war crimes

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.

I’m So Old


I’m so old that I remember when passing the debt ceiling was just a box that Congress checked each year to ensure the full faith and credit of the United States. There was no conflating future spending with payment for past spending. There was no threatening of our economy. We just paid our bills.

I remember when abandoning world leadership, as well as abandoning our allies, was unthinkable, when Republicans insisted on muscular foreign policy and would never advocate for Russia or China.

And I remember when foreign autocrats, dictators and bullies were scorned and it wouldn’t even occur to a red, white and blue American to praise or emulate them, much less invite these thugs to deliver a keynote address.

I’m so old that I remember when promoting child labor or child marriage or defending statutory rape were unthinkable.

I distinctly recall a time when one country invading another nation’s territory, threatening its sovereignty and committing war crimes were universally abhorred, especially by Republicans, who would never condone, much less praise such actions.

I remember clearly when lying about voting fraud and election results were bad things and when actively promoting such lies was seen as treachery.

I remember a time when making death threats against fellow citizens was unacceptable.

I’m so old that I remember when there were profiles in courage to write about in books. And books were good things that only evil despots banned and burned.

I’m so old that I remember a time when having more rights was a good thing and something to defend and protect.

I remember when Supreme Court justices were held in the highest esteem by the entire country, this because they earned that esteem.

I’m so old that I remember when a president of the United States would never deny the reality of a deadly pandemic for months, then prescribe treatments that had absolutely no efficacy and some which would kill patients immediately. No president would accuse and ridicule our dedicated public health experts or reduce testing in order to make his numbers look better, all leading to over a million dead Americans.

There was even a time when a politician accused of crimes and about to be indicted for several more couldn’t possibly collect endorsements for his candidacy for the next election for president. And the notion of running for the presidency from a prison cell would have been universally considered absurd.

I distinctly recall when a mass shooting was murder, as were shooting someone who rang the wrong doorbell or who got into the wrong car or who pulled into the wrong driveway. It wouldn’t have occurred to anyone then that such shootings were someone exercising Second Amendment rights or that “stand your ground” meant that it’s okay to just blast away. Back then private citizens possessing weapons of war was unthinkable.

I remember when both major political parties had clearly stated policies and program ideas to implement those policies and they negotiated to find a way forward. It was all based on agreed upon facts and observable reality. How quaint.

I remember when the American people weren’t so disgusted with politics that 41% refused to declare a party affiliation.

Click me for the story

I’m so old that I remember when committing business records fraud, making illegal campaign contributions, stealing government records, some highly classified, leaking top secret documents to adversaries, committing rape, defamation and numerous episodes of adultery, inciting a mob to riot against our nation in an act of sedition, soliciting vote count fraud and committing tax fraud were universally believed to be illegal and worthy of prosecution. Except for adultery, which is a civil violation.

I must be really old.

Quote of the Week
  • “Clarence Thomas has got to fall back. He is the definition of a cuck, which, if you don’t know, is someone who lets another guy pay for his mom’s house.
  • “Or, I know a lot of people are, like, isn’t a cuck a guy who watches his wife screw America? Either way, he’s gotta go.
  • “And I don’t think there will be justice on the Supreme Court until Clarence Thomas steps down and is replaced by Anita Hill.”
  • – Jena Friedman on The Beat with Ari Melber, April 28, 2023
Betcha you laughed at that last one.
Today is a good day to be the light.

______________________________

  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!
  • The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

    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!) It’s going to take a lot 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 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. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    JA


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

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