Lebanon

Yoav Gallant is the former Minister of Defence of Israel, and the International Criminal Court currently has a warrant out for his arrest – along with one for Benjamin Netanyahu.

The charges against him are that he is:

Allegedly responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.

In other words, genocide.

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He also described Israel’s three goals against Iran. Importantly, the third goal is “command and control” because powerful white men love nothing more than controlling black and brown people.

This is the same war criminal who threatened Palestinians during Ramadan in 2024.

On October 9, 2023, Gallant said publicly:

I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.

He made his genocidal intentions for Gaza clear from the start – and still, the world stood idly by.

He is nothing but a war criminal.

Now, Gallant is making public statements about Israel’s intentions for Lebanon. Once again, the world is siding with Israel, despite watching the settler-colonial terrorist state indiscriminately kill for years.

The Dahiya doctrine

Israel is no stranger to using disproportionate force.

The Dahiya Doctrine is an Israeli military doctrine that calls for the use of massive, disproportionate force and the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure. Genocide is literally written into Israeli military doctrine.

Would any other state (except the US!) get away with such a violent military policy?

It seems the more Israel gets a taste of its own medicine, the more it tries to prove a point by eliminating innocent people.

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Yet still, Western governments want us to believe that Hamas and Hezbollah are the bad guys. Meanwhile, Trump and his pals are getting away with raping children:

But the biggest terror cell is Israel – and it’s using the same genocidal rhetoric we’ve seen for years in Gaza.

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Over and over again, Israeli politicians tell the world what they are going to do. The media ignores it, refuses to use the word genocide and then watches as Israel exterminates thousands of people and displaces even more.

Israel does not want to free Lebanon from Hezbollah, or women from the Iranian regime. It wants genocide, blood, and death.

And let’s not forget they’re doing all of this during Ramadan – showing once again how little regard Israel has for Muslim lives.

Featured image via Sky News/YouTube 

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