Ellen Nakashima, et al., of the Washington Post: “Despite more than two weeks of relentless airstrikes, U.S. intelligence assessments say, Iran’s regime likely will remain in place for now, weakened but more hard-line, with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps security forces exerting greater control.... Western officials and analysts who study Iran said they see little near-term prospect of a “regime change” end to the 47-year-old Islamic republic or the rise of a more democratic government. The latter is a goal cited by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sometimes by Donald Trump, who has said he’ll know the war is over ;when I feel it in my bones.' U.S. intelligence assessments issued since the war began predict Iran’s regime will remain intact and possibly even emboldened....”
From the pinned item in this afternoon's New York Times liveblog of the war in Iran: Donald “Trump on Monday disparaged U.S. allies that he said had relied too long — and too expensively — on American defense, as several of those countries have declined to meet his call to send warships to escort merchant vessels in and out of the Persian Gulf.... 'We don’t need anybody; we’re the strongest nation in the world,' Mr. Trump said. He suggested his request for assistance in reopening the Strait of Hormuz instead amounted to a loyalty test of America’s allies.... The sharpest refusal to his belated effort to build an international coalition against Iran came Monday from Germany, whose defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said, 'This is not our war; we did not start it.' Top officials of Japan, Italy and Australia said Monday that their countries would not participate in efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The European Union will not expand maritime operations in the region to protect traffic through the strait, said its top diplomat, Kaja Kallas.”
An excellent Bluesky thread by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Trump's miscalculations in going to war with Iran and where that leaves the U.S. & Israel. Murphy begins, "It’s crystal clear now that Trump has lost control of this war." Thanks to RAS for the link.
Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff and a longtime confidante of ... Donald Trump, has been diagnosed with breast cancer, the president announced Monday. 'Her prognosis is excellent,' Trump said in a statement about Wiles, 68. She will continue to work while she receives treatment, he said.”
A 11:00 am ET, the New York Times' main Webpage is just covered in "Trump screwed up Iran war" stories. And Will Weissert's AP story, linked below, reels off quite a few aspects of how "Trump screwed up Iran war." Maybe Trump & Handsome Drunk Pete & Brendan Carr should stop deriding the media response, and start thinking about how to fix the mess the media point out.
That Would Be a “Nein.” Nette Nöstlinger of Politico: “Germany's government rejected ... Donald Trump's demand that NATO allies help secure the Strait of Hormuz, declaring that the alliance had no place in the war. 'This war has nothing to do with NATO. It's not NATO’s war,' Stefan Kornelius, a spokesperson for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, told reporters in Berlin on Monday. 'NATO is a defensive alliance, an alliance for the defense of its territory,' he added. Trump had warned NATO allies on Sunday they face a 'very bad future' if they refuse to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, pressing Europe to support an American effort to reopen the key maritime corridor.”
Callum Jones of the Guardian: “Donald Trump has claimed he has 'the absolute right' to impose new tariffs after the US supreme court ruled many of the import duties he imposed last year were illegal. The president attacked the court in a late night broadside on Sunday, accusing it of having 'unnecessarily RANSACKED' the US – and failing to show him sufficient loyalty.... '... as the Court pointed out, I have the absolute right to charge TARIFFS in another form, and have already started to do so,' Trump wrote on social media.... The supreme court’s decision did not say the president had the absolute right to charge tariffs in another form. 'This completely inept and embarrassing Court was not what the Supreme Court of the United States was set up by our wonderful Founders to be,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. 'They are hurting our Country, and will continue to do so.'”
Getting to Know JayDee:
~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times' liveblog of developments in the Iran war is here. From the pinned item at 5:30 am ET: “As the war entered its third week, Mr. Trump said that member nations of NATO should help open up the narrow waterway for oil tankers.... 'If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO,' he told The Financial Times in a short interview on Sunday. Mr. Trump said China should also help unblock the strait, and threatened to postpone a planned April summit in Beijing with Xi Jinping, China’s leader, if it did not comply. Iran is allowing ships carrying oil to China to cross the strait, but other oil tankers have been attacked by projectiles.... Australia’s transport minister, Catherine King, said Monday that her country does not intend to send ships.”
I Broke It, You Fix It. Milena Wälde of Politico on Trump's threat to NATO allies: “'It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,' Trump said.... The remarks revive Trump’s long-running criticism of NATO.” MB: The Power of Prepositions. When it's to his advantage, Trump reads Article 5 of the NATO treaty not as "an attack on one is an attack on all," but as "an attack by one is an attack by all." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Moreover, this is a demand, not an ask. Will Weissert of the AP -- linked below -- cites Trump's remark on AF1 yesterday: “'Really I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory,' Trump said [of his call for NATO allies to help out in the Strait of Hormuz].” Now we're about to see if Trump's command will be obeyed: ~~~
~~~ Marc Caputo & Barak Ravid of Axios: Donald "Trump is working to assemble a coalition of countries to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and hopes to announce it later this week.... Trump is also weighing a seizure of Iran's critical oil depot on Kharg Island — a move that would require U.S. boots on the ground — if tankers remain bottled up in the Persian Gulf, U.S. officials say.... In a Truth Social post Saturday, Trump claimed the U.S. and several other countries will send warships to the Gulf to reopen commercial shipping, and called on China, France, Japan, South Korea and the U.K. to help.... Trump spoke Sunday with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the effort — a notable reversal after Trump said days earlier it was 'too late' for the U.K. to help.... No country has publicly committed yet, but a senior administration official said Trump expects some to announce their support this week, forming what the White House is calling a 'Hormuz Coalition.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Obviously, this would be something a leader would do before he started a war against a bad actor. Trump's pleading/demanding afterthought, especially after expressing no need for help from Great Britain, is embarrassing. It doesn't make the U.S. look weak; we are weak. ~~~
~~~ Ravi Mattu of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s call for some countries not involved in the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran to send ships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz has so far received cautious responses.... Here is how these nations have responded so far[.]” ~~~
~~~ John Bowden of the Independent: “Donald Trump is set to announce in the coming days the formation of an international coalition to escort commercial shipping vessels through the Strait of Hormuz as his war with Iran enters its third week. U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that the White House’s announcement of the group would come as soon as this week. But it was unclear whether those escort missions would begin before the Trump administration and Iran came to an agreement to end the war....”
Oh, Great. Jennifer Jacobs of CBS News: "U.S. intelligence has circulated to ... [Donald] Trump and to a small circle around him that Iran's late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had misgivings about his son replacing him, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. The analysis showed the elder Khamenei was wary of his son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, ever taking power because he was perceived as not very bright, and was viewed as unqualified to be leader, according to sources. The information gathered also indicated that the father was aware that his son had issues in his personal life.... The White House believes Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [-- not Khamenei --] is calling the shots, a significant change from the theocratic dictatorship that has existed since the country's 1979 revolution." MB: Anyway, kinda like if Donnie Junior became president*. (Also linked yesterday.)
Will Weissert of the AP: “In the two weeks since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran..., Donald Trump increasingly has been knocked on his political heels. He’s grown more agitated with news coverage and has failed to find a way to explain why he started the war — or how he will end it — that resonates with a public concerned by American deaths in the conflict, surging oil prices and dropping financial markets. Even some of his supporters are questioning his plan and his overall poll numbers are declining. Meanwhile, Moscow is getting a boost from the war’s early days after Trump eased sanctions on some Russian oil shipments. That, combined with rising oil prices, undercut the yearslong push to crimp President Vladimir Putin’s ability to wage war in Ukraine.”
As usual, Steve M. comes up with an unusual theory of something; in this case, it's Donald Trump's reason for attacking Iran: he "wants to be John Barron again." I expect Steve himself sees this as an oversimplification, but any theory that hinges on Trump's narcissism can't be all wrong.
Paul Krugman: "There’s a real Baghdad Bob feel to pronouncements from the Trump administration these days. The war is going great! We’ve been totally victorious! Also, other countries — including China! — must immediately send ships to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, which the U.S. Navy isn’t doing because it’s too dangerous. But this has been the pattern ever since Trump returned to power. Despite repeated failures to deliver on his campaign promises — remember how he was going to cut energy prices in half? — he and his minions have continually insisted that everything is wonderful, that everything they do is a triumphant success story.... Trump constantly insists ... that he took over a weak, despised nation and restored its international reputation. This is ... the total opposite of the truth.... The world increasingly holds America in contempt."
Heather Cox Richardson: "Today, as the country enters its third week of war against Iran..., Donald J. Trump was on the golf course.... Since he took office more than a year ago, Trump has gone out of his way to antagonize our allies and partners, warning them that the United States will act alone and working to undermine the international alliances the U.S. has shaped since World War II. Now, having sparked a regional war in the Middle East after ignoring what virtually everyone said would be the result of attacking Iran a second time, Trump is begging other countries to come to his aid." Richardson has more on the crazy stuff Trump said over the weekend and a few responses to it.
John Judis, in a column on NOVUS, borrows from Hegel to argue that Donald Trump is an historical, world-changing figure like Napoleon, Julius Caesar & Alexander the Great. MB: Funny Judis never mentions Hitler, who also accidentally changed the world order & ushered in the Pax Americana Trump has destroyed.
When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong. -- Will Creeley of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression ~~~
~~~ Dictator Don Approves FCC's Free-Press Crackdown. Scott Nover of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s threat to revoke broadcast licenses over news coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, calling media organizations 'Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic' in a Truth Social post. 'They get Billions of Dollars of FREE American Airwaves, and use it to perpetuate LIES, both in News and almost all of their Shows, including the Late Night Morons, who get gigantic Salaries for horrible Ratings,' Trump wrote.... Carr, in his Saturday post on X, warned he would deny or revoke government-issued licenses if broadcasters run what the agency deems “fake news.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump's post appears to be an example of his deepening dementia. It's true that he has never appreciated nor even understood the importance of a free press, but here he is lashing out at one type of media outlet accusing them of all manner of treachery just because he doesn't like what some few individuals in their news organizations may have reported about his war. This is a toddler in his high chair, wailing and tossing his whole dinner bowl at the wall because he doesn't like the mashed peas (and who does?). On top of that, Trump's insults are childish exaggerations, and his punctuation looks like the work of a child who has just been introduced to capital letters and doesn't know when to use them.
Just a Lucky Coincidence! Christopher Flavelle, et al., of the New York Times: “There is no indication that [Sen. Markwayne] Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who has said he speaks with Mr. Trump 'all the time,' had inside knowledge of the administration’s plans [to invade Venezuela] before [he made a large purchase of Chevron stock on December 29, five days before the invasion].... But Mr. Mullin’s financial dealings take on new importance this week as the Senate is set to consider his nomination to lead the Homeland Security Department.... Many prominent leaders, including Mr. Trump, have called for new limits on stock trading by lawmakers and their families.... The previous secretary, Kristi Noem, was ousted by Mr. Trump amid questions about conflicts of interest at D.H.S.
“Mr. Mullin’s frequent trading, which ramped up after he joined the Senate three years ago, has contributed to a level of personal wealth that has ballooned since he arrived in Washington in 2013 to represent an eastern Oklahoma House district. His assets were worth between $29 million and $97 million in 2024, according to his financial disclosure forms, compared with $2.8 million to $9 million in 2012.” (Also linked yesterday.) Update: the link has been changed to one that may be a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Wait, wait! What? Trump is concerned about the financial ethics of members of Congress?? Trump??? Must be a misprint. Anyhow, I'm sure Markwayne will begin doing even better when he becomes an official member of the kleptocracy.
Josh Marcus of the Independent: “An Afghan man who fought with U.S. forces and was legally evacuated to the U.S. after the fall of Kabul died this week within a day of being arrested by federal immigration officers in Texas, according to his family. The reported death would be at least the 24th in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody this fiscal year, which began in October. The administration is on track for the deadliest year in ICE detention in more than two decades. Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal, 41, was preparing to drive his kids to school in the Dallas area on Friday when agents in unmarked vehicles allegedly surrounded him and arrested him in front of his children. Later that day, the former Afghan special forces soldier contacted family members from ICE custody to say he wasn’t feeling well.... Around 11:45pm on Friday night, he was allegedly admitted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas. Around noon the following day, family members said they were informed he had died.... Paktyawal had been working at an Afghan bakery and had a pending asylum case, including a completed interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to #AfghanEvac.... Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac, an advocacy group... VanDiver is calling for an independent investigation into the death, and said he has little trust DHS will be transparent about the case....” (Also linked yesterday.) A Texas Tribune story is here.
Anthony Faiola & Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post on how Pope Leo, an American, navigates partisan politics. The papacy is a political job, and you can understand, in reading this article, how Leo (then Robert Francis Prevost) had the chops to get there.
The New York Times' list of Oscar winners (and nominees) is here.
25 comments:
IS it Just mE or do Fat Hitler’s dEmenTed poSts Look Like rAnsom nOtes? Nice WOrld yOu gOt…be a Shame If…
I watched the film “Nuremberg” last night. It was astonishing how much of the dialogue begins to remind one of the Trump Reich. If not at the same scale certainly, at least aspirationally. The use of the power of the state that to crack down on certain minorities, the employment of armed, violent thugs to carry out the orders of the Leader, and the ways judges and the media are compromised to assist that Leader.
Especially poignant were the words of Justice Robert Jackson (played by an excellent Michael Shannon) when stating the necessity of statesmen, of the leaders of nations to abide by the law. He points out that the requirements of the law make it incumbent upon all nations to not engage in or begin wars against other nations without just cause.
The fat man in the box, Hermann Goering, could easily be replaced by another fat man who is, this minute, demanding that other nations pick up arms and help him out in his unprovoked war of whim.
The sycophantic judgment of Fox News and the MAGAts in Congress and the media cheering on this illegal and unconstitutional aggression will surely be replaced by the much more stringent and clear eyed judgment of history.
He will never be in the box, but his actions will forever tarnish the United States and our place at this time in history.
Making America great again? Another vicious lie.
A sad, bad time for us all.
The Pretender's latest demented demand that other countries fix what he broke is no surprise from this man who never makes a mistake and whose massive bomb bullying of Iran has so far not had the success he expected. After all, why wouldn't other countries he's threatened, economically and militarily, rush to help him?
Second. thought as to the why of it all:
We all see the irony in the Pretender's pathetic pleas for help from people he has publicly wronged and humiliated but I suspect his acolytes don't. If I were to offer a morning psychological profile of our politics it would go something like this: Democrats can get out of their own heads and inhabit others, can see themselves as others see them, can see the humor in behavior that seems to contradict itself, and admit complications exist even if the they don't always comprehend their complexity.
Republicans are the other people.
As seen on Threads, James Talarico, at SXSW, responds to t****'s comments about him, calling him Beyond Woke
MAHAspital
Another Dismissal
"The Justice Department has moved to dismiss charges against an Army veteran who set fire to an American flag near the White House last year to protest President Donald Trump’s executive order on flag burning."
Quotas
"US immigration agents in Oregon used a custom-made app to identify neighborhoods and people to target, and had daily arrest quotas they sought to meet during operations, courtroom testimony has revealed. Details about ICE officers’ surveillance tools and arrest goals in the state have come to light in a federal lawsuit that compelled officers to answer questions under oath, offering a rare window into opaque, internal strategies that are generally kept secret and have been driving mass detentions and chaotic raids."
Banana Republics
"The Trump administration’s unprecedented military operation in Venezuela earlier this year that resulted in the capturing of President Nicolás Maduro was shaped, at least in part, by former Chevron executive Ali Moshiri, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday,
“The secret CIA assessment that called for Trump to side with Maduro’s longtime deputy, rather than the democratic opposition, was based on the advice of a former Chevron executive,” Vogel wrote in a social media post on X. “The oil company stands to profit from Trump’s decision to heed that advice.”"
Sinking to His Level
Fat Hitler makes everyone stupider just by being in his orbit.
"“Instead of fighting over a 21-mile-wide bottleneck forever,” [Newt] Gingrich wrote, “we cut a new channel through friendly territory.”
“A dozen thermonuclear detonations and you’ve got a waterway wider than the Panama Canal, deeper than the Suez, and safe from Iranian attacks,” Gingrich wrote. Gingrich’s post linked to an article that a community note called “satirical,” but Gingrich didn’t mention the humor angle in his post."
Another idea for getting the oil around the Strait of Hormuz.. So many creative ideas are following now that so many are giving it some thought. ;)
As seen on BlueSky, Rebecca Solnit observes that The New York Times writes about Mamdani like "he's...a woman": at least they can't say he should smile more .
This is a gift link to The New York Times article by Nicholas Fandos & Sally Goldenberg r=that she is writing about Behind Mamdani’s Smile, a Ruthless Operator
"In the year since Mr. Mamdani, 34, burst onto the city stage, he has eagerly played the part of happy warrior. Young, idealistic and self-deprecating, he appeared to soar right over New York’s famously cutthroat political culture on the path from obscurity to power.
But several incidents described by people close to him — including the previously unreported call with Mr. Ossé — offer a glimpse into another, equally consequential side of the new mayor often hidden by his omnipresent smile. What emerges is a pragmatic and cunning politician at the height of his powers and unafraid to use them — even if it means delivering a sharp elbow to old friends and compromising his ideological purity as a democratic socialist."
Chris Murphy
"I’m going to explain to you in this🧵what I’ve learned - in part from closed door briefings - about the four biggest current crises"
I agree with Fat Hitler for once, 'This completely inept and embarrassing Court was not what the Supreme Court of the United States was set up by our wonderful Founders to be,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. 'They are hurting our Country, and will continue to do so.'”
This is 100% true. Though he doesn't understand what the Supreme Court was set up to do or why it is an embarrassment now. And the majority of justices on the court now don't care that they are an embarrassment to the aspirations of the United States or that they have so perverted the levers of justice to make a mockery of all it stood for and was supposed to be.
Texas
"Anti-ICE protesters accused of being part of antifa found guilty of support for terrorism in Texas
Case was seen as major test of the first amendment and whether the US could use broad anti-terrorism statute to prosecute leftwing protesters
The case centered around a protest on the Fourth of July last year at the Prairieland detention center just outside of Fort Worth
It is undisputed that there was only one shooter, Song, but prosecutors said the event was a coordinated ambush in which the demonstrators used the fireworks to lure guards from the facility and police and then attack them. The defendants strongly disputed that, saying they planned for a peaceful protest that ultimately went awry"
Anyone else have the sense that this time the wheels are really coming off the clown car?
ProPublica
"They Didn’t Want to Have C-Sections. A Judge Would Decide How They Gave Birth.
A supervisor brought a tablet to Doyley’s bedside. Gathered on the screen were a judge in a black robe and several lawyers, doctors and hospital staff.
Doyley hadn’t asked for the hearing. The hospital had sought it. Doyley had mere minutes to prepare. She had no lawyer and no advocate — no one to explain to her what, exactly, was going on.
Judge Michael Kalil informed her that the state had filed an emergency petition at the hospital’s behest — not out of concern for Doyley, per se, but in the interest of her unborn child. He described the circumstances as “extraordinary.”
The hospital and state attorney’s office wanted to force Doyley to undergo a cesarean section. Doyley, a professional birthing doula, didn’t want that and had been firm about it. She’d had three prior C-sections, one that resulted in a hemorrhage, and hoped to avoid another serious complication and lengthy recovery."
I see the Pretender wants to close the Kennedy Center for two years because it had been "going to hell."
Maybe he thought the same thing about the Strait of Hormuz..."
I'm no architect but don't think it should take two years to convert the Kennedy Center to a WWF area...
Yeah Ken, unless someone can convince El Presidente that he has already "won" and get him to turn his focus to screwing up some other part of the world or US this will continue to be a dumpster fire. I'm scared for what this maniac will attempt next. The escalation this year has been ridiculous. And we know that there is no bottom with these idiots. They always find a way to sink lower and cause more suffering, always.
Hormuz Coalition
More wheels falling off?
https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/maga-turns-on-itself-and-its-ugly
I agree. It's impossible to predict what the demented POS will do and say next. And the fact that no one seems able to bring him down over the next episode of whatever while we are recovering from another one is scary. Right now he can start a war on his own, with no pushback from any of our institutions and he can sic his attack dogs (too many to name)on the parts he hasn't had time to destroy yet. I hope you have seen what is planned around the ballroom. He is running roughshod over all rules and zoning and committees and no one is pushing back. I'd say he has a fightin' chance of completely destroying 2026 and 2028, as well as making himself the memorial object of all that marble being trucked in. It's all more extensive than the arch, the ballroom and the destroyed white house. The Kennedy is toast also. Whoever wants totalitarianism has it now, not later.
Jeanne,
Hopefully they sell tickets for a chance to take a couple of wacks with a hammer at all the POS's monuments as part of the process of taking them down and tearing them apart. And a big party with singing and dancing as they broadcast around the world the demolition of all these pathetic shrines into rubble. And then perp walks into the court houses for all these criminals followed by them getting just as much due process as they have afforded to the rest of us.
As seen on Threads, from The Daily Show, Fight Flight Support Pilots
"Say goodbye to DEI in the sky with White Flight racial support pilots!"
The stupid decision every time.
"Trump pulled mine-sweepers from the Middle East and they’re sitting in Philadelphia as the Iran War rages
As President Donald Trump warns Iran against using mines to threaten oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. Navy’s purpose-built minesweepers are sitting stateside thousands of miles away with no plans to put them to use while the war rages on."
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