#Iran #JCPOA
RantWoman thinks she has comments but did not note them on the first pass so Jake Sullivan, JCPOA negotiator gets to speak for himself.
Thursday, April 30, 2026
The importance of numbers--and an address by King Charles III
#USA250 #SemiQuincentennial
(RantWoman is a VERY bad friend. Just as a pro free-speech protest, RantWoman would consider making a series of T-shirts that have the offensive numbers and words like RETIRE or "VOTE THEM OUT" or "which nap is the President on so far?" or maybe Impeach, though the third time is not the charm.)
Sorry Your Highness. RantWoman needed the intro and consternation about numbers from Lawrence O'Donnell as an intro ahead of your speech.. We thank you, though, for reminding the #StableGenius in the White House and the Congress about the importance of #ChecksAnd Balances.
And meanwhile the #StableGenius interacts with history.
Banditry at Sea and fireworks at the UN.
#Iran #StraitOfHormux #China #Russa #UN #CommercialShipping #Liberia #FreedomOfNavigation
#Indonesia #NetZero #Climate #StatelessVessels
This item is pretty technical about maritime law and esoterica.
Legal rational for US boardings. Container ship shortage because of ships stranded in the Persian Gulf
Pricing in the trucking industry
UAE withdrawing from OPEC
Whose oil and LNG are going where and why. Who might ship back to coal
Panama canal lock prices go up.
Oil supply disrupted for shipping. "bunker pricing"
The word from the Secretary of #WarCrimes: Democrats are a bigger enemy than...
#Iran #MilitaryAction #SecDef
NO WAY does RantWoman have the intestinal fortitude to sit through the video of this whole hearing.
But it's interesting what different commentators fixate on.
Ana looks at a whole spectrum of costs
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
#DonSnoreleone is SUCH a gangster Zambia edition
Posed FYI without further comment
This is horrifying and barely getting media coverage.
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) April 29, 2026
Trump set April 30 as a deadline for the Zambian Govt. They must either accept Trump's new health funding agreement to have access to critical AIDS meds—and thus give the USA expanded access to its precious mineral resources…
Ballroom? Which ballroom?
#WHCD #WHCD2026
RantWoman has probably spent too much time down YouTube rabbit holes about the gunman at this year's White House Correspondents' dinner.
RantWoman has not watched every second of all the videos linked here but has tried to pull out points that seem important to her but is seasoning further comment.
Harry Litman outlines a lot of details without all the fluff and angles other sources are chasing.
Link to video above.
WILD New Details Emerge About Trump ASSASSINATION Attempt
Trump SEIZES on Shooting to Push Ballroom Plan
FBI Agent: The WHCD was “staged” by Trump but not in the way many believe
Dean Obeidallah and retired FBI agent Frank Figliuzzi.
Discussion of the shooter's manifesto and moral reasoning.
"Not staged but manipulated immediately afterward."
Why the Presumed Trump Assassination Attempt Will Not Improve His Polling Numbers
Trump Assassinated? Rushed Off Stage After Shooter Opens Fire at White House | Iran Lego Animation
Cenk Explains Everything STRANGE About The WHCD Shooting
🚨MAJOR RED FLAGS Surface on SHOOTING from Trump Admin….
Who actually fired the bullet that hit the Secret service officer?
Paraphrasing: Now we need a taxpayer funded ballroom to respond to the threat environment
great statements from Congressmembers
Hitch funding to the reconciliation bill about DHS
White House Correspondents Dinner Attack Is Not Going Like They Planned
Reese Waters
Comics
Jimmy Kimmel on Melania & Donald Trump Demanding His Firing & The White House Correspondents’ Dinner
John Lovett on Jimmy Kimmel
Jon Lovett on The White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Jimmy Kimmel's Joke & the D.C. Grindr Party
"By the time I heard about it, the conversation was about ballroom....The WH ballroom does not become any more legal because someone did something illegal and stupid at another ballroom."
AI version of security camera video
Manifesto: why is Kash Patel the only person not on the list?
Why buckshot not slugs?
"The best way not to ...is just not to do it."
MAGA started tweeting about the ballroom before the #Stablegenius held his press conference.
Trump Demands Ballroom After WHCD Shooting, Kash Patel "Likely to Be Fired": A Closer Look
Trump Spins Dinner Shooting for Ballroom Agenda & Blitzer Is CNN's One-Shoed Hero | The Daily Show
RantWoman appreciates the audio description
Gun violence? "What about the un-ballroomed rest of us?"
AOC
Trump STUNNED as SHOOTING PLAN BACKFIRES in CAPITOL!!!!
Ken Harbaugh
Trump Press Scheme RAMPS UP after SHOOTING…
And the #WHCD NOT at the White House but possibly not at the Hilton anymore
'It would be inappropriate': Carol Leonnig explains why WHCD wouldn't be held at Trump's ballroom
Sunday, April 26, 2026
The White House Correspondents Dinner according to Cenk Uygur, with an academic digression
#WHCD #WHCD2026 #SovietUnion
Cenk (Jenk) Uygur is as good a source as anyone to go point by point through a bunch of "too early to tell" points about the gunman outside the White House correspondents' dinner. Cenk has not picked up that security was less than usual for a gathering with 5 of 6 people in the Presidential line of succession in attendance.
The last part of the video Cenk heads straight toward all the ways Israel is not held to the same standards as everyone else and reads comments from his channels.
And some media clips
Full disclosure: the Washington Hilton hosts manty academic conferences. RantWoman once attended an area studies conference there. The conference was in November after the 1991 disintegration of the Soviet Union. Aside from a range of humanities topics, there were many papers about pipelines. There was a sense of many people needing to redefine their lives with the national security environment changing. Drug trafficking was on the minds of many as a national security concern.
The moment that most sticks out to RantWoman: the session with a CIA recruiter getting regaled from the lobby / hallway by a flock of women attending a Salvation Army event. As the recruiter was trying to interest area studies scholars in careers, the Salvation Army came through singing "Ain't gonna study war no more."
TRUTH
RantWoman considers this divine intervention rather than a security problem and frets that there might be a much more uptight reaction these days.
Kash and the Secretary of #WarCrimes STARS of AI slopaganda
Iran-linked video diss tracks based on the weekly news stream are one of RantWoman's very guilty pleasures, with the following additional comments.
Gee: shouldn't the people of Iran have the opportunity to make fun of their leaders without getting mowed down by the tens of thousands? Welp, hard to gain access right now with SEVERE internet information control within the country. Oh, and if only the fate of formerly very valuable examples of US democracy at its best, the Radio Liberty / Radio Free Europe franchise were not up in the air thanks to the ravages of DOGE and some step in court-based limbo.
Iran seems to be following the advice of Sun Tzu (?): never interrupt your enemy when they are in the process of making a mistake."
And US-based interests seem to be grabbing advice from an authoritarian playbook: penalize channels who host the content, oh and eat away at (or monetize?) the wayback machine internet archive all the better to try to make history tell only the most flattering stories. RantWoman almost feels as if she should download content in case key items get erased. Almost.
With all that to set the mood, please enjoy the videos.
They reflect depressing truths which, among other things are serious deviations from concerns from RantWoman's grad school colleagues wanting to keep their reputations as clean as possible in order to qualify for security clearances.
IRANS New LEGO DISS TRACK Druken HEGSETH 🤭 #viral #fdt #war #funny #lol
Sea Shany with a side of misquoted Bible
Speaking of Overkill, both textually and in the "kinetic" sense, this link should yield the verse in all English translations available on Bible Gateway.
RantWoman is not going to chase down the Pulp Fiction quote. This quote is consistent with Hegseth's previous quote from the Psalms about breaking the teeth of enemies. Isn't that threat alone supposed to be a war crime?
And Kash Patel, the Epstein Class, hostile work environments
So many questions:
Shouldn't reasonable vetting have caught alcohol issues before confirmation.
Why would a security team need a battering ram. Couldn't they just think of some reason to ask for help from hotel staff or were they complicit in hiding the unacceptable behavior.
President #StableGenius promised to drain the swamp and hire only the best people. Instead everything is SO MUCH swampier and the best he can do is the bottom of the barrel, drunks when he hates drunkenness....
Oh swell. It's a wild Saturday night Play the sea shanty again.
Saturday, April 25, 2026
The Secretary of War Crimes--and profiteering
#Polymarket #Crypto
President #StableGenius is doing exactly NOTHING for ordinary people with affordability concerns but LOTS of people are making money on what looks like insider trading and market manipulation.
Here's hoping people will be constructively FURIOUS about this as the midterms approach.
Sal on the blockade and why ships get seized
#Iran #StraitsOfHormuz
False flagged ships
Ships under sanctions or OFAC (Office of Foreign Access Control) sanctions
Making it Very, VERY hard to ship oil from Iran
Iran is running out of space to pump oil but shutting down production results in real difficulty restarting.
Reference to other channels
Some ships trying to run the strait in Iranian territorial waters but US blockade seems to be biting.
Dozens of tankers stopped and herded into Indian ocean port.
Friday, April 24, 2026
Russian propagandists start to speak out; Ukraine seizes FSB base
#Ukraine #Russia
Look at all the people starting to speak out.
The "kinetic" details of the operation in detail in the first fideo. The main point: Ukraine has destroyed one FSB base but some small Russian progress.
Prince Harry addresses Kyiv forum and King Charles III visits the US for #USA250
#Kyiv #Ukraine #Britain #NATO #BudapestMemorandum #Nonproliferation #Monarchy #Democracy
The only obvious thing linking these two videos is the British royal family, but RantWoman considers the juxtaposition an interesting basis for reflection about the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Where have the two countries gotten to?
RantWoman is intrigued to see Prince Harry step out with such dignity.
How will it go when the King and the wannabe king meet?
How much death and destruction can be laid on a path from Epstein?
Please just enjoy the videos.
Trump REBUKED by King Charles Ahead of US VISIT
The Court of History on the King of Great Britain visiting for #USA250
Russia brought a planeload of humanitarian aid to Beirut and repatriates citizens on the way back
#Russia #Lebanon #HumanitarianAid #Evacuation
Critique of war on civilians
Kushner has LONG ties with Netanyahu; he is NOT a neutral arbiter
realignment of influence because US has abdicated moral and diplomatic authority.
Justice Thomas Speaks and ....
#SCOTUS #USA250
Expect LOTS of public reflections on US history as the 250th anniversary of the signing of the declaration of Independence approach.
RantWoman here presents SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas recent speech at the U of TX at Austin and several strands of commentary as is, without in-depth commentary by RantWoman.
The Clarence Thomas Lecture at The University of Texas at Austin
Freedom comes with responsibility
Judge Luttig goes scorched earth.
"one of the most intellectually dishonest speeches from a sitting Supreme Court Justice that i have seen."
what the interplay between Thomas and the comments.
"Woodrow Wilson favored administrative progressivism"
"God uses people through government."
"Historically, contrary to what Justice Thomas says, it has been the federal government thatforces states to live up to the principles of the declaration of Independence."
And stashed for reference, regarding the shadow docket
Pope Leo's visit to Africa
#PopeLeo
Pope Leo's Full Press Conference on Return Flight from Africa | EWTN News
Speech in Italian without subtitles. Questions in Italian, Spanish, English
Questions and Answers in English
"Very kind, Very smart, no pushover."
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Earth Day plus or minus earth
 |
| Jessie, Aka "RantMom" with a picture of the farm where she grew up |
Grieving sucks, okay. If RantWoman were not frazzled enough by news timelines, there is always RANTMOM to keep one awake.
Saturday was 3 months to the day since RantMom departed to other realms. RantWoman had an in-person gig that went well, thanks be to God, despite RantWoman giving in at 2:30 am to waves of RantMom battering any attempt to sleep.
Then yesterday was one month to the day since RantMom's memorial. RantWoman unintentionally spent the night before on an all-night YouTube news binge and had a lovely walk in balmy weather before breakfast. RantWoman was basically a zombie all day.
Today is #EarthDay so bless us all with too much to say and a sort of ragged reflection that is half annotated playlist from the memorial, half tribute to all kinds of things, and half just attempting to ride today's waves of whatever is going on.
As for the playlist, there is a site called something like Hymnary that has a ton of interesting info but RantWoman wants some audible experience opportunity. Hence links, and sometimes several per hymn.
Cope.
This list is only the ones RantWoman remembers; Little Sister contributed some other suggestions which RantWoman will look up. The RantSisters did well about each other's preferences. Plus neither one of us wanted Amazing Grace. If Little Sister had wanted Amazing Grace, RantWoman would to have the drums from RantMom's church that she did not entirely relate to as part of worship. The whole playlist and modern renditions is a bit of a timewarp and in several cases RantWoman has vivid memory of considerably more old-fashioned renditions. But this is YouTube.
RantMom, basically tone-deaf herself, was unflagging in her support of RantDad's music. Music has always been part of the backbone of RantWoman's experience of God. YouTube is quite the fountain of musical performances, though in a couple cases RantWoman notes that it seems to be fashionable not to perform some verses.
Now the playlist
In the prelude. Who one earth puts perfectly lovely hymns in the prelude? Little Sister. That's who.
RantWoman wanted For the Beauty of the Earth on the hymns list partly because it is lovely and simple, partly because we also had it at RantDad's memorial.
Asterisk about European song festival tradition andsinging of hymns as resistance during Soviet times.
More overdone than RantWoman is used to but ....
RantWoman does not remember the other hymns in the prelude or the first hymn, a requested solo from the music director at Little Sister's church because he sang it solo over li-ve-streamed services during the #Pandemic
There was another hymn and then Little Sister spoke.
Next,
RantWoman decided to stop at one version.
A favorite from Baptist Sunday school but also a lead-in to RantWoman speaking about she and RantBrother inheriting RantDad's congenital cataracts. It never occurred to RantMom that thick glasses should interfere with expectations about making our beds, doing dishes, and other chores.
Also a bit about God at work in the form of others from her church in Billings who also had, um, challenged adult children.
Then before an invitation to others to speak a hymn about the People of God. RantWoman is not familiar with the tune and might have preferred something more inclusive than just Jesus. But RantWoman was grateful for all who attended regardless of faith.
Next, after many memories, especially of how RantMom made newcomers feel welcome at her church or in her retirement communities:
with cello
with choir
LOVE THS VIDEO. It's long and the story speaks deeply.
Then Pastor Jane spoke.
There is a whole thread about RantMom and PastorJane and #COVID
Pastor Jane also elegantly dispatched emotional landmines about RantBrother who, as Pastor Jane put it, RantMom just had to hand to God.
And in the postlude, again all instrumental
two other hymns RantWoman does not remember and How Great Thou Art. RantWoman in general has heard too many way too dirge-like renditions of How Great Thou Art but the Google says that is where a verse about "Bread of Heaven...Feed me til I want no More " can be found.
The bread of heaven part is important because of MANY frustrations about RantMom not wanting to eat, trying to feed herself, and other details that tore at RantWoman's heart as she read about a weighty Friend's parallel journey out of this world.
still no feed me till I want no more.
a gorgeous view
RantWoman has other #EarthDay reflections and of course more, more, more reflections of RantMom but this is what RantWoman has to offer today.
 |
| What's left of RantMom in her new home |
President of the UN General Assembly welcomes 25th forum on Indigenous Issues
#UnitedNations #Indigenous
This seems like a good item to post on #EarthDay just on principle
Israel is begging for a ceasefire after it's entire northern command got battered
#Iran #Israel
Posted without further commentary except to note that there are multiple contradictory narratives about practically every thread of the situation in the Middle East.
"The biggest threat to peace and stability in the Middle East is the US working with Israel."
"Iran is NOT an existential threat..the US and Israel are making the problem worse and risk collapsing the international economy."
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Schrodinger's strait. Open? or Closed?
#Iran #StraitOfHormuz #China
What the US naval blockade is accomplishing with respect to China
Nukes, Israeli spies, and the Canadian PM
#Iran #NuclearIssues
Two US figures share very frank opinions
Scott Ritter on President #StableGenius in the situation room, nuke use and talk of nuke use, generals who refuse illegal orders, the Secretary of #WarCrimes, and starting about minute 14 how the US is broken.
Retired Colonel Douglas mcGregor
a WHOLE bunch of interesting points. Watch the whole video if possible.
STRONG comments about possible offramp and why not basing US forces everywhere would be a good thing.
US has not decided how or when to implement the President's order on nuclear testing.
Part of the back and forth trash talk.
Disrupting Israeli international presence.
Iran Ally Russia Detains, Questions Israelis For Hours In Shocking Moscow Airport Crackdown | VERTEX
Detention of Israeli travelers
Indications that Mossad agents have eyes on Pope Leo XIV over background meetings with Iran
Italy will not use its resources for Israel's purposes
Lawrence O'donell:
Canadian PM calls US President the world's most dangerous and corrupt gangster
Highly Enriched Uranium: HEU
#Iran #NuclearProgram #OperationSapphire #BudapestMemorandum
Readers who want to see RantWoman go off, scroll down past the video and the embedded tweet.
"You can't bomb away their knowledge."
"Trust but verify."
"I think we are going to be dealing with Iran's nuclear program with very few tools...for a long time to come."
Iran just cited the Budapest Memorandum in nuclear talks with Washington.
— Gandalv (@Microinteracti1) April 21, 2026
Let that sink in.
The country America has been bombing for weeks just handed US negotiators a copy of their own promises and asked, politely, how that’s going. The 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which… https://t.co/eEYALt8lMv
RantWoman pops off:
1. If having an insane leader is a reason for the a country not to have nuclear weapons, should the US expect maybe the Argentinian inspector from the IAEA or someone from Sweden to come knocking at our door needing to secure US nuclear weapons?
2. If RantWoman had her way, Israel would be subject to the same level of inspection that is being demanded of Iran. RantWoman thinks Israel will be able even without use of their nukes to wreak horrific carnage across its neighbors, but subjecting itself to international inspection and monitoring COULD be an interesting trust-building exercise.
3. RantWoman rather likes Iran's "How's that working out for you?" reference to the Budapest memorandum. There is plenty of commentary and a certain amount of lament in reference to Russia's war on Ukraine to Ukraine having given up its nukes. Nukes probably would not solve centuries of tug of war about Crimea but Ukraine would have had interesting cards.
4. Kazakhstan is still cleaning up the consequences of Soviet Nuclear development. Qazaq national identity is grappling with that and, among other things, writing in Latin alphabet instead of Cyrillic.
5. Nostalgia is not exactly the right word, but RantWoman hearkens back to the halcyon days of #StableGenius 1.0 when the President was showing off something pretending to be The Art of the Deal threatening North Korea with nuclear war over Twitter. To this day, RantWoman has no idea why those threats were not deemed a violation of Twitter user agreements, but anyway.
RantWoman has no exact knowledge of whether that got anywhere or whether the world has just figured out how to live with North Korean nukes. RantWoman does, though, wonder whether conversation would get anywhere if one asked the Dementia Patient in Chief "how's thatworking out for you?" about his previous approach to North Korea. If the President's brain is too far along turning into pudding, is there some lesson the rest of us need to draw.
Terrifying and boring
#Iran #StraitofHormuz
This post dedicated to the 20,000 mariners stuck on cargo ships and oilers in the Persian Gulf because of military activity.
Every day "Check the crazy. Check the crazy."
50 countries with a common interest to re-open the Strait
European countries "We are not belligerents. We were not consulted...DIPLOMACY"
Veterans Protest Iran War at US Capitol.
#Iran #Veterans
whether or not readers need for RantWoman to go off: it is offensive to be shipping more people off to another foreign war when the US is still not fully paying off the costs of previous endless wars. Especially offensive is the veterans' administration' chicanery with VA supported housing financing now forcing many military families into foreclosure and homelessness. And we will not even talk about PTSD and other service-related medical issues.
Anyway, now the protest videos
This video is incredibly moving
"It is absurd to me that (Congress isn't) doing anything.
And words from the generals
In search of a victory narrative
#Iran #Israel
RantWoman is probably going to skip a daily posting from What's going on with Shipping and related is the strait open / is it closed back and forth.
It is all Silly. DANGEROUS but silly. President #StableGenius is demonstrating more and more signs of dementia, lack of orientation to time and space, inability to stay anywhere near the topic at hand. He apparently had to be kicked out of the situation room during the Easter weekend pilot rescue. General Cain refused an order just to launch nuclear weapons. Even comparison with parodies dating from 2020 show how stunningly he has deteriorated.
Instead, comments on the situation from other angles.
Oops: Iran missiles take out supposedly stealth US built Israeli aircraft.
TONS of military jargon.
Oh rats: Thanks to Iran air defense Israel can't just mindlessly bomb "engagement zones."
poll report about view of israel in the US
contrast with NPR report about the very high percentage of people in Israel who strongly approve of Israel's current military campaigns
Monday, April 20, 2026
Navy opens fire: futures market crashes
#Iran
US forces disable (sanctioned) vessel. Retaliation for Friday attacks by Iran.
RantWoman has no opinion about ramifications, but appreciates the details.
Engine disabled in daylight
Mention of ships hit yesterday by Iran
Plenty of lies about Iran capabilities.
Tit for tat retaliation hitting civilian infrastructure.
two versions of events from Iran sources
UAE wants to trade oil in Yuan
Marines board at night
Has President #StableGenius bleated absurd threat into another hitch in negotiations?
UAE wants US weapons and bases out, as well as financial support or else if they run out of dollars they will trade oil in yuan.
(RantWoman had predicted durimg Trump 1.0 that oil might not be traded in dollars by the end of that administration. RantWoman's timeline was just off.)
And ...
Friday, April 17, 2026
Your friendly local police union is just here to protect...
We interrupt RantWoman's daily diet of #Iran #Russia #Ukraine postings for something a little more local.
Enjoy?
Adventures of RantWoman: SPOG says city's ICE policies put public at risk: Oh PLEASE
Adventures of RantWoman: AHEM. Blowing whistles is protected first amendment activity...and...
Escalation and why it won't work; what's at stake
#Iran #StraitOfHormuz
RantWoman is not going to attempt to summarize this one. Basic point: future is NOT as rosy as others are trying to sell it and LOTS of risks!
Emphasis on "resource sovreignty"
END THIS NOW
CUT DEFENSE SPENDING
Education system underpowered
Discussion of full Iranian defensive infrastructure.
Discussion of full technical interaction of electronic warfare in Amphibious strike group with 2200 marines on the strike group ready to act on order.
BIG gap between US amphibious strike group under full electronic cover and unarmed oil tanker whose company has to make risk calculation.
Iran did not attack. Restraint,
Iran redlines:
--Acknowledgment that Strait is strategic asset for Iran
--war reparations
--unfreezing sanctioned funds
BOTH sides facing choices that will be domestically unpopular.
Several other topical videos on this channel
Thursday, April 16, 2026
The President is Bonkers, chapter n+1
RantWoman wants desperately to believe that no one is beyond the mercy of God.
President #StableGenius keeps testing that hope, beefing with the Pope, among other apparently ludicrous babblings.
RantWoman would be thrilled, THRILLED if #GrandpaSleepyhead were simply to get tired of the endless hassles, resign and settle into genteel retirement full of golf and napping. RantWoman would consider that such an act of mercy, Divine or otherwise that RantWoman might be able to bypass the temptation on everyone's lips to try to charge him again and again for many crimes and misdemeanors. But if the dude is not competent to be President, he also is not competent to stand trial.
RantWoman thinks she has said this before, but is stuck on the idea. Set him up with a constant AI feed of over-the-top adulation. Don't let him travel anywhere except between his own properties. As long as his hands are off the nuclear codes and the world does not have to fret about his decrepitating body and deteriorating mental capacity, he can have all the sycophants he wants assuring him he is the greatest ever, without too many specifics about greatest at what.
Instead, RantWoman's media streams keep bringing more evidence that the President is just bonkers. Here a few examples.
Is #DementiaDon the AntiChrist?
Does GenZ understand the phrase "jump the shark?"
Performative criticism but no action
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Today in Naval Blockade: the story is the system that makes Iran confident enough to keep testing limits
#Iran #StraitOf Hormuz
"Expect this blockade to last a long time."
short answer: US cannot pump fast enough to fill all the empty tankers.
Gas prices likely will stay high.
SPR = Strategic Petroleum Reserve ?
Look up "Commander Salamander"
Ah, but from Scott Ritter
15 Warships, Zero Results: How One Chinese Tanker Broke America's Blockade in 12 Hours| Scott Ritter
Saudi Arabia is frantic about the Blockade
Malawi has no official ship registry is the ship in question is legally stateless. The ship in question was spoofing location for days.
Able to load Iranian product at an Omani Port
Part of the global shadow fleet
China and Iran have been working on the technologies and plans of evasion for decades.
Gap between what CentCom says and what the US navy can enforce
The ship did turn back but the gap is plain to see.
RantWoman's interpretation: Ha. Ha. US is being told the strait is blockaded but there are big legal holes. Both shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz are Iranian territorial waters. US ships going there would be an act of war. Multiple paths to escalation, but de-escalation? Who blinks first? Don't bet on Iran / China
And from Iran:
"No port in the Gulf is safe unless all ports are safe"
Iran is not talking to the US. It's talking to every gulf state with some kind of oil activity on the Gulf.
Saudi Arabia pressing the US to end the blockade and return to negotiations.
You do not need big boats to blow up an aircraft carrier.
Iran is also threatening the Red Sea. Houthis have not stood by so far.
US is managing 5 things at once: US silence is strategic but has risks. Iran trying to split the US from regional partners.
Sales to China greater than before war.
China used shadow tankers and second tier banks not in the SWIFT network. Iran is getting paid in yuan, not dollars. So Iran has economic oxygen to sustain itself.
China preparing to send shoulder-launched weapons to Iran.
The confidence ladder
Iran threatened every port because confident of Chinese moves.
US treating China and Russia as spectators.
RantWoman has not checked the sources cited as part of this interpretation.
And for different scenarios, different interpretations
Who is alone? Who has how much time?
Belle on Automatic Draft Registration and the Pope in politics
One of RantWoman's favorite YouTube voices, esteemed for packing a lot of punch into few words and for taking on lots of questions politely and with solid information.
The video is pithy. Catch all the points.
"The Book of Donald"
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
A very expensive press release? Signals. Supplies, Strait
#Iran #StraitOfHormuz
The USS Milius turned around
Scott Ritter on destroyer coming about, reversing course
RantWoman interpretation:
Watch the whole video. RantWoman is not going just to recap it. It is full of geographic and strategic realities for Iran and the kinds of topics intelligence analysts discuss in minute detail. De-escalation is wise and possible. SO FAR, sane voices have prevailed. A request went up the chain of command and the tactically correct order came back. Maybe it means the Secretary of #WarCrimes has not succeeded in purging all the competent voices in the Pentagon. A couple other protective maybes come to mind; RantWoman is not going to articulate them for fear of ruining them.
Quotes
3 Options
Military escalation
Diplomatic climb down
Send in an aircraft carrier
Sun Tzu
War is not won by the side with the most missiles. War is one by the side that causes the other side to lose its will to fight.
The ultimate audience: China
And a couple other videos
multiple scenarios. messy legal questions for different options
Blockade meant to increase leverage on Iran
A test of wills and time.
The US has historically underestimated Iranian resilience.
Has Iran discovered the Strait of Hormuz as a form of deterrence?
RIGHT TO ENRICH important to Iran
Israel wants regime change. US focus more on nuclear program.
Tragic that nothing directed at Iranian people now stuck with a more hard line regime, increased economic strain. (Isarel, US overconfident that bombing will facilitate regime change)
NEGOTIATIONS
More US forces in transit to region
Who benefits more from lull?
Situation "unsustainable"
Refueling problem for US and longer term shortage of Tomahawk cruise missiles
For Iran, air defense, possibly resupplied by China and / or Russia.
Hard to expect both a lasting cease fire and closed strait of Hormuz
China is world's largest buy of Iranian oil so why veto UN resolution on opening the Strait.
STRATEGY
Original resolution text "all necessary means," Escalation with legal backing.
China said No 3 times as language got adjusted over and over
China calculates decades ahead.
(RantWoman reminds readers that President #StableGenius and kin have MANY investments in China. He benefits either way. Also note Chinese heavy investment in alternative energy resources while President #StableGenius has been cancelling such projects left, right, and sideways)
Every week that the strait remains closed increases pressure to trade about oil in currencies other than the dollar.
China has multiple forms of buffers for energy resilience
Chinese Ambassador comments that the resolution does not address root cause of problems. Clear demonstration that international law should not be selectively applied.
China now frames itself as defender of national sovreignty
Military legal economic narrative
Leverage, timing, narrative
Counter argument: Who runs out of time first?
US
Iran only needs to avoid losing fast.
China is not sending armies... just the ability to say "no."
And one of several more videos by Professor Jiang.
Saudi Arabie begs the US not to blockade Strait
DoD disinformation.
President #StableGenius beefs with the pope
#Iran #PopeLeoXIV #Christians
Disgusting Prayer from the Secretary of #WarCrimes before wonderful statements from Pope Leo
Monday, April 13, 2026
Today in the Persian Gulf: "A blockade is an act of war"
#Iran #StraitOfHormuz UN COnvention on the law of the Sea
Sal gets that a blockade is an act of war but says NOTHING about Congress engaging about the issue.
Dueling blockades intended to get people back to negotiating in Islamabad?? WHO intends?
Biggest buyers of Iranian Oil: China, India, Pakistan
Deal with Blockade runner by:
log and let go
Board and inspect Seize but crew could lock selves into ...in a way that boarding forces cannot even steer
Warning shot that is not heeded. but who at war with if the ships are flagged by...?
Planting season and no one is getting fertilizer chemicals.
Prime quality ranting from The Damage Report
Open the strait. Now close the strait
Why is the US navy blockading the Strait of Hormuz when Iran supposedly has no navy?
The President is getting more and more instable.
Look for Malcolm Nance substack "enter the dragon" about ways China could enter the war.
Blockade wording: originating from Iranian ports but ships from other ports could pay the
Sal looking forward to another week even more "batshit crazy."
#Iran #StraitOfHormuz
posturing with points that can still be negotiated over.
multiple videos agree that anything that last months in the Straits of Hormuz and that will be felt worldwide in multiple ways.
Look how vulnerable US bases are.
A nuclear weapons power in how many months?
Iranian submarines are small enough to navigate in parts of the Persian Gulf where large US submarines cannot even enter.
US claims that all Iran submarines have been destroyed is wrong. You cannot destroy what you cannot detect.
Europe has mine sweeper capacity that can work in the Persian Gulf but is withholding use.
Financial incentives for both sides to avoid escalation.
Why did Iran show up is Islamabad?
"Mines may drift."
Iran lost a whole bunch of things but they still have leverage.
"In what world is it politically advisable to attack the Pope?"
Sunday, April 12, 2026
Did an Iranian missile hit Dimona, the Israeli nuclear weapons site for a third hit.
#Iran #Israel #Dimona
YouTube has multiple reports from Al Jazeera, the BBC and other sources about missile strikes two weeks ago about the Israeli nuclear weapons complex at Dimona. RantWoman does not remember this coming up in the media streams RantWoman consumes most regularly. RantWoman thinks it may be too early to expect other reporting about the incident discussed in the video below.
This video contains reference to automatically generated audio, a point which always makes RantWoman treat the content with caution. That said, RantWoman can also easily see the point about governments not necessarily wanting to advertise strikes like the ones outlined here. Finally, RantWoman observes that former inspector Ritter has acquired the kind of black mark which sometimes comes to someone known for telling too much of the truth.
The basic points:
--After 3 rounds of missile strikes, containment around the Dimona reactor is almost certainly damaged.
--There is a serious question about whether missile strikes could result in wide dispersion of radionuclides even if there is no reactor meltdown.
--One indicator of damage would be increased presence of radionuclides in the atmosphere around the area. Apparently, Israel is doing nothing to warn there population but Jordan is distributing potassium iodide prophylactically to border towns.
But RantWoman, do readers really care about one more problematic nuclear site and a bunch of missile verbiage?
Here's why RantWoman decided to post this.
The world demands nuclear inspection in Iran, but Israel REFUSES to allow IAEA inspections, does not sign the Nonproliferation Treaty. WHY should Israel be the only country in the Middle east permitted to have nuclear weapons? What if the world demanded that Israel also give up nuclear weapons?
What if the world demanded of Israel the same level of scrutiny and limits on nuclear program that are being demanded of Iran?
As an aside for all the people saying some version of "we have been trying to curtail Iran's nuclear program for decades. Now is the time so future generations don't have to deal with it:" Note: 20% of Iran's population is under 14 and overall Iran's population skews younger than the US. Shouldn't the world be setting an example of dealing positively with nuclear issues instead of colidifying resentments for another generation to seethe with???
And furthermore, if there is some general principle about governments that are too crazy not being allowed to have nuclear weapons, shouldn't the US look in the mirror and worry about some self-important foreign power showing up "for our own good?"
Just some thoughts?
And the Strait of Hormuz?
#Iran #StraitOfHormuz
RantWoman thinks Sal is more likely to know what he is atlking about as far as vessel types and traffic than other sources.
A US Warship Just Tested Iran In The Strait Of Hormuz
Freedom of navigation, not minesweeping or escort.
President says US has started process of mine CLEARING
Frame in terms of getting conditions in place... and some demonstrated steps.
Iran SCRAMBLES Drones Against U.S. Navy – Pilots Possibly CAPTURED
There’s a Ceasefire. So Why Isn’t the Strait of Hormuz Open?
Backfired: Has Iran Learned the Power of Closing Hormuz?
No, all the possible takes do not simplify calculations. That's the POINT
"Most people DON'T REALIZE Trump IS FORCED to CLEAR Strait of Hormuz MINES!!" | Bill Clinton
"Does the US still have the strategic credibility to lead?"
Will a pep talk from former President Clinton help the country?
Hormuz STILL Closed — Trump Accuses Iran of Violating the Ceasefire Before Talks Even Begin!!
structure issue with multiple different versions of the 10-point plan supposedly the basis of the cease fire.
News of the Secretary of #WarCrimes
Click Bait headline
The troops deserve "courageous leaders of character."
Mark Hertling about Hegseth saying troops are "fighting for Jesus."
And some corruption where Hegseth has previously been mentioned
"If everyone in the US felt the risk...more people who be outraged."
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Poor in dollars not poor in talent
#Iran #Israel #GPS #Spoofing
Find the vulnerability. Attack the vulnerability.
Who all can do GPS denial / spoofing?
Oh no, what will happen to the market for US weapons exports?
One wants both to corroborate this content with other sources and to observe tartly that sanctions which starve civilian populations also create conditions where military technologies evolve in very efficient low resource input directions. Smoke that everyone who says the US needs to spend more money on defense.
Friday, April 10, 2026
Thursday, April 9, 2026
This isn't a car dealership. It's a war
#Ceasefire #Iran
"It's not a reason to keep fighting. It's a reason to better fund our schools."
Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Chris Nordlund on the latest wackiness
#Iran #CeaseFire #TollScheme
LOTS of wacky and possibly delusional fantasies from #DonSnoreleone
newly created polymarket accounts before announcement of the Ceasefire.
also movement in oil market
quotes from multiple international sources
Sal on the "Cease Fire," the law of the sea and 20,000 mariners stuck in the gulf
#Iran Strait of Hormuz #CeaseFire ?
So Iran wants to collect tolls IN CRYPTO for allowing boats to pass in its territorial waters.
And who besides probably Don Jr and maybe the Secretary of #WarCrimes and whoever else keeps placing big bets before key events.
How will this mess mutate next?
And can SOMEONE please take note of all the stuck, unarmed merchant vessels with stressed out crews and short supplies.
The "Rescue," reporting, and literally everyone pulling away and calling out.
#Iran #Rescue
"narrative warfare"
"nonkinetic warfare"
Random speculation: did the President going off on Easter Sunday have something to do with the actual details of the "rescue" operation?
And as for the initial reporting
Private company caves to US administration but Russia and China are happy to provide images
Efforts to hide US military and contractor casualty counts, impact on bases, destruction of planes, energy infrastructure
$400 Million in US equipment lost
Um, no, air superiority
"the Tom Clancy uranium hunt"
also speculation that rescue story was part of the trigger for the Easter message
Also draw on The Intercept
Allies say no, pull away.
no using bases or air space for war crimes
MBS did not ask US for permission to buy interceptors from Ukraine
Chris Nordlund
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Commentary about The "Ceasefire"
#Iran
RantWoman is, like every othr sane person on the planet, relieved that the President has decided, at least for now, not to attempt to destroy an entire civilization.
First, words from Lawrence O'Donell. Then various comentators.
Check out the Zeteo vid in particular.
1. If having an insane government means a country should not have nuclear weapons, time for the world to subtract nuclear weapons from the US.
2. There is NO WAY the #DonSnoreleone and Bibi can bomb Iran into regime change. If anything, everyone in Iran is going to do the same thing that people in the US did after 9/11.
3. Way past time for #GrandpaSleepyhead to RESIGN and retire to a genteel life of golf and napping. Declare Mar a Lago a permanent home for the criminally insane. Allow him only to travel between his golf courses and always under guard.
4. Fix him up with a permanent AI loop of cheering crowds and ever-increasing click counts on a social media equivalent of a closed-circuit TV with very limited audience.
5. No pardons, but if he is incompetent to be President, he is also incompetent to stand trial. Concentrate on going after all his enablers.
6. And if we really want to stand up against this nonsense, a windfall profit tax on every company making extra big bank from all the price shocks.
Monday, April 6, 2026
Israel oh Israel
#Israel
CONTENT WARNING: graphic description of torture.
The latest Israeli "achievements" in the realm of human rights
Did Dems utter confusion and inability to speak plainly about Israeli atrocities doom them in 2024? What does that bode for the midterms???
Will enough US taxpayers grow DISGUSTED about spending US tax dollars to support these atrocities, these apartheid policies??? Or ....
And
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCnKZg-bFz8
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