Bernie Sanders is leading the way to stop Trump's new arms shipment to Israel & Sign the petition: Trump wants the biggest military spending increase in 70 years 8&9APR26

THE US military-industrial-prison complex is pushing the corrupt drumpf / trump-vance administration and the gop / greed over people-republican party to further slash funding for our nation's social safety net and the American social contract and allocate those funds to weapons systems, for funding and supplying foreign "allied" militaries and for funding illegal and immoral military actions in the Caribbean and wars we should not be involved in nor supporting on Iran. This administration and the republican controlled congress are not going to revoke the tax breaks granted to the billionaires and multi-millionaires in the bbb, they plan on funding this $660 million in weapons and ammunition for the neo-nazi fascist genocidal Israeli government of hitler incarnate wannabe bibi netanyahu PLUS $1.5 trillion for the US Military by cutting funding for every program for the general American public ( including healthcare and SNAP ) not affiliated with the US military-industrial-prison complex. Please call and / or e mail your representative and senators telling them to stop the $660 million in bombs to Israel and to stop the obscene $1.5 trillion military budget. My e mails are at the end of this post.

This morning, Israel launched the most brutal bombing campaign against Lebanon since the start of the war.1 Meanwhile, Israel has devastated civilian infrastructure in Iran while stepping up attacks to drive Palestinians out of the West Bank.2,3 And now Donald Trump is trying to bypass Congress and sneak another $660 million in bombs for Israel.4 Enough is enough. The United States must stop spending our taxpayer dollars on Benjamin Netanyahu's war machine. The Senate is about to vote on a resolution sponsored by Bernie Sanders to block Trump's "emergency" $660 bomb shipment to Israel, and with your help, we're ramping up the pressure on every senator to join Bernie and say no to more bombs for Israel.5 Senator Sanders' joint resolutions of disapproval seek to block the sales of 5,000 250-pound bombs; 10,000 500-pound bombs; and 12,000 1,000-pound bombs. If a majority of U.S. senators join with him, we can block this $660 million arms giveaway.6 Large majorities of Americans support cutting off military aid to Israel.7 With Trump and Netanyahu's war on Iran spiraling out of control, that opposition is growing fast. But winning this vote will be a huge lift. AIPAC and other big pro-Israel lobby groups are pushing hard to keep the bombs and money flowing to Israel's war machine. That's where we come in. With your help, we've been able to flood Capitol Hill with phone calls and petition signatures. Now we need to ramp it up. Thanks for taking action, Joey and the team at Demand Progress Action DONATE Sources: 1. BBC, "Israel carries out large wave of air strikes across Lebanon," April 8, 2026. 2. BBC, "Tracking recent US-Israeli strikes on Iranian infrastructure," April 7, 2026. 3. Al Jazeera, "What's happened in Gaza and the West Bank since the start of the Iran war?," March 13, 2026. 4. Common Dreams, "US Argues 'Emergency' of Iran War Means Israel Needs 20,000+ More Bombs Without Congressional Approval," March 7, 2026. 5. Politico, "Bernie Sanders to force disapproval votes over U.S. arms sales to Israel," March 19, 2026. 6. Senator Bernie Sanders, "NEWS: Sanders Files Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to Block Nearly $660 Million in Bomb Sales to Israel," March 19, 2026. 7. Politico, "Majority of Americans disapprove of US-Israel military alliance, new poll shows," August 27, 2025. TELL Congress: Trump wants $1.5 trillion for his military budget to fund his criminal wars. It would be the biggest military spending increase in 70 years — and would come with deep cuts to health care and social services. Sign the petition: REJECT Trump's massive military budget! ADD YOUR NAME Trump's budget proposal demands $1.5 trillion in military spending — the largest increase in 70 years.1 "It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all of these individual things," Trump said recently. "We have to take care of one thing: military protection."2 Besides Trump's wars killing thousands, displacing millions, and causing wholesale destruction, the White House now wants to use war as a reason to continue Project 2025 and slash government services. Trump made deep cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and a wide array of critical government services last year, while handing tax breaks to the rich and corporations, and fueling ICE violence across the country. Congress must outright reject Trump’s absurd military spending. Sign the petition: Say NO to Trump's disastrous budget proposal — NO funding increases for war and NO cuts to health care! ADD YOUR NAME In addition to war funding, Trump and Russ Vought (an architect of Project 2025 and head of the White House budget office) are proposing a "historic investment" in the Department of Homeland Security, even after giving ICE tens of billions of dollars last year to terrorize communities and build more torture prisons.3 Trump and Vought have spent the last 14 months gutting government agencies, exploiting federal shutdowns to threaten funding to Democratic-led states, and defunding health care and social services.4 Congress must forcefully oppose increases in military and ICE funding, as well as cuts to social services. Sign the petition: Reject Trump's war budget now. Thanks for taking action, Joey and the team at Demand Progress DONATE Sources: Common Dreams, "'A Moral Obscenity': Trump Budget Pairs Record Military Boost With Billions in Cuts to Social Programs," April 3, 2026. Jacobin, "Trump's $1.5 Trillion for War Comes From Americans' Pockets," April 6, 2026. Common Dreams, "'A Moral Obscenity': Trump Budget Pairs Record Military Boost With Billions in Cuts to Social Programs," April 3, 2026. Federal News Network, "Trump and budget chief Vought are making this a government shutdown unlike any other," October 14, 2025.

MY E MAIL TO REP SUBRAMANYAM D-VA 10TH, SEN MARK WARNER D-VA AND SEN TIM KAINE D-VA ON THE SALE OF BOMBS TO ISRAEL

The drumpf / trump-vance administration's plans to give the neo-nazi fascist genocidal government of Israel $660 million in bombs to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity in Iran, Lebanon and Gaza must be blocked. This transfer of armaments must also be stopped if Israel decides to pay for it, most likely it would be paid for with American tax dollars anyway. No more funding and supplying weapons and armaments for neo-nazi fascist bibi netanyahu's war crimes and crimes against humanity in my or any American's name.

Thank you 

MY E MAIL TO REP SUBRAMANYAM D-VA 10TH, SEN MARK WARNER D-VA AND SEN TIM KAINE D-VA

I expect you to vote against the neo-nazi fascist drumpf / trump-vance regime's obscene $1.5 trillion Dept of Defense budget request. I expect you to vote against it even if the request is halved, there is no moral justification to slash funding of social safety net programs and American social contract programs to pay for illegal and immoral "military actions / wars" that only increase the profit margins of the military-industrial complex and the billionaires and multi-millionaires who own it. Pres Eisenhower warned America in his "Beware the Pentagon" speech, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." --Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Rev Dr Martin Luther King also warned America,  "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." - Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr.  I also expect  you to work with the entire Virginia to defeat this obscene and immoral Dept of Defense budget request and our nation's slide to spiritual death.

Thank you,

April 2 is International Fact-Checking Day. Here’s what it means in 2026. / In uncertain times, fact-checkers are working with special urgency 2APR26

EVERYBODY lies ( except maybe the Pope, but he is human... ). NOT MY pres drumpf / trump, NOT MY vp vance, Sec of State fascist fotze trunt little marco rubio and Sec of Defense fascist fotze trunt petie lola hegseth are compulsive liars and their volume of lies, deception, misrepresentation, manipulation and Orwellian propaganda rivals what goebbels ( reincarnated as fascist fotze trunt stevie miller ), hitler, stalin, mao, putin and netanyahu spewed. We will be eternally grateful to the true Fact Checkers for the work they do and share. This from PolitiFact.....

April 2 is International Fact-Checking Day. Here’s what it means in 2026. / In uncertain times, fact-checkers are working with special urgency 2APR26

By Louis JacobsonApril 2, 2026

On Feb. 28, the world learned that the United States and Israel had launched wide-ranging attacks on Iranian military and leadership targets. Tensions between the U.S. and Iran had been building for weeks, and prior to that, for decades. But the specific timing and the broad sweep of the military campaign caught many people off guard.

At such a tense moment, fact-checking is crucial. PolitiFact and other fact-checking outlets around the world, including Agence France-Presse, Germany’s Deutsche Welle, Iran’s Factnameh, India’s BOOM, and Israel’s Globes' Whistle, jumped in.

On the war’s first day, PolitiFact investigated whether President Donald Trump was right when he said Iran could "soon" have missiles capable of reaching the U.S. Trump contradicted a 2025 federal government assessment that said such capabilities are years away. In short order, we looked at what the war might mean for petroleum markets (nothing good) and whether the U.S. had a "virtually unlimited supply" of munitions to fight the war. (It varies by type.) And we delved into misleading social media posts, some of them using artificial intelligence, and offered advice on how not to get fooled by war fabrications online.

Trump asserted multiple times in mid-March that U.S. and Israeli strikes had already "destroyed 100% of Iran’s military capability." We concluded that although data showed that the U.S. had weakened Iran’s military capabilities, Iran was continuing to fire missiles and drones at its neighbors and U.S. military sites. 

Determining the truth of something happening under classified conditions on the other side of the world is not easy, and fact-checkers’ assessments inevitably require caveats about what we don’t know. But PolitiFact and other fact-checking outlets know how to use the resources that do exist, including data and the assessments of experts we’ve found to be trustworthy. We value transparency — not anonymous sources, who may have an agenda — and we value fairness, including reaching out to whoever is making the claim, including the Trump White House. 

On International Fact-Checking Day, April 2, we’re reflecting on our mission of holding powerful politicians to account, and of cutting through the clutter to provide our readers with a better understanding of often overwhelming news developments from across the globe.

The Iran war is an example of why the tradition of open-minded but clear-eyed fact-checking that PolitiFact and its colleagues around the world is needed every day. 

Here are three political themes over the past year in which PolitiFact identified an immediate need for clarity, and sought to provide it. Each topic inspired public confusion on a matter of high import: war, democracy and the global economy.

A video broadcast on Iranian state television shows trucks outside the Fordo nuclear facility in Iran on Aug. 29, 2016. (Via AP)

The 2025 U.S. airstrike on Iranian nuclear facilities

After the United States attacked three Iranian nuclear sites on June 21, 2025, Trump said that "Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated." 

Trump’s comment immediately caught our eye because battle damage assessments take time to produce — and because Trump’s certitude contrasted with more measured assessments from Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Israeli military officials. So we jumped into action.

As Trump doubled and tripled down on his "obliterated" characterization, we published an extensively reported article that exposed uncertainty in Trump’s analysis. We concluded that Trump’s arrival at such certitude, so quickly, was questionable.

Assessing the results of a bombing raid begins with the use of overhead surveillance, from satellites and sometimes from drones, military experts told us. Reports from the participating pilots can also be valuable, although they might be hampered by high altitude and darkness.

In the case of the Iran strikes, the targets were located hundreds of feet underground and would not be visible on satellite imagery. Unless military forces or spies were on the ground, the U.S. would have to surveil conversations by Iranian officials or lower-level workers at the sites, or be fed information by Iranians working with U.S. intelligence. A completed assessment is also not as definitive as Trump’s "obliterated"; it is usually offered on a spectrum with a specific level of confidence — either high, low or somewhere in between. 

Making these judgments is a painstakingly time-consuming process, requiring much more time than Trump would have had before making his initial statement shortly after the mission was completed. 

In the nine months since that strike, a bit more information has become public about the 2025 strike, but little additional certainty, even though Trump continues to use such maximalist phrasing. 

A voter works on her ballot at a polling place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Simi Valley, Calif. (AP)

What’s the truth about a proposed rewrite of election law?

In the Trump era, he and his supporters have regularly questioned the legitimacy of the voting process. The audacity of these claims has led our readers to care a lot about the discussion over preserving democratic norms around voting. Our most-clicked 2025 fact-check concerned how married women who take their spouse’s name would be affected by a proposed law backed by Trump and his allies.

That debate and reader interest continued in 2026.

Having argued for years that he lost the 2020 election because it was "rigged" — even though it wasn’t — Trump has sought to curb practices like voting by mail and require voters to present documentation of their citizenship status before registering to vote. Verifying citizenship is commonly practiced across the world, experts say, but many countries have national ID cards, often mandatory and at no cost. That’s not the case in the U.S.

As lawmakers have been debating the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (or SAVE America) Act, we’ve published numerous fact-checks of claims for and against the legislation. The mixed Truth-O-Meter ratings underscore another truth about fact-checking: Rhetoric is rarely black and white.

We’ve analyzed Democratic leaders’ talking points that it would force Americans to register in person (pretty much), require every voter to reregister (not really) and that 9% of American citizens lack the proposed identification requirement (basically right).

We also fact-checked Trump’s statement that "mail-in voting means mail-in cheating." That earned a Pants on Fire. 

Gas prices are displayed at a station March 24, 2026, in Chicago. (AP)

How could the Iran war affect gasoline prices?

Crude oil prices, and the prices for many other commodities, have soared after Iran threatened tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Hardly any country has been immune. Amid widespread U.S. voter concern about high consumer prices — an issue that may have done more than anything to propel Trump back into the Oval Office in 2024 — few price increases hit consumers everywhere harder than prices at the gasoline pump.

The international market for oil is confusing and sometimes counterintuitive. For instance, the release of oil from underground stockpiles or increased Venezuelan production may not do much to lower gasoline prices for Americans. And higher output from U.S. oil producers may not be able to keep prices down.

In a March 12 Fox News interview, Energy Secretary Chris Wright downplayed the impact of stalled tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. "The United States — we produce more oil than we can consume. We’re a net oil exporter," Wright said.

Wright’s comment was misleading.

The U.S. does produce a lot of crude oil, but it’s not a net exporter of crude oil on its own — and it’s not clear that the U.S. could meet its own consumption needs without also buying some oil from other countries. 

The reason for this is a refinery mismatch — something the average reader may not know, but which an energy secretary should. The U.S. doesn’t have enough refinery capacity to make gasoline out of all the oil it produces domestically, so it exports some of the type of oil it can’t refine and imports some of the kind of oil that can be refined here. This makes the U.S. dependent for at least some of its oil on the international market, where the Strait of Hormuz blockage is pushing prices higher.

Once again, it was a case where we heard something our leaders were saying that raised our eyebrows. And if that’s the case, we think our readers will benefit from a deep, dispassionate investigation — especially at a time in which every day brings urgent news developments.

That’s what keeps us motivated to go into work every day.

Louis Jacobson is PolitiFact’s chief correspondent. A longtime Washington journalist, he joined PolitiFact in 2009. Reach him at ljacobson@poynter.org

WAR PIGS - CALL THEM OUT: Sen markiewaynsie "O" mullin r-OK and Sen tommie "vet wannabe" tuberville r-AL 20MAR26

 

THESE pathetic US Veteran wannabes are disgusting because of the way they lie, deceive, and  mislead the American people, especially their constituents, about their non-existent military service just like that 5 time draft dodging c-i-c bone spurs drumpf / trump. Well done Sen Mark Kelly D-AZ, well done!!!

Mullin Pledges to Revoke Noem Policy That Slowed Disaster Aid 18MAR26

U.S. Democratic Socialists

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CALL. THEM. OUT.

Mark Kelly said these words 2 years ago, and it rings true now -- chipping away at Tuberville's legitimacy.

But we can't stop there.

MAGA figures constantly lie about military service or coast on proximity to it. Markwayne Mullin talks like he's been in war, but never served. Tommy Tuberville dodged service yet postures as a patriot. And don't forget about President Bone Spurs.

It was disgraceful behavior then, and especially now, in light of their votes leading men and women to die for them in an insane war.

Call them out... until enough Americans wake up and vote their valor-stealing hides OUT.

Sign the petition: House Minority Leader Rep Hakeem Jeffries D-NY won’t rule out funding Trump’s war on Iran 10MAR26

US House Minority Leader Rep Hakeem Jeffries D-NY is showing why he has never served in the US Military. He is a coward. He is considering supporting additional funding for NOT MY pres drumpf's / trump's and the gop / greed over people-republican party's illegal and immoral war on Iran because he is afraid of them using opposition to this war against him and the Democratic Party in the 2026 Midterms. Supporting and voting for additional funding for this war makes him and every representative and every senator who supports and votes for this cowards and complicit in violating the US Constitution as well as the war crimes being committed by the United States AND the deaths and wounding of American servicemen and servicewomen in this war. It also exposes their lack of intelligence and communication skills to explain the threat this illegal and immoral war is to our democratic Republic. Please sign the petition to congress from Demand Progress prevent any more funding for the war on Iran, and please e mail your representative and senators telling them to vote against all additional funding for this war. My e mails will be at the end of this post, I also called their D.C. offices.....

TELL CONGRESS: U.S. and Israeli airstrikes have hit 10,000 civilian structures in Iran, including homes, schools, and medical facilities. As Trump’s criminal war of destruction rages on, Democrats including Minority Leader Jeffries still won’t rule out passing $50 billion in funding for these horrors. Sign the petition: NO taxpayer funding for Trump’s war on Iran!

ADD YOUR NAME

The U.S.-Israeli war of destruction on Iran has killed more than 1,255 Iranians and damaged 10,000 civilian structures, including homes, schools, and three dozen medical facilities. New footage revealed that the U.S. launched a tomahawk missile that hit an Iranian girls’ school on the first day of the war, killing some 168 people, nearly all of them children at their morning school sessions.^1,2

Despite these escalating horrors, some Democrats including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries still won’t rule out voting for additional funding for Trump’s criminal war on Iran.³

Experts estimate the war costs taxpayers $900 million per day,⁴ meaning Trump’s unconstitutional war has now cost over $9 BILLION. The GOP is planning to ask for an additional $50 billion to continue relentlessly bombing Iran. Congress must unequivocally reject this proposal, which needs 60 votes to pass the Senate.

Sign the petition: End Trump’s horrific war and block ALL funding for airstrikes on Iran.

ADD YOUR NAME

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. military will not abide by “stupid rules of engagement.”⁵ Hegseth, Trump, and Israeli forces have shown a complete disregard for the laws of war, civilian casualties, and international humanitarian protections.

A group of Senators are demanding a full probe into the appalling bombing of the Iranian girls’ school that killed so many children.⁶

Israeli strikes on fuel depots over the weekend left Tehran covered by a black cloud of toxic smoke, causing breathing problems, eye irritation, and a host of other serious health issues across the city.⁷

Congress can’t allow Trump, Hegseth, and a bloodthirsty GOP to continue this war. Our lawmakers must take a firm stand against pledging billions more to bomb Iran.

Sign the petition: Oppose funding for Trump’s war on Iran NOW!

Thanks for taking action,

Joey and the Demand Progress team

DONATE

Sources:

1. Democracy Now, "Video Shows U.S. Missile Struck Iranian Girls’ School, Killing 175, Contradicting Trump’s Denials,” March 9, 2026.
2. CBS News, "United States was "likely" responsible for bombing of girls' school in Iran, per early U.S. assessment,” March 9, 2026.
3. NBC News, "Hakeem Jeffries won't commit to blocking additional Iran war funding,” March 8, 2026.
4. The Center for Strategic and International Studies, "$3.7 Billion: Estimated Cost of Epic Fury’s First 100 Hours,” March 5, 2026.
5. Al Jazeera, "US senators demand probe into ‘appalling’ attack on girls’ school in Iran,” March 9, 2026.
6. The Guardian, "‘Dark, like our future’: Iranians describe scenes of catastrophe after Tehran’s oil depots bombed,” March 8, 2026.
7. Al Jazeera, "US senators demand probe into ‘appalling’ attack on girls’ school in Iran,” March 9, 2026.

 MY E MAIL TO REP SUBRAMANYAM D-VA 10

The drumpf / trump-vance administration's and the gop / greed over people-republican party's war on Iran is illegal and immoral. I expect you to vote against all additional funding of this war and to work with the entire Virginia congressional delegation and House Minority Leader Rep Hakeem Jeffries to vote against all additional funding of this war. All who vote for additional funding for this war are complicit in the violation of the US Constitution, are complicit in the war crimes committed in this war and are complicit in the deaths and wounding of American military personnel during this war. I also expect you to remind the American people while drumpf / trump is willing to send our troops to war he is a 5 time draft dodger and not qualified to be the  c-i-c let alone the president. 

Thank you, 

MY E MAIL TO SEN WARNER D-VA AND SEN TIM KAINE D-VA

The drumpf / trump-vance administration's and the gop / greed over people-republican party's war on Iran is illegal and immoral. I expect you to vote against all additional funding of this war and to work with the entire Virginia congressional delegation and Senate Minority Leader Sen Chuck Schumer to vote against all additional funding of this war. All who vote for additional funding for this war are complicit in the violation of the US Constitution, are complicit in the war crimes committed in this war and are complicit in the deaths and wounding of American military personnel during this war. I also expect you to remind the American people while drumpf / trump is willing to send our troops to war he is a 5 time draft dodger and not qualified to be the  c-i-c let alone the president. 

Thank you,