So the administration that renamed the Department of Defense the Department of War has now started a war, but they are saying it isn’t a war. It is just defense.
It's Newspeak! And it's silly legalism that was concocted over the years to say that bombings are not acts of war when it's convenient to do so. We ordinary people believe that when a country drops bombs on another country and kills people when American troops aren't in the country being bombed...that's war.
It's weird. So if we attack Iran and say it's not a war, but Iran declares war on the U.S., doesn't that mean we are effectively at war? I don't understand why the news media interviewers of Hegsdeath or Trump or whomever don't ask things this way
Me too. Watching DJT on the oval, my eyes hurt from all the gold. Plus he and Hegseth ate two of the dumbest and most incompetent individuals in government
- So Netanyahu could finally prove that he controls US policy in the Middle East and that Trump is his bitch.
- Operation Maximum Deflection is a natural consequence of all of Trump's illegal activities closing in on him (including but not limited to the Epstein files.)
We went to war at the urging of a bunch of Fox teevee heads and for a dictator he looks up to and would like to be like, not as a great power. At some point in the future, if we continue down this road, some other country/group of allies is going to decide that they need to address the dangerous, violent, terrorist threat posed by the US regime.
What an absolute clusterf***. Surely this regime will eventually self-destruct?
So not surprising that the State Dept. is warning Americans to get out of the Middle East, knowing the airports are closed; while the UK is making efforts to actually help their citizens get out.
I think T refusing to hold a press conference and instead calling individual reporters is part of the "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" strategy. He can tell them different things, see the reaction to each, and then call it fake news and say the reporter is lying if the reaction is negative.
I also think the most likely explanation for starting the war is that T is a permanently enraged sadistic sociopath, malignant narcissist, megalomaniac, and mental 8-year-old who loves to throw his weight around and gets off on blowing shit up, using the most powerful military in the world.
Drummer - handlers & hangers-on realize from up-close experience, he's probably often not reliably functional enough for unscripted public appearances as unstructured as a press conference. The outdoor helicopter walk or airplane doorway chat - they can step in, hustle him away or claim reporter's question wasn't heard correctly due to background noise. But back & forth in a room of questioners, even when many are hand picked to bring only softballs... they gotta be concerned about this possibility (which I too recall from 1972):
I wanted to be my typical, wise-ass self and tell you that there is no need to worry, because in 2040 President Barron Trump will demand - and get- a constitutional convention to clean up issues like, war powers, personal pique tariffs and emoluments. But maybe its too soon, and perhaps ‘a little’ raw
Presidents have no involvement in Constitutional Conventions, only states or Congress can call for it. And even if amendments are proposed by the CC they have to be approved by 3/4 of the states.
I understand. I just don’t believe there are any bars to the trump regime getting what they want. Not today. Not come November. Not any time soon. If the past week demonstrates anything, Paul, I think the demonstration is that the regime gets what it wants. They get it through threats. They get it through financial blackmail. They get it through flexing the muscle of the military. They’re leading us down the path of our own destruction. And constitutional off-ramps don’t seem to exist. I hate to write this. I hate to believe this. And I hate contemplating the next shoe (s) to drop, both at home and abroad.
This worries me. I've been fascinated to see that those observing and resisting ICE/CBP haven't used firearms. But I wonder how long that will last. If the folks that really believe weapons are needed to fight off a tyrannical government get motivated to use them we are all in a world of hurt.
I've been saying that since 1/20/2017. To be honest, I am surprised it hasn't happened yet. I am one of those not-so-rare-as-people-think Democrats who owns firearms. My safe is quite literally stuffed, and they are all loaded. BTW, there is not an AR or AK in the bunch.
A former alter boy here. Avoiding Reprisal invoked Immanuel Kant the other day. Unlike Trump, she shows her learning and seroius side. Then again, Trump has neither.
Also, don't we have some dumbass 22 year old running the anti-terrorist team in Homeland Security? That gives me lots and lots of confidence <<insert big eyeroll here>>. I think that would be my line for approving DHS budget: replace junior with an experienced person otherwise I have to assume the DHS isn't serious about protecting us
They keep saying US soil is already under attack from millions of "illegal aliens." Their focus is on housemaids, farm laborers, gardeners, day care workers, you name it, as long as they are brown.
Gotta wonder about the role of the Saudi's, Qataris, etc in the decision to initiate this (non)war. You know, the ones shoveling money into the pockets of the Trump family.
It's evident that Trump and Netanyahu are at odds regarding our illegal war in Iran. Netanyahu wants regime change, while Trump doesn't - or didn't - and it's Netanyahu who is calling the shots, both literally and figuratively.
Trump clearly wanted a Venezuela-style decapitation that left the administration able to then negotiate terms with the second, third, or fourth in command of the Islamic regime. He even had a list of who these collaborators would be. His plan was that Iran and the USA would come to some sort of agreement that the president could declare was an amazing victory, and things for the two countries would have gone on pretty much as before - though probably with an oil contract or two in our hands.
Netanyahu was going to have none of that, so he ensured that his team immediately took out Trump's favorites and just about everyone else in the top echelons of government. A day into the war, Trump was surprised to discover that the Iranian negotiators he had expected to work with were all dead, and the only "partner" he had left was Netanyahu, who was already undercutting America's strategy.
In many ways, it's Putin all over again. Just like his followers, Trump himself is a sucker for a strongman, and he holds ruthless characters like Putin and Netanyahu in such awe that he does not understand the game they're playing - until he himself has already been played.
Trump told the NY Times that he had three "very good choices" in mind for Iran's leadership, and then later admitted they were all dead (I saw the latter news on ABC).
Trump said it himself in one of his phone calls to reporters. Then he corrected it on a different call, saying those backups he planned to negotiate with were already dead
Today “Speaking to reporters at the start of a White House meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany,………When asked who he’d like to take over, he gave a blunt answer: “Most of the people we had in mind are dead.”
He said their back-up option after those people are now also dead. It’s a stunning admission from the president. The United States is killing the same people it wants to run the country it is attacking, over and over again.”
Bill, Andrew and Jim, Leave it to MTG to cut to the chase. There is something very sinister underfoot. It seems the only thing this administration excels in is cover ups. Their responses and statements are idiotic, three days into a war he started, Trump drifts into space in front of a group at the WH and brags about the ballroom and his beautiful gold curtains, I mean WTF! The 25th amendment was conceived for such a moment. The country has a President that lives in a bubble untethered to reality and his surrounding sycophants are covering it up, the Republicans in Congress are covering it up and the richest people in the world are covering it up. The question we should be asking ourselves is why?
This is what happens when we have allowed a bunch of billionaires in real estate and oil, some of whom also have the attitude of pedophiles -- that they are entitled to do anything they want no matter who suffers or dies -- run the country and the world.
They are driven by greed and power and have no insight into how incompetent and dangerous they are. America has become a rogue nation. We have no. functioning government. The Republicans, by very slim majorities, have decided to shut down Congress. The Supreme Court was already in the bag. I pray we can survive intact to the midterms. Who knows what chaos will happen around those elections? Fight For Democracy!!
It's not a war, but we're carrying it out using an extreme warrior ethos instilled in our warfighters by the new leadership at the Department of War! Makes as much sense as anything else going on in Trump 2.0 I guess.
Stop asking questions from another era and ethic. Continue to look at his kompramat, the Files, handlers and donors. Look into similarly compromised Republican legislators and who benefits from this war. That's why we went to war. Our entire country, treasury, military and lives have been handed over by internal morally bankrupt power.
If there is any sort of silver lining to the likely quagmire that our grossly underexperienced and incompetent political leadership is getting us -- their taxpaying bosses -- into, it is this: every day, every week, every month, the number of people in the middle and on the right is growing who are stating one simple fact to it -- and still other egregious things:
"I voted for him, but I didn't vote for this."
Democrats, make it stick. Do it now. It's not too early to offset the current regime's mendacity and obfuscation with truth and clarity, toward a necessary outcome in November. Use that war chest. Get your best talking heads out there. (Hello, Pete.) Make the warmongers and serial liars own this flaming garbage dump lock, stock, and barrel, right now and later on.
It is time. Make it stick like glue. Get the job done.
“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”
Okay, so now the excuse is that Israel was going to attack, and there was nothing the US could do, except to act in defense by being proactive!
Yet, yesterday, when the war was launched, didn’t Hegseth, Rubio and Trump state that both the US and Israel had been coordinating a joint invasion for months? I’m confused?????
Besides the conflicting statements by this administration, and the counter-intuitive argument by Rubio; we attacked before they could attack seems quite dubious to say the least. This is Cheney’s 1% Doctrine on steroids!
And in the end, it will all be blamed on Israel, giving credence to the conspiracy theorists who think Jews control the world.
And since this war started spiraling out of control, and extending throughout the region, more and more in the administration will make Israel a scapegoat.
Either way, if we start seeing dead American bodies being sent home in coffins, then all bets are off. And by the way, it’s an election year in Israel and Netanyahu is on the menu. Let that sink in!
Blame the Jews, it will come down to that in the end. Israel made him order the military into action. And some people will happily repeat that.
In the meantime, I'm reading a Jonathan Larsen substack article that says: "A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,” according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer.
From Saturday morning through Monday night, more than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the military had been logged by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).
So the administration that renamed the Department of Defense the Department of War has now started a war, but they are saying it isn’t a war. It is just defense.
My brain was not meant for this timeframe.
Well, at least you have a brain, which is more than we can say for chump and hegseth.
It's Newspeak! And it's silly legalism that was concocted over the years to say that bombings are not acts of war when it's convenient to do so. We ordinary people believe that when a country drops bombs on another country and kills people when American troops aren't in the country being bombed...that's war.
It's weird. So if we attack Iran and say it's not a war, but Iran declares war on the U.S., doesn't that mean we are effectively at war? I don't understand why the news media interviewers of Hegsdeath or Trump or whomever don't ask things this way
If a tree falls in the forest and no one’s there to hear it and announce that a tree fell, there’s still been a falling tree.
I feel like I'm in some insane Catch-22 and Dr. Strangelove manic mash up!!!
Me too. Watching DJT on the oval, my eyes hurt from all the gold. Plus he and Hegseth ate two of the dumbest and most incompetent individuals in government
Why War? Why Now?
- So Netanyahu could finally prove that he controls US policy in the Middle East and that Trump is his bitch.
- Operation Maximum Deflection is a natural consequence of all of Trump's illegal activities closing in on him (including but not limited to the Epstein files.)
I prefer Operation Epstein Fury.
(credit to Garbage Day)
...Epstein Furry?
You make me laugh!
Let's not embroil the furry community in this. How about Operation Epstein Fog or Operation ICE Fog.
joe - fair enough, noncombatants after all. Would need Will Sommer or Tim to weigh in with info.
Epstein Folly then?
I favor Operation Epstein Bury.
Netanyahu took over from Putin. Putin dissed Trump too many times. Bibi still flatters him.
We went to war at the urging of a bunch of Fox teevee heads and for a dictator he looks up to and would like to be like, not as a great power. At some point in the future, if we continue down this road, some other country/group of allies is going to decide that they need to address the dangerous, violent, terrorist threat posed by the US regime.
Bibi wags the DJT.
That tail has been wagging our dog since 1948.
“When you’re born into this world, you get a ticket to the freak show. When you’re born in America, you get a front-row seat.” - George Carlin
Lord knows what he’d say about this administration.
Miss that guy!
What an absolute clusterf***. Surely this regime will eventually self-destruct?
So not surprising that the State Dept. is warning Americans to get out of the Middle East, knowing the airports are closed; while the UK is making efforts to actually help their citizens get out.
I think T refusing to hold a press conference and instead calling individual reporters is part of the "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" strategy. He can tell them different things, see the reaction to each, and then call it fake news and say the reporter is lying if the reaction is negative.
I also think the most likely explanation for starting the war is that T is a permanently enraged sadistic sociopath, malignant narcissist, megalomaniac, and mental 8-year-old who loves to throw his weight around and gets off on blowing shit up, using the most powerful military in the world.
Call it the "George Santos" strategy. Tell different people in different bubbles what they want to hear, and you'll please evrybody!
"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest"......*Paul Simon
And thus was Fox "News" born.
Faux News
It's any less than ethical salesmanship.
I think you're more right than you realize, DD.
Drummer - handlers & hangers-on realize from up-close experience, he's probably often not reliably functional enough for unscripted public appearances as unstructured as a press conference. The outdoor helicopter walk or airplane doorway chat - they can step in, hustle him away or claim reporter's question wasn't heard correctly due to background noise. But back & forth in a room of questioners, even when many are hand picked to bring only softballs... they gotta be concerned about this possibility (which I too recall from 1972):
https://blr808.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/did-anyone-actually-see-the-candidate-eat-the-rat/
One wonders what Ms. Noem and Mr. Patel will do when terrorism comes to US soil. Maybe our Secretary of Crusades will hold a Templar prayer meeting.
Terrorism will justify the martial law that the president has been lusting for 10 years.
A big terrorist attack will be a huge win for him!
(Not sarcasm)
Really don’t want to, “like” that, Mike
I'm with you 100%
I wanted to be my typical, wise-ass self and tell you that there is no need to worry, because in 2040 President Barron Trump will demand - and get- a constitutional convention to clean up issues like, war powers, personal pique tariffs and emoluments. But maybe its too soon, and perhaps ‘a little’ raw
My gallows humor sarcasm is a coping mechanism for witnessing utter horrors.
Like the Nike ad says: Be like Mike.
...I'm partial to 'whistling past the graveyard'
Why would any future Republican president bother amending the Constitution when it's simpler and equally effective to just ignore it instead?
Point taken. I feel better now.
Presidents have no involvement in Constitutional Conventions, only states or Congress can call for it. And even if amendments are proposed by the CC they have to be approved by 3/4 of the states.
I understand. I just don’t believe there are any bars to the trump regime getting what they want. Not today. Not come November. Not any time soon. If the past week demonstrates anything, Paul, I think the demonstration is that the regime gets what it wants. They get it through threats. They get it through financial blackmail. They get it through flexing the muscle of the military. They’re leading us down the path of our own destruction. And constitutional off-ramps don’t seem to exist. I hate to write this. I hate to believe this. And I hate contemplating the next shoe (s) to drop, both at home and abroad.
Nor I.
Could be. Could also be the cause of his downfall while putting millions in the streets.
King Donald will not tolerate that. While it needs to happen, I fear the streets willrun red.
Unlike Iranian protesters, US civilians are armed.
That's part of what terrifies me. It will get ugly fast.
This worries me. I've been fascinated to see that those observing and resisting ICE/CBP haven't used firearms. But I wonder how long that will last. If the folks that really believe weapons are needed to fight off a tyrannical government get motivated to use them we are all in a world of hurt.
I've been saying that since 1/20/2017. To be honest, I am surprised it hasn't happened yet. I am one of those not-so-rare-as-people-think Democrats who owns firearms. My safe is quite literally stuffed, and they are all loaded. BTW, there is not an AR or AK in the bunch.
Curse your insight, Lew!
You are not wrong!
I hope I am wrong. I don't want to go down this road.
One of the first horrible thoughts I had over the weekend.
They will blame the Democrats for failing to fund DHS. They’re already starting.
“Secretary of Crusades” - well done 👏, I’m stealing it!
Military commanders are openly calling this the start of Armageddon https://jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-were-told-iran-war-is-for
You've seen his tats, right?
https://friendlyatheist.substack.com/p/texas-megachurch-pastor-john-hagee?r=ufk5v&utm_medium=ios
Dona Nobis Pacem
Means "Grant us Peace", from the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) at the beginning of every Catholic Mass.
A former alter boy here. Avoiding Reprisal invoked Immanuel Kant the other day. Unlike Trump, she shows her learning and seroius side. Then again, Trump has neither.
Si vis pacem, para bellum?
WWJD?
Vote MAGA?
Oh yes. And would love to discuss those tattoos and how they fit into he’s supposed “Reformed” Christianity beliefs. There seems to be some conflicts.
Also, don't we have some dumbass 22 year old running the anti-terrorist team in Homeland Security? That gives me lots and lots of confidence <<insert big eyeroll here>>. I think that would be my line for approving DHS budget: replace junior with an experienced person otherwise I have to assume the DHS isn't serious about protecting us
Terrorism already ate to American shores. And the valiant patriotic loyal foot soldiers ICE already killed 2 of them - Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
In today's Senate testimony, DHS Secretary and puppy killer Noam even refused to acknowledge that they are not domestic terrorists.
They keep saying US soil is already under attack from millions of "illegal aliens." Their focus is on housemaids, farm laborers, gardeners, day care workers, you name it, as long as they are brown.
Noem and Patel ARE the terrorism
Deus Vult!
Keeping America safe from Dogs!
Good thing the Congress isn't alive to see this! (or, apparently, our anti-war VP . . . )
what is this congress thing?
This one made me laugh out loud.
Gotta wonder about the role of the Saudi's, Qataris, etc in the decision to initiate this (non)war. You know, the ones shoveling money into the pockets of the Trump family.
Yeah the focus has been on Israel and Netanyahu but they are not the only influence over the administration.
Lewis - ...but... but.. he said https://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/donald-trumps-so-rich-i-cant-be-bought-120743
Surely over these past 11 years he's proven himself? (here ends the sarcasm because, indeed, he has)
It's evident that Trump and Netanyahu are at odds regarding our illegal war in Iran. Netanyahu wants regime change, while Trump doesn't - or didn't - and it's Netanyahu who is calling the shots, both literally and figuratively.
Trump clearly wanted a Venezuela-style decapitation that left the administration able to then negotiate terms with the second, third, or fourth in command of the Islamic regime. He even had a list of who these collaborators would be. His plan was that Iran and the USA would come to some sort of agreement that the president could declare was an amazing victory, and things for the two countries would have gone on pretty much as before - though probably with an oil contract or two in our hands.
Netanyahu was going to have none of that, so he ensured that his team immediately took out Trump's favorites and just about everyone else in the top echelons of government. A day into the war, Trump was surprised to discover that the Iranian negotiators he had expected to work with were all dead, and the only "partner" he had left was Netanyahu, who was already undercutting America's strategy.
In many ways, it's Putin all over again. Just like his followers, Trump himself is a sucker for a strongman, and he holds ruthless characters like Putin and Netanyahu in such awe that he does not understand the game they're playing - until he himself has already been played.
Unaware of this "list" of Iranian collaborators Trump had before he started bombing. Could you give a source for this info?
Trump told the NY Times that he had three "very good choices" in mind for Iran's leadership, and then later admitted they were all dead (I saw the latter news on ABC).
Trump said it himself in one of his phone calls to reporters. Then he corrected it on a different call, saying those backups he planned to negotiate with were already dead
Yeah he said a lot of different things to different reporters. Who knows what the truth is?
thanks.
Today “Speaking to reporters at the start of a White House meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany,………When asked who he’d like to take over, he gave a blunt answer: “Most of the people we had in mind are dead.”
He said their back-up option after those people are now also dead. It’s a stunning admission from the president. The United States is killing the same people it wants to run the country it is attacking, over and over again.”
Bill, Andrew and Jim, Leave it to MTG to cut to the chase. There is something very sinister underfoot. It seems the only thing this administration excels in is cover ups. Their responses and statements are idiotic, three days into a war he started, Trump drifts into space in front of a group at the WH and brags about the ballroom and his beautiful gold curtains, I mean WTF! The 25th amendment was conceived for such a moment. The country has a President that lives in a bubble untethered to reality and his surrounding sycophants are covering it up, the Republicans in Congress are covering it up and the richest people in the world are covering it up. The question we should be asking ourselves is why?
Ask who benefits and follow the money.
This is what happens when we have allowed a bunch of billionaires in real estate and oil, some of whom also have the attitude of pedophiles -- that they are entitled to do anything they want no matter who suffers or dies -- run the country and the world.
They are driven by greed and power and have no insight into how incompetent and dangerous they are. America has become a rogue nation. We have no. functioning government. The Republicans, by very slim majorities, have decided to shut down Congress. The Supreme Court was already in the bag. I pray we can survive intact to the midterms. Who knows what chaos will happen around those elections? Fight For Democracy!!
The attitude of pedophiles. Are we sure they aren’t pedophiles?
The actual rapes of girls were years ago for Trump. Now he has to use the military to cover his impotence.
Thankfully age has rendered him likely impotent otherwise …
It's not a war, but we're carrying it out using an extreme warrior ethos instilled in our warfighters by the new leadership at the Department of War! Makes as much sense as anything else going on in Trump 2.0 I guess.
Stop asking questions from another era and ethic. Continue to look at his kompramat, the Files, handlers and donors. Look into similarly compromised Republican legislators and who benefits from this war. That's why we went to war. Our entire country, treasury, military and lives have been handed over by internal morally bankrupt power.
Isn't that always the case? <Sigh>
Always? No. This is a deep betrayal to the rule of law and the majority for most of the US history from within.
The Epstein War is being waged for the benefit of the Epstein Class.
to save Bibi and Don from losing their jobs
If there is any sort of silver lining to the likely quagmire that our grossly underexperienced and incompetent political leadership is getting us -- their taxpaying bosses -- into, it is this: every day, every week, every month, the number of people in the middle and on the right is growing who are stating one simple fact to it -- and still other egregious things:
"I voted for him, but I didn't vote for this."
Democrats, make it stick. Do it now. It's not too early to offset the current regime's mendacity and obfuscation with truth and clarity, toward a necessary outcome in November. Use that war chest. Get your best talking heads out there. (Hello, Pete.) Make the warmongers and serial liars own this flaming garbage dump lock, stock, and barrel, right now and later on.
It is time. Make it stick like glue. Get the job done.
It does seem like he's even challenging the forever GOP maxim of "At least he's better than a Dem!"
Strike now and hard!
“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”
Okay, so now the excuse is that Israel was going to attack, and there was nothing the US could do, except to act in defense by being proactive!
Yet, yesterday, when the war was launched, didn’t Hegseth, Rubio and Trump state that both the US and Israel had been coordinating a joint invasion for months? I’m confused?????
Besides the conflicting statements by this administration, and the counter-intuitive argument by Rubio; we attacked before they could attack seems quite dubious to say the least. This is Cheney’s 1% Doctrine on steroids!
And in the end, it will all be blamed on Israel, giving credence to the conspiracy theorists who think Jews control the world.
And since this war started spiraling out of control, and extending throughout the region, more and more in the administration will make Israel a scapegoat.
Either way, if we start seeing dead American bodies being sent home in coffins, then all bets are off. And by the way, it’s an election year in Israel and Netanyahu is on the menu. Let that sink in!
Blame the Jews, it will come down to that in the end. Israel made him order the military into action. And some people will happily repeat that.
In the meantime, I'm reading a Jonathan Larsen substack article that says: "A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,” according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer.
From Saturday morning through Monday night, more than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the military had been logged by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).
The complaints came from more than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military installations, the MRFF told me Monday night..." https://jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-were-told-iran-war-is-for
All this makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The last thing we need is "holy" war in the Middle East eagerly executed by the US military.
Wow, I didn’t read any of that. They’re becoming just like America; religious fascists to the core. Great comment Max…:)