"Under continuous construction"

Fascism

You Aren’t Going To Live Longer – But You Could


POST 1278

Warning required by an 8th grade English lesson:
CAUTION: Snark, metaphor and satire badly mangled.
The Bad News

The workouts, the kale, the yoga om, the nix on red meat, the stairs instead of the elevator, your fixed genetics and the rest have taken you as far as they can. All that’s left for extending your lifespan is looking both ways before you cross the street, wearing your seat belt and dealing with the unhinged asshole sitting next to you in seat 13B. Let’s call him Mr. Rectum.

He’s unhinged about having a middle seat – so unfair! – and frantic about making his connection so that he can get to his Grift Jubilee. But your flight is an hour and a half late because there was weather somewhere and he’s going to miss his connection. Woe is him!

He’s flailing and wants to retribution someone. He cannot sit still or shut up because of the insanity that ceaselessly rages inside him and because of his innate hostility to everyone. Mr. Rectum is what is known in mental health circles as both troubled and toxic. In the real world where you and I live we just call him an asshole.

Click me

You will live longer if, metaphorically speaking, you move to a different seat, but it’s a full flight and nobody – I mean nobody – is going to switch seats with you and sit next to Mr. Rectum. In still more mixed metaphorical words, these derived from the movie Jaws, you’re going to need a bigger boat.

Which brings us to our current reality, the one where up is this way (↑) regardless of Mr. Rectum’s nearly constant misdirection. It’s a place where you sometimes get a citation for speeding and we want assholes in 13B  to get what’s coming to them, too. You know: accountability.

But we’ve let Mr. Rectum get his way without consequences for a long time. Much too long. Indeed, for all of his life. Oh, we have our reasons, including our rationalizations (delusions, really) that the alternative was worse; that he would keep his word and fulfill his promises; that he was super special and deserved to endanger us by driving too fast and never getting a citation. We believed at the same time that he was a regular guy who was just like we little people and we would somehow, some day become big rectums, too. But that hasn’t happened and it never will.

We let him put an insufficiently educated racoon penis slicer, a man with a heroin damaged brain, in charge of vaccinations. Millions of us puffed our chests. We were standing up to The Man and refusing to vaccinate ourselves and our kids against measles, polio and more. Then thousands became sick, many died and some are heading to a lifetime of debilitation, none of which would have happened if they had listened to the medical experts instead of Mr. Pee-pee Chopper. These people are suffering because we put hatred-fueled Mr. Rectum in charge.

Real, actual, hurts-like-hell gas prices in Hilo, HI. Don’t you wish Tulsi Gabbard would go back there and get in line to buy six buck gas?

That innate Rectum hostility has now killed thousands in a Middle East war that had no business happening because there never was a national security threat to us from there. The global economy is sinking further into a long term funk. Mr. Rectum tells us that inflation and gas prices have come way down, but see the pic to the left for actual current prices. There is nothing, no verbal invention, no untethered-to-reality idiocy that the unhinged guy in 13B won’t say to benefit himself, as he rages at the weather, his middle seat, flight safety regulations and he threatens to sue everyone who still has a pulse and even some who are already dead.

Make no mistake about this: neither seat 13B nor the weather is the problem. We are the problem. Pogo is still correct.

We seated Mr. Rectum in 13B, believing our delusions and then going about our lives, heads down, oblivious to our foolishness, our gullibility and consequences. And we got what we selected.

His behavior is way past what the flight attendants (our representatives) can or are willing to handle, so it’s time for the captain (that’s us) to come out of the flight deck and inform Mr. Rectum that he’s being removed from the flight. We can land at a remote airport and kick him out, leaving him where he can’t harm us anymore, or we can slow the airplane to landing speed, open an exit door and shove him out at 37,000 feet.

Either choice will work for us just fine because Mr. Rectum will be gone. No more lies. No more toddler tantrums. No more of his killing people on the high seas, in mountains and deserts and in Minneapolis. And no more impoverishing of billions of people around the globe. We’ll find the way forward just fine without his insanity.

Mr. Rectum has been very busy failing, wrecking everything within reach. Many thanks to JN for forwarding this.

Regardless, you aren’t going to live longer, unless .  .  .

The Good News

.  .  .  unless you’ve smartened up and now, for example, get your vaccinations and get your kids vaccinated, too. In that case you will live longer. Markedly longer. And you won’t infect your neighbor, your Pilates bro, the barista who serves you that frothy froo-froo drink or anyone else. All of us will thank you for not infecting and killing us and our kids. Plus, prices for your froo-froo drink, gas, housing and much more will, in the absence of Mr. Rectum’s ignorant manipulations, eventually come down.

But you have to help with the in-flight eviction of Mr. Rectum in order for things to get better.

Stand up. Help to drag Mr. Rectum out, even as he’s kicking, screaming, biting, claiming he’s a poor victim of terrible people, saying he will make things better like nobody has ever seen before, blaming his constant failures on Biden, claiming he’s Jesus, failing at quoting “two Corinthians” and homicidally ordering the National Guard to shoot peaceful passengers in the legs. You’re a target of that, too, but once he’s off our airplane you can ditch your bullet proof pants.

And once we’ve jettisoned our gullible nature, you really will live longer.

Quote Of The Week

Dr. Amy Acton

From Dr. Amy Acton, Democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio, speaking to The Zoom Where It Happens, April 17, 2026:

.  .  .  everyone is exhausted and voters want public servants again who will help them solve problems.

What a concept: public servants actually being of service to We The People! Quite the contrast to servants of Mr. Rectum or his sycophants. So refreshing.

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.

Madmen


POST 1277

Click me for a larger version of this pic, plus the Reuters essay.

Jesus Isn’t Just On our Side: He Is Our Side

April 13 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure .  .  .

Note the inclusion in this picture of the American flag, jet fighters, a heavily armed winged figure in combat fatigues with a spiked thing on his head. There are several other troops, all heavily loaded with weapons, a pair of bald eagles, the Statue of Liberty, two colonnaded buildings denoting government power – all very strongly manly, and – this is critical – only White people.

It appears that Trump-Jesus holds a divine light. Perhaps it’s the core of a nuclear explosion. He is laying his other hand over the head of an apparently wounded vet, perhaps to cure him by a miracle. All this takes place as a beautiful White female nurse looks up at him adoringly, perhaps eagerly anticipating his Access Hollywood pussy grab.

He’s been roundly criticized for this post by rational people, which Trump knows is so unfair to him. So, Trump went on the offense, attacking those who criticized his self-anointed divinity.

It’s easy to stop thinking about this in a logical fashion due to its obvious repugnance. But here’s the key: It wasn’t posted by some anonymous but creative and stupid twit whose brain hasn’t developed past age 15 and who doesn’t understand the concept of consequences or anything beyond his own need for attention. It was posted by Trump himself.

Okay, let’s be fair. Trump is that twit whose brain hasn’t developed past age 15 and who doesn’t understand the concept of consequences or that there is anything larger than himself.

Trump is the President of the United States whose finger is poised over the nuclear button and who seems to think he’s a god. Or wants to be a god. Or wants to have powers like a god, like life and death. Or he wants you to think of him as a god and worship him. He is naturally averse to self-examination, but he might recognize that he’s slipping fast and needs your worship of him very quickly, before he’s unable to bask in it.

If he pushes the button in a fit of retribution frenzy, like in a rage focused on Iran, it’s no problem for him. As throughout his entire life, he will be protected and never held to account. If the rest of us die, it’s of no consequence to him.

And that becomes yet more terrifyingly possible as Trump sinks ever deeper into dementia and is even less tethered to the day of the week.

The people who could stop this madness, this abuse of morality, of good sense, of the Constitution and the rule of law – they sit mute. They fawn over him and encourage him to do another wondrous miracle so they can cheer and clap their hands and swoon over him like infantile forest animals in a fairy tale.

Read Rick Wilson’s post from yesterday, Is Trump The Anti-Christ? and coverage from The Washington Post.

Living In The Age of Wimp

This is from a post by Ted Dintersmith, April 13, 2026, likening us to passengers trapped on a bus going at breakneck speed on a path to blow itself up.

Today, our entire nation is on an out-of-control bus. A madman is at the wheel, assuring us he’s history’s all-time greatest bus driver. He barks ludicrous tweets into the phone in his left hand. In his right hand [are] the nuclear codes. His knees do the steering. Front-seat passengers could intervene, but those seats are filled with sycophants who prize their proximity. Sheer horror, with years ahead of us. So how will this bus ride end? Bankruptcy? World War III? A full-fledged dictatorship? All of the above?

You don’t think that we can avoid our own disintegration sync-ed with Trump’s dementia-driven disintegration by sitting on our hands, do you? You don’t think that some wimpy Republican has the cojones to break the glass on the 25th Amendment or file impeachment charges, do you?

We are living in the Age of Wimp. The self-paralyzed ones are madmen endangering us every day.

The key is for us, you and me and others willing to see things as they are, to understand the danger all around us and to refuse to tolerate the Wimps in their madness. The key is for us to fight them everywhere.

On June 4, 1940, shortly before the fall of France and just after the disastrous British retreat from Dunkirk, Winston Churchill challenged the House of Commons with a declaration of defiance. His words ring true and valuable for us today.

We shall fight on the beaches,
We shall fight on the landing grounds,
We shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
We shall fight in the hills;
We shall never surrender.

Link through to read Churchill’s full address.

Our fight today is nearly as dire. We know the truth and that is why this is dire. So,

We shall fight the Wimps in the Congress.
We shall fight them in the state legislatures.
We shall fight them in the fields, in the streets and in the town square.
We shall fight them in the courts and in the polling places.
We shall never surrender

And in the end we will be victorious. We will save our fragile democracy from their cowardice and their malice.

For inspiration, think of the glorious and righteous prosecutions to come of those who sold out our country for a few coins in their pockets.

Here’s what we can do now.

Keeping The Promise

Last Sunday I promised you some direction for how you can fight the menace. Here it is.

Reader and activist Sheila Markin is making your next step easy. Take clarity of action from this. She writes,

TRUMP AND MAGA REPUBLICANS KNOW THEY CANNOT WIN FAIR AND SQUARE. 

THEY ARE GOING TO LIE, CHEAT, AND STEAL

to stay in power.  

They already are.

We must do 4 things:

Click the logo pic above to find out what the 4 things are. Also, see this.

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.

Some Answers and Election Subversion


POST 1276

Guest Essay

Regular reader and boyhood pal Frank Levy had a strong reaction to the questions detailed in my Wednesday post, Things May Have Changed. His comments are listed below that post, but they are significant enough to offer them to you today as a Guest Essay.

Jack – I sincerely appreciate and share your snark, anger, and interspersed comments on 47 and his Christian nationalist goon squad. Keep them coming. 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 Fromm’s (he is a Jew after all) “Escape from Freedom,” they are proof of everything Fromm 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.

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.

Protecting The Election From Subversion

You know about the horrid Republican efforts to allow only Republicans to vote. It’s the gerrymandering, the redistricting, the conspiracy rumor sliming, the purging of the voter roles and so much more. As it stands, millions of American citizens won’t be able to vote in November, most because they are poor or minority and likely to vote D. This is what passes for Republican patriotism. You can call it cheating, dirty tricks, lying, stealing and many other apt and accurate names. Doesn’t matter the name. They’re trying to take away your rights.

It’s been this way for decades, as I’ve shown in these posts many times, most recently here. Paul Weyrich is the progenitor of this Republican malfeasance – see him in action here. The point of seeing his video is so that you become clear about the truth of what these anti-democracy, anti-Americans are about.

Now, we can wring our hands over this eminently hand wring-able cRap (the capital “R” is for Republicans) – and wait in dread for a disaster to befall us and America on November 3. Or we can do something about it. I recommend doing something.

I’m registered to vote, but I’m not a registered Democrat, Republican or Independent. I want Democratic candidates to win most of the time because that means that Republican candidates will lose, which I think is the most important thing for at least the next two elections. That means that I urge all of us to promote and vote for Democrats. It’s that simple.

You’re already being hit on for contributions multiple times per day. Likely, you’ve tuned those communications out, like the ones from the DCCC and even the ones with Obama’s name on them. Hey, it’s only 63 cents per day, $19 per month! Everybody wants what’s in your wallet. What’s a citizen to do?

Check out the Wednesday morning Disambiguation for answers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

    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.

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

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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.
    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.

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