The latest shot in the long war over religious liberty and land use.

by Daniel Greenfield | Feb 26, 2026

The right to establish places of worship in America remains all too unsettled as demonstrated by a series of landmark cases originating in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio — a region with a surprisingly significant role in shaping religious freedom jurisprudence.

As Jews in a Cleveland, Ohio suburb went to the high holy day service of Rosh Hashanah, a private investigator was watching them. The man in the black SUV videotaped congregants entering the synagogue and the city of University Heights charged that 50 people had gone to pray, in excess of a court order limiting the number of congregants to only 36 people.

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Peloni:  It is time to see if America remains the world’s superpower or if it is in fact too constrained by commitments and regional dependencies to pursue policies which are in fact in its own interest rather than to support those of its waffling allies and opportunistic adversaries.  While it is said that no man is an island, the world’s superpower must be capable of being exactly this, or accept the reality that we truly have come to stand in a multi-polar moment with American strength and geopolitical dominance only a remnant of its former capabilities.  While some believe America has the strength and will to succeed in deciding this struggle in her own favor, others will certainly disagree.  Yet the only opinion which is truly relevant in this moment is that of Pres. Trump, whose legacy will in no small part be decided in how he reacts to the Iranian menace, be it in the coming hours, days or weeks.

Report on the Iran Negotiations, 2/27/2026

Stephen Bryen | Weapons & Strategy | Feb 27, 2026

Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Iran’s Foreign Minister in Oman on Feb. 6, 2026. Screengrab via Youtube

The indirect negotiations in Geneva between the US and Iran, mediated by Oman concluded their latest meeting. Oman said there was “significant progress” made by the two sides.

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To kickstart the India-Israel-Mediteranian Trade Trainline.

BARRY SHAW | Feb 27, 2026

The main thrust of Modi’s visit to Jerusalem was lost in the emotion of the moment. But his visit had one major purpose.

To initiate the much vaunted India-Israel-Mediteranian commercial trainline.

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Roamnrab: “This Will Accomplish Nothing!”

Sources:
“A US strike on #Iran will be surgical, and very painful, not a full-blown, all-out assault.”

— Mudar Adnan Zahran ??? ????? ????? (@Mudar_Zahran) February 26, 2026

Peloni:  J.E. Dyer offers an important context in the below analysis.  Pay particular attention to the section beginning just above her comments regarding Spencer’s article.  Restoring balance between Shia and Sunni while returning control of Iraq to the Iraqis would be an important part of the potential benefits which can be leveraged in this historic moment which should also include offering the people of Iran their moment to take back control over their own lives and destinies.

Listen with your ears.

J.E. Dyer, a retired Naval Intelligence officer, blogs as The Optimistic Conservative, February 24, 2026

Feature image:  The rabbit’s going down.  Only a remnant remains of the regime that mobilizes children to shout death threats. (That turn at Albuquerque will get you every time. Twitter, @fpleitgenCNN video)

[There’s so much noise out there it can be hard to make the data cutoff and just post already.  In my judgment there are good grounds for hearing the sound of info ops in the mash-up of data points that seem to have aircraft carriers popping up hither and yon like giggling gremlins, and Trump’s senior military officers – who brought off a flawless action recently in Venezuela – suddenly afraid of Iran, calendars, and stopped-up toilets.  Never has a nation’s government seemed to play so dead during a military build-up.  “Yes, we keep bringing in more and more to the theater, but we think this is a really bad idea!”  Listen with your ears, folks.  It doesn’t parse. – J.E.]

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Peloni:  I agree with Marziyeh.  Sadly enough, I believe that the real purpose of the massive armed force in the region is intended to keep the war from escalating even as Trump contemplates a limited and focused attack on Iran, a concern which has bothered me since Trump called off the US strike on Iran last month.

By Marziyeh Amirizadeh

Families search for missing loved ones among the bodies of Iranian protestors following Iranian crackdown in mid January 2026. Screengrab via Youtube

Just a few months after I was born in Iran, the Islamic (Demonic) Revolution took place, hijacking the country of my birth and, today 90 million Iranians, giving birth to the Islamic Republic. Make no mistake, the Islamic Republic was conceived by evil, born in sin, and against the United States to the core of its DNA. Anyone who thinks that a war against the Islamic Republic and the ayatollahs is wrong, does not know the history and does not understand the dangerous threats that it poses to all Americans.

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Secretary Rubio warns about Iranian threat to US, says failure to discuss ballistic missiles ‘a big problem’

All Israel News Staff | Published: February 26, 2026

IAF fighter jet taking off for a strike, September 16, 2025. (Photo: IDF)

Senior White House advisors prefer that Israel leads strikes on Iran, with the U.S. only getting involved after Iran responds, Politico reported on Wednesday.

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Peloni:  Update: NYT and Reuters are reporting that claims of Iran soon having missile able to hit the US is not supported by US intelligence, and further claim this notion is exaggerated.  Is this an intel opp intended to keep the window open for US to ignore the missile threat if needed?

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Peloni & David Fieldstone

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Mark Levin opens his monologue describing it as the beginning of a look into American history to recall both great heroes and traitors of America.  In doing so, Mark begins by taking a look back into American history as it relates to Tucker Carlson’s many attacks on America and President Trump, as well as his association with enemy states, and his endorsement of antisemitism and anti-Christianity.  Before doing so, however, Mark raise the question as to what comprises a traitor.  In answering this question, Mark notes that it includes someone marked by betrayal of a friend, principle or country, and in defining this term, Mark challenges that this term describes Tucker Carlson.

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Paul Schnee:  In the article below from the Jerusalem Post a long and convoluted argument is made for ex gratia payments to Arab Palestinians in Gaza citing as justification the payments made by Israel to the families of the nine people who were killed by IDF soldiers defending themselves on board the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship attempting to break the blockade of Gaza enforced by Israel and Egypt. As ex gratia payments go, the ones for the Mavi Marmara incident were some of the least justifiable. Turkey was entirely at fault.

I’m not sure what the Latin phrase is for bribing people to like you despite years of open hostility long before October 7th. but “quid pro quo” doesn’t come close in this instance.

In the eyes of the international community, a term to beguile one’s intelligence if ever there was one, Israel can’t do right for doing wrong.

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Diane Bederman | Feb 26, 2026

First they came for the Jews:

Allah’s Messenger (?) said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. “O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.”

And there was silence.

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By Pamela Geller | February 26, 2026

One cannot ignore the disturbing echoes between universities in pre-war Germany and what has unfolded on American campuses today. Then, Jewish faculty, scholars and students were marginalized, harassed, and ultimately pushed out as institutions surrendered to ideological fanaticism. Now, Jewish students and faculty report intimidation, violence, exclusion, and open hostility —  tolerated or downplayed by the very administrations charged with protecting them. The comparison is not made lightly, but when Jewish voices are shouted down, when antisemitic symbols appear without decisive institutional response, and when fear alters where Jews can walk, teach, or gather, history’s warnings become impossible to dismiss.

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Peloni:  The strength and resilience of these young Iranians is impossible to quantify.  At some point, their sense of independence must be met with a similar sense of resolve from around the world to support them beyond rhetorical refrains from thousands of miles away.  The Iranian people deserve to be free, and an opportunity to be free from their state of political capture of the Mullah.  At the very least they deserve the chance to be more than counted among the regime’s latest death statistics in its drive to suppress the will of the people and to vanquish the spirit of freedom spiraling out of control among their subjects.

By Hugh Fitzgerald | Feb  26, 2026

After a one-month closure, Iran’s universities have opened again, and the students, unbowed and uncowed, have returned to protesting against the supreme leader (“Death to Khamenei”) and his regime. They also have let it be known that they would prefer that Israel, not America, bomb targets in Iran because of the Israeli Air Force’s “greater precision” and ability to minimize civilian casualties. Would Antonio Guterres care to comment?

More on the latest from Iran can be found here: “Iranians prefer ‘precise’ Israeli strike over US attack as protests resume at universities,” by James Genn, Jerusalem Post, February 22, 2026:

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Peloni:  In the following article Lee Smith provides an important telling of Tucker Carlson’s continued attempts to undermine Trump’s midterm hopes from within, damaging the GOP’s credibility while still continuing to maintain close ties with its leadership, something which I have recently noted is Carlson’s being able to do what Obama can not.  As Smith explains, Carlson’s recently staged media stunt in the form of his interview with U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee falsely claimed that Israeli authorities detained and harassed him and his team.  It was an attempt to portray himself as the victim of harassment by a U.S. ally. Airport and embassy officials denied the account, while also providing footage showing Carlson posing with airport staff, thus contradicting his narrative of events. Smith explains that the motivation behind this was to cast the U.S.–Israel relationship as being hostile to Americans and to simultaneously embarrass Ambassador Huckabee, and, by extension, President Donald Trump as well.

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Peloni:  In all that is taking form around the region, the driving focus for the US is its pivot to deal with China.  There are many aspects of the current conflict which make little sense in isolation, but taken together as a whole, much of the mystery is revealed to be America’s positioning for its future interest in containing China at all costs.  And those costs, which are both real and substantive to those who are suffering them, are focused in large part on the minorities and the subjugated masses in the Middle East.  As the new Middle East continues to evolve, these minorities will come to play an important part in shaping their own future if they are not swallowed whole as is the intentions of the likes of the colonialist Turkey and its competitors.

Avi Abelow | Meta | Feb 26,2026

Image via AI

As headlines obsess over a potential U.S. strike on the Islamic regime in Iran and debate President Trump’s Gaza “peace council,” it’s time to step back.

Because what’s unfolding is far bigger than Israel. Far bigger than Gaza. Even bigger than Iran.

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Rabbi Barbara Aiello

My Great Aunt Filomena (z”l) was a force to be reckoned with. She was a tall, strong, Sefardic Jewish woman, who, although self-taught, was considered highly educated. When WW I broke out, Filomena, her husband and her son all of whom were on holiday in the US, were now blocked from returning home to Italy, “What a tragedy,” the family said, but Filomena saw this turn of events not as a setback but an opportunity.

In short order Filomena set up her small business as she had done in the “Old Country,” which consisted of writing and reading letters for Italian Americans who did not have those skills. As the years passed, Filomena’s business acumen grew to include the creation of a home-style local bank where she established individual accounts for her neighbors (no more shoeboxes under the bed) and lent money to family and friends when she felt that an idea or a need had merit.

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Peloni:  As Trump waffles on all but the demand on the nuclear file, regime change in Iran is the only potential fix for the region, for the world, and for the US.

The entire autocratic theocracy has got to be removed, as well as its terror proxies and the abysmal treatment of its diverse citizenry.

Sarah N. Stern | Feb 24, 2026

Some outputs of Iran’s Missile Program (Photo By Fars Media Corporation, CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia)

Will the United States be standing on the right side of history when it comes to Iran? If not, there will forever be a black stain on this sad chapter.

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by Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser | jstribune.com | February 2026

The debate over Iran has long revolved around tactics: sanctions or engagement, containment or deterrence, military strikes or diplomatic agreements. These discussions, while important, obscure a more fundamental reality. The challenge posed by Iran is not merely about enrichment levels, missile ranges, or proxy networks. It is about the nature of the regime itself.

The Islamic Republic is not simply a difficult negotiating partner. It is a revolutionary regime whose identity is inseparable from confrontation — externally against Israel, the United States, and regional governments; internally against its own citizens.

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Peloni:  A joint venture of Israeli and Iranian coordination towards victory with US support in the current crisis can remedy the the failure to allow Israel to have pursued the same last summer.  Importantly, the Iranian people are now primed to bring their support to bear against the Iranian regime and to win the freedom which they so well have earned.

Strategy in the Middle East emanates not from Western concepts or culture, but from a mastery of manipulation, even irrespective of balance of power.

David Wurmser | Feb 25, 2026

Israeli Air Force F-15I Ra’am warplanes. Photo by IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikipedia

U.S. President Donald Trump has done much to stabilize the Middle East and support Israel, but as during the Iran-Israel 12-day war in June 2025, it is imperative that Israel should once again do this operation as much alone as it can. Not only should it initiate and go first, but it must also remain the heavy-lifter and guide this through.

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