A new report by the Project on Government Oversight, “The True Total U.S. Military Budget,” explains that the commonly cited U.S. military budget (around $1 trillion) is a substantial understatement, as it excludes military-related costs spread across other federal agencies and accounts. The analysis contends that both the government and journalists have “long failed to accurately report what taxpayers spend on war and the military,” and the spending figures reported by Congress and the executive branch are “profoundly incomplete.”  Real costs include nuclear-weapons programs funded by the Department of Energy, veterans’ benefits and health care, military retirement and health obligations…

“Thousands of Iranians in the southern port town of Sirik have lost access to drinking water after US strikes hit two reservoirs in the area, Iranian state media said on Wednesday. The United States carried out strikes on the southern cities of Jask and Sirik and on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, after what Washington said was Iran’s downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter over Gulf waters.”

“’Barbed wire cannot silence people,’ said one conservationist. ‘A protected landscape of global importance is under attack, and people are demanding an end to the devastation.’ … ‘Don’t defend the oligarchs!’ one man was seen shouting into a megaphone. ‘Those are the citizens’ properties!’”

“In intelligence, Israel is more of an adversary than an ally. Being an adversary in intelligence means indulging in the hostile act of espionage. Israel has a long record of conducting that type of hostile act against the United States.”

“The decision by the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties, a political body dominated by Western states and their allies, to suspend ICC Prosecutor Khan, despite the exculpatory findings of both the judicial panel that reviewed the case and the OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] oversight body, can only be seen as just the latest step in a long campaign by the Israeli regime and its U.S. and other allies to obstruct, delay, and punish the prosecutor and the court for their attempts to hold Israeli regime perpetrators to account, and to send a message to judges and…

The electronic billboard, circulating around the Capitol throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, reads: “Chuck Schumer has failed to provide real leadership against a war-crazed Trump administration” and “Chuck Schumer: Step Aside as Minority Leader.” Groups participating in the campaign include RootsAction, World BEYOND War, Just Foreign Policy, Veterans For Peace, and Peace Action.

Common Dreams reports: “The Israeli military bombed Iran on Monday shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to respond to an Iranian missile barrage, which came in retaliation for Israel’s earlier bombing of Beirut.” On Monday afternoon, Rep. Thomas Massie made remarks about the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty 59 years ago today, during the 1967 war, including calling for a “long overdue” investigation; see video. 

The Washington Post recently noted: “‘There is a low boil of unease about Israel’s nuclear program and what could compel them to use nuclear weapons short of facing a WMD attack,’ said an administration official.”

McHenry said today: “I have spent my entire adult life sharing food with the hungry but this policy of forcing people already struggling to spend hours of their week just to get assistance that is not enough to provide food for the month is one of the cruelest hunger policies I have witnessed. For many relying on food stamps, it is already a full time job looking for employment let alone finding a place to safely sleep.”

They assembled on the right-hand side of the Pentagon entrance to protest, they said, the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran — a war His Holiness Pope Leo XIV declared unjust, immoral, in violation of international law, and against the Gospel. Standing or kneeling, they began to sing and pray for peace. All 27 were arrested without incident and charged with interfering with agency functions.