Things May Have Changed


POST 1275


Trump Violates International Laws – Again & Still

He attacked a sovereign nation that did no harm to the U.S. and was not a threat to do so. That’s a war crime. He had our military strike civilian targets. That’s a war crime. He threatened the end of Iranian civilization. That’s a war crime.

Hey wait: this sounds a lot like Putin attacking Ukraine, a country that was no threat to Russia. That was and is a war crime. Same for his bombing civilian targets. That’s a war crime. Same for his nuclear blackmail. That’s a war crime.

Trump told us he admires Putin and we’ve seen that he wants to be like him. Looks like he’s succeeded.

Now Trump claims that he received a ten point plan from Iran to end hostilities and he’s grabbed it like a lifeline because he has no clue how to end this war. He told Iran that it has 10 days to open the Strait of Hormuz and let ships pass. Is this just another 10-day TACO? Did Trump get played big time by Iran? Time will tell. What is clear now is that Trump surrendered and Iran is still in control of the Strait of Hormuz. It is now expecting to charge and receive huge tolls for ships to pass.

Putin has benefited bigly from increased oil pricing and a reduction in sanctions against his nation. China knows that we’re distracted and there is speculation they are ready to move on Taiwan.

The shooting part of this Iran war may be over, but who’s the winner? We broke everything and gained nothing, so the U.S. isn’t the winner. This is yet another stupid war we should not have been in.

If You Missed It Do Not Search For It

The press conference on Monday featuring Trump, Hegseth, Air Force General Dan Caine and CIA Director John Ratcliffe was a tragedy. Each did a demonstration of infantile pretension, of strutting and puffery and an exaggerated parade of the absolutes and superlatives of braggadocio. These pretenders humiliated you before the world and made a mockery of our actual military personnel.

I am not including a pic or a link to this epic parade of immaturity and little boy-ism (“bang-bang you’re dead”), as I customarily do for events discussed in these posts. Further, I encourage you not to find it and watch. Unless you enjoy feeling embarrassed.

In his post of April 7, It’s Just World War 3 . . . if we’re lucky, Rick Wilson wrote:

[Trump] detonates a new crisis to incinerate the headlines of the last one. It’s a scorched-earth policy applied to domestic PR, and it’s going to lead us into a darkness we aren’t prepared for. He’ll keep throwing matches until there’s nothing left to burn, convinced all the while that the explosions are actually applause.

You’ve seen this time and again, as Trump “doubles down” on his lies, his mistakes and his wanton cruelty. That’s combined with his time tested Roy Cohn dictum to never apologize, never back down and never admit he’s wrong no matter how high the body count climbs. And now he’s detonated this war crisis to incinerate the headlines – the proof – of his Epstein criminality, regardless of the number of people who die so that he can skate from accountability.

This war isn’t about painting everything gold or tearing down a house he doesn’t own. It’s not about putting his growling face on coins or on banners hung from buildings. It’s not about dismantling nearly all the agencies that protect you and me. It’s about actual human beings dying. Oh sure, some don’t speak English, which alone is good enough reason for Trump to bomb them, especially if he thinks he can steal their oil. The dead now number in the thousands.

Some of those human beings being killed are American military personnel who volunteered to stand strong in the face of threats to America. To be clear, though, there wasn’t a threat and our people do care if they die. They just don’t want to die for stupid reasons, much less for no reason at all. They are all predisposed to want to continue living, but that doesn’t enter Trump’s short circuited, dementia addled brain. If they die, Trump will wave a flag in faux patriotism, declare our superior warrior-ship and then call the deceased suckers and losers.

From David Corn of Mother Jones, interspersed with my comments in parentheses that I was unable to rein in:

Of course, millions of Americans have known from the start that Trump has long been a deceitful scammer. But millions of others have fallen for his hustle—and they stuck with his flimflam after his first stint as president demonstrated he lied when he promised cheaper and better health care (never even had a plan – nor an idea of a “concept of a plan”), a revival of American infrastructure (Infrastructure Week never arrived), and an end to budget deficits (he added $7.8 trillion to our national debt in his first administration). Despite his failure to make good on these pie-in-the-sky promises, he managed to keep the con going—even after miserably mismanaging the Covid pandemic (there were at least 800,000 unnecessary deaths – dead people – due to Trump’s ineptitude – seeing a pattern?) and then scheming to overturn a national election.

Now he’s scamming us with bogus claims of having eliminated Iran’s defenses, even as they shoot down our warplanes and our search-and-rescue aircraft; making promises of grabbing Iran’s oil on the cheap as though it’s ours to take; securing glorious victory for our troops; and inflation so low that you’ve never seen anything like it before.  Plus evicting the “worst of the worst,” even as he deports U.S. citizens – the list goes on and on and they’re all cons.

Here are some timely questions:

  1. Have our millions of Americans who have continued to let themselves be conned by this lifelong con man at last been awakened to the reality that Trump has started a global war and that real people are really being killed in service to Trump’s demented psychopathy?
  2. Have they/we at last figured out that this is real life or death? It isn’t a reality show and this war threatens to be fought right here. Do they get that the opponent won’t rope-a-dope for Trump for very long and that they will use their finest skills – terrorism – to attack us?
  3. Have our fellow citizens opened their eyes and now see that Trump is having our military people violate our own laws and commit war crimes – IN OUR NAME?
  4. Do MAGAs see that Trump has removed everyone who might possibly be less than completely loyal only to him, as though he is an absolute, all powerful muck-a-muck, so that now there are no backbones anywhere near him, that there aren’t any adults left in the room, just cowering children?
  5. Life or death didn’t seem to matter to Americans in the Covid pandemic during Trump’s first administration. Will life or death matter to us in a global war?

Don’t imagine even for a second that this is hyperbole. It’s happening in front of your eyes right now. This isn’t about policies or policy differences. It isn’t about wacko conspiracy stupidities or about some “alternative facts” (i.e. lies). People are dying and the rate of death is increasing. This is a developing global war, even though it’s happening now a few thousand miles away from us – except for the impact on the loved ones of those getting killed and injured “over there.” It’s happening “over here” for the people who are grieving.

Don’t be conned into believing that this war is over. The Iranians have a long memory, such that even if the immediate hostilities are stopped, Iran will continue to do what it’s done since 1979: terrorism and proxy wars.


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3 Responses to Things May Have Changed
  1. Frank Levy Reply

    Jack – I sincerely appreciate and share your snark, anger, and interspersed comments on 47 and his Christian nationalist goon squad. Keep them coming.

    You should have limited your questions to four. Four is a centuries old, time tested, attention getting number of questions when seeking participation from the assembled minions.

    That said, here goes.

    1) Have our millions of Americans who have continued to let themselves be conned by this lifelong con man at last been awakened to the reality that Trump has started a global war and that real people are really being killed in service to Trump’s demented psychopathy? Answer: NO! Those being killed are mostly brown and Muslim. Hegseth and the gang are Christian nationalists and are feeling really good about doing the sacred work of their god by killing some of Satan’s horde.

    2) Have they/we at last figured out that this is real life or death? It isn’t a reality show and this war threatens to be fought right here. Do they get that the opponent won’t rope-a-dope for Trump for very long and that they will use their finest skills – terrorism – to attack us? Answer: No!! they have not! The MAGA horde has convinced themselves – with the help of Paula White and Franklin Graham and others – that 47 and Hegseth are God’s anointed holy servants on Earth sent to destroy Satan’s Muslim (and Jewish) horde, and because that is so, no harm will come to their white, Christian America. God is watching over and protecting them. All those MAGA folks are willing to endure a lot of financial distress in order to get to Heaven after defeating the Satanic enemy.

    3) Have our fellow citizens opened their eyes and now see that Trump is having our military people violate our own laws and commit war crimes – IN OUR NAME? Answer: No!!! In the eyes of America’s Seven Mountain Dominionists, MAGA horde, and everyday Christian nationalists the law of God, and their quest to get to heaven, trump (pardon the pun) The Constitution. In their pretty little heads god’s law as they misunderstand it supersedes America’s inconsequential Constitution. Remember America is a Satanic land these MAGAites are hell bent on saving.

    4) Do MAGAs see that Trump has removed everyone who might possibly be less than completely loyal only to him, as though he is an absolute, all powerful muck-a-muck, so that now there are no backbones anywhere near him, that there aren’t any adults left in the room, just cowering children? Answer: No!!!! This is what they have been hoping 47 would do. While I suspect none of them have ever read Eric Fromme’s (he is a Jew after all) “Escape from Freedom,” they are proof of everything Fromme says in his book about how most people are afraid of actual freedom and seek strong, authoritarian leaders who will make all the important decisions for them; sort of like the god of their New Testament who reqards them when they do as commanded, and punishes them when they do not.

    5) Life or death didn’t seem to matter to Americans in the Covid pandemic during Trump’s first administration. Will life or death matter to us in a global war? Answer: No!!!!! When your life’s goal is getting to heaven, death is a vehicle to get there. MAGA and America’s Christian nationalists have a lot in common with the Muslim extremists they abhor. They, like the Muslim extremists, see a martyr’s death in the service of their god to be a wonderful thing. 47, Peter The War God, and those that send young people to die for “The Cause” are heroes for sending young people to die in the name of their God so they can make the holy trip to Heaven and be with their maker.

    I hope those are sufficient responses to your five questions.

    My short answer to all five is “No!!! and the rest of us are screwed.”

    Have a nice day my friend as oil prices soar because 47 got his butt whipped by the Iranians.

  2. Steven Chervony Reply

    Best commentary in a usual deducement of excellence. Direct and to the point, Trump’s second term has been about retribution and remaining out of jail. Americans dying in the process isn’t even a consideration.

  3. Dr. Mardy Grothe Reply

    Thanks for continuing to be a voice of sanity during all the craziness, Jack! Someday, the madness will all stop, but it won’t be too soon for me.