What This War Is All About
POST 1267
A Little News Wrap-Up
- As detailed in Rolling Stone, 17% of young Republicans are Hitler loving Nazis, John Avalon reported on Morning Joe on Monday, March 16.
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.- 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.
- See this for a more complete list. And see this for a thorough explanation of our “dire straits.”
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 of U.S. unpreparedness.
After harming them with tariffs, Trump has repeatedly threatened, disrespected and coerced members of NATO to help. In fact, 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 amush. 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 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 showed up 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. Trying to cloud your eyes is what this war is all about.
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Time for action is dwindling
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Count-down Timer
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To The November 3, 2026
Mid-Term Election
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JA
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Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
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