"Under continuous construction"

Alt-Right

Emergency Warning: Something Very Terrible Is Afoot


POST 1274

  • April 1:
  • Trump delivered an under 20 minute update to the nation about his Iran War, in which he presented:

Nothing new – no new information whatsoever

Multiple self-contradictory sentences

Multiple lies about regime change, the U.S. economy, inflation, Iran casualties and our need for Iranian oil

No reason for starting the war

No strategic goals of the war

No clue about how to get out of it

It was just more dribblings from the Dribbler-In-Chief seeking attention and wanting to be the alpha male. Then the insanity ratcheted up to warp speed.

  • April 2:
  • Trump threatened war crimes:
  • April 4:
  • Trump appealed to GOD (in all caps) for Hell to reign [sic] down on Iran:

  • April 5:
  • On Easter Sunday, in an appeal for massive killing, Trump invoked Allah (not in all caps) and threatened Iranians they will live in Hell. He used his customary foul language:

Trump seems to have extended his deadline for mass murder to Tuesday at 8:00PM EDT, roughly a 24 hour extension. Do let us know if that somehow makes you feel better.

The only questions are whether Trump will once again chicken out and whether the U.S. military will refuse to obey his illegal orders to commit war crimes. What we can be sure of is that our very own mad king will make sure lots of people are murdered. This is exactly the kind of stuff that drove our revolution against an earlier mad king. It is the reason over 8 million people took to the streets on March 28.

With Trump’s atrocities promised, where is Congress? Oh, yeah: they’re on vacation. Where are the Vice President and the Cabinet when they should be invoking the 25th Amendment? Right, they’re hiding in the knee holes of their desks. We are left with an unchecked, demented executive who loves cruelty and lawlessness.

Something very terrible is afoot.

The time for action is NOW!
Keep standing up,
speaking out
and taking action, like:

.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too (IT’S A FREEBIE!), because it’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
  7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

This Week’s Greatest Hits; Plus Pigeons


POST 1273

Iran Update

Trump says we’ve obliterated Iran’s navy, air force, missiles and drones. Nevertheless, on Friday Iran shot down two of our war planes and one of the pilots still has not been brought back to safety. So much for obliteration.

Update: It was reported overnight that the airman has been recovered.

That Trump is lying is no surprise. That anyone would believe that he is a proper and effective war leader is amazing. Congress can stop this madness. Where are the people with a spine? How much needless criminal death and destruction will it take for them to learn to stand up once again?

Pam Bondi Dumped!

Yes, another wholly incompetent Trump appointee has received marching orders via social media to vacate the premises. Bondi is gone. It’s reported that Todd Blanche, acting Attorney General and proud fixer for Ghislaine Maxwell, moved into the AG office immediately after Bondi slammed the door on her way out. Blanche found the Epstein files still on her desk, along with her 7 dead house plants that had recently been ripped from their pots.

She was excellent at being a mean girl. That should have pleased Trump. And she wasn’t dumped for not embarrassingly fawning over Trump, because she always does. So, why was she dumped?

Jonathan Diaz of The Contrarian explained that, “Of the 30 lawsuits filed by former Attorney General Pam Bondi to steal these [state voting] records, the Department of Justice has lost all of them.” Perhaps her total failure to get away with cheating in court displeased Trump. Perhaps she didn’t prosecute enough of the innocent people on Trump’s hate list, even though there was no case to pursue in any of them and grand juries consistently shut her down because  – wait for it – there was no case to pursue.

She was dumped in order to better cover up Trump’s (likely) felonious acts related to the Epstein pedophilia and sex trafficking case.

As always, it’s all about Trump. Not justice. Not the Constitution. Not the people. Not catching bad guys and putting them in jail. Not upholding the rule of law, keeping the country safe or protecting civil rights. It’s not about enforcing federal laws or ensuring the fair and impartial administration of justice or defending the interests of the United States. She was in that office because it was good for Trump until it wasn’t. Now she’s gone because that’s better for Trump. So much for justice.

As good as it feels to be rid of that democracy killing, fundamentally corrupt sell-out, Bondi’s ouster is just another manipulation by Trump. She’s scheduled to be deposed in Congress under oath in a couple of weeks about the Epstein documents and DOJ actions to pursue justice that never happened. Now that she’s out of office she can’t be made to produce any of the Epstein related materials that she’s withheld, covered up and lied about because she no longer controls them. Trump loves that.

That civics experiment is complete. Now we know how much destruction of justice one attorney general can do in just 14 months.

But she can be prosecuted for perverting the law and lying to Congress. Watch for that immediately after January 20, 2029.

Who’s Next?

ICE has been persecuting, beating, killing, incarcerating and renditioning innocent people. You know that, but consider this.

In their quest for toxic manhood, these thugs have preyed upon Hispanics, Browns, Blacks and anyone who doesn’t look to be of northern European stock. Now we learn that Trump’s EEOC* has issued a subpoena to the University of Pennsylvania to produce the names and contact information of employees who are members of Jewish groups or organizations. Someone in the Trump administration justifies this invasion of privacy claiming this is somehow for the purpose of dealing with antisemitism on campus. I’ll leave it to you to figure out some warped explanation of how this singling out is somehow good for Jews.

What’s worse is that a Pennsylvania district court judge ordered the university to comply with the subpoena. In researching this issue I did not find that the judge wore a pointed KKK hood or an SS uniform instead of a judicial robe. His decision will be appealed.

But wait just a second.

From the Łódź Ghetto

First, the government isn’t entitled to such personal information or anything that smacks of a violation of the First Amendment, as this intrusion does. Second, the university rightly doesn’t request, amass or keep such records. Third, this is creepily like Jews in Europe in the late 1930s having to wear yellow arm bands with the Star of David to aid in identification and persecution of them.

I’ve told you before that the Trump government going after Blacks and Browns was just the first step into Christian nationalism. A purging of all non-lily white Christians is needed for that, so Jews are next on their list of who goes to concentration camps. That should creep you out big time, but there’s more.

Next will be Muslims, then Asians, then Catholics. Yes, Catholics, too. That’s because these Christian nationalists are actually Protestant nationalists. They hate everyone and everything that is not exactly like themselves.

Still, they say they are Christian nationalists, so let’s test the Christian part of that.

Christian nationalist: What would Jesus, the Prince of Peace, say about your hatred, your discrimination, your violence and the rest of what you’re doing? What part of your hatred and cruelty would He endorse? Where’s the quotation from the Bible where Jesus tells you to hate others, violate them, torture them, imprison them and expel them?

Sadly, I bet you can find some deeply integrity compromised minister to find a passage in the Bible that he can twist and torture into something supporting your cruelty. After all, slavery is in the Bible. Betcha you believe that it should be legal here right now. I do, too. You be the slave and I’ll be the master.

WARNING!

The following section contains vulgar language. Sensitive reader, you are strongly advised to keep secret your reading of this and to read it out loud where you can’t be overheard – maybe in a closet. We won’t tell on you.
.
A Pigeon’s Ode To Trump
.

Banner with Trump’s face hanging on the Department of Justice Building. It reads, “Make America Safe Again.”

The truth is not kind, it is just what we find,

As even we bird brains have said.

We pigeons fly by your long drape in the sky

And we laugh as we shit on your head.

.

There’s no place we claim that we cannot defame,

‘Cus we don’t give a damn ’bout your star.

We see your pathetic crazed clawing for credit

And want you to boil in hot tar.

.

All pigeons can see from our roost in a tree

Or from anywhere, ‘cus  we agree,

That we know the right word, that you’re just a dumb turd.

Gold plating can’t mask what we see.

.

You’re messed in the head and you will be ’til dead,

Your dementia is doomed to get worse.

You’ll dribble your spit and forget your worst bits,

But we know, so we’ll shit on your hearse.

.

Good riddance to you will be long overdue,

As the Earth breathes a sigh of relief.

All the years of repair is just something we’ll bear

As the price to restore our belief.

.

You’ll be remembered as worst-est dissembler,

By far the most cruel and depraved.

Generations from now folks will wonder at how,

And we will still shit on your grave.

.

Perhaps you can see there’s a story that’s key,

It’s a message that is its own bit.

We all despise you and everything you do,

‘Cus you’re just a pile of shit.

____________________________________________________

* That’s the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Odd that still exists, since Trump is all about eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion and has squashed that everywhere he can. But, of course, here he’s using it as a tool of discrimination.

Ah, now I get it.

The time for action is NOW!
Keep standing up,
speaking out
and taking action, like:

.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too (IT’S A FREEBIE!), because it’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
  7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

ICYy Airports


POST 1271

Click me

Donald Trump has deployed armed ICE agents (similar to the SA goons standing behind Hitler in the pic to the left) to a dozen major airports, assigning to them no duties. They are completely untrained to do the airport screening work that TSA agents do. All they do is walk around our airports carrying weapons and intimidating travelers.

Trump has established his personal shock troop ICE agents in airports as a first step toward militarizing our country. He wants his SA thugs deployed in America to desensitize us to the presence of our military in positions in our country, especially at our polling places this November.

That’s what autocrats, dictators and führers do to establish military control of the people. Trump is establishing a beachhead at airports for invading all of America. He’s said he may call up more national guard troops. Believe him.

Note that Trump’s excuse for ICE thugs being sent to airports is that many TSA personnel had stopped showing up for work. They were living paycheck to paycheck and couldn’t afford to work without pay. The vague promise that they’ll be reimbursed at some undetermined time in the future just doesn’t pay their bills today.

If Trump were to agree to pay wages to TSA agents now, as Democrats are demanding he do, ICE agents would have no reason to be in our airports. Trump would be pressured to remove ICE from our airports. But he wants his storm troops there to condition Americans to their military presence. That’s why Trump doesn’t want to pay TSA agents. That’s why he won’t negotiate with Democrats to fix this mess. He doesn’t want it fixed.

Now he’s gone TACO and says he’s going to pay TSA agents from some imaginary authorization never given by Congress. Just imagine the self-serving machinations he went through to decide to pay people for their work. He created the problem and now says he’s a hero for fixing it. But what we know is that once again this is nothing but Trump chickening out. He’s no hero. He’s just a self-serving sociopath.

For a clear understanding of Trump’s cynical sleight-of-hand, his anti-constitution con game Trump is running, read When Democracy Becomes Optional; How Donald Trump and Mike Johnson Are Undermining Congressional Authority While the Shutdown Drags On. It’s from the What Did Donald Trump Do Today? Substack post, Many thanks to FL for the pointer to this excellent post.

Fascism Follow Up

Last Sunday I wrote that, as reported in a piece in Rolling Stone by John Avalon, 17% of young Republicans are Hitler loving Nazis. That news was quite a shock to many readers, so let’s dig a little deeper.

Michelle Goldberg reported in the New York Times about James Fishbach, a 31-year-old candidate for governor of Florida who spoke to a largely male, Gen-Z audience in Jacksonville.

He believes that Florida’s gun laws are too strict, its abortion laws are too lax and its public teacher pay is too low. He’s called for a 50 percent sin tax on OnlyFans creators and $10,000 grants to high-performing high school graduates to buy homes or start businesses. Though he’s the son of an immigrant — his mother is Colombian — he wants a total immigration moratorium.

Most of all, Fishbach has made contempt for Israel and its American lobby a centerpiece of his campaign, constantly reminding audiences how much America spends on Israel while its own needs are ignored. [emphasis mine]

Appearing on Tucker Carlson’s show in January, Fishbach described the “sexual, sadistic” pleasure that pro-Israel donors get in forcing America to “bend over” for a foreign country.

“Sexual, sadistic” pleasure? I think I know what that says about Fishbach and what he projects onto pro-Israel donors. Whatever it is, it sounds like the kind of lie designed to incite hatred.

Fishbach is an odd mix of policies, but he is nothing if not an absolutist, the likes of which produce absolute policies and absolute final solutions. We’re left to wonder what would draw this audience of still-living-with-mom&dad males to be enthusiastic about this provocateur and why he hangs with hate peddlers. Try this.

These Gen-Zs don’t want to be living with mom and dad. Worse, they see no future where they are independent, own a home and are improving their circumstances. They’re angry that the American dream they were promised has gone up in self-serving politicians’ smoke. They want people to blame for their circumstances, so hate speech is music to them. They are  tired of living as objects of betrayal and are impatient for change.

Click me

I’m sure there is a much fuller answer to why Americans, especially Gen-Zs, would be drawn to authoritarian absolutism. Check with your local sociologist. Meanwhile, read both Avalon’s and Goldberg’s pieces and keep in mind that almost a fifth of young Republicans love Hitler.

That smacks of the American Bund Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden in 1939. 20,000 Americans got super puffed up feeling powerful there, this following a decade of Great Depression powerlessness. Fascism was an easy sell.

And now a new generation has grown up frustrated. They’re an easy mark for the same kind of Nazi provocateurs selling hatred, wrapping it in the American flag and bejeweling it with crosses.

Hey Christian nationalist: What do you suppose Jesus would say? How would he react to Fishbach’s “sexual, sadistic” pleasure accusation?

Quotes Of The Week
I Never Expected to be in this Situation as an American
That I would not be able to determine who is speaking the truth: the American president or the evil, despotic, autocratic theocracy of Iran. Trump is a pathological liar and since 1979 I have not trusted anything that Iran might say. What is the truth?
David Houle
Mar 24, 2026
.

In his State of the Union address in January, Donald Trump identified a problem for America: “We’re winning so much that we really don’t know what to do about it.” To give him his due, he seems to have found a solution. [Think: Iran war; inflation; ICE murders; murders of Venezuelans in the Caribbean; grift;; tariffs; higher health insurance prices; higher fuel prices; Epstein cover up.]

  • Andrew Palmer, Executive Editor
  • The Economist

But the larger point is that the erosion of [80 years of U.S. underwritten] norms, processes, and institutions that underpinned a remarkable period of peace and prosperity [throughout the world]; that foundation has gone.”

  1. Why is it that only Republicans are waging this multi-decade effort to prevent people from voting?
  2. Why is it that only Republicans want to deploy weapons carrying thugs to voting places to intimidate voters?
  3. Why is it that only Republicans make up lies about non-citizens voting?
  4. Why is it that only Republicans want to make it next to impossible for poor people and married women to obtain satisfactory ID to vote?
  5. Why is it that only Republicans close polling places convenient to people of color?
  6. Why is it that only Republicans eliminate drop boxes for ballots, making it especially hard for millions of people to vote?

Hyper Republican (not hyper American) Paul Weyrich accidentally told the truth, spilling the beans, saying,

“I don’t want everybody to vote . . . As a matter of fact, [Republicans’] leverage in the election quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
.

It’s useful to know that Weyrich went on to co-found the Heritage Foundation and other Constitution undermining organizations,

No Kings

We’ll have plenty of follow up this Wednesday to the huge and inspiring No Kings protests/demonstrations/celebrations, including pics of some of the very best signs. For now, read Andy Borowitz’s post and for sure watch/listen to the duet by Jesse Welles and Joan Baez.

Time for action is dwindling

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too (IT’S A FREEBIE!), because it’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
  7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

Click me

JA

Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Your Share and Mushrooms


POST 1269

DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT .  .  .

.  .  .  let Trump’s war distract you from his culpability in the Epstein crimes. Trump is trying to cloud your eyes with this war. That’s what it’s all about. Instead, focus on the pedophilia.

Your Share

It’s a fool’s errand to calculate your individual share of our national debt. The total now stands at roughly $39 TRILLION.

Okay, I’m fool enough to do that. We divide the total debt by roughly 330 million Americans and your share is $118,000. Same for your infant son, Same for his big sister. Same for each of their grandparents. Same for every American. And Trump’s pet legislation, BBB, will add another $10 trillion to our debt which will pile another $30,000 onto everybody’s personal bill.

Let’s focus for a moment on just the additional $200 billion Trump wants for his blisteringly stupid and illegal war on Iran. That extra will add $606 to everyone’s tab, all 330 million of us. And you know that if he doesn’t go all TACO, he’ll be demanding still more money from us soon. He will tell us that throwing yet more money on that oil fire will be like nothing anyone has ever seen. He will almost be correct about that.

Note that the $200 billion is on top of our current military budget of between $901 billion and $1 trillion. That’s more than the defense spending of the next 9 or 10 countries combined. Got insight on why we need to spend that much? Help us out in the Comments section below.

That baseline defense spending equates to $2,730 of cost for each of us – just for the Defense Department – every year. Adding in the $606 supplementary cash grab each of us will owe for Trump’s Iran blue bomb special, if authorized, will bring your share of our military bill this year to $3,396. Feeling good about that?

Mushrooms

“If you look for mushrooms, you will find mushrooms.” – William Raspberry, Washington Post columnist.

The point is that we find what we are looking for, whether it’s there or not, and even as we might miss other things, like wild strawberries. Or the truth.

Our fact spurning president in 2003, George W. Bush,* looked for WMDs in Iraq and told us he was sure they were there. The United Nations weapons inspectors refuted the vague and unsubstantiated claims used by Bush to justify his call to war, as they came largely from an individual who was well known to be psychologically unstable. Plus, our own intelligence community told Bush that they were far from sure that Saddam had WMDs or was working to develop them. Read this Los Angeles Times post for detail.

Dubya and VP Cheney wanted to make war on Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein. Dubya told us he was a “bad guy” and a “cruel dictator” and to Bush that was enough reason for America to topple him. I recall thinking at the time that there are many bad guy leaders around the world. Were we going to make war on all of them?

Dubya’s war guy Donald Rumsfeld told us that Iraqis would welcome our troops, throwing flowers to them. When challenged by what such a war would cost, Rumsfeld told us that Iraqi oil would pay for the war, just as though it was ours to take. That made clear the reality of what that invasion was about. And they told us the cost was okay because it was an “off balance sheet” war. Somebody explain in the Comments section below what that means and how it makes any sense at all

In the process of that war thousands died and the entire region became even more chaotic, with fallout that continues today. That’s just some of the wages of myopic focus on what Bush wanted to find and, generally, what happens in regime change wars. It’s clear that we refused to learn our lesson then, since or now.

Now we are burdened by a president who doesn’t even look for metaphorical mushrooms. He just makes stuff up to suit his craziness, “finding” whatever “intelligence” will give him the “feeling” he wants. Indeed, Andy Borowitz wrote,

Confirming the suspicions of many in the international community, on Monday Donald J. Trump revealed that intelligence played “no role” in his decision to go to war with Iran.

“People keep asking me about intelligence,” he told reporters on Air Force One. “I made this call with no intelligence whatsoever.”

Trump has wanted to attack Iran for a very long time. We’ll leave it to the professional mental health experts to figure out his pre-dementia obsession that he’s now metastasized into a regional war.

Meanwhile, we live with the consequences of Trump finding reasons, like phantom WMDs, to make war and ignore truth. People are dying, like the 175 Iranian school girls and 13 of our military people. That’s happened without the benefit of truth that could easily have been found before the bombings began, had the people in charge been looking for it. Consider all that as the body count and your prices rise, as our allies refuse us and as Putin wins more and more.

If Trump goes after Iran’s infrastructure, as he’s promised he will, try to imagine what Iran will do. Terrorism is what Iran does best. What do you think Trump will do if they come after our infrastructure as a counter attack?

Quote Of The Week
  • “Societies that adopt conspiratorial explanations for political, social and economic problems lose the ability to rationally redress them.”
  • The Dangerous Logic of the Joe Kent Letter
  • by Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, March 17, 2026

Think: demonizing immigrants, non-European Whites, non-Christians, anybody Trump doesn’t like; etc. And attacking Iran.

Moral Inversion

By now you know both that Robert S. Mueller has died and that Trump has celebrated his death. You could brush that off as just another case of Trump neurotically making everything about himself and waving his victim flag, but it’s more than that.

True, once again Trump has portrayed himself as a poor victim where there is no victimization. He’s demanded that his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent call for sympathy for Trump as the victim, even as Mueller is the one who died and whose family is grieving. Steve Schmidt captured it this way:

This is not conservatism. It is not populism. It is not even politics. It is the normalization of moral inversion.

I implore you to fire the false victim. So .  .  .

Make Your Voice Heard This Saturday

Click here to find a No Kings rally near you. Then show up on March 28. Change our atmosphere that has been poisoned by our home grown fascists. Make it clear that they are the minority and that we are the majority and that this is designed to be a majority rule country. You know: by We The People.

The cure for hopelessness is action.

_________________________________________________

* Shortly before 911 the CIA briefed Bush, warning of an al Qaeda attack that might use hijacked commercial aircraft (the August 6 Presidential Daily Brief, “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US”. In response to an earlier similar warning, Bush’s response was, “Alright, you’ve covered your ass.” I guess those reports weren’t the mushrooms Bush was looking for.

How many PDBs do you suppose Trump has ignored? Is ignoring intelligence a Republican Party thing?

  • Time for action is dwindling

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too (IT’S A FREEBIE!), because it’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Book links to Amazon or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
    6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

What This War Is All About


POST 1268

A Little News Wrap-Up
  1. As detailed in Rolling Stone, 17% of young Republicans are Hitler loving Nazis, John Avalon reported on Morning Joe on Monday, March 16.
  2. The Chairman of the FCC and Trump are threatening broadcast networks that they’ll take action against those outlets which report news and opinion about the war that Trump doesn’t like. You’re right: that violates the First Amendment. Trump will do so to get his way through intimidation. See Timothy Snyder’s First Lesson in On Tyranny: Don’t obey in advance.
  3. Hegseth says we’re winning and doing so “without mercy” and “we will show no quarter for our enemies.” That means we will take no prisoners and instead we’ll kill everyone, including those who surrender. How very chest puffy of Hegseth to declare that. Other than the moral repugnance of such a thing, intentional cruelty and murder violate our own Uniform Code of Military justice. That means it’s a crime according to our own laws to follow Hegseth’s direction. And it’s a war crime, too. So, any U.S. military personnel who act according to Hegseth’s dictum will be international criminals.
  4. For an excellent explainer, read Sheila Markin’s post here.
War Update

Trump ignored warnings about likely Iranian opposition to a U.S. initiated war and did scant planning for it, even to the point of having no clear, achievable objectives.

The U.S. military doesn’t have the capacity to guard all regions of the globe, commit various offensive actions against Iran and also escort 130 – 150 ships per day through the Strait of Hormuz to protect them from Iranian missile and drone attacks. So, Trump is now trying to strong-arm other nations into filling the gaps in U.S. preparedness.

After harming them with tariffs, Trump has repeatedly threatened, disrespected and coerced members of NATO to help. In fact, now he is alternately begging and dismissing them regarding sending their warships to the Strait of Hormuz.

Stable genius Trump’s demand has been rejected or ignored by over a dozen countries. He said that if they won’t support his war, “I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.”

Let’s be clear that the United States attacked Iran, not the other way around. The NATO charter doesn’t require any support for a member nation that violates international laws regarding other nations’ rights and sovereignty. Nothing is promised to a nation which goes to war because its leader had “a feeling,” apparently based upon no evidence, that some unnamed bad thing was about to happen.

I swear it’s true that Trump posted this plainly self-contradictory idiocy:

“We have already destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capability, but it’s easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close range missile somewhere along, or in, this Waterway, no matter how badly defeated they are.”

This is the person who started a war based on “a feeling.”

Insufficient and Insecure Being

On Thursday, with the Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sitting next to him, Trump made a cringe worthy comparison of his sneak attack on Iran to the Pearl Harbor attack. That was in response to a question about his failing to notify our allies in advance of his ambush. Said Trump,

“We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan, okay?

Turning to her, he asked, ‘Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, okay?”

We shake off the willies and go on.

In the preface to Brother Wayne Teasdale’s book, The Mystic Heart, Dr. Beatrice Bruteau makes an insightful comment that applies to our time, writing,

Consider that domination, greed, cruelty, violence and all our other ills arise from a sense of insufficient and insecure being. I need more power, more possessions, more respect and admiration. But it’s never enough; the fear always remains. It comes from every side; from other people; from economic circumstances; from ideas, customs, and belief systems; from the natural environment; from our own bodies and minds. All these others intimidate us, threaten us, make us anxious. We can’t control them.

Hence, our sociopath.

Trump’s effrontery, like that dumped on the Japanese PM, and all of his anti-social exhibitions play out in his domination, greed, cruelty, violence and the rest, as they inevitably “arise from a sense of insufficient and insecure being,” He harms and kills others in his desperate clawing to fill his emptiness. But he’ll never fill that void. Never.

That explains, but it doesn’t excuse. And now we are in yet another intractable war that should never have been started. People are dying and people are suffering and it’s of no consequence to Trump. But it is to us.

Just get that all the outrageous narcissism is about Trump trying to fill his bottomless neediness and we are the now hapless victims of that. It’s about his deadly coverup, too. See the final sentence in this post.

Follow Up

Last Wednesday in my post Winning I detailed some of what should be wins for We The People but instead they are abject, painful losses for us. Here’s an important addition that’s critical to that list for a lot of people.

Two and a half years ago there was a freak and violent hurricane that hit the Asheville area of North Carolina. The residents looked to FEMA for help and there was very little. Then Trump took office and ravaged the agency, making things far worse. There are lots of people in that devastated area still paying mortgages on houses they cannot live in, while simultaneously paying for housing elsewhere. And FEMA is nowhere to be found.

To be fair to FEMA, it is sorely hobbled by a huge percentage of its people having been DOGEed by Chainsaw Musk, so those remaining are unfairly challenged. There’s no way to distribute desperately needed cash to desperate people if there’s nobody there to do the job. Do you think the folks in Asheville feel like they’re winning?

Report From The Snark Department

Perhaps you’ve wondered how MAGAs could remain in thrall to Trump in the face of his anti-patriotic bluster. They vote against their own best interests and even thump chests about that.

I’ve repeatedly cautioned that such people have valid grievances. Their blockage is that they are ruled by their anger and that blanks their ability to think clearly and critically. They are limited to rage and hatred and they are unable to oppose what is actually abhorrent to themselves.

Watch this rant from Cliff Cash.

CAUTION: There is a lot of potty mouth in this rant. If nasty words offend you, don’t watch the video.

Speak Up This Saturday!

Click here to find a No Kings rally near you. Then show up on March 28. Change our atmosphere that has been poisoned by our home grown fascists. Make it clear that the they are the minority and we are the majority.

The cure for hopelessness is action.
What It’s All About

DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT let Trump’s war distract you from his culpability in the Epstein crimes. Trump trying to cloud your eyes is what this war is all about.

  • Time for action is dwindling

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    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Book links to Amazon or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
    6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Winning


POST 1267

Are You Sick of Winning Yet?

Food prices are up.

Healthcare cost is up.

Energy – gas for your tank, electricity and heating oil – all up

We’re abusing, disappearing and murdering our own citizens.

We were told they were getting rid of the worst of the worst, but 86% of the people they/we have locked up are innocent of any serious crime.

We started an illegal war for no clear reason, there is no apparent way out of it and our allies won’t support us.

We’ve angered all of our allies through insults, tariffs, threats and Russia coddling and we’ve created massive international distrust, to the point that over 40 nations are banding together economically and leaving us behind.

Instead of creating millions of great, high paying manufacturing jobs, we’ve lost 100,000 of them and thousands of service jobs, too.

Trump promised the opposite of all the things on this list and more, yet here we are in this worsening quagmire of betrayal, a lowering standard of living and threats to our nation.

I’m sick for sure, but what ails me isn’t due to winning. And I’m confident that a strong majority of the 77 million voters for Trump in 2024 did not vote for all this “winning.” In their heart of hearts they know they were duped by a con man. Having to admit they were wrong, though, or that they’ve been played for fools is a very bitter pill and millions won’t ever swallow it.

But some have and they’re ready to leave the chaos and brutality behind.

About That Illegal War

The arc of the Strait of Hormuz – prime beach property

Now we have 4,000 U.S. Marines on the way, ready to do a ground invasion of Iran. This is the “boots on the ground” thing that Trump told us over and over that he wouldn’t do. Oh, it’s just to secure the Strait of Hormuz, he’ll say. We’ll only invade a little bit of Iran.

What do you think the Iranians will do when their homeland is invaded? Do you think Trump and his idiot Secretary of Defense will stop the troops on the beaches, that they won’t send them to occupy the entire country? The landing pattern at Dover AFB is about to become very busy.

And still the Republicans holding Congress hostage sit on their hands. I think we should draft their sons, daughters and all their grandchildren past their 18th birthday and deploy them to land on the beaches of Iran. Under that threat, do you think these congressional Republicans could at last find their spines and do their job to check and balance, to stand up to this lawless, murderous president?

If they did stand up and stand strong, that would be winning. It would also be a new experience for all of us.

Quote of the Week

From James Madison, Founder and 4th President of the United States, courtesy of regular reader MG.

“As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.”

This is offered as your rights are systematically being taken from you. What do you suppose the Founders would say to all of Trump’s crushing of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, to which they pledged their Lives, their Fortunes and their sacred Honor?

Trump could never understand that integrity, especially the honor part. He’d call them suckers and losers. But you get it.

Observe And Think

Trump puts his empathy for our fallen on display. He says he just played his best round of golf.

The next few times you hear Trump giving a speech, rally, press conference or interview, note that every topic, every event, every squishy policy comment, every response to every question is converted into the issue of money. He bypasses all focus on moral choices, doing the right thing, supporting the American people, caring about anyone but himself, protecting and defending and simple right versus wrong. If he touches on such topics, he will convert them instantly into a comment about money.

To him, everything is about money. That’s why he changes an opportunity for caring about our fallen military people, a chance to express empathy for their forlorn loved ones, into something monetary, like wearing his promotional ball cap as caskets of our fallen in flag draped coffins passed by. For Trump, everything is an opportunity for money. Winning and his presidency are solely about amassing cash.

Make Your Voice Heard This Saturday

Click here to find a No Kings rally near you. Then show up on March 28. Change our atmosphere that has been poisoned by our home grown fascists. Make it clear that the they are the minority and we are that we are the majority.

The cure for hopelessness is action.
What It’s All About

DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT let Trump’s war distract you from his culpability in the Epstein crimes. Trump is trying to cloud your eyes with this war. That’s what it’s all about. Focus on the pedophilia.

  • Time for action is dwindling

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too (IT’S A FREEBIE!), because it’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Book links to Amazon or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
    6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

The Rush To War And, Of Course, Money


POST 1266

This is an unusual day/time for letting you know about a new Disambiguation. It’s part of some good news, which is .  .  .

My web geeks tell me that they’ve fixed the spam inundation, which means that you can now enter your comments without getting the third degree from Captcha. So, speak!

The U.S. Stampede To War

A piece published in Dispatches from the Atlantic Council entitled Before striking Iran, Trump should answer these six questions explores what our bottomlessly ignorant President and State Department should have done before launching this illegal war. The questions are here, with my answers following them.

Questions and Answers

Q1: What is the objective of [this] military campaign?

First, foremost, middle and last, to distract from the Epstein case.

As to the military objective, nobody knows. It’s a vast cluelessness, callousness and official incompetence surrounded by tough guy posturing. See this sample of the White House videos.

Q2: What might Iran do in response?

There is no evidence that this was considered. But by now we know about their missile and drone strikes and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. You don’t suppose they might try some terrorist stuff, do you? Explosions? Cyber terrorism? Proxy uprisings?

Q3: Will Trump face any consequences this time around?

Oh, please, please, please.

Q4: [Wa]s there a feasible diplomatic off-ramp prior to conflict?

Yes, given that Iran posed no threat to the U.S. But Trump was too excited about looking like a tough guy flexing U.S. military muscle to bother with little impediments like diplomacy. Plus, there;s that wagging of the dog thing.

Q5: How will the Iranian people respond to a military campaign?

They will die and death will come from our bombs, missiles and drones.

Q6: What role will US regional partners play?

They will be targets for Iranian missiles and drones. They won’t lift a finger to help the war effort, nor will any U.S. ally.

We can add more questions, like:

Jax Q & A

Q7: What is the end game – the off ramp for ending this war?

There is none. Trump says bombing will stop “when I feel it, OK, feel it in my bones.” Yes, he said that.

Q8: Now that we’ve broken things, we own them, per the Pottery Barn rule as taught to us by Gen. Colin Powell. What are we prepared to do with the broken mess we’ve created?

Nothing. We will just turn our back to the suffering we’ve created. Think: Vietnam; Iraq; Libya; Syria; Afghanistan; Yemen; Somalia; Nigeria; Venezuela.

Q9: How will we repair relationships with the countries in the region that have suffered from Iranian bombardment, triggered by our display of our manly manliness?

Trump will tell them that nobody has ever seen anything like the rebuilding we’ll do. Then he will accept their bribes, which they will give, hoping for assistance. He will pocket the money and do nothing to help them.

Q10. How many dead American military is too many?

There is no number high enough to deter Trump from his Epstein distraction.

There is so much that should have been done way in advance of any hostilities at the direction of smart, wise experts in international affairs. But those people have been forced out of government service and replaced either by nobody, leaving us empty of expertise, or by know nothings and people who think war is a bar room video game.

Now the question is how we can get out of this mess. Trump will reject any solution that won’t leave him looking like a hero, the  likes of which nobody’s ever seen before, and keep us distracted from the Epstein criminal participants. Got any ideas?

Follow What?

After being forced out of office by the exposure of his criminality in the Watergate crimes, Nixon returned to his home in California and never admitted to any wrongdoing. Indeed, in an interview with David Frost in 1977 he defended himself, arrogantly declaring,”When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.” That was an echo of the long dead divine right of kings and a precursor to the divine right of Trump, a vicious Supreme Court perversion of our Constitution.

The advice to Woodward and Bernstein for investigating Watergate was, “Follow the money.” We can do that now to understand Trump’s illegal war against Iran.

Who benefits monetarily? The easiest way to think about that is to consider who benefits from greatly increased oil prices.

The U.S. is energy independent. The Straight of Hormuz may be blocked and 20% of the world’s oil supply may be choked off, but that doesn’t affect supplies here. The cost to produce a gallon of gas or diesel fuel has not increased a bit, but still the prices at the pump continue to rise.

You’re the loser because you are funding the expanding profits of oil companies. Watch those quarterly reports for confirmation. Trump’s billionaire friends thank you.

Who else benefits from this war? Certainly, the manufacturers of war matériel receive enormous contracts to replace our fabulously expensive drones, missiles, rockets, bullets, that refueling airplane that crashed and killed 6 of our people and yet more. Betcha those billionaire friends of Trump are sending him messages with hugs and kisses emojis.

How about Saudi Arabia? They hate the Iranians. They’re in a centuries old battle of Sunni/Shia, each side certain that Allah is on their side and the other side is a horde of horribles, which may actually be true in both directions. Betcha the Saudis are content to have Trump do the dirty work of pounding Iran. They just might be paying Trump handsomely for him to be their bounty hunter. Watch for more billions to be given to Jared Kushner.

Russia has gained a windfall of over $6 billion due to Trump releasing Russia from oil sanctions. How come Putin gains huge whenever Trump acts?

You get the idea. This war was a money con long before a shot was fired. We’ve been given bottomlessly stupid explanations for the reason for our attack, including that Trump “had a feeling” that the Iranians might possibly do something or other. We’ve been given a long string of implausible goals for this war with no consistency coming from the idio-scenti.*

Pay no attention to our over 200 mangled troops dumped into VA hospitals or the now 13 flag draped coffins that have arrived at Dover AFB. Hey, our President told us with a yawn that people die in war, you know?

And he calls them suckers and losers.

Ultimately, it’s simple: follow the money. But DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT be distracted from the Epstein case and Trump’s involvement.

I’m Not So Sure

Likely, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen, was unglued because he had lost four family members to an Israeli bombing in Lebanon last week. So, he did what any of us would do. He strapped on his rifle, mounted his explosives filled vehicle and rammed it into a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

In the aftermath of each of our unceasing episodes of religious and racial violence we regularly hear calls to our “shared humanity.” I’m not so sure that we have a shared humanity, except in a genetics sense. When someone is moved to violence against others, is that person’s humanity displaced or perhaps destroyed by uncontrollable rage? Did the killer of eleven at Tree Of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh share our humanity? It looked to me more like he was sharing his rage and his full magazines of bullets. Same at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston where nine were murdered. Same when ten were murdered at the Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo. Do we have a shared humanity with those murderers? I’m not feeling it.

Right now I’m not much in the mood to understand those who want to get their way by means of murder. There just isn’t much detectable humanity in them.

Come to think of it, that’s a lot like Trump jamming our military into where it doesn’t belong, getting his way by means of murder.

Spare me the calls to shared humanity.

Make Your Voice Heard

Click here to find a No Kings rally near you. Then show up on March 28.

The cure for hopelessness is action.

_________________________________________

* Cognoscenti – “people who are considered to be especially well informed about a particular subject.” My made-up idio-scenti is the opposite of that and is well displayed in this government.

  • Time for action is dwindling

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too (IT’S A FREEBIE!), because it’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Book links to Amazon or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
    6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

War, Consequences and Fantasy


POST 1265

What Will Iran Do?

If you had been in charge in Iran for the past 14 months and had heard Trump’s bluster and saber rattling about attacking your country, what preparations would you make? Surely, you’d be thinking about defense for your country and your people. What else?

The Iranians are a proud people. Having now been attacked without provocation, it’s reasonable to assume that they might want something Trump understands: retribution. There’s no way Iran will be satisfied just to have been a punching bag for the West’s military adventure. They can’t beat the U.S. and Israel militarily, so they would look for some asymmetrical way to hit back. One thing they do well is to sow terror. Indeed, it’s what they do best.

They have already attacked our military installations in the region, killing 7 of our people and injuring over 130. They’ve sent missiles and drones into Israel and clogged the Strait of Hormuz. They can only continue their attacks until their weapons supply is exhausted. Then they will do something else.

One thing they could do is to plant explosives, maybe even dirty bombs, around the U.S. and near U.S. embassies. They could place them in schools, hospitals and in government buildings. They could attack our infrastructure and our cities, with these explosives to be detonated as they desire. They could murder a lot of Americans and hobble our nation.

Their attacks would serve more than their hunger for retribution. Terrorist attacks could be a powerful trigger to permanently empower American authoritarians, our home grown fascists, to declare martial law, to destroy our democracy and to end our civil rights. They could destroy our way of life. They will believe that destroying “the great Satan” is a great and religious victory, a tribute to Allah.

What kind of corner do you think we’re painting ourselves into with this illegal, punitive and pointless war? Put your notions in the Comments section below.

If you want to stretch your brain further, consider what Vladimir Putin  and President Xi may do, as Trump systematically shifts global advantage to Russia and China. Trump is tolerating Putin’s providing Iran sophisticated targeting of American assets in the Middle East to blow up our hardware and to kill our people. Trump has also shifted much of our Pacific military might away from Taiwan, opening the door to Xi to walk through. What a fine time this is to be America’s adversary, thanks to Donald Trump.

To be fair, Trump’s deadly Iran folly is a brilliant move for Trump himself. He’s taking our eyes away from ICE cruelty and murder and from the Epstein affair and Trump’s part in it. It’s what con men do. Damage to our nation and the crushing of justice and the death of Americans? Big Trump yawn. He’d rather talk about his gold drapes and his “You’ve never seen anything like this” useless ballroom.

Ever and always, it’s all about Trump. He has no room in his narcissism for the welfare of the American people or the Iranian people or our servicemen and women. And as his dementia and other maladies progress, expect worse, especially because our Gallery of Cowardice Republicans are invertebrates. They whisper in private about how bad Trump is and then vote for whatever he wants in perfectly choreographed goose step. That will ensure many casualties, both in Iran and in America.

Selling The War With Brainless Hoo-Ah

Top officials in our government seem to think that war is nothing more than a video game. They thump chests while mixing extremely dangerous actions with toxic and murderous masculinity, as though war is just fantasy that doesn’t count in the real world. Hey, it doesn’t hurt Trump or his department heads, so why shouldn’t we war whoop?

Watch this official White House video promoting the awesomeness, the “Meanest S.O.B. in the valley of the shadow of death,” the absolute power of American might and our endless toxic testosterone.** And watch this video linked from Sunday’s post. In it Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War, Destruction and Primal Screaming, shows how way cool war looks by mixing video from the actual bombing of Iran with video game footage. It’s not clear if one of the actual bomb explosions in Tehran shown in his video was the one that killed 175 little school girls. No problem, because Pete just doesn’t care about them or the over 1,200 Iranians already killed. It isn’t at all clear that Hegseth even cares about our 7 wear dead, either.

Keep in mind that those brain-free video dispatches aren’t from some cretinous, online troller. They are our official government cretinous dispatches.

They think they’re selling the war to the American people so that we’ll be silent as they create more death and destruction. They think that chest thumping is enough and that we won’t notice that they have no objectives, there is no strategy, there is no exit plan, there isn’t a definition of what comes next and there is not even a vague notion of what victory would look like. Trump says he demands “unconditional surrender,” perhaps to send a mothballed battleship to the port of Bandar Abbas to have surrender documents signed there. Idiocy.

Trump has invented a war so that he could be a war president, with all of us rallying ’round the flag and him. But a majority of Americans disapprove of this war and 74% oppose sending ground troops into Iran.

One thing is clear: sending U.S. ground troops into Iran will be a disastrous, murderous blunder. That, though, won’t stop President Bone Spurs. We’ll need the Congress to stop him. How’s that going to happen?

This Trump administration is the cabal that has:

– imperiled our economy

– raised the cost of living for everyone

– has not just killed job growth but has cost over 100,000 manufacturing jobs

– brutalized, imprisoned, tortured and killed innocent American citizens, legal residents and immigrants who have done no wrong

And now it has started a war that immediately spread to be a regional war with no solution even at the horizon. What are we going to do about it.

Click here to find a No Kings rally near you. Then show up on March 28. Add the event to your calendar._______________________________________________

* It’s great political theater to brag that we have the greatest military in the world, but how sure are we that China isn’t the biggest, baddest gorilla? How sure are you or any of us that we really are the greatest military?

  • Time for action is dwindling

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too (IT’S A FREEBIE!), because it’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Book links to Amazon or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
    6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Newsflashes


POST 1264

Newsflash 1!

To the right is a picture from the dignified transfer at Dover AFB of six of our fallen military personnel. Attending is the undignified President Bone Spurs, who refers to our fallen warriors as “suckers” and “losers.” He is ignorant and doesn’t know that it is inappropriate to salute when out of uniform. But then, President Bone Spurs never wore a uniform.

Plus, he couldn’t be bothered to remove his cap as a sign of respect as six coffins passed him. The white ball cap is Trump merch, of course, for sale to rubes wherever they buy lies. And he wore a too long red tie as dead patriots passed by. The transfer was dignified. Trump is never dignified,

Newsflash 2!

It’s been reported that Russia – meaning Trump’s bestie, Putin – is providing targeting intelligence to Iran, which has led to their much improved accuracy in hitting U.S. military installations and killing American military personnel. Watch for swift, inane denials from Trump that are devoid of any concern for our troops. Hey, no problem, Trump told us. “When you go to war, some people will die.”

Watch Rick Wilson’s take down of this.

And see this video designed to appeal to Pete Hegseth’s MAGA-macho sub-intelligence. Perhaps it’s his creation. It will help you to understand this administration’s low sense of gravitas – its callousness, really – about this war.

Newsflash 3!

Kristi Noem, AKA ICE Barbie, the puppy and goat killer, the surgically and cosmetically altered face of United States Homeland Security, will be gone from the department by the end of the month.

President Trump used to try to look like a tough guy on his TV show The Apprentice by eliminating contestants with a vicious and scowling, “YOU’RE FIRED!” Turns out that in real life he doesn’t have the cojones to face a subordinate in a one-on-one dismissal meeting or to write a formal letter of dismissal or even to send a sycophantic employee to do the dirty work. He fired Noem via his social media platform, just as he has done with many others. It’s the coward’s way.

Trump wants Noem replaced by Sen.Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a proud suck up to Trump. Actually, Trump said he was appointing Miller to the top spot at Homeland Security but that isn’t how this works. He gets to nominate Mullin and the Senate decides whether to let him slither through.

Mullin is a lick-spittle to Trump, a perfect yes-sir machine. This is a highly suitable and desired trait in fascist governments. He will be powerful, blatantly cruel and a proudly manly man, right until the hammer comes down on him. Here is what to expect from Mullin and each of Trump’s cabinet toadies when they are at last confronted with accountability:

“I was just following orders.”

It’s a Nuremberg excuse and it won’t work any better for Trump’s lackeys than it did for Nazi operatives. Bookmark this notion, because it’s already on the way via the next Congress if we do our job right.

Newsflash 4!

Jesse Welles’ explanation – click me

Back in our school days we took lots of tests, many of them multiple-choice. Often choice E was “None of the above.” Periodically, there was a choice F, “All of the above.” But in war, there is rarely a choice F. There is a primary answer or reason and everything else is secondary at best. This Iran war is more nebulous than that. Here are examples from the mouths of Trump, Rubio, Vance and a few more blabbers.

1, What is the real goal of the U.S. military actions against Iran?

A. Regime change – or not

B. Obliterate Iran’s nukes and nuke making capability – again

C. Destroy Iran’s ballistic missile capability

D. Freedom for the Iranian people – some undefined, probably unachievable smoke and mirrors thing

E. To eliminate some unnamed, invisible and fact-less “imminent threats” to the U.S. from Iran, supported only by a Trump “feeling”

F. All of the above, but who knows?

2. What is the U.S. end game? How will we know we’ve won and can bring our troops home?

A. There is regime change to something that isn’t a military theocracy – maybe a democracy in this country that has never had a democracy?

B. There are no more Iranian ships to sink or nuclear sites or missile launchers to bomb.

C. We’ve run out of missiles, drones and bombs

D. Netanyahu says, “I’ll take it from here.” Yeah, that will go well.

E. Trump has hotels and casinos along the Persian Gulf

F. All of the above, but who knows?

Newsflash 5!

This looks to be legitimate, based on a report from Politico.

Ashley Beck T, Moderator
BREAKING: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney blindsides Trump by forming a super alliance of 40 powerful countries to defeat his disastrous MAGA agenda.
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[Canadian Prime Minister] Carney has become one of Trump’s most brilliant adversaries . . .
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According to Politico, the European Union, composed of 27 nations, as well as a geopolitical bloc of 12 Indo-Pacific countries, have begun negotiations to form one of the largest economic alliances in the entire world. This historic pivot comes as Trump continues to wage erratic tariff wars on close allies, turning the once-stable United States into a deeply unreliable partner.
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The talks are being led by Canada and will be the fruit of Carney’s vision of a world in which the so-called “middle powers” unite to undermine Trump’s tariffs and make themselves immune to his bullying coercion.
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If successful — and it certainly appears to be heading in that direction — the supply chains of countries as far off as Canada, Malaysia, and Germany could be intertwined into one super supply chain.
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“The work is definitely coming along,” a Canadian government official said to POLITICO. “We’ve had very fruitful discussions on it with other partners around the world.”
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“We see a lot of value in increasing trade among the EU and [Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership] parties, which would also contribute to enhancing supply chain resilience,” stated a Japanese trade official.
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Last month, Carney gave an astonishing speech at the Davos World Economic Forum during which he announced the end of American dominance, stating that the “bargain no longer works for the rest of the world. American hegemony once offered benefits, now it offers only chaos.
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“Let me be direct, we are in the midst of a rupture not a transition,” Carney said during that speech. “Over the past two decades a series of crises in finance, health, energy, and geopolitics have laid the bare risks of extreme global integration.”
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“But more recently, great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons,” he said, referring to Trump. “Tariffs as leverage. Financial infrastructures as coercion. Supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited. You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination.”
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He predicted that allied nations would “diversify to hedge against uncertainty” and “rebuild sovereignty” and that’s exactly what’s happening with this nascent trade alliance. Carney said that the deal will “create a new trading bloc of 1.5 billion people.”
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Left out in the cold would be the American people, who will be forced to stand by as the citizens of other nations enjoy easier, cheaper access to reliable goods. Trump has made us a world pariah, and the price will be shouldered by your wallet.
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“We hope that if that’s a success, if you can see tangible benefits in different areas, that could also entice other countries to join in and team up in a positive sense,” said Klemens Kober, the Director of Trade Policy, EU Customs, Transatlantic Relations at the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce. “So the more the merrier,” Kober added.
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This is what happens when we elect an ignorant conman and give him absolute power over foreign policy. Trump and his MAGA sycophants thought that the rest of the world would simply go paws up as America proceeded to abuse their countries. Instead, they’re banding together to completely shatter the balance of power forever and leave the U.S. odd man out.
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It’s not just Americans whom Trump is pissing off. This is going to cost us big time.
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    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
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    5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
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    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

We’re So Sorry . . .


POST 1262

We Interrupt This Interrupted Title To Bring You This

As reported by news sources yesterday, The Great and Powerful President Bone Spurs, the one who is always glad to send others to suffer and die, our “No New Wars“* leader, has picked yet another fight with Iran. He lit the fuse in the middle of the night so that nobody could yell “FIRE!” and slow him down.

He did this in spite of Iran having done no harm to the United States and posing no immediate threat to the United States. Can you say “unprovoked” boys and girls?

This five times deferred President Bone Spurs (which deferrals ensured that others were put at risk, not himself) is promising to deliver regime change in Iran, a skill at which the United States sucks. That is and he is, to use his own term, a loser.

As of this writing we can report that upon being attacked, Iran immediately launched missiles and drones at Israel and at U.S. installations in other countries in the area, thus threatening to expand this war, possibly to engulf the entire region. We have not yet heard a casualty count, but it’s certain that the detonations of Iran’s munitions on U.S. bases plus those of American and Israeli munitions in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran will produce a large number of mangled bodies, some of them dead.

This president can’t even spell “strategic,” much less think strategically. His rationale for this military action changes daily, often multiple times within one speech. Just last week he repeated his June 22, 2025 claim that we had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment capability. Yesterday he announced to the world that we attacked Iran this time to “obliterate it’s nuclear enrichment capability.”

So, pay no attention to his stated goals for attacking Iran, as they are wobbly at best and most are unattainable, at least as a result of U.S. air strikes. Plus, he refused to obey the Constitution and get Congressional approval for his illegal war of choice.

Instead, we focus on reasons President Pedophile might want you to be thinking about Iran just now. Don’t do it. Don’t let him distract you with his march of death.

The illegal Iran war is his WAG THE DOG. Do not be wagged. Focus on his law breaking and violating of little girls.

Top Orange Moron Quote Of The Illegal Iran War – So Far

“The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!”

Yeah, he really did say that, just like that, Bomb them into peace.

As always, there is no clear end game, no off ramp. There is nothing but muscle flexing and posturing with no regard for tomorrow.

Must Read

Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s post of February 28.

______________________________________

Now back to our regularly scheduled title and content, no longer interrupted.
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.  .  .  That Our Leaders Hate America

It’s so sad that people in elective and appointed offices don’t like us. They hate us, really, or at least they scorn us. I mean, when they beat the hell out of citizens and legal residents and send lots of them into cattle pen prisons hundreds of miles away and even send them to foreign black rendition sites to be tortured, well, no way they’d do that if they love America and Americans.

No way these officials would direct ICE to profile people who look Hispanic or speak Spanish. They wouldn’t tell these Gestapo goons to assault people holding anti-ICE signs and throw them to the ground, zip tie them and throw them in the back of an unmarked van and refuse them any rights.

And surely they wouldn’t allow any ICE agent to hassle those who have committed the crime of being a citizen while Black. No way they would completely ignore habeas corpus rights or the requirement to have a warrant signed by a judge to enter anyone’s house, arrest people and lock them up entirely without probable cause. No, people who love America would never do such things.

Yet here we are with all that fascist brutality and more going on, with millions of us afraid, many of us wondering how we’ll feed our kids. And we’re hoping against hope that there isn’t a major health issue with anyone in the family, because now that our health insurance support is gone, one illness or injury will put us into bankruptcy.

We believe in justice – all of us do – and the people who are supposed to be going after the awful offenders are instead covering up their crimes. The very worst of their crimes are against little girls. And our Department of Justice has turned into a Department of Injustice, turning its back on victims of rape and sex trafficking. That isn’t the America we love. Whatever happened to Truth, Justice and the American Way?

And what are we supposed to think when the head of the FBI used the agency’s jet to go to the Olympics and drink beer like he was a dumb kid at his first frat party? Or when the so-called “White House Border Czar” is caught accepting a $50,000 bribe in an FBI sting operation? And then the DOJ claims there’s no case against him! Really, Attorney General? What are we supposed to think? Surely, we all see that you don’t love America and what it stands for.

And what are we doing with anyone in a position called “czar,” anyway? The czars were Russian despots and cruelty dispensers.

Seriously, what are we supposed to do when our people in charge of public health are either too stupid to understand dozens and dozens of research reports that show that vaccines do not cause autism, or they just lie about it, indulging their joy of dishonesty? What they tell us to do is to refuse disease prevention and life protecting vaccines for our kids. That has now led to hundreds of potentially lethal measles infections and kids dying, as well as a resurgence of polio. These  officials are actually promoting our backsliding into the Dark Ages.

And our symbols of the America we love – they tore down the East Wing of the White House! They obliterated it so that a gigantic ballroom for which we have no use could be built. And they paved over the rose garden that was planted by Jackie Kennedy. And they paraded military hardware down Pennsylvania Avenue like it was Moscow on May Day. And the Kennedy Center has been venally renamed and has now been closed because patriotic American artists refuse to perform in such a grossly named facility.

The wonderful resurgence of manufacturing jobs we were promised has instead turned into the loss of over 100,000 manufacturing jobs and job growth overall has sputtered to insignificance. What are we to do with that reality as jobs become ever more scarce?

We keep being told that inflation is going down – “way down” – but the prices of the things we need in order to live are going up. And our wages – they were supposed to be going up but instead real wages are pretty much flat lined. How are we supposed to care for our kids?

We Americans are pretty much welded to values like honesty, which is almost dead in the hearts of so many of our leaders and we are all suffering as a result of that. That’s why we’re so sorry that our leaders hate America. We still love America, which is why we are more than sorry.

Click me – then follow the instructions.

We’re as mad as hell and we’re not going to take this anymore!

We’ve known since grade school that the way to stop bullies is to punch them in the nose. Fists are on the way to the noses of the people who have been lying to us, cheating us, hurting us and betraying us. It will come in the form of brutal results for them in the next elections. Every one of them better update their résumé now.

Because we do know that these people hate America and Americans. We do know about the hateful things these leaders are doing to America. Unlike them, we love America and we know what to do about their betrayals of us and this land we love.

Click here for an Associated Press fact check, unmasking Trump’s claims of America’s glowing greatness for what they are: frauds. It sure doesn’t look like that leader loves you.

__________________________________________

* “I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars.” – Trump during the 2024 campaign

  • Time for action is dwindling

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too (IT’S A FREEBIE!), because it’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Book links to Amazon or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
    6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those comments I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

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