Tag Archives: Iran war

International news

Ceasefire? Uhhh, where?

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I am acutely aware that at times I can be painfully slow on the uptake, that things happen long before I realize it.

However, I know a ceasefire when I hear about one. Two sides are exchanging fire, killing each other, then they say “Stop the shooting!” Then it stops, giving the sides time to talk to each other to settle the issues that resulted in the shooting and bombing in the first place.

Some weeks ago, they declared a ceasefire in the Iran war, launched by Donald Trump for reasons that remain a mystery. It’s a three-way battle. The United States has teamed with Israel to bomb the daylights out of Iran. The ceasefire seems to involve only American and Iranian forces, or at least it did.

Israel has started firing missiles at Iran, which has returned fire to Israel. So has the United States returned to the bombing campaign. But wait! The media keep referring to the “ceasefire” which they report is still in effect.

C’mon, man! The ceasefire has vanished under the hail of missiles launched by both sides!

Those of us watching from a distance are growing increasingly frustrated by the messages being conveyed from Washington, Jerusalem and Tehran. Israel keeps talking tough. U.S. rhetoric is tough, but is laced with hopeful language from the POTUS that the end of fighting is in sight. Iranians keep blustering about their intense anger at the United States, which started this war.

I want an end to this damn war!

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Interest grows in wanting Iran war to end

I have an interest in seeing the Iran war come to an end and it has nothing to do with whether I would be called up or whether my sons would face the same future.

Hey, they’re both too old as I certainly am.

My interest in the war’s end is rooted in my retirement account. I read just a few minutes ago that consumers are now bracing for the biggest monthly decline in oil prices in six years, that June might signal a stellar month for retirement accounts across the land. The war that Donald Trump launched has cost us all a ton of money. Why launch a war remains the question of the day … and Trump appears none too ready to explain a damn thing about why he did it.

When word leaks out that negotiators are getting close to a deal, the market goes bonkers. When we hear from Trump about plans to bomb the hell out of Iran, markets tank dramatically.

The rumor mill now is grinding out reports of a deal in the works. If it’s true, then I will be among the first to offer Donald Trump some qualified praise. Ending the Iran war will allow me to breathe more easily as I look farther down the retirement road. The only qualification I will have will be in learning why in the hell we went to war with Iran in the first place.

It had better be worth it.

national news

Clearing the air on Trump

Donald Trump is the least fit man ever to occupy the office of president of the United States.

There, I have just repeated a mantra I have been declaring on this blog since the moment it became clear that Trump was considering a run for the nation’s highest elected office.

However, I now am going to state what hasn’t been repeated … which is that I and many other critics take no joy in blasting the POTUS over the way he has conducted himself. I now will clear the air.

When President Bush invited all the living former POTUSes to the White House to honor his successor, President-elect Barack Obama, he did so with grace and dignity. Bush turned to Obama and said that despite deep political differences, he wanted Obama to succeed. He wished him well, as did all the former presidents.

This is worth mentioning because of the criticism that has been tossed at the Trump foes over the course of his time as POTUS. These “never Trumpers” don’t “hate America.” They don’t want the nation to fail. They don’t seek to destroy this nation’s standing as the lone military superpower.

They don’t criticize Trump with gleams in their eyes and warm feelings in their tummies.

They are angry with Trump. They dislike the nation denigrating itself by allowing the president to make a fool of himself on the world stage. They understand that when the president criticizes our allies, or salutes dictators for their strength he is speaking ostensibly on behalf of 300-plus million Americans. This pluralistic society of ours cannot stand in synchronized lockstep with a man who states his desire to wipe a nation off the face of the Earth … which is what Trump has done with Iran.

No one with an ounce of conscience should support such a notion. I possess more than an ounce of it, so I am adamantly opposed to the idea of wiping a civilization off the planet.

I oppose Trump not because I detest him personally. I do so because I love my country. I want us to succeed. I actually want Trump to succeed. However, it is abundantly clear that POTUS 47 lacks the thread of compassion to do the right thing for the nation he was chosen to lead.

I take no joy in acknowledging that truth.

national news

GOP silence speaks volumes

Republicans’ stone-cold silence in response to Donald Trump’s lies continues to boggle my noggin … such as what he said the other day about the potential end to the Iran war.

You cannot make this stuff up!

He started the war with Iran. Trump is now working to end it. If he succeeds and the Iranians stop firing back at us and Israel, he’ll take credit for ending that war. Yes? Of course he will!

But then he said the other day that no previous president in U.S. history has ended a war. He has ended eight of ’em, or so he said. Hold on a second, Mr. Ignoramus in Chief.

In 1941, we were drawn into World War II when the Japanese bombed our fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. President Roosevelt asked Congress the next day to declare war against Japan, which it did. Then the Nazi Germans declared war on us and we responded by declaring war on them.

Nearly four years later, FDR died of a stroke, up stepped Vice President Harry Truman to take over as commander in chief. On May 7, 1945, President Truman accepted Germany’s unconditional surrender. WWII in Europe ended … on Truman’s watch. Give ’em Hell Harry wasn’t done. We dropped two A-bombs on Japan in August 1945. The Japanese surrendered on Aug. 14 and on Sept. 2, 1945, Japanese military leaders signed the surrender documents aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

I learned of that historical sequence when I was a little boy.

He keeps blathering about his “landslide” election as POTUS; it was nothing of the sort. How he won more Electoral College votes than any POTUS since President Reagan; another provable lie.

And through all of this, the Republican conference in Congress sits silently on its hands, saying nothing to correct the record.

These GOP officials disgrace themselves, the government they are elected to run and the once-great political party they supposedly represent.

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Bulls, bears … what now?

When the POTUS launched that foolish war with Iran, the world found itself turned on its head.

Wall Street retreated immediately from its “bull market” status to becoming a “bear market.” The price of oil skyrocketed into the heavens, bringing the price of gasoline and diesel fuel right along with it.

Then Donald Trump began backing off some of the dire and grim threats he laid on Iran. The impact of that backing away was to watch the market storm back.

It prompts a question. Wall Street had been in bull market territory. Then it became a bear market. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 retreated so dramatically that market analysts said those markets had marched into “correction” territory.

Now the NASDAQ and S&P have marched into record high territory. So has the Dow Jones Industrial average.

What do we call a market that plunges into a bear market then storms back into a bull market?

This nuttier than hell political climate is doing a number on the business climate.

crime news

Trump headed for an impeachment

With this blog post I am venturing tenderly onto a tree limb that is getting fuller by the hour with individuals who have said what I am going to declare.

Donald John Trump is insane! He may be certifiably so. He has gone mad. Bonkers,

I mean, can you name a president of the United States who ever has said he wanted to wipe a civilization off the face of the Earth? Can anyone find a historical reference to such utter madness? Trump said that if Iran doesn’t comply with his demands to end the war that Trump launched against Tehran that he would annihilate the population. They would be gone. All dead.

That is genocide in its rawest form, kids. And Trump has declared that he would be willing to drop the bombs to do the job.

We have established that the POTUS has made the declaration. That is an unlawful order if one has ever existed. No flag officer worth his or her honor would follow such an order. But you get my drift, yes? Of course you do!

Donald Trump need not say another word for the rest of his miserable life. He has established clearly his intention as commander in chief. He has gone ’round the bend!

Now comes the real hard part. Invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution that enables Trump to be removed from office. Such an act requires Republicans to join their Democratic colleagues in moving such an act forward. Based on what we all have witnessed, there aren’t enough GOP members of Congress or members of the Cabinet to say that “enough is enough!”

I feel better now that I’ve gotten it off my chest. I take no pleasure in joining the growing chorus. But, dammit! … the guy is beyond redemption.

national news

Playtime for POTUS about to end

From my seat in Flyover Country, it looks as though Donald Trump’s recess is about to end and we’ll be returning soon to the very issues that are driving in him out of his vacuous skull.

We’ve had our attention ripped away by the Artemis II mission. Major League Baseball began its season. The NBA playoffs have begun. Rory McIlroy has just won his second straight Masters green jacket.

But wait. We have those Epstein files lurking. The Iran war is still blazing. Inflation is out of control. The POTUS makes less sense every time he opens his yapper.

What’s next? Beats the stuffing out of me. I am going to enjoy watching Donald Trump writhe and wriggle as he seeks an escape strategy from the myriad crises are gripping the office.

I have enjoyed the break from the daily dosage of D.C. rubbish. Gotta get back, I reckon, to paying attention to the issues that threaten our democracy. I remain confident our Constitution will withstand this assault.

However, I am far less comfortable making that assertion.

national news

Trump finds ‘sweet spot’

Well, gang, it appears that Donald J. Trump may have finally — finally! — hit the ball on the sweet spot of his bat and has elevated talk about whether to remove him from office.

It took a threat to annihilate an entire population of Iranians to energize the discussion into the realm of possibility.

Yes, the POTUS delayed the deadline he had imposed for Iran to clear the Strait of Hormuz. Then he announced a ceasefire with Iran.

Trump had gone to war with Iran by bombing the daylights out of the Islamic Republic. Israel is our fearless partner in this endeavor,

Why the ceasefire? Perhaps Trump seeks fend off the chatter related to the 25th constitutional amendment that could be used to remove from the POTUS’s office. I know the stock market went nuts today with news of the ceasefire and Trump’s delaying of the deadline.

Whether he, indeed, has found the sweet spot and possibly derives some political gain, well … that’s OK with me.

I do not want to send young Americans to war. I took part briefly in another war a long time ago. I am certain we are in no mood to do it again. The sweet spot could bring us much more pleasure.

military news

Trump will have hell to pay

Why in the name of public discourse would your friendly blogger want to revisit an issue he has covered until he turns blue in the face?

Because I believe it demonstrates precisely how we have gotten to this point in Donald Trump’s term in public office.

I have said repeatedly since before Trump became a serious candidate for the only public office he has sought that a candidate for the presidency needs to have some public service experience to understand what “public service” means.

Trump’s entire adult life has been geared toward self-enrichment, self-aggrandizement and fattening his personal wealth. He has earned billions of dollars since being elected POTUS. He has funneled business toward the companies he once ran.

He doesn’t use gentile language when speaking to us as president of the U.S.A. For a POTUS to speak as he did this past Easter tells me in graphic language that this man is a phony Christian, that he doesn’t comprehend what this holiday means to actual Christians. Easter is the holiest, most joyful holiday on our calendar of faith. Yet it fell to Trump to drop an f-bomb when referencing the war against Iran … which he started!

His unfitness for the office he holds tells me everything I need to know about this profoundly immoral POTUS.

economic news, Joe Biden

Trying to un-boggle my mind

My mind is in a constant state of bogglement as I watch Donald J. Trump try to blunder his way through the maelstrom he keeps creating.

I am left with a question that has no obvious answer: How does this individual look himself in the mirror and pass all this chaos, confusion and catastrophe off as someone else’s problems that he inherited upon being elected to a second term as POTUS?

The economy was rocking along under President Biden’s firm hand. Now it’s on its heels, thanks to Trump.

The nation was at peace (more or less) with the rest of the world. Then Trump goes to war with Iran.

Fuel prices were inching down under Biden. Now they’re spiraling into deep space.

Inflation was in check under Biden. Today, well … enough said about that.

And still, Trump’s delusion continues to dictate what flies forth from his yammering puss. Ah, but good news can be found if we look for it. It rests with a public that is seeing through the lies, the deception, the hypocrisy.

Donald Trump, to quote former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — and one-time Trumpkin — is committing political suicide. Christie’s advice to the rest of us? Leave the POTUS the hell alone!