TPM – The Microsoft Choke Point – Age Verification and Identity Control
April 8th, 2026Most people don’t know (or care) about any of this.
Most will comply with everything asked of them without concern or complaint.
Financial services and government issued IDs will be how this comes down for people who are trying to resist. It will simply become impossible to exist without compliance with these systems.
I can see a scenario where people create “normie” devices in order to comply with device/biometric requirements to do banking or take commercial flights, for example.
Then, they might have their more privacy focused devices running Linux for everything else. Not, so much, because this would ultimately be effective. But more to feel a sense of at least having done something to resist.
Via: Rob Braxman Tech:
After U.S. – Iran Ceasefire, Massive Israeli Attack Kills Hundreds in Lebanon
April 8th, 2026In other news, Iran blocks ships in the Strait of Hormuz with Lebanon cease-fire demand and $2M toll:
Iran is again blocking ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz just hours after agreeing to reopen the waterway, blaming the reversal on Israel striking Lebanon — despite President Trump making clear Beirut was never part of the cease-fire agreement.
“Due to Israeli strikes in Lebanon, oil tankers will not be permitted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz,” the Iranian embassy in Mumbai posted to X on Wednesday, citing Iran’s Fars News Agency.
But Trump on Wednesday told PBS News Hour that “everyone knows” Israel’s fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon is a “separate skirmish” not included in the cease-fire deal with Iran.
Via: Al Jazeera:
Israeli strikes have hit several dense commercial and residential areas in central Beirut without warning, killing hundreds of people and wounding more than 1,000 others, hours after a ceasefire was announced in the United States-Israeli war on Iran.
Lebanon’s Civil Defence said at least 254 people were killed and 1,165 others were wounded in the attacks on Wednesday.
Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said Lebanon was facing a “dangerous escalation” after Israel launched “more than 100 air strikes” across the country.
CIA “Ghost Murmur”
April 8th, 2026The alleged story about the rescue of a U.S. F-15 weapon system officer makes no sense at all.
So, for whatever it’s worth…
Via: New York Post:
The CIA used a futuristic new tool called “Ghost Murmur” to find and rescue the second American airman who was shot down in southern Iran, The Post has learned.
The secret technology uses long-range quantum magnetometry to find the electromagnetic fingerprint of a human heartbeat and pairs the data with artificial intelligence software to isolate the signature from background noise, two sources close to the breakthrough said.
It was the tool’s first use in the field by the spy agency — and was alluded to Monday afternoon by President Trump and CIA Director John Ratcliffe at a White House briefing.
“It’s like hearing a voice in a stadium, except the stadium is a thousand square miles of desert,” a source briefed on the program told The Post. “In the right conditions, if your heart is beating, we will find you.”
This source and another with knowledge of Lockheed Martin intelligence collection tools told The Post that Ghost Murmur was developed by Skunk Works, the aerospace giant’s secretive advanced development division. The company declined to comment.
Trump Announces Two-Week Ceasefire as Iran Agrees to Reopen Strait of Hormuz, Allowed to Charge Fees on Ships
April 7th, 2026It looks like Iran is allowed to continue collecting fees on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which is an astonishing development.
The two-week ceasefire plan includes allowing both Iran and Oman to charge fees on ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, a regional official said Wednesday.
The official said Iran would use the money it raised for reconstruction. It wasn’t immediately clear what Oman would use its money for.
The strait is in the territorial waters of both Oman and Iran. The world had considered the passage an international waterway and never paid tolls before.
The official, who had been directly involved in the negotiations, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
—
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 7, 2026
Via: MoneyControl:
The US-Iran ceasefire may reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but it does not restore business as usual. Instead, it resets how the world’s most critical oil route will operate, with Iran positioned to oversee who passes, and how.
Under the agreement, vessels can transit the strait for a limited period, but only in coordination with Iranian armed forces and a likely toll to Iran and Oman, according to reporting by the Associated Press and Reuters.
Iran’s position has been consistent across official statements and diplomatic proposals.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said vessels would be allowed to pass “via coordination with Iran’s armed forces,” a formulation echoed in Tehran’s ceasefire communication.
According to AP reporting, Iran’s 10-point plan, presented as the basis for talks, explicitly calls for “controlled passage through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with Iran’s armed forces,” framing it as a strategic gain for Tehran.
That language signals a shift from unrestricted transit to managed access.
Russia and China Block UN Resolution on Strait of Hormuz
U.S. ATTACKING MILITARY TARGETS ON KHARG ISLAND
April 7th, 2026Here we go…
?BREAKING: US bombs dozens of Iranian military targets on Kharg Island overnight, including bunkers, radar station, ammunition storage, senior US official tells @JenGriffinFNC https://t.co/g6gXkdR8sQ pic.twitter.com/57HsGlPOgx
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 7, 2026
Trump on Iran: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
April 7th, 2026Trump on Iran just now: "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will." pic.twitter.com/qifm0ZD5an
— cryptogon (@cryptogon) April 7, 2026
Has Trump Lost His Mind?
April 5th, 2026Update: “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!”
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 5, 2026
—
This was posted in the last hour:
This is real. pic.twitter.com/oZ03BK9SSx
— cryptogon (@cryptogon) April 5, 2026
Via: Daily Mail:
Donald Trump has vowed to destroy Iran in an expletive-laden social media post, which he bizarrely ended with the phrase: ‘Praise be to Allah.’
He wrote in a Truth Social early on Easter Sunday morning: ‘Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.
‘There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F***in’ Strait, you crazy b*****ds, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.’
The president’s threat to turn the country into a living hell comes just days after US-Israeli air strikes destroyed Iran’s tallest bridge, killing eight people.
The B1 bridge, which links Iran’s capital with the western city of Karaj, was targeted in two waves of strikes on Thursday after Trump said he would bomb Tehran ‘back to the Stone Age’.
The second attack on the 136-metre structure took place while rescue forces were at the scene helping at least 95 injured people, Iranian state media claimed.
Now, Trump said Iran’s power plants will be bombed next if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened.
Apple Expands Age Verification to Singapore & South Korea
April 4th, 2026Via: Reclaim the Net:
Apple’s identity verification demands are spreading across Asia. Starting in late March, the company expanded age verification requirements in both Singapore and South Korea, adding these countries to a growing list alongside the UK, where users must prove they’re adults before Apple lets them fully use their own devices.
Singapore has been partially locked down since February 24, when Apple began blocking downloads of apps rated 18+ unless users confirmed they were adults.
That initial wave also hit Australia and Brazil. But the late March update goes further, bringing Singapore’s requirements closer to the UK model. Apple now requires Singaporean users to confirm they’re 18 or older to download or purchase 18+ apps, using a credit card, a driving license, a National Registration Identity Card, or a Foreign Identification Number card. Passports, debit cards, and gift cards aren’t accepted.
German Men Between Ages of 18 and 46 Need Military Permit for Travel Abroad Lasting Longer Than Three Months
April 4th, 2026Update: Germany Suspends Military Approval for Long Stays Abroad for Men Under 45
—
Via: DW:
A new military service law took effect in Germany at the start of 2026 aimed at boosting the strength of the armed forces amid threats to European security in the wake of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
The legislation was contentious and many people even took to the streets to protest the potential reintroduction of mandatory military service — after conscription was suspended in 2011 — for men.
But another provision in the law has so far gone largely unnoticed.
It relates to a requirement for men between the ages of 18 and 46 to “obtain an approval from the relevant Bundeswehr Career Center if they wish to leave the Federal Republic of Germany for more than three months.”
The Frankfurter Rundschau, which reported on the provision on Friday, said the rule would apply regardless of whether a German man “planned a semester of studying abroad, working in a foreign country or going on a backpacking trip around the world.”
Artemis II Astronauts Observing Far Side of Moon, “A Part of the Solar System that Human Eyes Have Never Seen Before” [???]
April 3rd, 2026Never seen before?
Is it strange that the Science Editor of a large circulation newspaper doesn’t know that U.S. Astronaut Michael Collins saw the far side of the moon, according to mainstream accounts of the Apollo 11 mission?
See: “Michael Collins’s Solitary Orbit”
And Apollo 8:
The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing and then returned to Earth.
Via: Telegraph:
When the Artemis II astronauts reach the far side of the Moon on Monday their world will fall silent as communications with Earth are blocked by the bulk of our nearest neighbour.
During the almost hour-long communication blackout the three Americans and one Canadian aboard will be making scientific observations that could help shed light on the origin of life on Earth.
The crew will be floating alone, cut off from Earth and gazing down at a part of the Solar System that human eyes have never seen before.
What they see will be nothing like the calm, smooth, silvery disc that lights up our night sky.
The far side is never seen from Earth. It has borne the brunt of billions of years of bombardment and is a pock-marked golf ball of deep-shadowed overlapping craters.
