“…A murder of crows was seen over Tel Aviv on Tuesday, with netizens quickly linking it to prophecies of doomsday. Thousands of these birds took over the city’s skyline, hovering and circling over buildings. Videos showing the crows went viral as people watched the scene aghast, wondering if it could mean something amid the ongoing Iran war and the Middle East crisis. Others wrote that the eerie scene was a sign of impending disaster. The scene was not ordinary as the crows appeared to form black clouds. Residents watched the birds as the sheer number left them stunned. On social media, people called the eerie scene a “harbinger of doom”, as a user wrote on X, it is “often followed by total catastrophe”. Others linked it to biblical prophecy and cited a verse from the Bible’s Book of Revelation 19:17. They claimed it describes “an angel standing in the sun, shouting to birds flying in midair to gather for the great supper of God.”…”
US army raises upper age for recruits to 42 and scraps marijuana restrictions
“…The changes in army policy come as the US continues to wage war upon Iran, with the Pentagon moving about 2,000 paratroopers and about 4,500 marines to the region in recent days.
US lawmakers have been asked to provide another $200bn in funding for the Iran conflict, which continues despite Donald Trump’s assertion it has been “won”, which would further add to a Pentagon budget that is already more than $900bn…”
FCC imposes sweeping ban on foreign-made routers, affecting all new models
“…The prohibition applies to both US and foreign companies that produce routers outside the US. Foreign production includes “any major stage of the process through which the device is made, including manufacturing, assembly, design, and development.”
“This action means that new models of foreign-produced routers will no longer be eligible for marketing or sale in the US,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr wrote on X. “The determination included an exemption for routers that the Department of War (DoW) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have granted ‘Conditional Approval’ after finding that such device or devices do not pose such unacceptable risks.”
Router makers seeking conditional approvals must submit, among other things, a “justification on why any foreign manufactured router is not currently manufactured in the United States, including why these foreign sources were selected and whether alternatives exist,” and a “detailed, time-bound plan to establish or expand manufacturing in the United States.”…”
Pentagon Wants It to Be Illegal for Reporters to Ask “Unauthorized” Questions
“…Most discussion of the Pentagon’s restrictions has focused on their conditions for reporters to receive press credentials, which the Pentagon says can be revoked if reporters publish “unauthorized” information. That policy is wildly unconstitutional on its own, and every mainstream outlet gave up their press passes rather than sign on, leaving war coverage inside the Pentagon to the likes of Turning Point USA’s Frontlines and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s LindellTV streaming service.
But the Pentagon’s legal filings imply that reporters who don’t follow the rules risk more than their press passes. On March 12, the DOJ filed a brief to clarify its lawyers’ earlier comments in a discussion with Friedman at a hearing of “whether asking a question was a criminal act.” The government argued that although journalists may lawfully ask questions of “authorized” Pentagon personnel, “a journalist does solicit the commission of a criminal act, and that solicitation is not protected by the First Amendment, when he or she solicits … non-public information from individuals who are legally obligated not to disclose that information.”
There you have it. What was once a fringe, failed legal theory concocted by some local cops in one Texas border city is now the official position of the federal government’s lawyers, which it felt compelled to put in writing in case anyone wasn’t sure where it stood after the hearing. Both the rogue cops and the DOJ’s lawyers contend that journalists merely asking questions to government officials constitutes unlawful solicitation…”
Human waste backing up in basements is a gut-churning sign of US infrastructure problems
“…The January collapse of a pipe as wide as a car dumped so much sewage into the Potomac River that officials tracked a spike of gut-wrenching bacteria drifting slowly past Washington for weeks, prompting an emergency declaration and federal assistance.
It was a disaster of historic scale — 244 million gallons (924 million liters) spilled — spotlighting the severe consequences of old, failing infrastructure. But smaller sewer overflows that draw far less notice are common. Tens of thousands occur every year across the U.S., contaminating rivers, flooding streets and sometimes causing backups into homes that threaten human health…”
Study finds ChatGPT gets science wrong more often than you think
“…A new study put ChatGPT to the test by asking it to judge whether hundreds of scientific hypotheses were true or false—and the results were far from reassuring. While the AI got it right about 80% of the time on the surface, its performance dropped significantly when accounting for random guessing, revealing only modest reasoning ability. Even more concerning, it frequently contradicted itself when asked the exact same question multiple times, sometimes flipping answers back and forth…”
War Watch: Not According to Prophecy—or Plan
“…The regular flow of 20% of the world’s global oil production has been stopped dead in its tracks.
Even worse, the flow of 30% of global urea production has been stopped dead in its tracks. Urea is crucial to the production of powerful artificial chemical fertilizer under the Haber-Bosch process. And those fertilizers are absolutely essential for the growth of the miracle fast-reproducing strains of grain and rice developed by the great American agronomist Norman Borlaug 60 years ago.
Today, the global population stands at 8.3 billion, 40 percent of whom—more than 3.3 billion people—are absolutely dependent on the basic food staples grown by fertilizers produced by the Haber-Bosch process.
As noted, U.S. strategist and commentator Colonel Larry Johnson warned on the “Capitals Uncovered” podcast hosted by Anglo-Swedish journalist Pelle Neroth-Taylor and me last week, unless that fertilizer flow is rapidly restored, global grains and rice production will collapse catastrophically by the end of this year, and global famine on an unprecedented scale will threaten…”
UN Expert Warns Torture Has Become ‘State Doctrine’ In Israel, Making Prisons Instruments Of Genocide And Torture
“…Israel’s systematic torture of Palestinians, long shielded by decades of impunity and political cover, has become a defining instrument of ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory, a UN expert warned today.
(…)
Albanese said policies imposed by senior officials, including the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, have institutionalised torture, collective punishment and manifestly dehumanising conditions of detention.
(…)
The report by the Special Rapporteur finds that torture extends beyond prison walls. Through relentless bombardment, forced displacement, starvation, the destruction of homes, hospitals and infrastructure, pervasive surveillance, and terror inflicted by soldiers and settler terror militias, Israel has created what the report calls a “torturous environment” across the entire occupied Palestinian territory…”
U.S. Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford Might Be Out of Action for 14 Months
“…The immediate trigger for the ship’s withdrawal was the March 12 fire, which originated in the ship’s laundry facilities and spread through adjacent areas. The incident affected roughly 100 berths and resulted in nearly 200 sailors being treated for smoke exposure, with at least one requiring evacuation.
Although the Navy confirmed that propulsion systems were unaffected and the carrier remained operational, the scale of the incident forced a reassessment of the ship’s condition.
The fire isn’t the only reason the repairs are required – it’s really just the straw that broke the camel’s back. It came after months of high operational tempo and known system issues, with no chance for maintenance.
Could It Be 14 Months of Repairs?
Under normal conditions, post-deployment maintenance for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier can take several months, even without major damage. Historical examples show that complex overhauls or major repair periods can extend well beyond a year, depending on scope and system upgrades.
In the case of Ford, several factors point to it being a longer timeline. First, the ship is a first-in-class platform with known challenges across multiple systems, meaning maintenance is already going to be more complex. Second, the extended deployment has created a backlog of deferred work that must now be addressed in a single maintenance period. Third, the fire itself caused structural and habitability damage that will require repair alongside the routine engineering work. Nothing about this is routine.
When these factors are combined, the possibility of a 12-14 month downtime seems perfectly plausible, even if it has not been officially confirmed. Prolonged deployments come with a cost, and this could be it. ..”
***
“…Defense analyst Jack Buckby reports that the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) has left the Red Sea for Souda Bay, Crete, following a major laundry room fire on March 12.
-The blaze displaced over 600 sailors and destroyed 100 berths, compounding morale issues on a record-breaking 268-day deployment…”
***
The Navy’s USS Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carrier Almost Became an Unfixable Problem
“…The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), a $13.3 billion supercarrier, is labeled a “defense acquisition horror show” due to “critical failures” in its core technologies.
The carrier was delivered $2.5 billion over budget and years late, plagued by a faulty propulsion system, non-functional weapons elevators (9 of 11 were broken at delivery), and unreliable EMALS catapults (failing 1 in 75 launches) and AAG arresting gear.
A faulty Dual-Band Radar also needed replacement in 2025. The cascading failures have delayed the next carrier, USS Kennedy, to 2027 and reportedly prompted President Trump to order a return to steam catapults.
The USS Gerald R. Ford Supercarrier Is Not That Super
The USS Gerald R. Ford supercarrier is now headed to the Caribbean after serving a deployment in the Mediterranean.
The Ford will help the U.S. Southern Command with counter-narcotics interdiction in Latin America…”
***
USS Gerald R. Ford: The U.S. Navy’s Problem Child 100,000 Ton Nuclear Aircraft Carrier
“Ford-class carriers possess 23 technological advancements for aircraft carriers, according to the Navy, including a new electromagnetic system for launching aircraft that replaces steam-powered catapults. The Ford-class ships are also expected to be able to operate with a crew 20% smaller than that of a Nimitz-class carrier.
“But the military struggled to implement some of that new technology on the Ford, resulting in construction delays,” the NPR story said. “The Navy says the tab for building the Ford, the most advanced U.S. aircraft carrier in existence, topped $13 billion.”
In November 2013, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jonathan Greenert, who was then the Navy’s Chief of Naval Operations, spoke of the impact of “sequestration” on the national defense. During the Obama Administration, sequestration was part of a compromise between the White House and Congress that brought about spending cuts, as a result of the Budget Control Act of 2011.
One effect, as laid out in that testimony, was to “delay delivery of USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) by two years, extending the period of 10 CVN in service, and lowering surge capacity.”
In 2018, Navy Times reported that the Gerald Ford was “forced back into port.” The reason why? “Another propulsion train problem.”
“The ship experienced a propulsion system issue associated with a recent design change, requiring a return to homeport for adjustments before resuming at sea testing,” Colleen O’Rourke, spokeswoman for Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, said at the time.
“Ford has been tasked with conducting critical test and evaluation operations that identify construction and design issues,” O’Rourke said in the 2018 story. “As a continuation of that testing and evaluation process, Ford got underway to conduct an independent steaming event that would allow the ship and its crew to continue testing its systems and procedures.”
Then, in 2019, USNI News wrote about further delays in the carrier, this time citing testimony by Navy officials before the House Armed Services Committee panel.
The problem was the need for “more time needed to repair Ford’s nuclear propulsion system and Advanced Weapons Elevators,” Navy acquisition chief James Geurts told the House panel.
“All three of those causal factors – making the adjustments to the nuclear power plant that we noted during sea trials, fitting in all of the post-shakedown availability workload, and finishing up the elevators – they’re all trending about the same time,” Geurts told the committee in 2019. “So, October right now is our best estimate. The fleet has been notified of that. They’re working that into their train-up cycle afterward.”
Oil prices could get high enough to force a COVID-level lockdown
Rory Johnston, founder Commodity Context, talks to Financial Post’s Larysa Harapyn about how long it could take oil markets to heal even if Iran conflict ended tomorrow.