Author Archive: Stephen Green

SQUEEZE HARDER: Dubai crackdown hits Iran’s economic lifeline, squeezes IRGC networks.

The arrest of dozens of IRGC-linked money changers in the United Arab Emirates is one of the most serious blows yet to Tehran’s sanctions-evasion network, laying bare how heavily the Islamic Republic has depended on Dubai as an economic lifeline.

Sources familiar with the matter told Iran International that UAE authorities detained dozens of money changers tied to financial entities linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, shut down associated companies and closed their offices.

The crackdown follows days of mounting regional tensions and comes after other measures targeting Iranian nationals, including visa revocations and tighter travel restrictions through Dubai.

For years, Dubai has served as Iran’s main offshore financial artery, where oil proceeds, petrochemical revenues and rial conversions were turned into dollars, dirhams and euros beyond the reach of the country’s battered domestic banking system.

“This is going to be a real problem for Tehran because Dubai was an economic lung for the Iranian regime,” Jason Brodsky of United Against Nuclear Iran told Iran International.

“That is economic pressure and diplomatic isolation in a way that the UAE is able to employ against the Iranian regime, and it will have a very considerable impact.”

This is no time to go wobbly.

STOP CODDLING THE MENTALLY ILL: You Can’t Tell The Satanic Leftwing Tranny Deathcults Without A Program. “Friday’s LinkSwarm entry on crazy tranny shooter Robert Paul Westman’s link to various satanic death cults was pretty brief, but there seems to be a lot more to cover there. Starting with America’s Transtifa problem.”

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES:

HMM: Reserve Sheriff’s Deputy Sues VW After He Was Fired for Having His Service Weapon in His Car.

Luis Rivera worked for Volkswagen at the company’s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant for 14 years. He was a production team leader there. Rivera is also a reserve deputy in the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. Last June Rivera stopped at the VW plant after some training to pick something up and had his service gun in his car. That, VW says, violated the company’s no-weapons-in-the-workplace policy and the German auto maker fired him.

However…Tennessee is one of the most gun-friendly states in US of A. Volunteer State law — Section 39-17-1313 — permits lawful gun owners to store firearms in their vehicles as long as the firearm is kept out of sight. Rivera has now sued Volkswagen for violating Tennessee law and he’s seeking at least half a million dollars.

He seems to have a strong case.

DON’T BE SURPRISED IF THAT FIGURE TURNS OUT TO BE LOW-BALL:

UPDATE (FROM GLENN):

JUST ANOTHER WELL-TO-DO RED-DIAPER GRIFTER:

ONCE AGAIN I SAY, LET IT ALL OUT, KURT:

SCOTUS OR NOT, THIS HAS GOT TO STOP: HUNDREDS of companies provide BIRTH TOURISM for foreign moms who want US citizen babies.

During oral arguments before the Supreme Court regarding birthright citizenship, the Trump administration noted the prevalence of “birth tourism,” or the action of an expecting foreign national traveling to the United States with the intention of giving birth to their child on American soil, granting them US citizenship.

Kayleigh McEnany said on Fox News as the Supreme Court was in session, “There are more than 500 firms in China that facilitate people coming from the Chinese Communist Party to give birth here in the United States. Obama enabled this through loopholes dating back to 2009, and what that could mean is 1 million new voters by 2030. Imagine that, Communist Party voters.”

Over the years, a number of companies across the US and its territories have catered to mothers from countries such as Russia and China. Recent reports have revealed companies operating in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific.

Insane and self-destructive, just like the rest of Obama’s legacy.

YES:

AN IMPORTANT EPIC FURY UPDATE FROM TOM SAUER:

Takeaway line: “Sure, there are some few remaining drone and missile threats, but the main reason the strait is ‘closed’ is fear from insurers due to perceived risk, real or imagined. That’s on them.”

I’M EXPECTING AN EARTH-SHATTERING IPO: SpaceX files initial paperwork to sell shares to the public and likely make Musk a trillionaire.

A SpaceX IPO promises to be one of the biggest Wall Street events of the year, with several investment banks lining up to help raise tens of billions to fund Musk’s ambitions to set up a base on the moon, put datacenters the size of several football fields in orbit and possibly one day send a man to Mars.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about the confidential registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SpaceX did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Exactly how much SpaceX plans to raise has not been disclosed but the figure is reportedly as much as $75 billion. At that level, the offering would easily eclipse the $29 billion that Saudi Aramco raised in its IPO in 2019.

The offering, coming possibly in June, could value all the shares of SpaceX at $1.5 trillion, nearly double what the company was valued in December when some minority owners sold their stakes, according to research firm Pitchbook, before an acquisition that increased its size.

If there were an actual line to stand in to buy just a single share, I’d go stand in it.

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE WAS LAST SEEN LOUNGING ON THE LIDO DECK:

Sen. Mike Lee adds: “It has been obvious for years that the same crew who invented the Russiagate hoax are themselves dependent on foreign election interference.”

THE CITY HAS PROGRESSED FROM THROWING MONEY AT THE PROBLEM TO THROWING MYSTERY MONEY AT THE PROBLEM: Chicago mayor announces homelessness plan with unclear funding sources.

The five-year blueprint features data, recommendations and insight into how the city might address the issue of homelessness. It contains seven pillars to address – emergency services, housing, health, education, employment, community cohesion and systems alignment.

Improvements to homelessness services have already been in progress according to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, but the blueprint will provide guidance for initiatives. The report says it aims to effectively end homelessness, based on a framework called Functional Zero.

Sendy Soto, Chicago chief homelessness officer, was appointed to the position by the mayor in 2023 to lead efforts creating the five-year plan. Her departure from the position was announced by Johnson early this week.

During media availability Tuesday, Johnson said the reason Soto’s position is ending now is solely because her duties had been fulfilled early.

Neither Johnson, nor the report, give clear answers as to where funding would come from for initiatives.

Locking up criminals for a good, long time and aggressively treating drug addiction and mental illness — up to and including involuntary commitment for both — would likely solve almost the entire problem.

Much better instead then to make sure that Homeless Inc. makes a very expensive show of solving the problem.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Dear GOP — Let President Trump Lead the Way to Midterms Victory. “Trump has been showing them how to win. It’s a simple story they can tell on the campaign trail: Democrats want to keep murderers and rapists on the streets to imperil your families, and Republicans want to remove the threat. If the threat is in the country illegally, we want to send them home.”