Today
THE U.S. AND SAUDI ARABIA BOMBED IRAQ TOGETHER, FAUCI TOOK THE FIFTH OVER 100 TIMES, THE CDC’S FORMER CHIEF SAYS DISEASE OUTBREAKS ARE THE RESULT OF GUTTING PUBLIC HEALTH — AND TRUMP HOSTED A MAN WITH AN ICC WARRANT IN THE OVAL OFFICE

The United States and Saudi Arabia bombed Iraq. Not Iran. Iraq. Joint U.S.-Saudi airstrikes hit targets across seven Iraqi provinces on Wednesday, killing at least 20 fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces… an umbrella of Iraqi militias mostly backed by Iran.

CENTCOM said the strikes were a response to more than 30 drone attacks on U.S. forces over three days that it said were directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The U.S. called the targets “Iran-aligned terrorists.” Iraq’s prime minister directed his Foreign Ministry to pursue legal action against both the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani warned the strikes were “a dangerous overstep of the principle of Islamic brotherhood.” The PMF is not a rogue militia. It is part of Iraq’s official security forces… created with U.S. support in 2014 to fight ISIS. The U.S. helped build it. Now it is bombing it.

Trump went on Fox News after the strikes. His words: “We are going to beat the f***ing s**t out of them.” Oil jumped 5.8% on Wednesday morning. The war that started between two countries now involves at least nine.

The U.S. said it warned Iraq before the strikes. Iraq says the warning came minutes before the bombs fell. Seven provinces hit in a single night. A sovereign country bombed by two foreign governments working together. And the militia they hit was one America helped create.

THE U.S. HELPED BUILD THE MILITIA IN 2014. ON WEDNESDAY IT BOMBED THEM ACROSS SEVEN PROVINCES. IRAQ IS SUING.

BREAKING

Fauci Took the Fifth and Refused to Answer More Than 100 Questions — Rand Paul Is Pushing a Contempt Vote Next Week

Dr. Anthony Fauci sat before the Senate on Wednesday and said 24 words. Then he stopped talking. “Under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.”

He repeated that line more than 100 times over the next two and a half hours. Senator Rand Paul, who chairs the committee, had subpoenaed Fauci to testify about 1,000 pages of personal diary entries Paul released over the weekend. The diary covers the early days of the pandemic. Paul says the entries show Fauci lied about the origins of COVID-19 and the lab-leak theory.

Fauci’s lawyers said the decision was about survival, not guilt. Biden pardoned Fauci before leaving office… but the pardon only covers acts before January 2025. Any statement Fauci makes under oath now could be used to charge him with perjury. “This hearing is designed to entrap you,” Senator Maggie Hassan told Fauci.

Paul said the committee would vote next week on holding Fauci in contempt of Congress. If passed, it goes to the DOJ for possible criminal charges. The man who ran America’s pandemic response for four decades sat in a hearing room, said one sentence, and waited for it to end. The machine does not want answers. It wants a target.

EXPOSED

The CDC’s Former Chief Medical Officer Says Disease Outbreaks Are Spreading Because the Government Gutted Public Health — 1,100 Measles Cases, Cyclospora Across 17 States

Debra Houry was the chief medical officer at the CDC. She quit one year ago in protest over what she called political meddling at the agency under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This week, she went on national television and said the outbreaks now hitting the country are the direct result of those cuts.

“The U.S. is really at a tipping point,” Houry told Democracy Now. “When you look at measles, whooping cough, all these vaccine-preventable diseases… the secretary is responsible for this.” More than 1,100 measles cases have been reported in 2026 alone… already more than all of last year. A cyclospora outbreak has sickened people across 17 states.

Kennedy slashed billions from public health funding after taking office. The CDC fired staff working on the Ebola response in Congo. It cut the team that tracked measles. It gutted the Epidemic Intelligence Service… the “disease detectives” who are sent to outbreak sites. One CDC leader called the rise in measles the “cost of doing business.”

“Public health matters,” Houry said. “When it works, you often don’t know, because you’re saving lives. But when you take it away, we see those consequences today.” The government spends $250 million a day on the war. It gutted the agency that stops plagues.

“Although it pains me to do so… I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment to refrain from answering your questions.”

— Dr. Anthony Fauci, his only statement during two and a half hours of testimony

DEVELOPING

Trump Hosted Netanyahu at the White House Despite an ICC Arrest Warrant — a U.N. Expert Called It “Complicity” in the Collapse of International Law

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walked into the White House on Monday. There is an ICC arrest warrant with his name on it. The U.S. is not a member of the ICC. But it is a founding architect of the international criminal law system… from the Nuremberg trials to the Rome Statute. On Monday, it hosted a man the court says should be in handcuffs.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, called it “complicity.” She said: “The United States is actively contributing to make the international criminal law architecture that it has been building, from the Nuremberg trials up until now, crumble on our head.”

Albanese also named Greece, Italy, and France… all ICC member states… for letting Netanyahu fly through their airspace on his way to Washington. “Every action matters, as every crime matters and will be accounted for,” she said.

Netanyahu attended Senator Graham’s funeral the next day. Zelenskyy met with Trump the same afternoon. The week began with a wanted man in the Oval Office and ended with bombs falling on Iraq. The machine does not enforce the law. It hosts the people the law was written to stop.

 Connecting the Dots 

▸ The Bigger Picture

Four stories from one week. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia bombed a sovereign country and hit a militia America built. The man who ran the pandemic response for four decades sat before Congress, said one sentence, and went silent while a senator who has spent years trying to jail him pushed for contempt. The CDC’s own former chief said the government gutted public health and now diseases are spreading. And the president hosted a man wanted by the ICC in the Oval Office while a UN expert called it the collapse of international law.

The press covers each on its own page. A “military strike.” A “hearing.” A “health story.” A “diplomatic visit.” But the thread is the same in every one.

The machine wages wars, silences witnesses, guts the agencies that protect people, and hosts the leaders the law was written to stop. It bombs militias it created. It drags doctors before Congress to build cases, not find answers. It cuts the budget that fights measles while spending $250 million a day on missiles. And it rolls out the red carpet for a man with a warrant. The machine does not enforce the rules. It decides who the rules apply to.

When the machine chooses who is above the law… the law is below everyone. That’s the Seventh Floor.

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