Praying that this is truly the beginning of the end for the Trump regime. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to democracy and for helping maintain our sanity in these unsettling times.
I’ll believe it when I see it. Up til now, the Republicans have shown absolutely no sign of having even a single vertebra in their backs. They won’t do anything to stop Little Orange Twitter Fingers from crashing the world economy and destroying western civilization. They are perfectly ok with watching the world burn - it seems they don’t realize they are part of it…
No Dutch, they are not part of it. They should be removed from any form of power starting in November. The midterm elections should consolidate the return of decency in this country after sending the scumbag president where he belongs, either an asylum or a jail. And we should apologize to the whole world, not as a sign of weakness but as a sign that America is back.
Ricardo I couldn’t agree more with you with respect to the apology but it won’t be enough to say sorry but we are back, the whole world is now invested in seeing real change in the US. Start with PACs and Super PACs. Ban them. Constitution needs to be amended and Executive Presidential powers curtailed before any other country will trust the US again. We can’t rely on the basic decency or lack of character of a single person any longer. Press freedoms need to be looked at too. Democrats are in their own way as complicit. I don’t have a vote but unless and until the US sorts itself out I would strongly prefer you to leave the rest of the world to manage ourselves. Right now I think China is the only grown up in the room and marginally prefer Iran under the current Regime to US or Israel. The American Dream is dead it’s a sham and it only took one man to bring the House of Cards down.
What we're experiencing here in the U.S. is what happens when Big Money and Christian nationalism get into bed with one another - democracy dies. Overturning Citizens United and ending presidential immunity while in office are critical to restoring the democratic process here. We need textbooks on critical thinking skills suitable for grades 6 through 12. We also need textbooks on comparative government (political systems) and history for grades 6 through 12. And, we need to get religion out of the classrooms. Melanie Trecek-King, a biology professor at Massasoit Community College in Massachusetts, has created the "Thinking is Power" website, focusing on critical thinking, information literacy and science literacy. We need this on a massive scale, starting yesterday.
Richard, is there some middle ground where immunity can be continued for the equivalent of “felonies”but ended for “misdemeanors?” If there is no immunity at all, I can imagine the scruple-less GOP tying up every Democrat president in court - until the end of time. You know they would do it.
It could takes decades to correct the course of State, or it may never happen. The wealthy are taking over the means of communication. And without a population trained in critical thinking skills, they can manipulate the minds of the ill-informed, as they have been doing since Reagan's time in office. Thomas Frank writes on how they do this with wedge issues in his book, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" (2004)
Probably what NEEDS to happen in the future (although it will be difficult to have this happen) is a separation of the Justice department from the Executive branch. The Justice department should be moved into the Article III branch and the AG should either be elected in a separate election from the president or appointed by a committee of court justices from the District, Appeals and Supreme courts. That would provide the AG with sufficient independence from the Executive branch that they could once again be seen as an independent decision maker in bringing criminal charges against anyone, including members of both the executive and congressional branches.
There will always be concerns about renegade leaders in politics, there is pretty much no way to avoid that, but having the department of justice separate from the Executive would go a long way to minimizing the risks of that.
I agreed 100 💯 with you Sharon but we have to start somewhere. In the meantime, our regime it's still in power and our struggle it's still not over. Let's focus on guarantee that we'll have an election in November, a fair one. Thanks for your reply 👍
and it is this blue MAGA crap that could bring us all down.
"Vote Blue no matter who"? Really.. and what about the Democrats who have voted along with Trump's budgets and plans? The ones that gave him back his power by ending the shutdown. The ones that took away our medical care?
There are far too many Democrats that are perfectly fine with what Trump is doing everyday. They make weak protestations but they don't actually care. They are rich and got a tax cut. They have made millions playing Trump's stock market. And most importantly, they are paid by the exact same lobbyists and corporations that own the GOP.
The last couple of years have shown us that we can't trust the democrats either.
I'm going to vote for the people who share my basic values. Equal rights for all. Single payer or Universal healthcare. Immigration reform. Tax the wealthy instead of the poor.
If the Democrats insist on running these incremental GOP-lite candidates.. don't expect me to vote for them.
Chuck Schumer? Needs to be retired. Jefferies has been pretty much universally ineffective. Ken Martin? Complete mistake. Should never have been allowed to dump David Hogg.
I, like millions of others, have reached the point of no return with the Democratic leadership.
and every time I see 'vote blue no matter who'... I get a bit nauseous. I don't see MAGA-lite pulling us out of this disaster. During the Biden administration they had endless opportunities to fix the crap that Trump had done during his first administration and they chose not to because it benefitted them. I'm not stupid enough to vote for them again.
What really "MATTERS " is that the contents of the Epstein files must be shockingly horrific for trump to bring the world to the cusp of WWIII to distract from their publication.
We need to Maximise Attention To Trump Epstein Relationship to once and for all flush his Golden Toilet and bring his global debauchery to an end.
Two week ceasefire?
Iran knows Trump is "too weak" to politically survive his latest ignorant bully actions.
His circus sideshow has effectively set up a long line of oil tanker targets like massive sitting ducks in a shooting gallery.
What could possibly go wrong??
Does the world have to live with the unintended consequences of trump's needless war?
Trump must be publicly exposed, humiliated and reprimanded to return the world to pre Trump order.
The November election should be the turning point Paul. In the meantime we have to keep vigilant to prevent that election to be stolen. Nothing more important since fron there on, we should put everything on the table. No exceptions starting by the Epstein story.
Trump is fading, but not before leaving wreckage behind. This commentary argues that his war weakened America, strengthened Iran’s leverage, and turned constitutional cowardice into complicity. History should not remember him as misunderstood or unstable, but as... https://essayx.substack.com/p/impeach-him-dont-diagnose-him
Are the world's leaders "trained" to be diplomatic, measured, cautious, therefore, some of their hesitancy to excoriate trump? Even the response from Canada's prime minister was milquetoast.
A reputation is a terrible thing to waste. There have been times when America had a good reputation and times we had a terrible reputation. Like now for instance. With a lot of hard work on all the corruption, and with serious attention to serious consequences, we can begin the long process of regaining a good reputation. The work will take years.
All the rules, amendments and guardrails were in place. We found the weak link though, when the “leaders” would not enforce them. Many judges showed real courage, only to have the bought&compromised SCOTUS not enforce them. The failure was not the rules. It was us. Humans failed to enforce the rules. Some humans were more critical in this than others because we thought we had voted them into office to be our guardrail and enforcer. But the gop men and women played the monkeys that See No Evil. Hear No Evil….and allowed all the evil. So here we are. We now have to reinvent the wheel if we cannot figure out how to enforce The Rule of Law.
Respectfully, Sharon, it did not take just one man to bring our country down. There has been a concerted effort to bring our democracy down. Further what scares me even more is the attitude of US citizens that still support this narcissistic moron. Last night Clay Fuller defeated Shawn Harris in the runoff election in Georgia. The reasons people were giving the news media for voting for Fuller has me deeply concerned that too many this country will never understand any concept of decency. Too many just don't "get it".
Watching that race myself because that's where I grew up. Shawn Harris was a strong candidate, but I questioned whether as a Black man in a part of Georgia that is predominantly Appalachian he could overcome the racial prejudice. My guess is that it played a role when the large field of Republicans was reduced to one.
Nevertheless, he lost only by 14 points. Now, I know (at least I think I know) what you're thinking: fourteen points is still a hell of a lot and not close enough to make headway in a state, and specifically, the region in which the race was fought. However, it is better than the 25 or 26 that MTG had won by. I don't mean to sugar coat it; the 14th district is heavily rural and carries a great deal of uneducated or miseducated folks. That region will be forever a tough nut to crack.
Sharon, first I see you are a two week subscriber, and so may I say WELCOME to the forum! 👏🏼It is good to have our community grow, and by your post I see you are outside of the US. You are EXTRA valuable in my mind, because we in the US need to hear directly from other world citizens, and also, I hope you can tell your fellow citizens of wherever you are "they aren't all crazy over there."
Second, you are so correct about the Constitution needing amendments! While our forefathers had their faults (slave owners, etc) I think they never thought this hard fought for democracy would be taken hostage by (to use Trump's favorite slur) "Low IQ" people and criminals. But here we are.
We need to be represented by the people, but the people need to understand what exactly our Constitution states! I can't believe the number of (at best) misunderstanding of that document, or(at worst) willful misinterpretation. I know this is happening, as one of my favorite internet pundits "Belle of the Ranch" YouTube frequently has MAGA send comments her way in an attempt to trip her up, and she will read the pertinent section of the Constitution in her reply.
Last, I disagree with your "it only took one man to bring" it down. Trump was aided and abetted by the GOP Congress who have not fulfilled their oath of office; by the SCOTUS allowing billionaires to buy elections; by the uniformed citizens who don't research their candidates and vote against their own best interests, and finally, by those who fail to vote.
Hi Miselle there are a lot of us out in the world who are horribly fascinated by what is happening in the US atm principally because it could happen anywhere and it is affecting everywhere. I’m UK though visit Portugal regularly and also have Australian/NZ links. The sense of bewilderment and resignation everywhere is palpable. Very easy to blame the US and leave it at that but that solves nothing for any of us. I suppose what I meant by one man is that T.Rump is so blatant and that has the effect of opening a Pandoras Box, appreciate though this has been a long time coming. Always understood the American Dream to be a convenient label and it is in its own way the very definition of Trumpery.
My late sister in law was from the UK. One of her two kids got his dual citizenship prior to her death. He married a woman from Argentina. He is appalled at our health care here (it's too long a story but he has good reason) and the way the elderly are treated here. He's told me that he and his wife are considering emigrating to either Argentina or the UK when they retire. There is close, supportive family in either country. I hate to think of our country losing them, he is talented, brilliantly intelligent, and a truly good person. But I'll be gone by then. Just like all the scientists leaving the US: our loss, other countries gain.
I imagine the US must look like a big train wreck that you can't pull your eyes off of. Trust me, this is not fun, most especially for those who saw this coming and worked to get Democrats elected.
If you have any interest in women's rights in US history, you might enjoy this book I frequently recommend here. By Gail Collins "America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines"
Okay, for the most part. I disagree with the uninformed citizens part. They had an entire first term to get "informed," before turning around and doing it again four years later.
The only thing that prevented the first four years from being the travesty we are currently living through was a more balanced Congressional makeup.
In a podcast, and perhaps on one of the Letters, HCR mentioned that MOST people spend FIVE MINUTES A WEEK (someone back me up on this, it might be four!) on politics. We who follow politics are very informed.
My own sisters didn't follow the news much and we are on a spectrum of political leanings. I discovered after one didn't vote (doesn't think woman should be POTUS!!) and the other for Trump, how very very little they knew about the issues! I now am making sure they ARE informed by giving them the daily letter and talking about issues.
Agree. We will never hold a leadership position again unless we make the systemic changes needed to ensure that we will not have another such person/cabal in power again.
Very nicely expressed, Sharon Bacon. Basically, Mother Earth is telling America to "Behave yourself"..., the World is not your oyster. Strangely enough, we do have a person who knows well how 'oysters' work. A fine young man from Sullivan, Maine.., an oyster farmer, running for United States Senator, who represents who we really are: An American - GRAHAM PLATNER!
Sharon - spot on. One item though, the "American Dream" was always just a dream. Really did not apply to most people in the US and the dream became a nightmare since the Nixon administration. It has always been dead.
This is my fear. Despite the audible gasp across the US yesterday, enervating even the most non-political of my friends to speak out, the markets gave a very juicy reward. Make no bones about it, his insanity is making his family and friends filthy rich. The behavior will continue until there is no reward and in the mean time, the rest of us will pay the price, in our national pride, our wallets, and our wellbeing.
It's always about the money... Our fearless leader has finally figured out how to make money and he's never going to stop. Until the market wakes up it won't end. It's one thing if we are willing to destroy our own democracy and economy, quite another to destroy the economy of the whole world. They are not going to let us do that.
Janet, Vance is not "him" whose name I will not use. This is something. He won't have the sane allegiance from the president's loyalists. He won't inspire the same fear in his Party's members of Congress, they won't be intimidated to the same degree. Just as he changed his spots to win the VP role, he might change them again. He'll be inclined to bend to his paymasters, this is true. (So will any replacement.) Voters must make it most uncomfortable for him to do so.
He cannot be worse than the current president. It's probably impossible for anyone to be as bad as 47 is. It would be madness to avoid removing the current president just because Vance is next in line.
PS: Since Cabinet members serve at the pleasure of the President, Vance could replace any he chose. Here's hoping he'd start with Hegseth, then deal with the DOJ, DHS and DOS. Et cetera et cetera et cetera. I don't like JDV either, but he can't be as bad as he who will not be named.
I do believe that many of us fantasize of a “return of decency” hoping to sweep this mess under the rug. However, I’m pretty sure there are many in this administration who like the power ( and $$) they’ve achieved and will fight to keep their status quo. I’m not convinced that we will see any change from the current Rs, much less have a fair midterm election. I do hope that I am wrong about this.
Ricardo, I'm sorry to advise you that America (the U.S., actually) is never "coming back." Donald and his MAGA cult have turned the U.S. into a leper colony.
U.S. voters can – and should – do what we can to correct the horrible mistakes we have made, starting this November. But nearly one-half of the U.S. electorate will guarantee that all the happy talk in this thread is not going to happen.
We must admit what the rest of the world already knows. There is nothing in our Constitution, in our electoral system, in our legislative system, or in our judicial system to prevent U.S. voters from electing more fast-talking corporate idiots to Congress or a natural-born, 35-plus-year-old moron to the White House.
Our revered "Founding Fathers" naively assumed that the government they designed would always be in the hands of landed gentry and thus, did not idiot-proof it. We are the living evidence of that fact.
The best we can hope for now is to become a nation that is less reviled than Russia, a vast also-ran. A little humility won't kill us.
Ricardo, it's not a matter of "giving up." It's a matter of lowering our expectations to a realistic level, and limiting goals to those which are achievable.
I will never be a Frank Lloyd Wright, or an Andy Warhol, or a Mark Twain, but if I can produce work that delights my clients, I have achieved a worthwhile goal.
Aim high Dale and then, whatever you achieve, would be more than good. But you have to try hard. You are not Frank Lloyd Wright or Andy Warhol or Mark Twain. You are Dale Rowett and that's more than good. 😄
Oh we will have to do way more than apologize. The amount of trust and faith in American decency and honor has been destroyed, that is one thing Trump truly has obliterated.
I can't wait to start rebuilding our alliances and I do not expect to live long enough to see them back to the strength and resilience that they were before the terrifying, terrible twos - i.e. Trump's second term in office.
Ricardo, I say cecot for Trump to live out the rest of his days and also, not only the US is Back, but to express that 70% of the US was opposed to anything that the orange buffoon did to the world.
DM, I am waiting to see if the EU can get a spine when it comes to Trump. Germany certainly drank the Koolaid in that Merz cannot let go of reviving the dying German auto market with US sales. Just to get tariffs down he keeps silent on the most egregious statements from Trump. The EU for the most part did not have much to say, and Mark Rutte is going to debase himself yet again with a visit to Washington to make sure Trump is still on Ukraine's side, which he has never been and never will be. What about the weapons systems that the EU purchased for Ukraine that were never delivered and instead "blown" in Iran? Theft from Trump as usual.
So, the Republicans are not alone in keeping quite while the mad king rages. Europe is too.
Looking at the Epstein files, it becomes clear how many people in power have been deviously working behind the scenes for decades to destroy democracy so they can live their depraved, luxurious lives at the expense of the rest of humanity.
Oh, you're absolutely right, Linda. It frustrates me to no end, too, that European leaders simply won't spank the Orange Toddler King's butt for misbehaving. I don't know whether they are still in a state of disbelief, or still try to retain somewhat of a semblance of good relations with America - you know, for good old times' sake.
But the thing is: neither Merz nor Rutte has the power to oust Trump from presidency. Only the Republican senators can do something about that, and they flat out refuse to do so.
Linda and Dutch; I have a feeling their refusal to get involved was a very big message to a POTUS whom they all consider a madman, and to the USA, to say, we know this madman will be gone soon and we want you to know we will wait for your comeback. The European leaders are very diplomatic, keeping their cool so to speak, knowing full well they are just dealing with someone who must have a win under any circumstance. At the end of the day, Iran is indeed the winner of this kerfuffle, having agreed to everything they already had before this so called war, PLUS having all the sanctions lifted!
I certainly hope so. As said, it frustrates me that no one is willing to give the Orange Goblin King a slap on the wrist, but on the other hand: I estimate the intelligence of the leaders of Europe still much higher than that of the convicted orange felon...
Just read the article. Thank you for the link. I agree with all of it. What an embarrassment for the US! Not only how we enrich Iran to update itself, but we once again show the world what an idiot we elected as a country!
Ligia, that is putting it nicely. Even Politico Berlin this morning pointed out that not much has been heard from Merz of late. I think he is scared of the AfD. He is not standing up to them but caving to them, so in many ways he is just making the CDU the less radical branch of the AfD party. This is particularly true on immigration and environmental policies. Not so much when it comes to Russia and Ukraine though, so I am glad about that.
Iran wins, but Trump loses because as Heather Cox Richardson says here in this 15 minutes chat, "Trump can never go back to where he was before today."
The GOP, like their “leader,” have the memory of an elephant. If EU publicly rips Agent Orange, they may be punished by every GOP administration and congress for eternity. I’m with you, Ligia, they will out wait him and see what comes next - hoping we take the opportunity to sweep our dirt out our door.
Thank you Marge; I do understanding Linda's frustration (similar to mine with the enablers of this orange buffoon)... Yet in my many years I have learned that at times, the wait and see attitude, is usually better than a quick reactionary response. And the Europeans don't like being hasty about anything.
Linda, I think the Europeans are buying some time before acting decidedly hoping that eventually the American electorate would come back to its senses and vote to return to the rule of law, internatinal cooperation, common sense, democratic principles and decency. Keep in mind that an economic crisis in those countries will only help the extreme right parties waiting for a chance. Thanks for sharing your opinion.😊
Ricardo, perhaps. However I think that no one in the world trusts the American voters to exercise good judgement, so as a country we cannot be trusted. We have been having some experiences here in Germany where I can tell everyone is just sick and tired of hearing about Trump. They are sick of his actions, and they don't want us making it about us, but about the way the rest of the world is being harmed by Trump. And, while I hope there is "The Europeans" I am looking at how much Putin is putting into his long game of not only keeping his country on a tight leash, but taking over the US which he has through Trump, and breaking up NATO and the EU. Let us hope he is not successful, but he is singularly focused and will just keep pursuing his ends. There is a lot to take on to hold onto democracy with so many people having so little sense of how things work.
I understand your "perhaps" Linda, but I think they want to trust America again, perhaps. We all know what happened in Germany and Europe during ww2, but once dramatic and profound change was realized trust and cooperation followed . Let's hope that if similar changes occur in the US in the form of bringing everyone responsable to justice and legislation is firm to prevent repetition of this nightmare, trust will be restored, even if it might take a generation 😉 🤞
Ricardo, most Jews I know do not trust Germany, not 81 years later. Germany has 120,000 Jews right now. The Jewish friends I have here in Germany put the antisemitism aside because they have friends who are not, and they manage to have comfortable lives. They are also not very religious. Germans I know are asking what is happening in the US. Germans I don't know ask me if I am for Trump. Given that I have brown-skin it tells me they assume most Americans supported Trump. That is also the sense my daughter gets. Most people in the city I live in don't know any Americans, and the German media is doing a poor job of reporting on the US. One reason is that they rely on the MSM in the US. There is some media that may be digging deeper but who is their audience? People Who still read. It is not so easy to undo mistrust, once trust is broken. I spent my whole life understanding that none of the Jews I knew really trusted Germans. Particularly those who had never been to Germany.
I absolutely agree with you Linda that this is music to Putin's ears. And I understand Mertz's fear of his ultra right wingers. Let's wait these two weeks out and see where we go. I am not sure if the sanctions against russian oil being sold are still lifted or not, which is probably giving Putin some of the happiest times of his life. I have always been more weary of Putin than Iran, which is almost a 5000 year culture which has contributed much to humanity. I doubt the orange buffoon in the WH even knows any of that.
I agree. I blame Iran on the US, and thus we own that mess. Russia, is Putin's creation and he is a sick, twisted KGB-Stasi trained spy. Nothing good is in his head.
Hi Linda, I hope you are right, because if so they could actually do something. And yet, maybe it means they are staying silent for other reasons. That is a troubling thought. I keep reading that the R's don't really like Trump, that they are mostly afraid of him. I'm sure that's not true for all of them, but I recall getting this info via Mitt Romney. Guess that's why I see them as being similar to abused spouses.
There seems to be a pattern emerging, of stock market manipulation and massive profits. As Trump himself apparently lacks the cognitive ability to perform these operations, someone else is pulling the levers.
Best to hold our breath to see what Trump agreed to!
APNewsAlert: TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — #Iran includes “acceptance of enrichment” in Farsi version of its ceasefire plan, something missing from English versions.
Yes. No one has yet issued an official version of the agreement that's a statement of the terms both sides have accepted. The UN issues multi-language documents all the time, documents managing to reflect what each party has agreed to. Why hasn't this been done in this case? Although the UN hasn't been involved in this negotiation, maybe its language services could be used.
Are you guilty if you could stop a disaster and chose not to?
Not as an abstraction — as a fact. The Republicans in Congress could have stopped this. At any of a dozen moments. Without personal harm, without sacrifice, without anything more than a single vote and a minimal act of courage.
They chose not to.
The law has a word for this. So does history-Complicity
Republican voters have continually hedged their bets on Trump. And won what they wanted. By uniting behind Trump - and with Mitch McConnell stealing a Supreme Court seat from Obama and another from Biden - Trump delivered.
Movement Conservatives got the inequitable tax scheme, roll back of government regulation, and destruction of government agencies. Racist right wing religious extremists got the overturning of civil rights protections for Black people, women, LGBTQ+ persons, and immigrants of color, the breaking down of the constitutional separation of church and state, and almost unlimited access to guns. All manner of miscreants got presidential pardons - from those committing massive financial fraud to those committing war crimes and the violent attack on the Capitol.
A bacchanal of destruction - now gone global in supporting Israel's genocide, benefitting Putin's assault on Ukraine, and attempting to serve the Trump family's Saudi and other Gulf State Arab Sunni rulers by taking out their Persian Shiite enemy. In the contest of who ever is craziest wins, they underestimated Iran's strategic resolve.
Where we see existential threats and problems to be solved, Republican Christian Nationalists see the heralding of the End of Days they pray for. Or at least of the US government. And with the aid of antiDemocratic Leftish non-voters and vote-splitters, a united antidemocratic Right wing electorate has put in power a bloody minded ignorant loud mouth who would do anything. They believe they can destroy the foundations and their money and/or god will save them when the roof caves in.
And please notice how the market swings seem to be so closely leading to outsized profits by traders who know how to read the tea leaves. Or have inside information.
Inside information. I mean, can you imagine how easy it is to bribe someone from the White House these days?? As a trader, I would easily pay 100.000 dollar to someone from Trump's cabinet for info that would yield me a couple of millions in a trade game...
The profit making is clearly the main reason they’re playing games with the well being of our nation and the world. This is how the capitalist ball bounces. They score every time they create ways to spend tax payer $ on their own “enterprises”.
Dutch, they desire the end of the world because they believe it will bring on the second coming of Christ.(Why would he want to come back to this mess when we have so obviously failed at his most important commandment "Love one another", let alone any of the other ones.
They should be careful what they wish for. I wonder how many of them would allow someone to shoot them because they believe that God would perform a miracle and save them? The 'end times' scenario is not much different.
Pamela-The commandment also says love your neighbor as yourself. The people perpetrating crimes to maintain and even increase their wealth and power are insecure and probably don’t even love themselves.
They’re destroying us trying to prove how great they are when the world can see how inhumane and corrupt they really are. Stay tuned-we will overcome if we allow love (for ourselves and our neighbors) to be our saving grace.
Pamela, you ask "why Jesus would want to come back to this mess."
Evangelicals hang their entire theology on a passage in a letter (allegedly) written by Paul to his fans in Rome, chapter 8, verses 35 to 39.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
'For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Baptists have encapsulated this concept in a doctrine they call "Eternal Security," which purports that once a believer has "accepted Jesus as their personal savior," they can do anything they want and still get to heaven. Of course, in evangelical theology, there's always a "back door." If someone "prays the prayer of salvation," then goes out and commits murder, then they didn't really mean it when they prayed. Therefore, they're going to hell anyway.
Editorial note: Funny thing about evangelicals. They place more weight on the words of a rebranded religious extremist (Saul/Paul) than on the words of Jesus.
So the story goes that after "Satan is bound forever" when the christian nationalists win the Battle of Armageddon, the way will be cleared for Jesus to come back to Earth from his heavenly home and rule the world during "The Millennium," a thousand years' reign of peace. During that time, he will fix everything, with the help of all the Christians he'll install in positions of power.
Look up the history of neofascism in the US and you'll see that it is 100% the case. Trump never succeeded in anything in his entire life. He's merely the neofascist GOP's clown in chief. While he distracts us with his tweets, THEY are the ones controlling the executive branch of power, writing the executive orders, and making all the main decisions. Trump was never ever interested in policy in the first place.
Vance, for instance, has a career, as venture capitalist and politician, that is entirely financed by Peter Thiel. Thiel is a neofascist tech billionaire, who, for more than a decade already, gives public lectures AGAINST democracy and pro fascism.
GOP Speaker Mike Johnson publicly said that he sees it as the job of the GOP House to "codify the executive orders signed by the president". That means: instead of negotiating new bills among the people's representatives in Congress (= how it goes in a democracy), now the GOP ITSELF DECIDED that it won't negotiate any bills and instead just write bills that turn executive orders into law. That is the very definition of fascism, in terms of how the three branches of government relate to each other.
Etc. etc.
The evidence is everywhere. Or just read the Substacks of experts in fascism (Timothy Snyder, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Anne Applebaum, Schepele etc).
You're absolutely right. Not only Thiel, but also Musk, Altman, and all of the other Silicon Valley tech bro billionaires want to get rid of democracy, because they want to get rid of rules made by (and for) ordinary people. Why? Because these rules get in the way of them becoming even richer, that's what. So they want a system in which THEY determine the rules, and none other. They want the whole world, all of it, and they will not part with a single penny.
You know, if you follow them over the years, you discover something even worse. These are real ideologues.
Musk has been obsessed with saving humanity for decades already.
Fascism is an ideology. Not a quick means to get rich. None of these men need fascism to become the wealthiest. Democracy gave them that already.
They're motivated day in day out by installing fascism because they are on a mission. They are convinced that by nature, some human beings are superior to most others. And in a democracy, the "mediocre" masses rule - that means, it's mediocre people who impose laws on the very small minority of "the best". That, they believe, is very bad for humanity as a whole.
It's also what led Thiel & co create "Network States" (see Gil Duran's outstanding website about this). Those are almost entirely autonomous cities inside bigger countries (China has tons of them - see "Cracked up Capitalism" by historian Quinn Slobodian), in which savage capitalism is imposed by the local political leader, without any democratic power given to its citizens. And who is the leader? The wealthiest businessman.
This isn't merely about personal greed. It's an ideology based on a totally false understanding of human nature. And that makes it SO dangerous.
I agree with you, Dutch, however, there are a large number of them who are a part of it. I would love to know just how many of them are making money off of this catastrophe. How many of them are selling/buying stocks related to the illegal war because they have inside information? How is PAC money influencing their actions? With the exclusion of a few members of Congress who are truly there to serve the people, I fear the majority are there for the all mighty dollar whether in form of stocks, lobbyist favors, or PACs. Nothing will change until that changes and that, I fear, is NEVER going to change.
They are definitely NOT "representatives" in the original sense of the word, as in: representing (=working for) the people. They are merely representing (=working for) themselves.
They are in this boat with us, sad to say. But I’d love to see comeuppance come around. It’s not on the horizon yet. His floundering is considered genius by some in power, and our neighbors. Texas doesn’t have a lock on doing stupid bigger and better. They (not me) are just proud of their bigger and better monstrosity, comeuppance, come on down…
I am afraid of the Christofascist ideology that says they AREN'T part of this world. They're looking to the afterlife for good things, and wars, even nuclear war, are part of God's plan for the End Times.
Exactly. We're all afraid that Trump will destroy the world - but that's the whole point! These Christofascists are yearning for the Apocalypse, thinking they (and only they) will be saved in the Rapture. Trump is their tool for bringing about the end of the world, and Trump relishes in doing just that. "Look, daddy! I destroyed the world! Nobody else has ever done that! I'm special! Will you love me now?"
On April 7, during an active conflict with Iran, Donald Trump informed the world that “a whole civilization will die tonight.” Not a military target. Not a battlefield objective. A civilization. The kind of statement usually entered into evidence, not posted like campaign content.
By evening, extermination had been moved off the calendar. Two weeks. Negotiations. A temporary postponement of mass death.
No cities burned. No bodies were counted. And so, in the official American tradition, we are invited to admire the restraint.
Except the threat itself matters. Under international humanitarian law, threats of violence aimed at terrorizing civilians are prohibited. Not excessive. Not inappropriate. Prohibited. Civilization learned that rule the hard way. America, apparently, is now workshopping an exception.
This is our constitutional condition. A president publicly threatens mass civilian destruction during an ongoing war, and Washington responds as if the problem were tonal. Panels are booked. Statements are drafted. Experts explain that we should remain calm while a man with presidential authority tests whether annihilation can be used as leverage.
If there is any democratic pulse left in the republic, the response cannot be another round of commentary masquerading as accountability.
The United States is experiencing a catastrophic failure of moral leadership on an unprecedented scale. Every elected official who does not condemn this president is complicit in his crimes against humanity.
Heather: " and Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz (SOH). In the real world, Iran is already in control of the SOH. Iran has changed the shipping waterway into a toll lane. Iran has been collecting substantial fees from about 15 ships per day -- a regime change' of sorts.
Citrini Research, Citrini on Substack, sent an analyst dubbed "Analyst 3" on a data gathering field trip to the Persian Gulf. Per Anayst 3, the Automated Information System (AIS) has been misreporting about half the shipping traffic. Iran has been controlling the shipping channel using a shipping channel through a narrow corridor near the island of Queshm & Iran.
See also, the Wall Street Journal for WSJ's useful reporting of admissible facts.
Donald Trump has never encountered a situation he couldn’t make worse. He just did not recognize that his bullying would not work with Iran. He did bankrupt two casinos after all. The world has been on edge because of one stupid man.
Well, let’s see what happens in a couple of days there, Brian Shelby
Because of the street is an open to all traffic tomorrow Trump will assure you that it will be. Andy, Ron is stubborn as it is using the same playbook that they’ve used for 30 years to get away with it but Trump is the first president not to buy the bullshit and to take care of business to eight other president said they wanted to stop and didn’t have the balls to do it
Rick Sender of course. The Platform owned by Substack Inc admits & agrees that er are all mutually bound by contract each other.
Substack Inc (my old neighbor in SF) chose California as the applicable "chose of law) for our binding agreement law not me.
Disputes are subject to mediation at JAMS SF also of my old neighbors in SF. But, I have offered to Substack Inc to ifile a "DRA" in SF Superior court & have the "Terms of Use" (TOU) construed as a matter of binding law.
Substack Inc is not a good faith actor,.FULL STOP.
I am the only one awake Unless you’re referring to the word awoke because I’m certainly not awoke So What are you talking about?
Would be better off at blue sky everyone’s swims in the same piss and doesn’t disagree with anybody or any of the other lemmings are not threatened. Where they were threatened when they used to be with Twitter, and then left when X I was not controlled 85% by Democrats. They couldn’t take it couldn’t believe that there was another opinion out there. Oops.
Our Reality TV actor, playing POTUS on a set that mimics the White House sans the East Wing, got to beat his almighty chest and make barbaric threats to entertain the whole world. WOW! We got to watch "full civilization abuse" upfront.
I guess for the "MAGA masses still yearning to be free" it was great entertainment. They think the saw Iran finally get the avenging spanking it deserves.
For the rest of Americans and most of humanity it was appalling and humiliating.
Let's hope Trump's next episodes focus on things like AI regulation and Crypto, the health benefits of a paelo diet and golf courses. They are all bad, but limited.🙏
Merrill I wanted to congratulate you. I heard you just celebrated A reunion with your classmates. It’s warm and touching to know that you all got your GED’s together.
Patty, a nice sentiment but I think premature. Even the Dem pundits I heard yesterday said the only way this will "end" is an overwhelming Dem victory in November--which won't bear fruit until January. And the question is can we hold out for another 8 months. I was struck by this statement in today's letter: "The American people spent the whole day wondering if their mad king would destroy the world, only to find out he was terrorizing them in order to protect his ego after starting a disastrous war." With all the malignant minions are kissing the ring nothing will get done to curb the landslide into fascism. We are at the mercy of a level of evil the Founding Fathers clearly didn't think possible. I would also like to point out that, Unless HCR cleaned up the spelling, grammar, and punctuation, the Felon in no way wrote those posts. As Any Borowitz pointed out, he doesn't even know how to spell "Strait" let alone use an Oxford comma.
Plenty more opportunities for him to create violence. Cuba? The whole country; more immigrants sent back to wherever. 3more years of destruction.
This Cease Fire: Israel must be going nuts! They will try anything to scotch an end to this war. Remind Trump of what they have from Epstein? Just keep bombing Lebanon and Gaza and running Palestinians out of the West Bank.
AIPAC is having emergency meeting to scheme. The Military Industrial companies are shitting a brick.
I am very curious: how did this happen? Who, in that cabal of criminal Nazis didn't stop it? Who convinced him to do this? It doesn't sound real. I think it's his "exit ramp" I can't watch Fox...how are they doing...falling on swords?
Iran has agreed.
Trump is fking up the plans and dreams of a GREATER "safer" Israel.
Israel is the fly in the ointment.
Awaiting Israel's reply. Trump could get the Charley Turk treatment. I think he knows that but forgot.
The 10 point plan is very extreme but perfectly correct. or, back to no passage Strait odyssey Harmus for you.
BTW: tankers that are full and waiting will pass but the oil tanks are sealed up and it will take at least a week to fill empty tankers. so....not much progress in 2 weeks
I was wondering today, again. when will China find the time is right to step in. The time is now.
And, Pakistan, India, Russia.
Trump just has to tell another fabulous lie: "Bibi is on for it so we will go ahead with Peace that I, Donald J. Trump has made happen. Me: the Peace President."
I wish the journalists would stop calling is a lose. Shut the F up and let him"win".
By having given a neofascist GOP control over all powers of government, while we're all distracted by Trump tweets 24/7, the GOP is quietly destroying democracy everywhere, day after day.
Thank you! I’ll save my dancing in the streets until the Donold is 6’ under….AND when his administration is held accountable and behind bars. I’m getting up there in age, I hope I see this in my lifetime.
Trump is fading, but not before leaving wreckage behind. This commentary argues that his war weakened America, strengthened Iran’s leverage, and turned constitutional cowardice into complicity. History should not remember him as misunderstood or unstable, but as... https://essayx.substack.com/p/impeach-him-dont-diagnose-him
Trump personifies the Republican party. Republicans more than accept his behavior, they revel in and grovel to it. He is delivering the ChristoFascist state they want. Some like George Will may cringe at Trump's style and excesses, but they are hungry for as much of Project 2025 as he can deliver.
Fortunately, there have been some defectors from the maga movement. Enough to enact a change?? Well, I'm still waiting for Vought to convert us to a Christian nation -- what's he waiting for?
One branch of Abrahamic religion continues to promote the extermination of the other. Simultaneously they promote post-death eternities of joy: bleeding virgins or unspecified proximity to the loving spirit. So few words are heard by ears in asses.
I am familiar with some verses in the bible which are astounding eg. God's
counsel to parents is straight forward: whenever children get out of line, we should beat them with a rod (Proverbs 13:24, 20:30 and 23:13-14). And some religions condone flying airplanes into buildings....
"Trump’s threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” was not just a reference to Iran. " His supporting base MAGA Republicans will also die. Did they vote for it? It's time for them to leave Trump to live.
I feel like a little manikin game board piece that’s been propped back up for the next game. I hope it doesn’t get started again. I’m worn out. He doesn’t ’play fair’ so all of us pieces are losing the once happy prospect of holding a helpful or at least useful position on our board.
For all of you out there today, the mind-numbing gravity of this day, who have been struggling to understand or put words to the tangled feelings that are rip-roaring through you, through us -- helplessness, powerlessness, terror, fury, horror, shame, mind-blowing confusion, grief -- we are all together. This is what rape feels like. This guy just raped the world.
Well he’s certainly distracted us from the Trump-Epstein files. What IS happening with those? Will Bondi still appear on April 14th as scheduled? Will the NYC jail guard appear? We MUST keep this in the news!
The (deliberate) bombing of the girls’ school is undoubtedly Trump’s reaffirmation of ChristoNazi misogyny – the same hatred of females and contempt for femaleness that leads to both the victimization of terrorized children by the Trumpstein cult and to capitalism’s apocalyptic assault on our Mother Earth. That hatefulness – also manifest as white male supremacist bigotry – fuels the crimes against humanity that define the entire Trumpstein Regime. Thus the vital, know-our-enemy relevance of the full text of the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump and Epstein -- later withdrawn by the plaintiff in response to credible death threats: https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Lawsuit.pdf
Piece of shit. Marlene and I love when people use their three names, including the hibernation to make them sound more erudite. If you want to know, the real truth change the channel or listen to the other side of the story and you will wake up amazingly well
Yes Donold is a serial rapist as the Trump Epstein files reveal so as to necessitate the need for him to bury the evidence under further atrocities of multiple war crimes committed in Iran and lunatic rantings of genocide and annihilation of a 'whole civilization'.
I've noticed that the language Hegseth and Trump use in describing their military campaign against Iran is definitely rape-adjacent. "Total domination." Iran is "helpless, we can do whatever we want, and there's nothing they can do." My question is--what was Iran wearing?
And let's not over-look the profiteering that some scoundrels are enjoying with what can only be seen as insider knowledge. The market swings are way suspicious....
After a home burglary in 1980s I was devastated by the invasion of my personal safe space and the mess and disregard that was inflicted. I mentioned these overwhelming feelings in a state of shock to the kind Los Angeles police officer who responded to my call. He said they were trained to recognize that what I was experiencing was the effect of “Real Estate Rape” and it was the same dynamic they were to understand as a personal rape. I did not know who broke in. I had a home alarm system installed immediately. That was long ago, but I have never forgotten that moment, those feelings, and the effect of witnessed compassion and the naming of what it was.
The wolves are at America’s door, pacing, snarling, threatening. You are not alone in calling this predatory behavior as real estate rape — the same feelings were felt after the invasion and disregard and destruction of the East Wing in the dark.
Thank you for recognizing that there are a lot of us that have trauma from being married to or raised by a narcissist that rode roughshod on our lives and souls. I’m convinced our collective anger is building towards breaking the trauma bond.
Trump had indeed “raped the world”. And the only electeds that could have stopped him are as guilty as Trump is. They, however, can’t claim insanity; their inaction toward getting the certifiable basket case of a President ejected from office makes them as guilty of his lunatic decisions as he is. If there is such a thing as hell, they have all purchased their one way tickets there.
Billions spent, soldiers dead. We blew up a girl’s school, killed thousands of Iranians. It seems that only right wing religious fanatics and those who prosper from war want this. Trump is no less insane today than he was yesterday and still can’t outrun Epstein so things are bound to get worse before they get better. I wouldn’t cross thermonuclear destruction off the list just yet.
Thankfully the US airman was rescued as we all know what Trump thought of John McCain, calling him a loser and said “I like people who haven’t been captured.”
Worse still, he’s as happy as a clam — once more the center of attention — the bride at every funeral, the corpse at every wedding, the exorcism at every christening. It’s hard to overemphasize what this day was really all about versus the way he perceives it to be.
Speaking of those nuclear codes, ICTT, could you - or someone - explain how it works? I thought that it takes a team of people to launch them, so not just the president.
That is actually correct. And that raises another point most reporters either don’t understand or are too lazy to explain to their listeners and readers. The Air Force reviews the choice of targets in an attack first. It was widely reported yesterday that the military *rejected* at least some of Hegseth’s target requests on the grounds they were not true military targets at all, but civilian ones.
Our military uses several fine-toothed combs to review civilian orders, not just one. It isn’t the knee-jerk group of boys going yessir the way it’s often caricatured. No one knows the top-secret specifics, but similar, even tougher rubrics exist for the use of nuclear weapons.
That said, in the 160 years after the Civil War, only 11 four- and five-star commanders have been fired. In just over a year, Trump and Hegseth have fired 9 (nine!).
Their ongoing purge of the military, which is also happening at lower levels, is dramatic and extremely worrisome.
Hello Mike... The NYT had an Article on how Netanyahu talked DJT into launching this War... This Article, "6 Takeaways From the Story of Trump’s Decision to Go to War With Iran", by Jonathan Swan, and Maggie Haberman, describes Netanyahu's Pressure Campaign... Let's send Israel the Bill for Munitions spent. human losses endured, and any Reparations paid....
Thank you for once again pointing out how batshit crazy the senile pedophile felon in the Whitehouse is, and how cowardly the sycophantic scum he surrounded himself with continue to be.
The GQP scumwads in congress are a case study in cowardice, complicity, and corruption. Sad.
I've seriously wondered about that too, Jay. "You follow our script, we leave you in place. If you go off-script we have no choice but to 25 you." There is only so much "winning" (that is, losing) that the Cabinet and R's in Congress can abide, before accepting reality.
YES! A powerfully clear post, including, "....this war, is now legally defined by the president’s statement. In the practical application of the law of genocide, the Genocide Convention of 1948, the difficulty is usually in proving “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Henceforth the intent is on the record, in the published words of the president of the United States and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces about the death of “a whole civilization.”"
Wow George, how was your blood pressure? Got anything rattling around in that thing 3 feet above your ass? Nope just hate. Cowardice well that’s a new one. Oh I’m glad I’m gonna add that one because today it was war criminal war, criminal war, criminal until he got the temporary C-Spire and then it was well Trump cape from caved Trump caved. I wish people would make up their mind in which they hate it or they just ate both so if they were already made up your mind. And you’re just another lemon and lime. Cowardice where do you come off using that word. Holy shit get out of your cave… I will see what’s happening here. I would love to hear your response to cowardice. And complicity and corruption how about if you were a little bit more definitive about what those are all about? Cause there’s nobody like a liberal to accuse offend and insult with generic, empty statements. I’ll be looking forward to your next post
I thought you were taking the night off! Your politics chat tonight was just what I needed even though I was late and watched the recording, and right when you said “who knows, after all it’s taco Tuesday,” I laughed so loudly I scared the dogs. And then the news came that it was indeed taco Tuesday and we have a 2-week reprieve. Thank you for talking me down from the walls I was bouncing off.
A two-week reprieve…or not. Tomorrow he may change his mind. Regardless, we’ve already passed the bizarre threshold where once the world’s “indispensable power” in the words of former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt has now become the world’s largest exporter of global chaos.
It's Come To This, I just saw a Peanuts cartoon in which Charlie Brown says to Lucy, "Next year I'm going to be a changed person," to which Lucy replies, "That's a laugh, Charlie Brown." Charlie says, "I mean it! I'm going to be strong and firm.." "Forget it," replies Lucy. "You'll always be wishy-washy." Charlie asks, "Why can't I change just a little bit? I'll be wishy one day and washy the next."
This is funny, but we are not in a cartoon scenario, and it's very scary.
Well, you’re right the only thing that will change his mind is if The strait doesn’t
But what you’ve just witnessed and that many liberals understand this because they’re too transparent Trump just put them to the decision. That’s what he did and guess what they decided and if they change their mind they know they’re going to pay the price and they may be willing to pay the price and then it will be
A bad scene for them do you know I did it. Ask you a question, but I didn’t get an answer. How would you feel about the United States offering their citizens to protest.. weapons. To Be able to free themselves?
You do know that they’ve killed 45,000 protesters in Iran already and today they hung an 18-year-old famous young scientist for protesting they did it in public.
And you’re complaining about it what kills me is the latest statement I’ve heard, which is pretty funny Iran has three allies left. United Nations, CNN and the Democrat party
Susan, Same here! I felt so much better after watching Heather’s video. I laughed a time or two and let out a sigh of relief a number of times. I think her point of JD Vance being out of town, rather than safely in a bunker due to a war erupting, was key in knowing all of the insane rantings were nothing more than the blustering of a demented old fool. Side note- I have read Heather’s letters religiously every morning for years. Now, I find myself becoming just as devoted to her videos. The letters are serious and fact-based. The videos give me a bit more detail, info about what’s being conjectured, along with some very well informed feelings on the situation. When Heather showed just how DONE she was with that heinous man last night, it seemed she absolutely reflected how so many of us are feeling. Plus, she’s tired, as so many of us are. I am buying champagne this week because one day that sorry excuse for a human being is going to expire and when he does, champagne will sell out quickly.
Heather’s video was key to understanding that no matter what happens, the world has changed. We have changed. Trump and his entire train of enablers must go. We want our country back and we are not going to indulge a sick, demented old fool any longer or the rest of the republican party who have turned their backs to our country in favor of a wannabe dictator. Enough. Any person, any business, any media outlet, any anything or anyone - your 15 minutes are up. Not only are we taking our country back but we will be redefining the rules so we will never have to go through this misery again. Thank you Heather.
Love Heather on how our criminal, rapist, foul-mouth in the White House "has painted himself into a corner in his impulsive war against Iran."
Let this be a lesson -- all decent teachers know as lesson #1 in their hearts: there are human beings around us, in front of us, behind us. In space and in time.
We can learn to see them, to feel what's ticking inside them, and to hold many of them yet more in our hearts as if in the best of debts to them. We might teach some some of this, too.
Donald never learned anything close to any of this.
My God is a foul mouth. Oh my God they have a fucking nuclear weapon. Is it OK to say fucking if we’re going to stick a nuclear weapon up your ass huh phil. I was one of the most laughable comments I heard all day. Oh Dara president use that languageomg.
Every president uses that language of the snippets of every president using it and getting caught if you’d like I’ll send you all the video
This is a thoroughly deserved defeat for Trump, and for the United States.
No one anywhere on the planet now sees him as anything but the insane monster he is. His word is no good, his lies are bullshit. The United States is going to pay for this for the next 30 years - if we're lucky. It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and a minute to destroy it.
Please stop saying "defeat"....keep him on message so he can claim a win and the Noble Peace Prize. Humor him. He's done the impossible. .somehow....How? I can't wait to hear. Melania?
Trump's ceasefire assures only that he will have the world’s undivided attention for two more long weeks as we wait to see what “only he knows he will do,” according to Karoline Leavitt. We cannot live this way, kept hostage by his changing threats. Trump must be removed from office so that the world can return to some kind of stability and sanity while it cleans up his messes. If we submit to this tactic of his again, then United States democracy is dead, defeated by Trump, who has emerged our master of ceremonies.
Meanwhile, we have a new acting AG who needs to make an effort to move forward on the Epstein files. Blanche desperately wants to be AG but there isn't a single Democratic Senator that would vote to confirm him. And Susan doesn't dare to with her behind in the polls.
So who are the 3 Republican Senators that will save us from another incompetent AG?
Constance, what I am focusing on is after we win the midterms and headed to 2028, how much Democrats will be blamed for all this. "Afterall," they'll say, "it's January 2027 and there's been no improvement!"
That thought crossed my mind. His only hope might be resignation and a pardon from Vance. I’d imagine Vance already promised to do that before his selection as the VP candidate.
Just listening to Iranian leadership and to the utter clowns in "our" - the Western - side, makes you realise what a complete bunch of unintelligent, uneducated, uncultured losers we managed to put at the tops of our societies.
Not to mention thousands of innocent victims have died. SNAP benefits taken away from elderly, Obamacare premiums doubled or worse, USAID shuttered, Covid-19 disasters. Medicaid budget slashed by almost a trillion dollars, pregnant women untreated because of arcane and cruel abortion laws.
How do you account for these deaths when they have no voice?
We can't keep doing this. I have no doubt that he will be as casually brutal in attacking those who oppose him (that includes, inevitably, any one who votes against him or his proxies) as the mid-terms approach and his crimes and failures continue to mount and become more and more visible. The answer is to organize and be prepared.
The Trump’s Iran War and his threats to destroy a civilization, yes or no, should have a historical perspective:
Western civilization celebrates and studies its origins in Ancient Greece and Rome. It romanticizes the heroism of these civilizations: Achilles and Odysseus in the Iliad and Odyssey, King Leonidas at Thermopylae, Athenians and the Battle of Marathon, etc. But the Iranians are also one of the world’s oldest continuous major civilizations. Modern day Iran is part of the Middle Eastern “Fertile Crescent” and contains land that was once part of ancient Mesopotamia and Babylonia. Its empires originated in 6-700 BC - empires which saw some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanization, religion, and administration. Abraham, the pivotal figure in the development of Jewish, Christian and Islamic monotheism, originated in the city of Ur in lower Mesopotamia and migrated to the Levant. From the 8th to the 13th century, the Persians made innovations in literature, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and art during the Islamic Golden Age followed by a renaissance from the 14th to 16th centuries. In the 18th century, Persia was a leading world power. In 1925, the Persian Constitutional Revolution led to the establishment of a parliament and the country of Iran. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 resulted in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Their historic heroes are people like Cyrus the Great of 600 BC, Nader Shah of the 1700s and Saladin who was a Kurdish military commander that defeated the Third Crusaders in 1187 and founded a dynasty.
Modern-day Iran is a highly educated, organized, and advanced society with universities, museums, public schools, libraries, etc. They are not primitive tribes in the mountains of the Hindu Kush. Their civilization has populated the land of Iran for multiple millennia. Modern Iran has a diverse population. The major ethnic groups are Persians (61%), Azerbaijanis (16%), Kurds (10%), Lurs (2%), Arabs (2%), Turks (2%), Baloch (2%), etc..
By contrast, the state of Israel has been in existence for only 78 years after the implementation of the post-WWI Balfour Declaration to move Jewish immigrants into the British-controlled Arabic Palestine after WWII. Prior to that the last Jewish state was the Hasmonean Kingdom which ended in 63 BCE upon Roman conquest. Their last Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.
The Iranians have seen the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. They are experiencing relentless bombing of their country, including the bombing of a school that killed over 150 people, almost all young children and their teachers. So, not unexpectedly, recent video footage of Iranians in Iranian cities shows they look increasingly defiant and in support of their homeland, their country. They don’t scatter when being bombed by what they interpret as the invading US supported Jewish Israeli. They proudly raise their flags and shout their defiance with things like “Allahu Akbar” which means “God is Greater” (than what is happening now). There are videos of them standing on their threatened bridges waving large Iranian flags in defiance. They are relying on their faith in their religion to cement them into a unified group and protect them. This is similar to Christians singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” or reciting the 23rd Psalm (The Lord Is My Shepherd). The war is a unifying event for them, as any rational person would expect. Iranians likely feel that their very existence is being threatened. We can expect they will do anything and everything they can to defend themselves. Only a fool would expect otherwise.
Iranian experts confirm this:
Mehdi Hasan, British-American broadcaster, journalist, and founder of Zeteo, interviewed 3 Middle East experts on the Iran War:
“Experts Warn the Iran War Could Get Much Worse - YouTube”
Thank you for your very thoughtful and helpful explanation of what is going on in Iran. They have a very interesting history, which we, the U.S. have sadly screwed with over a number of years. I’m thinking we should jolly well leave other nations to themselves.
The Youtube link to Mehdi’s Zeteo “Experts Warn the Iran War Could Get Much Worse” with 3 superb Middle Eastern expert journalists should be shared far and wide…thanks, Fred Cox!
Ah, thank you, Heather! So much for taking the night off 🙃, if Kamala were president we’d be having brunch. Instead we have insanity every day while the insane one calls us insane.
Not an indictment of you specifically, just musing. I really don't like it when I hear "we'd be having brunch" language. There have long been very serious problems in our country—so many people abused by and kept out of our systems—that preceded and allowed the conditions for the rise of Trump, and that have long deserved our sustained and dedicated attention.
It feels true that many, especially but not only moderately privileged white folks, would be lulled back to complacency with a return to "normalcy," but that offers me no comfort.
Sure, i get it. It was meant to be that our conversations would be lighter. But here on the internet, one must look at what one posts from every angle. Appreciate your point.
He will now crow about how he single-handedly stopped yet another war and therefore truly deserves to steal yet another Nobel Peace Prize which will, of course, be awarded to somebody else. He’s still LOCO as a cuckoo every day, Tuesdays included.
We already know he’s as vicious as a spitting cobra. Soon the country will also realize he’s still one piss-poor negotiator the way he’s always been. In return for terrifying and nauseating the planet with threatened war crimes. Iran and Oman will still charge whatever fees they want to ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz for the next two weeks, at least according to the AP. Not exactly status quo ante.
It’s a reminder that Ayatollah Asahollah (shout-out to Substacker Leslie for that one) can’t run a TACO stand properly, let alone plan for war, or take care that the laws of the United States are “faithfully executed.”
Yet for all of this, the scalawags and scoundrels making up today’s Republican Party are not thinking about Iran, but about Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. Last night, all 9 counties there blue-shifted 20-30 percentage points from 2024. In one of the most rural, ruby-red districts in the rural south, that’s nothing short of a political earthquake.
Whatever happens tomorrow or two weeks from now, Trump has lost. Not just what was left of his mind, but his movement. MAGA is splintering. Republicans are resigning. Democrats are mobilizing and racking up election victories.
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." -- John Adams
NYTimes with byline by Swan and Haberman has a long story on the behind-the-scenes decision-making and the influence of Netanyahu on the decision to go to war. It is mostly sane washing Trump with a side of JD Vance was the adult-in-the-room and the only truth-teller.
"“I think we need to do it,” the president told the room. He said they had to make sure Iran could not have a nuclear weapon, and they had to ensure that Iran could not just shoot missiles at Israel or throughout the region."
This is the narrative that is going to be used as Trump's defense against impeachment. If that does happen, Vance is being sold as the person who defended "America First" principles but tried his best to limit the damage if we went to war.
There is no reporting in the Times at this point, and little elsewhere, that Trump's threat to destroy Iran's civilization is, by itself, a war crime under international law.
International humanitarian law clearly bans acts or threats of violence whose primary purpose is to terrorize civilians. Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (Art. 51(2)) states that civilians must not be the object of attacks or of “acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population.”
Georgia, thanks for news from the NYT. I stopped the subscription last year and am slowly unsubscribing from all the newsletters they produce. Their lack of honest reporting and now, sane-washing, was more than I could stomach. Ditto WaPo. I doubt we'll see any of that reporting of war crimes in NYT in the days to come.
JD did not do anything. And Trump reminded him of it in public, on camera, in front of everybody. That defense won’t hunt, any more than the old dog will.
JD is a wanker with no place to hide, not even Hungary. He’s a nobody without moral authority, regardless of the people who helped him get where he is in the first place. He will likely head the US delegation in Islamabad, which will expose him further still.
I can think of no better modern definition of “albatross around the neck” of the GOP than Maybelline Boy. His own church doesn’t even know who he is.
JD Vance who stands by Victor Orban's side to assist him in the Hungarian election to assist Putin. What a choice to replace Trump but not the catastrophic dangers facing the US.
Praying that this is truly the beginning of the end for the Trump regime. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to democracy and for helping maintain our sanity in these unsettling times.
I’ll believe it when I see it. Up til now, the Republicans have shown absolutely no sign of having even a single vertebra in their backs. They won’t do anything to stop Little Orange Twitter Fingers from crashing the world economy and destroying western civilization. They are perfectly ok with watching the world burn - it seems they don’t realize they are part of it…
No Dutch, they are not part of it. They should be removed from any form of power starting in November. The midterm elections should consolidate the return of decency in this country after sending the scumbag president where he belongs, either an asylum or a jail. And we should apologize to the whole world, not as a sign of weakness but as a sign that America is back.
Ricardo I couldn’t agree more with you with respect to the apology but it won’t be enough to say sorry but we are back, the whole world is now invested in seeing real change in the US. Start with PACs and Super PACs. Ban them. Constitution needs to be amended and Executive Presidential powers curtailed before any other country will trust the US again. We can’t rely on the basic decency or lack of character of a single person any longer. Press freedoms need to be looked at too. Democrats are in their own way as complicit. I don’t have a vote but unless and until the US sorts itself out I would strongly prefer you to leave the rest of the world to manage ourselves. Right now I think China is the only grown up in the room and marginally prefer Iran under the current Regime to US or Israel. The American Dream is dead it’s a sham and it only took one man to bring the House of Cards down.
What we're experiencing here in the U.S. is what happens when Big Money and Christian nationalism get into bed with one another - democracy dies. Overturning Citizens United and ending presidential immunity while in office are critical to restoring the democratic process here. We need textbooks on critical thinking skills suitable for grades 6 through 12. We also need textbooks on comparative government (political systems) and history for grades 6 through 12. And, we need to get religion out of the classrooms. Melanie Trecek-King, a biology professor at Massasoit Community College in Massachusetts, has created the "Thinking is Power" website, focusing on critical thinking, information literacy and science literacy. We need this on a massive scale, starting yesterday.
Richard, is there some middle ground where immunity can be continued for the equivalent of “felonies”but ended for “misdemeanors?” If there is no immunity at all, I can imagine the scruple-less GOP tying up every Democrat president in court - until the end of time. You know they would do it.
It could takes decades to correct the course of State, or it may never happen. The wealthy are taking over the means of communication. And without a population trained in critical thinking skills, they can manipulate the minds of the ill-informed, as they have been doing since Reagan's time in office. Thomas Frank writes on how they do this with wedge issues in his book, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" (2004)
Yes. Notice how the GOP leaders and political representatives stepped up yesterday? Yeah, me neither.
Probably what NEEDS to happen in the future (although it will be difficult to have this happen) is a separation of the Justice department from the Executive branch. The Justice department should be moved into the Article III branch and the AG should either be elected in a separate election from the president or appointed by a committee of court justices from the District, Appeals and Supreme courts. That would provide the AG with sufficient independence from the Executive branch that they could once again be seen as an independent decision maker in bringing criminal charges against anyone, including members of both the executive and congressional branches.
There will always be concerns about renegade leaders in politics, there is pretty much no way to avoid that, but having the department of justice separate from the Executive would go a long way to minimizing the risks of that.
A Taliban repeat.
We only have ourselves to blame.
I agreed 100 💯 with you Sharon but we have to start somewhere. In the meantime, our regime it's still in power and our struggle it's still not over. Let's focus on guarantee that we'll have an election in November, a fair one. Thanks for your reply 👍
"Let's focus on guarantee that we'll have an election in November, a fair one."
Vote Blue No Matter Who
Blue Wave 2026
GOTV is Now
"No matter who" is a problem. In primaries and in the general election we must demand candidates who will embrace real changes to our governance.
and it is this blue MAGA crap that could bring us all down.
"Vote Blue no matter who"? Really.. and what about the Democrats who have voted along with Trump's budgets and plans? The ones that gave him back his power by ending the shutdown. The ones that took away our medical care?
There are far too many Democrats that are perfectly fine with what Trump is doing everyday. They make weak protestations but they don't actually care. They are rich and got a tax cut. They have made millions playing Trump's stock market. And most importantly, they are paid by the exact same lobbyists and corporations that own the GOP.
The last couple of years have shown us that we can't trust the democrats either.
I'm going to vote for the people who share my basic values. Equal rights for all. Single payer or Universal healthcare. Immigration reform. Tax the wealthy instead of the poor.
If the Democrats insist on running these incremental GOP-lite candidates.. don't expect me to vote for them.
Chuck Schumer? Needs to be retired. Jefferies has been pretty much universally ineffective. Ken Martin? Complete mistake. Should never have been allowed to dump David Hogg.
I, like millions of others, have reached the point of no return with the Democratic leadership.
and every time I see 'vote blue no matter who'... I get a bit nauseous. I don't see MAGA-lite pulling us out of this disaster. During the Biden administration they had endless opportunities to fix the crap that Trump had done during his first administration and they chose not to because it benefitted them. I'm not stupid enough to vote for them again.
I'm with you Lin though it feels like a fantasy today.
Your comment fits mine like a glove to a hand lin• Vote Blue, Blue wave!!!😃
Thank you for your attention to this MATTER.
What really "MATTERS " is that the contents of the Epstein files must be shockingly horrific for trump to bring the world to the cusp of WWIII to distract from their publication.
We need to Maximise Attention To Trump Epstein Relationship to once and for all flush his Golden Toilet and bring his global debauchery to an end.
Two week ceasefire?
Iran knows Trump is "too weak" to politically survive his latest ignorant bully actions.
His circus sideshow has effectively set up a long line of oil tanker targets like massive sitting ducks in a shooting gallery.
What could possibly go wrong??
Does the world have to live with the unintended consequences of trump's needless war?
Trump must be publicly exposed, humiliated and reprimanded to return the world to pre Trump order.
The November election should be the turning point Paul. In the meantime we have to keep vigilant to prevent that election to be stolen. Nothing more important since fron there on, we should put everything on the table. No exceptions starting by the Epstein story.
''Impeach Him, Don’t Diagnose Him''
Trump is fading, but not before leaving wreckage behind. This commentary argues that his war weakened America, strengthened Iran’s leverage, and turned constitutional cowardice into complicity. History should not remember him as misunderstood or unstable, but as... https://essayx.substack.com/p/impeach-him-dont-diagnose-him
Are the world's leaders "trained" to be diplomatic, measured, cautious, therefore, some of their hesitancy to excoriate trump? Even the response from Canada's prime minister was milquetoast.
25th, Dems in house & senate, neuter Vance, repair damage and elect someone who is not insane.
A necessary recipe for regime change - succinct and to the point.
Vote out every single R member of Congress & maybe some Ds too.
ML, agree. I nominate John Fetterman as a D who needs to go. He's in office until 2028 but it's not too soon to start the process.
A reputation is a terrible thing to waste. There have been times when America had a good reputation and times we had a terrible reputation. Like now for instance. With a lot of hard work on all the corruption, and with serious attention to serious consequences, we can begin the long process of regaining a good reputation. The work will take years.
or decades, but it will be well worth the effort.
All the rules, amendments and guardrails were in place. We found the weak link though, when the “leaders” would not enforce them. Many judges showed real courage, only to have the bought&compromised SCOTUS not enforce them. The failure was not the rules. It was us. Humans failed to enforce the rules. Some humans were more critical in this than others because we thought we had voted them into office to be our guardrail and enforcer. But the gop men and women played the monkeys that See No Evil. Hear No Evil….and allowed all the evil. So here we are. We now have to reinvent the wheel if we cannot figure out how to enforce The Rule of Law.
The most vile example of manhood, PT Barnum said, there is a sucker born every minute. We have proof
Respectfully, Sharon, it did not take just one man to bring our country down. There has been a concerted effort to bring our democracy down. Further what scares me even more is the attitude of US citizens that still support this narcissistic moron. Last night Clay Fuller defeated Shawn Harris in the runoff election in Georgia. The reasons people were giving the news media for voting for Fuller has me deeply concerned that too many this country will never understand any concept of decency. Too many just don't "get it".
Watching that race myself because that's where I grew up. Shawn Harris was a strong candidate, but I questioned whether as a Black man in a part of Georgia that is predominantly Appalachian he could overcome the racial prejudice. My guess is that it played a role when the large field of Republicans was reduced to one.
Nevertheless, he lost only by 14 points. Now, I know (at least I think I know) what you're thinking: fourteen points is still a hell of a lot and not close enough to make headway in a state, and specifically, the region in which the race was fought. However, it is better than the 25 or 26 that MTG had won by. I don't mean to sugar coat it; the 14th district is heavily rural and carries a great deal of uneducated or miseducated folks. That region will be forever a tough nut to crack.
Sharon, first I see you are a two week subscriber, and so may I say WELCOME to the forum! 👏🏼It is good to have our community grow, and by your post I see you are outside of the US. You are EXTRA valuable in my mind, because we in the US need to hear directly from other world citizens, and also, I hope you can tell your fellow citizens of wherever you are "they aren't all crazy over there."
Second, you are so correct about the Constitution needing amendments! While our forefathers had their faults (slave owners, etc) I think they never thought this hard fought for democracy would be taken hostage by (to use Trump's favorite slur) "Low IQ" people and criminals. But here we are.
We need to be represented by the people, but the people need to understand what exactly our Constitution states! I can't believe the number of (at best) misunderstanding of that document, or(at worst) willful misinterpretation. I know this is happening, as one of my favorite internet pundits "Belle of the Ranch" YouTube frequently has MAGA send comments her way in an attempt to trip her up, and she will read the pertinent section of the Constitution in her reply.
Last, I disagree with your "it only took one man to bring" it down. Trump was aided and abetted by the GOP Congress who have not fulfilled their oath of office; by the SCOTUS allowing billionaires to buy elections; by the uniformed citizens who don't research their candidates and vote against their own best interests, and finally, by those who fail to vote.
Hi Miselle there are a lot of us out in the world who are horribly fascinated by what is happening in the US atm principally because it could happen anywhere and it is affecting everywhere. I’m UK though visit Portugal regularly and also have Australian/NZ links. The sense of bewilderment and resignation everywhere is palpable. Very easy to blame the US and leave it at that but that solves nothing for any of us. I suppose what I meant by one man is that T.Rump is so blatant and that has the effect of opening a Pandoras Box, appreciate though this has been a long time coming. Always understood the American Dream to be a convenient label and it is in its own way the very definition of Trumpery.
My late sister in law was from the UK. One of her two kids got his dual citizenship prior to her death. He married a woman from Argentina. He is appalled at our health care here (it's too long a story but he has good reason) and the way the elderly are treated here. He's told me that he and his wife are considering emigrating to either Argentina or the UK when they retire. There is close, supportive family in either country. I hate to think of our country losing them, he is talented, brilliantly intelligent, and a truly good person. But I'll be gone by then. Just like all the scientists leaving the US: our loss, other countries gain.
I imagine the US must look like a big train wreck that you can't pull your eyes off of. Trust me, this is not fun, most especially for those who saw this coming and worked to get Democrats elected.
If you have any interest in women's rights in US history, you might enjoy this book I frequently recommend here. By Gail Collins "America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines"
Thanks for reaching out.
Okay, for the most part. I disagree with the uninformed citizens part. They had an entire first term to get "informed," before turning around and doing it again four years later.
The only thing that prevented the first four years from being the travesty we are currently living through was a more balanced Congressional makeup.
In a podcast, and perhaps on one of the Letters, HCR mentioned that MOST people spend FIVE MINUTES A WEEK (someone back me up on this, it might be four!) on politics. We who follow politics are very informed.
My own sisters didn't follow the news much and we are on a spectrum of political leanings. I discovered after one didn't vote (doesn't think woman should be POTUS!!) and the other for Trump, how very very little they knew about the issues! I now am making sure they ARE informed by giving them the daily letter and talking about issues.
Agree. We will never hold a leadership position again unless we make the systemic changes needed to ensure that we will not have another such person/cabal in power again.
T is the frontispiece, not the contents, of P 2025.
Very nicely expressed, Sharon Bacon. Basically, Mother Earth is telling America to "Behave yourself"..., the World is not your oyster. Strangely enough, we do have a person who knows well how 'oysters' work. A fine young man from Sullivan, Maine.., an oyster farmer, running for United States Senator, who represents who we really are: An American - GRAHAM PLATNER!
Sharon - spot on. One item though, the "American Dream" was always just a dream. Really did not apply to most people in the US and the dream became a nightmare since the Nixon administration. It has always been dead.
One man and his minions.
“Right now I think China is the only grown up in the room”
Really?
This reflects global polling, sadly!!!
Trusted — until the next election. After that? Too many voters are hate motivate, they are not a fringe. It's the Republican constituency.
Turned into another TACO Tuesday. 2 week reprieve.
As I type, oil prices dropped 14% since last night.
This is my fear. Despite the audible gasp across the US yesterday, enervating even the most non-political of my friends to speak out, the markets gave a very juicy reward. Make no bones about it, his insanity is making his family and friends filthy rich. The behavior will continue until there is no reward and in the mean time, the rest of us will pay the price, in our national pride, our wallets, and our wellbeing.
It's always about the money... Our fearless leader has finally figured out how to make money and he's never going to stop. Until the market wakes up it won't end. It's one thing if we are willing to destroy our own democracy and economy, quite another to destroy the economy of the whole world. They are not going to let us do that.
Operation Epic Failure: How We Lost the First US-Iran War
Trump's desperation for a cease fire gave Iran full control of the Persian Gulf and a toll booth
.https://substack.com/home/post/p-193563690.
Malcolm was so livid on his daily YouTube yesterday, for very good reason. It helped to listen to him scream.
Daniel, gas prices jumped 20 cents overnight here.
What's our alternative? Vance, god no!
Janet, Vance is not "him" whose name I will not use. This is something. He won't have the sane allegiance from the president's loyalists. He won't inspire the same fear in his Party's members of Congress, they won't be intimidated to the same degree. Just as he changed his spots to win the VP role, he might change them again. He'll be inclined to bend to his paymasters, this is true. (So will any replacement.) Voters must make it most uncomfortable for him to do so.
He cannot be worse than the current president. It's probably impossible for anyone to be as bad as 47 is. It would be madness to avoid removing the current president just because Vance is next in line.
PS: Since Cabinet members serve at the pleasure of the President, Vance could replace any he chose. Here's hoping he'd start with Hegseth, then deal with the DOJ, DHS and DOS. Et cetera et cetera et cetera. I don't like JDV either, but he can't be as bad as he who will not be named.
Vance won't have Trump's power. Nobody trusts Vance. Nobody likes Vance. Most important, NOBODY owes Vance anything.
Vance is Peter Thiel's useful idiot.
Donna, Vance's mentor is Peter Thiel, VC of paypal, Palantir, mass surveillance billionaire using AI for commerce and war. Scary man.
Thiel will be the power behind the throne when T gets pushed out (before midterms). WWIII will be stopped. 1984 will commence.
Hard call, but think WWIII needs to be stopped.
Vance, but plus fighting mad Democrats in the House and Senate. I shudder to have to wait until November.
The alternative is what the Constitution gives us. This precious document still exists; we must protect it and believe in it now, more than ever.
I do believe that many of us fantasize of a “return of decency” hoping to sweep this mess under the rug. However, I’m pretty sure there are many in this administration who like the power ( and $$) they’ve achieved and will fight to keep their status quo. I’m not convinced that we will see any change from the current Rs, much less have a fair midterm election. I do hope that I am wrong about this.
Ricardo, I'm sorry to advise you that America (the U.S., actually) is never "coming back." Donald and his MAGA cult have turned the U.S. into a leper colony.
U.S. voters can – and should – do what we can to correct the horrible mistakes we have made, starting this November. But nearly one-half of the U.S. electorate will guarantee that all the happy talk in this thread is not going to happen.
We must admit what the rest of the world already knows. There is nothing in our Constitution, in our electoral system, in our legislative system, or in our judicial system to prevent U.S. voters from electing more fast-talking corporate idiots to Congress or a natural-born, 35-plus-year-old moron to the White House.
Our revered "Founding Fathers" naively assumed that the government they designed would always be in the hands of landed gentry and thus, did not idiot-proof it. We are the living evidence of that fact.
The best we can hope for now is to become a nation that is less reviled than Russia, a vast also-ran. A little humility won't kill us.
Dale,you might be right and I hope you are wrong. All we have to do is to try. Hard. Don't give up my friend.
Ricardo, it's not a matter of "giving up." It's a matter of lowering our expectations to a realistic level, and limiting goals to those which are achievable.
I will never be a Frank Lloyd Wright, or an Andy Warhol, or a Mark Twain, but if I can produce work that delights my clients, I have achieved a worthwhile goal.
Aim high Dale and then, whatever you achieve, would be more than good. But you have to try hard. You are not Frank Lloyd Wright or Andy Warhol or Mark Twain. You are Dale Rowett and that's more than good. 😄
Bravo Ri ardo. Well said.
Oh we will have to do way more than apologize. The amount of trust and faith in American decency and honor has been destroyed, that is one thing Trump truly has obliterated.
I can't wait to start rebuilding our alliances and I do not expect to live long enough to see them back to the strength and resilience that they were before the terrifying, terrible twos - i.e. Trump's second term in office.
Ricardo, I say cecot for Trump to live out the rest of his days and also, not only the US is Back, but to express that 70% of the US was opposed to anything that the orange buffoon did to the world.
DM, I am waiting to see if the EU can get a spine when it comes to Trump. Germany certainly drank the Koolaid in that Merz cannot let go of reviving the dying German auto market with US sales. Just to get tariffs down he keeps silent on the most egregious statements from Trump. The EU for the most part did not have much to say, and Mark Rutte is going to debase himself yet again with a visit to Washington to make sure Trump is still on Ukraine's side, which he has never been and never will be. What about the weapons systems that the EU purchased for Ukraine that were never delivered and instead "blown" in Iran? Theft from Trump as usual.
So, the Republicans are not alone in keeping quite while the mad king rages. Europe is too.
Looking at the Epstein files, it becomes clear how many people in power have been deviously working behind the scenes for decades to destroy democracy so they can live their depraved, luxurious lives at the expense of the rest of humanity.
Yup! That is why I see the Iran War the Epstein Class war.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/the-epstein-class-and-the-war?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Oh, you're absolutely right, Linda. It frustrates me to no end, too, that European leaders simply won't spank the Orange Toddler King's butt for misbehaving. I don't know whether they are still in a state of disbelief, or still try to retain somewhat of a semblance of good relations with America - you know, for good old times' sake.
But the thing is: neither Merz nor Rutte has the power to oust Trump from presidency. Only the Republican senators can do something about that, and they flat out refuse to do so.
Linda and Dutch; I have a feeling their refusal to get involved was a very big message to a POTUS whom they all consider a madman, and to the USA, to say, we know this madman will be gone soon and we want you to know we will wait for your comeback. The European leaders are very diplomatic, keeping their cool so to speak, knowing full well they are just dealing with someone who must have a win under any circumstance. At the end of the day, Iran is indeed the winner of this kerfuffle, having agreed to everything they already had before this so called war, PLUS having all the sanctions lifted!
I certainly hope so. As said, it frustrates me that no one is willing to give the Orange Goblin King a slap on the wrist, but on the other hand: I estimate the intelligence of the leaders of Europe still much higher than that of the convicted orange felon...
Indeed!
Operation Epic Failure: How We Lost the First US-Iran War
Trump's desperation for a cease fire gave Iran full control of the Persian Gulf and a toll booth
.https://malcolmnance.substack.com/p/operation-epic-failure-how-we-lost?publication_id=1227278&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=dvsxz&utm_medium=email
Just read the article. Thank you for the link. I agree with all of it. What an embarrassment for the US! Not only how we enrich Iran to update itself, but we once again show the world what an idiot we elected as a country!
Ligia, that is putting it nicely. Even Politico Berlin this morning pointed out that not much has been heard from Merz of late. I think he is scared of the AfD. He is not standing up to them but caving to them, so in many ways he is just making the CDU the less radical branch of the AfD party. This is particularly true on immigration and environmental policies. Not so much when it comes to Russia and Ukraine though, so I am glad about that.
Iran wins, but Trump loses because as Heather Cox Richardson says here in this 15 minutes chat, "Trump can never go back to where he was before today."
https://youtu.be/6zlAjh0GAjc?si=09HYv-5uBEG7GaHx
When Iran wins, Russia wins.
The GOP, like their “leader,” have the memory of an elephant. If EU publicly rips Agent Orange, they may be punished by every GOP administration and congress for eternity. I’m with you, Ligia, they will out wait him and see what comes next - hoping we take the opportunity to sweep our dirt out our door.
Thank you Marge; I do understanding Linda's frustration (similar to mine with the enablers of this orange buffoon)... Yet in my many years I have learned that at times, the wait and see attitude, is usually better than a quick reactionary response. And the Europeans don't like being hasty about anything.
That is true, but if everyone around the world did not politely pretend Trump is normal they might be more motivated to do that.
The tariff weapon is powerful.
Linda, I think the Europeans are buying some time before acting decidedly hoping that eventually the American electorate would come back to its senses and vote to return to the rule of law, internatinal cooperation, common sense, democratic principles and decency. Keep in mind that an economic crisis in those countries will only help the extreme right parties waiting for a chance. Thanks for sharing your opinion.😊
Ricardo, perhaps. However I think that no one in the world trusts the American voters to exercise good judgement, so as a country we cannot be trusted. We have been having some experiences here in Germany where I can tell everyone is just sick and tired of hearing about Trump. They are sick of his actions, and they don't want us making it about us, but about the way the rest of the world is being harmed by Trump. And, while I hope there is "The Europeans" I am looking at how much Putin is putting into his long game of not only keeping his country on a tight leash, but taking over the US which he has through Trump, and breaking up NATO and the EU. Let us hope he is not successful, but he is singularly focused and will just keep pursuing his ends. There is a lot to take on to hold onto democracy with so many people having so little sense of how things work.
I understand your "perhaps" Linda, but I think they want to trust America again, perhaps. We all know what happened in Germany and Europe during ww2, but once dramatic and profound change was realized trust and cooperation followed . Let's hope that if similar changes occur in the US in the form of bringing everyone responsable to justice and legislation is firm to prevent repetition of this nightmare, trust will be restored, even if it might take a generation 😉 🤞
Ricardo, from your pen to my heart, I hope you’re correct.
I have noticed recently, much to my astonishment, southern US Reps saying that t’s war threats are ‘crazy’.
Now, how long that lasts is a guesstimate. Perhaps with the midterms looming, with dire larder’s numbers plunging, some former elected maga’s are
shuffling away…
Ricardo, most Jews I know do not trust Germany, not 81 years later. Germany has 120,000 Jews right now. The Jewish friends I have here in Germany put the antisemitism aside because they have friends who are not, and they manage to have comfortable lives. They are also not very religious. Germans I know are asking what is happening in the US. Germans I don't know ask me if I am for Trump. Given that I have brown-skin it tells me they assume most Americans supported Trump. That is also the sense my daughter gets. Most people in the city I live in don't know any Americans, and the German media is doing a poor job of reporting on the US. One reason is that they rely on the MSM in the US. There is some media that may be digging deeper but who is their audience? People Who still read. It is not so easy to undo mistrust, once trust is broken. I spent my whole life understanding that none of the Jews I knew really trusted Germans. Particularly those who had never been to Germany.
I absolutely agree with you Linda that this is music to Putin's ears. And I understand Mertz's fear of his ultra right wingers. Let's wait these two weeks out and see where we go. I am not sure if the sanctions against russian oil being sold are still lifted or not, which is probably giving Putin some of the happiest times of his life. I have always been more weary of Putin than Iran, which is almost a 5000 year culture which has contributed much to humanity. I doubt the orange buffoon in the WH even knows any of that.
I agree. I blame Iran on the US, and thus we own that mess. Russia, is Putin's creation and he is a sick, twisted KGB-Stasi trained spy. Nothing good is in his head.
Trump is like an abusive spouse who holds all the power. The abused spouse (male or female) stays silent for their very survival.
But they have more power than they think.
Hi Linda, I hope you are right, because if so they could actually do something. And yet, maybe it means they are staying silent for other reasons. That is a troubling thought. I keep reading that the R's don't really like Trump, that they are mostly afraid of him. I'm sure that's not true for all of them, but I recall getting this info via Mitt Romney. Guess that's why I see them as being similar to abused spouses.
Republicans have mastered the skill of pretending that the naked king is finely clothed.
Yup. No Kings! No Emperors! No Tzars! No Monarchy!
Awaiting the BIG stock options 1/2 hour before the announcement.
There seems to be a pattern emerging, of stock market manipulation and massive profits. As Trump himself apparently lacks the cognitive ability to perform these operations, someone else is pulling the levers.
unquestionably.
Best to hold our breath to see what Trump agreed to!
APNewsAlert: TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — #Iran includes “acceptance of enrichment” in Farsi version of its ceasefire plan, something missing from English versions.
https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-international/ap-the-latest-iran-rejects-ceasefire-deal-as-trumps-deadline-for-attacks-on-infrastructure-nears/
The devil in the detail: not a point which Witkof/ Kushner et al are any good at…
Yes. No one has yet issued an official version of the agreement that's a statement of the terms both sides have accepted. The UN issues multi-language documents all the time, documents managing to reflect what each party has agreed to. Why hasn't this been done in this case? Although the UN hasn't been involved in this negotiation, maybe its language services could be used.
Are you guilty if you could stop a disaster and chose not to?
Not as an abstraction — as a fact. The Republicans in Congress could have stopped this. At any of a dozen moments. Without personal harm, without sacrifice, without anything more than a single vote and a minimal act of courage.
They chose not to.
The law has a word for this. So does history-Complicity
Fact indeed, Harvey. You said it and I agree.
Republican voters have continually hedged their bets on Trump. And won what they wanted. By uniting behind Trump - and with Mitch McConnell stealing a Supreme Court seat from Obama and another from Biden - Trump delivered.
Movement Conservatives got the inequitable tax scheme, roll back of government regulation, and destruction of government agencies. Racist right wing religious extremists got the overturning of civil rights protections for Black people, women, LGBTQ+ persons, and immigrants of color, the breaking down of the constitutional separation of church and state, and almost unlimited access to guns. All manner of miscreants got presidential pardons - from those committing massive financial fraud to those committing war crimes and the violent attack on the Capitol.
A bacchanal of destruction - now gone global in supporting Israel's genocide, benefitting Putin's assault on Ukraine, and attempting to serve the Trump family's Saudi and other Gulf State Arab Sunni rulers by taking out their Persian Shiite enemy. In the contest of who ever is craziest wins, they underestimated Iran's strategic resolve.
Where we see existential threats and problems to be solved, Republican Christian Nationalists see the heralding of the End of Days they pray for. Or at least of the US government. And with the aid of antiDemocratic Leftish non-voters and vote-splitters, a united antidemocratic Right wing electorate has put in power a bloody minded ignorant loud mouth who would do anything. They believe they can destroy the foundations and their money and/or god will save them when the roof caves in.
I, too, sadly agree
And please notice how the market swings seem to be so closely leading to outsized profits by traders who know how to read the tea leaves. Or have inside information.
Inside information. I mean, can you imagine how easy it is to bribe someone from the White House these days?? As a trader, I would easily pay 100.000 dollar to someone from Trump's cabinet for info that would yield me a couple of millions in a trade game...
The profit making is clearly the main reason they’re playing games with the well being of our nation and the world. This is how the capitalist ball bounces. They score every time they create ways to spend tax payer $ on their own “enterprises”.
Dutch, they desire the end of the world because they believe it will bring on the second coming of Christ.(Why would he want to come back to this mess when we have so obviously failed at his most important commandment "Love one another", let alone any of the other ones.
They should be careful what they wish for. I wonder how many of them would allow someone to shoot them because they believe that God would perform a miracle and save them? The 'end times' scenario is not much different.
Pamela-The commandment also says love your neighbor as yourself. The people perpetrating crimes to maintain and even increase their wealth and power are insecure and probably don’t even love themselves.
They’re destroying us trying to prove how great they are when the world can see how inhumane and corrupt they really are. Stay tuned-we will overcome if we allow love (for ourselves and our neighbors) to be our saving grace.
Pamela, you ask "why Jesus would want to come back to this mess."
Evangelicals hang their entire theology on a passage in a letter (allegedly) written by Paul to his fans in Rome, chapter 8, verses 35 to 39.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
'For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Baptists have encapsulated this concept in a doctrine they call "Eternal Security," which purports that once a believer has "accepted Jesus as their personal savior," they can do anything they want and still get to heaven. Of course, in evangelical theology, there's always a "back door." If someone "prays the prayer of salvation," then goes out and commits murder, then they didn't really mean it when they prayed. Therefore, they're going to hell anyway.
Editorial note: Funny thing about evangelicals. They place more weight on the words of a rebranded religious extremist (Saul/Paul) than on the words of Jesus.
So the story goes that after "Satan is bound forever" when the christian nationalists win the Battle of Armageddon, the way will be cleared for Jesus to come back to Earth from his heavenly home and rule the world during "The Millennium," a thousand years' reign of peace. During that time, he will fix everything, with the help of all the Christians he'll install in positions of power.
It's the age old tension of License vs Legality.
That's the wrong framework. The GOP has vertebra. The bad news: they are NEOFASCIST.
We're in the second year of a GOP neofascist trifecta now and people still imagine that the GOP didn't want this, only Trump wants it.
Time to wake up from TDS!!
You know, you may be right. It _would_ explain why they seem almost EAGER to do nothing about Trump...
Look up the history of neofascism in the US and you'll see that it is 100% the case. Trump never succeeded in anything in his entire life. He's merely the neofascist GOP's clown in chief. While he distracts us with his tweets, THEY are the ones controlling the executive branch of power, writing the executive orders, and making all the main decisions. Trump was never ever interested in policy in the first place.
Vance, for instance, has a career, as venture capitalist and politician, that is entirely financed by Peter Thiel. Thiel is a neofascist tech billionaire, who, for more than a decade already, gives public lectures AGAINST democracy and pro fascism.
GOP Speaker Mike Johnson publicly said that he sees it as the job of the GOP House to "codify the executive orders signed by the president". That means: instead of negotiating new bills among the people's representatives in Congress (= how it goes in a democracy), now the GOP ITSELF DECIDED that it won't negotiate any bills and instead just write bills that turn executive orders into law. That is the very definition of fascism, in terms of how the three branches of government relate to each other.
Etc. etc.
The evidence is everywhere. Or just read the Substacks of experts in fascism (Timothy Snyder, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Anne Applebaum, Schepele etc).
You're absolutely right. Not only Thiel, but also Musk, Altman, and all of the other Silicon Valley tech bro billionaires want to get rid of democracy, because they want to get rid of rules made by (and for) ordinary people. Why? Because these rules get in the way of them becoming even richer, that's what. So they want a system in which THEY determine the rules, and none other. They want the whole world, all of it, and they will not part with a single penny.
You know, if you follow them over the years, you discover something even worse. These are real ideologues.
Musk has been obsessed with saving humanity for decades already.
Fascism is an ideology. Not a quick means to get rich. None of these men need fascism to become the wealthiest. Democracy gave them that already.
They're motivated day in day out by installing fascism because they are on a mission. They are convinced that by nature, some human beings are superior to most others. And in a democracy, the "mediocre" masses rule - that means, it's mediocre people who impose laws on the very small minority of "the best". That, they believe, is very bad for humanity as a whole.
It's also what led Thiel & co create "Network States" (see Gil Duran's outstanding website about this). Those are almost entirely autonomous cities inside bigger countries (China has tons of them - see "Cracked up Capitalism" by historian Quinn Slobodian), in which savage capitalism is imposed by the local political leader, without any democratic power given to its citizens. And who is the leader? The wealthiest businessman.
This isn't merely about personal greed. It's an ideology based on a totally false understanding of human nature. And that makes it SO dangerous.
Correct, Mike... the republicans have turned spinelessness into a political art form.
I keep being reminded of Gary Larson's Boneless Chicken Ranch cartoon! https://static0.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/the-far-side-boneless-chicken-ranch.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1
I agree with you, Dutch, however, there are a large number of them who are a part of it. I would love to know just how many of them are making money off of this catastrophe. How many of them are selling/buying stocks related to the illegal war because they have inside information? How is PAC money influencing their actions? With the exclusion of a few members of Congress who are truly there to serve the people, I fear the majority are there for the all mighty dollar whether in form of stocks, lobbyist favors, or PACs. Nothing will change until that changes and that, I fear, is NEVER going to change.
They are definitely NOT "representatives" in the original sense of the word, as in: representing (=working for) the people. They are merely representing (=working for) themselves.
To paraphrase a proverb, an evil man will burn down his country and rule over the ashes.
They are in this boat with us, sad to say. But I’d love to see comeuppance come around. It’s not on the horizon yet. His floundering is considered genius by some in power, and our neighbors. Texas doesn’t have a lock on doing stupid bigger and better. They (not me) are just proud of their bigger and better monstrosity, comeuppance, come on down…
Sadly agree.
I am afraid of the Christofascist ideology that says they AREN'T part of this world. They're looking to the afterlife for good things, and wars, even nuclear war, are part of God's plan for the End Times.
Exactly. We're all afraid that Trump will destroy the world - but that's the whole point! These Christofascists are yearning for the Apocalypse, thinking they (and only they) will be saved in the Rapture. Trump is their tool for bringing about the end of the world, and Trump relishes in doing just that. "Look, daddy! I destroyed the world! Nobody else has ever done that! I'm special! Will you love me now?"
The war did not stop.
It merely paused for the threat.
On April 7, during an active conflict with Iran, Donald Trump informed the world that “a whole civilization will die tonight.” Not a military target. Not a battlefield objective. A civilization. The kind of statement usually entered into evidence, not posted like campaign content.
By evening, extermination had been moved off the calendar. Two weeks. Negotiations. A temporary postponement of mass death.
No cities burned. No bodies were counted. And so, in the official American tradition, we are invited to admire the restraint.
Except the threat itself matters. Under international humanitarian law, threats of violence aimed at terrorizing civilians are prohibited. Not excessive. Not inappropriate. Prohibited. Civilization learned that rule the hard way. America, apparently, is now workshopping an exception.
This is our constitutional condition. A president publicly threatens mass civilian destruction during an ongoing war, and Washington responds as if the problem were tonal. Panels are booked. Statements are drafted. Experts explain that we should remain calm while a man with presidential authority tests whether annihilation can be used as leverage.
If there is any democratic pulse left in the republic, the response cannot be another round of commentary masquerading as accountability.
Impeach him. Convict him. Remove him.
Before the next threat graduates into action.
The United States is experiencing a catastrophic failure of moral leadership on an unprecedented scale. Every elected official who does not condemn this president is complicit in his crimes against humanity.
Heather: " and Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz (SOH). In the real world, Iran is already in control of the SOH. Iran has changed the shipping waterway into a toll lane. Iran has been collecting substantial fees from about 15 ships per day -- a regime change' of sorts.
Citrini Research, Citrini on Substack, sent an analyst dubbed "Analyst 3" on a data gathering field trip to the Persian Gulf. Per Anayst 3, the Automated Information System (AIS) has been misreporting about half the shipping traffic. Iran has been controlling the shipping channel using a shipping channel through a narrow corridor near the island of Queshm & Iran.
See also, the Wall Street Journal for WSJ's useful reporting of admissible facts.
Donald Trump has never encountered a situation he couldn’t make worse. He just did not recognize that his bullying would not work with Iran. He did bankrupt two casinos after all. The world has been on edge because of one stupid man.
Well, let’s see what happens in a couple of days there, Brian Shelby
Because of the street is an open to all traffic tomorrow Trump will assure you that it will be. Andy, Ron is stubborn as it is using the same playbook that they’ve used for 30 years to get away with it but Trump is the first president not to buy the bullshit and to take care of business to eight other president said they wanted to stop and didn’t have the balls to do it
🙄
Reported to Substack Inc under current "Guidelines".
Are you reporting me or Rick Sender, Bryan?
Rick has a trollish nature and my usual response is to 'roll my eyes' at him.
Rick Sender of course. The Platform owned by Substack Inc admits & agrees that er are all mutually bound by contract each other.
Substack Inc (my old neighbor in SF) chose California as the applicable "chose of law) for our binding agreement law not me.
Disputes are subject to mediation at JAMS SF also of my old neighbors in SF. But, I have offered to Substack Inc to ifile a "DRA" in SF Superior court & have the "Terms of Use" (TOU) construed as a matter of binding law.
Substack Inc is not a good faith actor,.FULL STOP.
Oh heavens Rick…go back to sleep!
LOL.
I am the only one awake Unless you’re referring to the word awoke because I’m certainly not awoke So What are you talking about?
Would be better off at blue sky everyone’s swims in the same piss and doesn’t disagree with anybody or any of the other lemmings are not threatened. Where they were threatened when they used to be with Twitter, and then left when X I was not controlled 85% by Democrats. They couldn’t take it couldn’t believe that there was another opinion out there. Oops.
Yup!
Our Reality TV actor, playing POTUS on a set that mimics the White House sans the East Wing, got to beat his almighty chest and make barbaric threats to entertain the whole world. WOW! We got to watch "full civilization abuse" upfront.
I guess for the "MAGA masses still yearning to be free" it was great entertainment. They think the saw Iran finally get the avenging spanking it deserves.
For the rest of Americans and most of humanity it was appalling and humiliating.
Let's hope Trump's next episodes focus on things like AI regulation and Crypto, the health benefits of a paelo diet and golf courses. They are all bad, but limited.🙏
Merrill I wanted to congratulate you. I heard you just celebrated A reunion with your classmates. It’s warm and touching to know that you all got your GED’s together.
Well the taco president does it again….
Patty, a nice sentiment but I think premature. Even the Dem pundits I heard yesterday said the only way this will "end" is an overwhelming Dem victory in November--which won't bear fruit until January. And the question is can we hold out for another 8 months. I was struck by this statement in today's letter: "The American people spent the whole day wondering if their mad king would destroy the world, only to find out he was terrorizing them in order to protect his ego after starting a disastrous war." With all the malignant minions are kissing the ring nothing will get done to curb the landslide into fascism. We are at the mercy of a level of evil the Founding Fathers clearly didn't think possible. I would also like to point out that, Unless HCR cleaned up the spelling, grammar, and punctuation, the Felon in no way wrote those posts. As Any Borowitz pointed out, he doesn't even know how to spell "Strait" let alone use an Oxford comma.
My sentiments exactly!!!
We need 5 Republicans in the Senate who will do the right thing
Sadly there are no profiles in courage there
They refused to impeach him after Jan 6
Mitch McConnell will soon be gone : what an ugly legacy he and his GOP leave
Plenty more opportunities for him to create violence. Cuba? The whole country; more immigrants sent back to wherever. 3more years of destruction.
This Cease Fire: Israel must be going nuts! They will try anything to scotch an end to this war. Remind Trump of what they have from Epstein? Just keep bombing Lebanon and Gaza and running Palestinians out of the West Bank.
AIPAC is having emergency meeting to scheme. The Military Industrial companies are shitting a brick.
I am very curious: how did this happen? Who, in that cabal of criminal Nazis didn't stop it? Who convinced him to do this? It doesn't sound real. I think it's his "exit ramp" I can't watch Fox...how are they doing...falling on swords?
Iran has agreed.
Trump is fking up the plans and dreams of a GREATER "safer" Israel.
Israel is the fly in the ointment.
Awaiting Israel's reply. Trump could get the Charley Turk treatment. I think he knows that but forgot.
The 10 point plan is very extreme but perfectly correct. or, back to no passage Strait odyssey Harmus for you.
BTW: tankers that are full and waiting will pass but the oil tanks are sealed up and it will take at least a week to fill empty tankers. so....not much progress in 2 weeks
I was wondering today, again. when will China find the time is right to step in. The time is now.
And, Pakistan, India, Russia.
Trump just has to tell another fabulous lie: "Bibi is on for it so we will go ahead with Peace that I, Donald J. Trump has made happen. Me: the Peace President."
I wish the journalists would stop calling is a lose. Shut the F up and let him"win".
Why would this be the beginning of the end?
By having given a neofascist GOP control over all powers of government, while we're all distracted by Trump tweets 24/7, the GOP is quietly destroying democracy everywhere, day after day.
It IS only the beginning.
Time to wake up!!
Thank you! I’ll save my dancing in the streets until the Donold is 6’ under….AND when his administration is held accountable and behind bars. I’m getting up there in age, I hope I see this in my lifetime.
''Impeach Him, Don’t Diagnose Him''
Trump is fading, but not before leaving wreckage behind. This commentary argues that his war weakened America, strengthened Iran’s leverage, and turned constitutional cowardice into complicity. History should not remember him as misunderstood or unstable, but as... https://essayx.substack.com/p/impeach-him-dont-diagnose-him
I think hundreds of thousands of us are praying the same
This is so far beyond acceptable behavior the republicans have no choice but to remove him!!!
Trump personifies the Republican party. Republicans more than accept his behavior, they revel in and grovel to it. He is delivering the ChristoFascist state they want. Some like George Will may cringe at Trump's style and excesses, but they are hungry for as much of Project 2025 as he can deliver.
Fortunately, there have been some defectors from the maga movement. Enough to enact a change?? Well, I'm still waiting for Vought to convert us to a Christian nation -- what's he waiting for?
One branch of Abrahamic religion continues to promote the extermination of the other. Simultaneously they promote post-death eternities of joy: bleeding virgins or unspecified proximity to the loving spirit. So few words are heard by ears in asses.
I am familiar with some verses in the bible which are astounding eg. God's
counsel to parents is straight forward: whenever children get out of line, we should beat them with a rod (Proverbs 13:24, 20:30 and 23:13-14). And some religions condone flying airplanes into buildings....
If this interview is anything to go by, even some Democrats don't seem terribly concerned. https://youtu.be/8jrd5UZObF4?si=1KXJDDJXtE4Dy94s
Well put Patty!
"Trump’s threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” was not just a reference to Iran. " His supporting base MAGA Republicans will also die. Did they vote for it? It's time for them to leave Trump to live.
I feel like a little manikin game board piece that’s been propped back up for the next game. I hope it doesn’t get started again. I’m worn out. He doesn’t ’play fair’ so all of us pieces are losing the once happy prospect of holding a helpful or at least useful position on our board.
The "Beginning of the End?" How about the "End of the End?"
For all of you out there today, the mind-numbing gravity of this day, who have been struggling to understand or put words to the tangled feelings that are rip-roaring through you, through us -- helplessness, powerlessness, terror, fury, horror, shame, mind-blowing confusion, grief -- we are all together. This is what rape feels like. This guy just raped the world.
Well he’s certainly grabbed our … unrelenting attention!
Spending our money on his own entertainment 🙄 & short-changing us.
— I’ve likened it more to the ‘abused wife’ syndrome … both things can be true.
Like rape, it is above all a violent assertion of predatory power.
Well he’s certainly distracted us from the Trump-Epstein files. What IS happening with those? Will Bondi still appear on April 14th as scheduled? Will the NYC jail guard appear? We MUST keep this in the news!
The (deliberate) bombing of the girls’ school is undoubtedly Trump’s reaffirmation of ChristoNazi misogyny – the same hatred of females and contempt for femaleness that leads to both the victimization of terrorized children by the Trumpstein cult and to capitalism’s apocalyptic assault on our Mother Earth. That hatefulness – also manifest as white male supremacist bigotry – fuels the crimes against humanity that define the entire Trumpstein Regime. Thus the vital, know-our-enemy relevance of the full text of the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump and Epstein -- later withdrawn by the plaintiff in response to credible death threats: https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Lawsuit.pdf
They're progressing in the US and Europe with big time financial developments in addition to the vlie child abuse. Stay tuned.
...and he's going to take millions of dollars from the Council on Humanities and the Arts to fund his arch!
It’s a pretty fair analogy, Dianne.
Piece of shit. Marlene and I love when people use their three names, including the hibernation to make them sound more erudite. If you want to know, the real truth change the channel or listen to the other side of the story and you will wake up amazingly well
🙄
Yes Donold is a serial rapist as the Trump Epstein files reveal so as to necessitate the need for him to bury the evidence under further atrocities of multiple war crimes committed in Iran and lunatic rantings of genocide and annihilation of a 'whole civilization'.
and then we are supposed to smoke a cigarette and say, "wow, that was great...you are the best". He can't be put away and locked up soon enough.
I've noticed that the language Hegseth and Trump use in describing their military campaign against Iran is definitely rape-adjacent. "Total domination." Iran is "helpless, we can do whatever we want, and there's nothing they can do." My question is--what was Iran wearing?
And let's not over-look the profiteering that some scoundrels are enjoying with what can only be seen as insider knowledge. The market swings are way suspicious....
After a home burglary in 1980s I was devastated by the invasion of my personal safe space and the mess and disregard that was inflicted. I mentioned these overwhelming feelings in a state of shock to the kind Los Angeles police officer who responded to my call. He said they were trained to recognize that what I was experiencing was the effect of “Real Estate Rape” and it was the same dynamic they were to understand as a personal rape. I did not know who broke in. I had a home alarm system installed immediately. That was long ago, but I have never forgotten that moment, those feelings, and the effect of witnessed compassion and the naming of what it was.
The wolves are at America’s door, pacing, snarling, threatening. You are not alone in calling this predatory behavior as real estate rape — the same feelings were felt after the invasion and disregard and destruction of the East Wing in the dark.
We are the alarm system now.
Thank you for recognizing that there are a lot of us that have trauma from being married to or raised by a narcissist that rode roughshod on our lives and souls. I’m convinced our collective anger is building towards breaking the trauma bond.
How very interesting -- I definitely understand breaking the trauma bond. There are invisible scars. Yesterday, this beast gave me a new one.
Thank you for reminding me of this quote from Rumi:
Don't turn away.
Keep your gaze on the bandaged place.
That's where the light enters you.
Collective healing ladies? I'm certain there are so many of us that would like a wave of divine karma.
Thank you Dianna. This is exactly what Trump did today. I experienced all these feelings, along with millions of others across the world.
Diana. Perfect description of the feelings that we are all dealing with this rape is devastating😭😭😭
Totally what living with an alcoholic narcissist abuser is like. This is a known pattern for many of us.
OMG Dianna, I'm in tears. I'm blessed to say I don't know the feeling but now I have a sense. Thank you for being.
That’s exactly what this feels like!
You know what I hate most about trump? It's the way his actions give me 54 year-old flashbacks of life with my ex-husband.
I wish I knew how to get a divorce from an abusive president.
Apparently I'm not alone waking up from apocalyptic dreams. Nightmares! Make it stop... The insanity! 🫣
Replying to Dianna Aston:
Trump had indeed “raped the world”. And the only electeds that could have stopped him are as guilty as Trump is. They, however, can’t claim insanity; their inaction toward getting the certifiable basket case of a President ejected from office makes them as guilty of his lunatic decisions as he is. If there is such a thing as hell, they have all purchased their one way tickets there.
100%
So we lost a war and committed war crimes.
Billions spent, soldiers dead. We blew up a girl’s school, killed thousands of Iranians. It seems that only right wing religious fanatics and those who prosper from war want this. Trump is no less insane today than he was yesterday and still can’t outrun Epstein so things are bound to get worse before they get better. I wouldn’t cross thermonuclear destruction off the list just yet.
Thankfully the US airman was rescued as we all know what Trump thought of John McCain, calling him a loser and said “I like people who haven’t been captured.”
Worse still, he’s as happy as a clam — once more the center of attention — the bride at every funeral, the corpse at every wedding, the exorcism at every christening. It’s hard to overemphasize what this day was really all about versus the way he perceives it to be.
In his mind his amusement is the ONLY thing that really matters. He got his birthday parade. Now he has a war.
And Americans never been so embarrassed J B.
Except for the 35 to 40 percent, MAGA/ChristoNazi (Homo sapiens inhumanus) every one, who remain defiantly proud and are saluting Trump with their USA!USA!USA! seig heils. As examples: https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/econtoplines_MDkgmnK.pdf and https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/01/politics/cnn-poll-trump-approval-rating-economy and https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3953
Or, even Nixon, who never would have done such a dumb thing.
Speaking of those nuclear codes, ICTT, could you - or someone - explain how it works? I thought that it takes a team of people to launch them, so not just the president.
That is actually correct. And that raises another point most reporters either don’t understand or are too lazy to explain to their listeners and readers. The Air Force reviews the choice of targets in an attack first. It was widely reported yesterday that the military *rejected* at least some of Hegseth’s target requests on the grounds they were not true military targets at all, but civilian ones.
Our military uses several fine-toothed combs to review civilian orders, not just one. It isn’t the knee-jerk group of boys going yessir the way it’s often caricatured. No one knows the top-secret specifics, but similar, even tougher rubrics exist for the use of nuclear weapons.
Relieved to hear this.
That said, in the 160 years after the Civil War, only 11 four- and five-star commanders have been fired. In just over a year, Trump and Hegseth have fired 9 (nine!).
Their ongoing purge of the military, which is also happening at lower levels, is dramatic and extremely worrisome.
Hegseth particularly decimated the Jag Corps, by firing most of the lawyers early on. That should have been a signal to us all.
That was the real Pearl Harbor attack against our military.
It was to me, KMD. I have a good friend who is a retired USMC JAG. She is horrified.
Morning, Lynell; excellent question for the day!
It was carefully protected from crazy Nixon....
He has too much fun, I say take his adderall away.
as I'm sure you know- That's how Alice Roosevelt described her father Teddy!
Well…not quite! I flipped it a bit… 😜
Just a little..... but I liked it. As usual, it was quite clever.
Hello Mike... The NYT had an Article on how Netanyahu talked DJT into launching this War... This Article, "6 Takeaways From the Story of Trump’s Decision to Go to War With Iran", by Jonathan Swan, and Maggie Haberman, describes Netanyahu's Pressure Campaign... Let's send Israel the Bill for Munitions spent. human losses endured, and any Reparations paid....
Thank you for once again pointing out how batshit crazy the senile pedophile felon in the Whitehouse is, and how cowardly the sycophantic scum he surrounded himself with continue to be.
The GQP scumwads in congress are a case study in cowardice, complicity, and corruption. Sad.
I wonder if they (behind closed doors) gave him an ultimatum …
Maybe. Several GQP types have finally started to speak up.
I've seriously wondered about that too, Jay. "You follow our script, we leave you in place. If you go off-script we have no choice but to 25 you." There is only so much "winning" (that is, losing) that the Cabinet and R's in Congress can abide, before accepting reality.
Yes George! And THIS is what we must do:
https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-president-speaks-genocide?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2rctb
YES! A powerfully clear post, including, "....this war, is now legally defined by the president’s statement. In the practical application of the law of genocide, the Genocide Convention of 1948, the difficulty is usually in proving “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Henceforth the intent is on the record, in the published words of the president of the United States and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces about the death of “a whole civilization.”"
The scumbag GOP and the scumbag in chief should not be bothered GeorgeC, they are out of town and under their beds somewhere.....
Wow George, how was your blood pressure? Got anything rattling around in that thing 3 feet above your ass? Nope just hate. Cowardice well that’s a new one. Oh I’m glad I’m gonna add that one because today it was war criminal war, criminal war, criminal until he got the temporary C-Spire and then it was well Trump cape from caved Trump caved. I wish people would make up their mind in which they hate it or they just ate both so if they were already made up your mind. And you’re just another lemon and lime. Cowardice where do you come off using that word. Holy shit get out of your cave… I will see what’s happening here. I would love to hear your response to cowardice. And complicity and corruption how about if you were a little bit more definitive about what those are all about? Cause there’s nobody like a liberal to accuse offend and insult with generic, empty statements. I’ll be looking forward to your next post
I thought you were taking the night off! Your politics chat tonight was just what I needed even though I was late and watched the recording, and right when you said “who knows, after all it’s taco Tuesday,” I laughed so loudly I scared the dogs. And then the news came that it was indeed taco Tuesday and we have a 2-week reprieve. Thank you for talking me down from the walls I was bouncing off.
A two-week reprieve…or not. Tomorrow he may change his mind. Regardless, we’ve already passed the bizarre threshold where once the world’s “indispensable power” in the words of former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt has now become the world’s largest exporter of global chaos.
It’s amazing how little time it took to do that.
It's Come To This, I just saw a Peanuts cartoon in which Charlie Brown says to Lucy, "Next year I'm going to be a changed person," to which Lucy replies, "That's a laugh, Charlie Brown." Charlie says, "I mean it! I'm going to be strong and firm.." "Forget it," replies Lucy. "You'll always be wishy-washy." Charlie asks, "Why can't I change just a little bit? I'll be wishy one day and washy the next."
This is funny, but we are not in a cartoon scenario, and it's very scary.
“Wishy, washy, batshit crazy, cat said fiddle-i, fee…”
My mother liked singing “fiddle-i-fee.” It used to make me laugh. You gotta laugh, yet you’re right, it’s very scary.
Our chorus did that song! It's really cute!
Well, you’re right the only thing that will change his mind is if The strait doesn’t
But what you’ve just witnessed and that many liberals understand this because they’re too transparent Trump just put them to the decision. That’s what he did and guess what they decided and if they change their mind they know they’re going to pay the price and they may be willing to pay the price and then it will be
A bad scene for them do you know I did it. Ask you a question, but I didn’t get an answer. How would you feel about the United States offering their citizens to protest.. weapons. To Be able to free themselves?
You do know that they’ve killed 45,000 protesters in Iran already and today they hung an 18-year-old famous young scientist for protesting they did it in public.
And you’re complaining about it what kills me is the latest statement I’ve heard, which is pretty funny Iran has three allies left. United Nations, CNN and the Democrat party
Susan, Same here! I felt so much better after watching Heather’s video. I laughed a time or two and let out a sigh of relief a number of times. I think her point of JD Vance being out of town, rather than safely in a bunker due to a war erupting, was key in knowing all of the insane rantings were nothing more than the blustering of a demented old fool. Side note- I have read Heather’s letters religiously every morning for years. Now, I find myself becoming just as devoted to her videos. The letters are serious and fact-based. The videos give me a bit more detail, info about what’s being conjectured, along with some very well informed feelings on the situation. When Heather showed just how DONE she was with that heinous man last night, it seemed she absolutely reflected how so many of us are feeling. Plus, she’s tired, as so many of us are. I am buying champagne this week because one day that sorry excuse for a human being is going to expire and when he does, champagne will sell out quickly.
Heather’s video was key to understanding that no matter what happens, the world has changed. We have changed. Trump and his entire train of enablers must go. We want our country back and we are not going to indulge a sick, demented old fool any longer or the rest of the republican party who have turned their backs to our country in favor of a wannabe dictator. Enough. Any person, any business, any media outlet, any anything or anyone - your 15 minutes are up. Not only are we taking our country back but we will be redefining the rules so we will never have to go through this misery again. Thank you Heather.
Civilizations are stunned. Transformation is underway and it's happening in each of us wheteher we see it or not.
DeeCee, I am in the same boat. Not usually a video fan, but I do like to listen (although watching her and Joann Freeman is a hoot).
Yes DeeCee, when she reported jdv was campaigning for Orban I figured it was another hoax. I too loved hearing her say she was done with his bs.
I hope, Susan, it’s the same duration as all the other “two weeks” promises he’s made before….2 weeks usually = never.
Watch Jimmy Kimmel from last night. An in-depth show of his 2 week plans over the years (hint - none of them worked).
TOFU - Trump Only Fucks Up
OMG….that’s perfect!!! Describes him entirely, not just when he’s making demands/threats.
Thanks, Barney, I’ll see if I can find it online!
He has a stirring, of an inkling, of a concept, of a plan.
Love Heather on how our criminal, rapist, foul-mouth in the White House "has painted himself into a corner in his impulsive war against Iran."
Let this be a lesson -- all decent teachers know as lesson #1 in their hearts: there are human beings around us, in front of us, behind us. In space and in time.
We can learn to see them, to feel what's ticking inside them, and to hold many of them yet more in our hearts as if in the best of debts to them. We might teach some some of this, too.
Donald never learned anything close to any of this.
From the little I know about his father, I suspect he was instructed from birth on how to be a manipulative, bullying, self-obsessed, jerk.
And, Donny was groomed as a young man by the evil Roy Cohn. Here’s a good article from The Advocate:
Who was Roy Cohn? All about the closeted gay lawyer who mentored Donald Trump
https://www.advocate.com/news/who-was-roy-cohn
My God is a foul mouth. Oh my God they have a fucking nuclear weapon. Is it OK to say fucking if we’re going to stick a nuclear weapon up your ass huh phil. I was one of the most laughable comments I heard all day. Oh Dara president use that languageomg.
Every president uses that language of the snippets of every president using it and getting caught if you’d like I’ll send you all the video
This is a thoroughly deserved defeat for Trump, and for the United States.
No one anywhere on the planet now sees him as anything but the insane monster he is. His word is no good, his lies are bullshit. The United States is going to pay for this for the next 30 years - if we're lucky. It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and a minute to destroy it.
Thirty years? My grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren will be dealing with the fallout from the actions of this menace and his minions.
Please stop saying "defeat"....keep him on message so he can claim a win and the Noble Peace Prize. Humor him. He's done the impossible. .somehow....How? I can't wait to hear. Melania?
Trump's ceasefire assures only that he will have the world’s undivided attention for two more long weeks as we wait to see what “only he knows he will do,” according to Karoline Leavitt. We cannot live this way, kept hostage by his changing threats. Trump must be removed from office so that the world can return to some kind of stability and sanity while it cleans up his messes. If we submit to this tactic of his again, then United States democracy is dead, defeated by Trump, who has emerged our master of ceremonies.
Meanwhile, we have a new acting AG who needs to make an effort to move forward on the Epstein files. Blanche desperately wants to be AG but there isn't a single Democratic Senator that would vote to confirm him. And Susan doesn't dare to with her behind in the polls.
So who are the 3 Republican Senators that will save us from another incompetent AG?
Don’t forget Fetterman. He’s glad to cross the aisle for things like this.
Constance, what I am focusing on is after we win the midterms and headed to 2028, how much Democrats will be blamed for all this. "Afterall," they'll say, "it's January 2027 and there's been no improvement!"
Congress needs to make a “deal” with Trump. If he resigns (because if illness?), we will ….. for him.
That thought crossed my mind. His only hope might be resignation and a pardon from Vance. I’d imagine Vance already promised to do that before his selection as the VP candidate.
Just listening to Iranian leadership and to the utter clowns in "our" - the Western - side, makes you realise what a complete bunch of unintelligent, uneducated, uncultured losers we managed to put at the tops of our societies.
The US has lost so much because of Trump. He must be held accountable.
Not to mention thousands of innocent victims have died. SNAP benefits taken away from elderly, Obamacare premiums doubled or worse, USAID shuttered, Covid-19 disasters. Medicaid budget slashed by almost a trillion dollars, pregnant women untreated because of arcane and cruel abortion laws.
How do you account for these deaths when they have no voice?
The billions Trump and Musk have wasted will certainly necessitate higher taxes on the rich so we can rebuild programs.
Unless they move away and stop buying American decision-makers.
The US -is- lost…
We can't keep doing this. I have no doubt that he will be as casually brutal in attacking those who oppose him (that includes, inevitably, any one who votes against him or his proxies) as the mid-terms approach and his crimes and failures continue to mount and become more and more visible. The answer is to organize and be prepared.
The Trump’s Iran War and his threats to destroy a civilization, yes or no, should have a historical perspective:
Western civilization celebrates and studies its origins in Ancient Greece and Rome. It romanticizes the heroism of these civilizations: Achilles and Odysseus in the Iliad and Odyssey, King Leonidas at Thermopylae, Athenians and the Battle of Marathon, etc. But the Iranians are also one of the world’s oldest continuous major civilizations. Modern day Iran is part of the Middle Eastern “Fertile Crescent” and contains land that was once part of ancient Mesopotamia and Babylonia. Its empires originated in 6-700 BC - empires which saw some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanization, religion, and administration. Abraham, the pivotal figure in the development of Jewish, Christian and Islamic monotheism, originated in the city of Ur in lower Mesopotamia and migrated to the Levant. From the 8th to the 13th century, the Persians made innovations in literature, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and art during the Islamic Golden Age followed by a renaissance from the 14th to 16th centuries. In the 18th century, Persia was a leading world power. In 1925, the Persian Constitutional Revolution led to the establishment of a parliament and the country of Iran. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 resulted in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Their historic heroes are people like Cyrus the Great of 600 BC, Nader Shah of the 1700s and Saladin who was a Kurdish military commander that defeated the Third Crusaders in 1187 and founded a dynasty.
Modern-day Iran is a highly educated, organized, and advanced society with universities, museums, public schools, libraries, etc. They are not primitive tribes in the mountains of the Hindu Kush. Their civilization has populated the land of Iran for multiple millennia. Modern Iran has a diverse population. The major ethnic groups are Persians (61%), Azerbaijanis (16%), Kurds (10%), Lurs (2%), Arabs (2%), Turks (2%), Baloch (2%), etc..
By contrast, the state of Israel has been in existence for only 78 years after the implementation of the post-WWI Balfour Declaration to move Jewish immigrants into the British-controlled Arabic Palestine after WWII. Prior to that the last Jewish state was the Hasmonean Kingdom which ended in 63 BCE upon Roman conquest. Their last Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.
The Iranians have seen the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. They are experiencing relentless bombing of their country, including the bombing of a school that killed over 150 people, almost all young children and their teachers. So, not unexpectedly, recent video footage of Iranians in Iranian cities shows they look increasingly defiant and in support of their homeland, their country. They don’t scatter when being bombed by what they interpret as the invading US supported Jewish Israeli. They proudly raise their flags and shout their defiance with things like “Allahu Akbar” which means “God is Greater” (than what is happening now). There are videos of them standing on their threatened bridges waving large Iranian flags in defiance. They are relying on their faith in their religion to cement them into a unified group and protect them. This is similar to Christians singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” or reciting the 23rd Psalm (The Lord Is My Shepherd). The war is a unifying event for them, as any rational person would expect. Iranians likely feel that their very existence is being threatened. We can expect they will do anything and everything they can to defend themselves. Only a fool would expect otherwise.
Iranian experts confirm this:
Mehdi Hasan, British-American broadcaster, journalist, and founder of Zeteo, interviewed 3 Middle East experts on the Iran War:
“Experts Warn the Iran War Could Get Much Worse - YouTube”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6flBF6KKXHw
CODA:
Bob Dylan - Masters of War (Official Audio) - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEmI_FT4YHU
Thank you for your very thoughtful and helpful explanation of what is going on in Iran. They have a very interesting history, which we, the U.S. have sadly screwed with over a number of years. I’m thinking we should jolly well leave other nations to themselves.
And as much as possible, the oil in the ground, especially when it's someone else's ground.
The Youtube link to Mehdi’s Zeteo “Experts Warn the Iran War Could Get Much Worse” with 3 superb Middle Eastern expert journalists should be shared far and wide…thanks, Fred Cox!
Ah, thank you, Heather! So much for taking the night off 🙃, if Kamala were president we’d be having brunch. Instead we have insanity every day while the insane one calls us insane.
Not an indictment of you specifically, just musing. I really don't like it when I hear "we'd be having brunch" language. There have long been very serious problems in our country—so many people abused by and kept out of our systems—that preceded and allowed the conditions for the rise of Trump, and that have long deserved our sustained and dedicated attention.
It feels true that many, especially but not only moderately privileged white folks, would be lulled back to complacency with a return to "normalcy," but that offers me no comfort.
Sure, i get it. It was meant to be that our conversations would be lighter. But here on the internet, one must look at what one posts from every angle. Appreciate your point.
Turns out today was TACO Tuesday after all….
He will now crow about how he single-handedly stopped yet another war and therefore truly deserves to steal yet another Nobel Peace Prize which will, of course, be awarded to somebody else. He’s still LOCO as a cuckoo every day, Tuesdays included.
We already know he’s as vicious as a spitting cobra. Soon the country will also realize he’s still one piss-poor negotiator the way he’s always been. In return for terrifying and nauseating the planet with threatened war crimes. Iran and Oman will still charge whatever fees they want to ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz for the next two weeks, at least according to the AP. Not exactly status quo ante.
It’s a reminder that Ayatollah Asahollah (shout-out to Substacker Leslie for that one) can’t run a TACO stand properly, let alone plan for war, or take care that the laws of the United States are “faithfully executed.”
Yet for all of this, the scalawags and scoundrels making up today’s Republican Party are not thinking about Iran, but about Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. Last night, all 9 counties there blue-shifted 20-30 percentage points from 2024. In one of the most rural, ruby-red districts in the rural south, that’s nothing short of a political earthquake.
Whatever happens tomorrow or two weeks from now, Trump has lost. Not just what was left of his mind, but his movement. MAGA is splintering. Republicans are resigning. Democrats are mobilizing and racking up election victories.
Let’s keep it up.
"or take care that the laws of the United States are 'faithfully executed.' ”
Now that's a hoot.
Never again should one person hold so much power as does the current “president “ of the United States of America. Never. Ever. Again.
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." -- John Adams
I thought about that quote. It is so good , I wrote it down. Thanks again.
And he was right🙏
NYTimes with byline by Swan and Haberman has a long story on the behind-the-scenes decision-making and the influence of Netanyahu on the decision to go to war. It is mostly sane washing Trump with a side of JD Vance was the adult-in-the-room and the only truth-teller.
"“I think we need to do it,” the president told the room. He said they had to make sure Iran could not have a nuclear weapon, and they had to ensure that Iran could not just shoot missiles at Israel or throughout the region."
This is the narrative that is going to be used as Trump's defense against impeachment. If that does happen, Vance is being sold as the person who defended "America First" principles but tried his best to limit the damage if we went to war.
Lipstick on a pig.
Gifted link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/us/politics/trump-iran-war.html?rsrc=flt&unlocked_article_code=1.ZVA.wIQa.JuMqOQujomqE&smid=url-share
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/us/politics/trump-iran-war.html
There is no reporting in the Times at this point, and little elsewhere, that Trump's threat to destroy Iran's civilization is, by itself, a war crime under international law.
International humanitarian law clearly bans acts or threats of violence whose primary purpose is to terrorize civilians. Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (Art. 51(2)) states that civilians must not be the object of attacks or of “acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population.”
https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/civilians/
Georgia, thanks for news from the NYT. I stopped the subscription last year and am slowly unsubscribing from all the newsletters they produce. Their lack of honest reporting and now, sane-washing, was more than I could stomach. Ditto WaPo. I doubt we'll see any of that reporting of war crimes in NYT in the days to come.
Trump does many things with the goal of terror—separating families taken hostage, sending ICE goons, speaking hatred of populations, etc.
Mafia boss behavior is what he has always aspired to.
JD did not do anything. And Trump reminded him of it in public, on camera, in front of everybody. That defense won’t hunt, any more than the old dog will.
JD is a wanker with no place to hide, not even Hungary. He’s a nobody without moral authority, regardless of the people who helped him get where he is in the first place. He will likely head the US delegation in Islamabad, which will expose him further still.
I can think of no better modern definition of “albatross around the neck” of the GOP than Maybelline Boy. His own church doesn’t even know who he is.
JD Vance is indeed a nobody. But I am deeply concerned that Trump appears to be putting JD in charge of negotiations with Iran, which start Friday.
Vance won't be"in charge". China and other BRICS countries will be. Vance will be in the room.
JD Vance who stands by Victor Orban's side to assist him in the Hungarian election to assist Putin. What a choice to replace Trump but not the catastrophic dangers facing the US.