Today
SENATE BLOCKS THE $1.15 TRILLION PENTAGON BILL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 66 YEARS, ISRAEL SECRETLY GROOMED A HOLOCAUST DENIER AS ITS SPY, CUBA’S GRID COLLAPSED FOR THE THIRD TIME IN NINE DAYS — AND A STUDENT SUED THE GOVERNMENT UNDER THE KKK ACT

For the first time in 66 years, the Senate blocked the annual defense spending bill. The vote was 50 to 46… ten short of the 60 needed. Every Democrat voted no. “Trump started this war without authorization, without a strategy, and without an exit,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

The bill would have authorized $1.15 trillion for the Pentagon. Trump is asking for another $350 billion on top of that through a separate process… bringing the total to $1.5 trillion. That is nearly double last year’s defense budget of $900 billion. Senator Tammy Duckworth, a combat veteran who flew helicopters in Iraq, called it “throwing more money at an out-of-control military operation.”

Buried in the bill was a clause to merge U.S. and Israeli intelligence feeds into a single targeting system. Human Rights Watch warned it could lock the U.S. into Israeli surveillance ops. Senators Van Hollen, Sanders, and Warren opposed it.

Senator Chris Van Hollen said the bill “lays the groundwork for a bloated Pentagon budget that would further embolden President Trump’s reckless and illegal war against Iran”… at a time when “families across the country are struggling to afford groceries, rent, gas and other necessities.”

The NDAA has passed every year for 66 years. It is considered the most reliable piece of legislation in Washington. And on Tuesday… for the first time since 1960… it didn’t move.

$1.5 TRILLION. NEARLY DOUBLE LAST YEAR’S BUDGET. AND A HIDDEN CLAUSE TO MERGE U.S. AND ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE. BLOCKED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 66 YEARS.

BREAKING

Israel Secretly Groomed Ahmadinejad — the Holocaust Denier Who Called for Israel’s Destruction — as a Mossad Intelligence Asset

A New York Times investigation published Sunday says Israel spent years secretly grooming former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad… the man who denied the Holocaust and called for Israel’s destruction… as an intelligence asset. The plan was to install him as Iran’s new leader after the regime fell.

Mossad chief David Barnea personally flew to Budapest in 2024 to meet Ahmadinejad. The meetings were held under cover of a climate conference at a Hungarian university. The rector said he was told the event would “serve as cover for secret talks.” Israel made payments through Ahmadinejad’s spokesman, Ali Akbar Javanfekr. Mossad then told the CIA it had made contact.

On February 28… the first day of the war… an Israeli airstrike hit Ahmadinejad’s compound in Tehran, targeting his guards and armored car. Minutes later, a black Peugeot arrived. According to four senior Iranian officials, Mossad operatives drove him to a safe house inside Iran. But the plan fell apart. Ahmadinejad grew suspicious and left.

He was not seen again until Khamenei’s funeral in early July. Iranian officials say he is now under house arrest by the IRGC’s intelligence wing. Ahmadinejad’s office called the report “Hollywood-style claims” and denied everything. An associate told the Times that Ahmadinejad had said he would recognize Israel and join the Abraham Accords if returned to power. The man Israel wanted to put in charge of Iran was the same man who spent a decade saying Israel should not exist.

EXPOSED

Cuba’s Power Grid Collapsed for the Third Time in Nine Days — 10 Million People in Darkness — Because the U.S. Cut Off the Oil

On Tuesday, Cuba’s entire power grid went dark. It was the third total collapse in nine days. The fifth this year. Ten million people lost electricity. The energy ministry said there was “a total disconnection of the electrical system.”

Cuba makes only 40% of the fuel it needs. The rest used to come from Venezuela. In January, after the U.S. removed Venezuelan president Maduro from power, Trump imposed an oil blockade on Cuba and pressured Mexico to stop shipments too. Since January, only one Russian tanker has been allowed through.

Public transport has stopped. Tens of thousands of surgeries have been canceled. Food is rotting in homes with no refrigeration. Last week, residents in Havana banged pots and pans in the streets, shouting “turn on the lights.” Julia Valdes, a Havana resident whose mother is bedridden, told reporters: “I’ve had to throw out meat and fish. It had rotted. It is unfair that we are going through this.”

Secretary of State Rubio said the U.S. “has done nothing punitive against the Cuban regime.” PolitiFact rated that claim false… noting the blackouts have “grown dramatically worse” since the fuel cutoff began.

The U.S. is spending $1.5 trillion on its military this year. It will not spare the fuel to keep the lights on for 10 million people 90 miles away.

“I’ve had to throw out meat and fish. It had rotted. It is unfair that we are going through this.”

— Julia Valdes, Havana resident, during Cuba’s third blackout in nine days

DEVELOPING

A Palestinian Activist Sued the Government Under the KKK Act — Naming Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, the Heritage Foundation, and Canary Mission

Mahmoud Khalil was a graduate student at Columbia University. He led protests against the war in Gaza. In March 2025, ICE agents arrested him in his campus apartment. He spent 104 days in a Louisiana jail. He missed the birth of his first child. He was never charged with a crime.

On Tuesday, Khalil sued. The lawsuit names Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, Markwayne Mullin, Todd Blanche, and former DHS chief Kristi Noem. It also names the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission, and Betar… a far-right pro-Israel group that used facial recognition to identify masked protesters and gave the names to the government.

The suit was brought under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871… a Reconstruction-era law written to stop the government from working with vigilante groups to strip citizens of their rights. Khalil says the Heritage Foundation created a blueprint called “Project Esther”… which told the government to target noncitizen protesters and label them as part of a “Hamas Support Network.” The government then used that blueprint to detain and deport him.

“This case is about far more than what was done to me,” Khalil said outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan. “It is about a coordinated, ongoing plot to punish, silence, and intimidate everyone who dares to dissent.”

The White House called Khalil a fraud. His lawyers say the government has no evidence linking him to any act of violence or support for Hamas. His deportation case may reach the Supreme Court. A law written to stop the Klan is now being used to challenge the machine itself.

 Connecting the Dots 

▸ The Bigger Picture

Four stories in one news cycle. The Senate blocked a $1.15 trillion defense bill for the first time since 1960… because no one in the White House could explain what the war is for. Israel spent years grooming the man who denied the Holocaust as its handpicked replacement for the regime it is bombing. Cuba’s entire power grid collapsed for the third time in nine days because the U.S. cut off the island’s oil. And a graduate student who protested the war in Gaza sued the government under a law written to stop the Ku Klux Klan.

The press covers each one on a different page. A “budget dispute.” An “intelligence revelation.” An “infrastructure crisis.” A “civil rights lawsuit.” But the thread is the same in every one.

The machine spends, schemes, destroys, and silences… and this week, every one of those tools was in the same news cycle. A trillion-dollar budget with no strategy. A spy operation built around the most absurd partner imaginable. An oil blockade that leaves 10 million people in the dark while the Pentagon asks for more money. And a student jailed for 104 days without charges because he said the wrong thing at the wrong protest. The machine does not operate in secret anymore. It operates in public… and counts on the fact that no one reads all four stories on the same day.

You just did. That’s the Seventh Floor.

They rely on the shadows.
It’s time to turn on the lights.