Eli Okun & Makayla Gray of Politico: “The world is holding its breath to see what happens in the war tomorrow. It’s a now-familiar tightrope walk after more than a month of war with Iran, as well as a year-plus of the Trump administration’s approach to Ukraine, Gaza, tariffs and more: U.S. threats of escalation against an adversary commingle with nods to diplomacy, a history of postponements and the prospect of an eleventh-hour deal. This moment is particularly perilous, after Trump’s Easter warning that he could unleash 'Hell' on Iran. And the war may shortly explode into a new phase. 'The entire country could be taken out in one night,' Trump just said at the White House, 'and that night might be tomorrow night.'” Emphasis original. ~~~
~~~ Alex Gangitano of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Monday said he couldn’t know if the war with Iran was ending , or escalating, ahead of his Tuesday 8 p.m. EDT deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.... He threatened again that if Iran doesn’t act, 'they’re going to have no bridges, they’re going to have no power plants— stone ages yeah.'” ~~~
~~~ Cheyanne Daniels of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Monday threatened to find and jail the journalist who first reported that a U.S. troop was awaiting rescue after his plane was shot down in Iran last week, unless that journalist revealed their source. Speaking from the White House, Trump said a 'leak' told an unidentified reporter that while one pilot had been rescued shortly after an F-15 fighter jet crashed in Iran on Friday, a second officer had not yet been found. Multiple news organizations had reported on the crash, and Trump on Monday vowed to find the leaker. 'We’re going to go to the media company that released it and we’re going to say, “national security, give it up or go to jail,’” Trump said. He added that the person who shared the information is 'a sick person.'” ~~~
~~~ Jeremy Barr of the Guardian: “Seth Stern ... [of] the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said: 'Journalists don’t work for the government and their right to publish government leaks is protected by the First Amendment which, despite Trump’s efforts, remains the law of the land, and does not disappear whenever the words “national security” are uttered. To the extent that the government is allowed to withhold information, it’s up to the government to keep its secrets, not journalists.'”
The following article is subscriber-firewalled, but the first several paragraphs are free. MB: I linked it for the headline: ~~~
~~~ “US Supreme Leader Threatens Death to Iran." Asawin Suebsaeng & Andrew Perez of Zeteo: “
Our president celebrated Easter by threatening some 'fuckin’' war crimes on Sunday morning, and then seemingly trolled Muslims in the Middle East by praising 'Allah' while issuing a threat to kill a ton of Iranian civilians.... Even a brief analysis of Donald Trump’s intimidation tactics these past few days would show that what he’s threatening is not the kind of war that vaguely adheres to any rules or laws. He’s making openly terroristic threats[.]... For decades, US politicians and media lost their collective minds over somebody in Iran saying, 'Death to America.' What ... Trump is doing and propagandizing now makes that three-word catchphrase sound like a schoolyard taunt.... Legacy media in this country have dramatically undersold the titanic depravity of what ... Trump is doing. The media is covering his social media threats as if he is simply moving a perfunctory deadline back 24 hours, from Monday to Tuesday, but what Trump is discussing is his own pledge to pointlessly commit war crimes against Iran’s civilians – who knows how many? Millions? Tens of millions? – by a certain time. That the American commander-in-chief is doing this in broad daylight is a scandal of monumental proportions.”Ernesto Londoño, et al., of the New York Times: “Almost immediately after an immigration agent shot and wounded a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis this winter, the federal government cast the injured man as an attempted murderer and the agent as the victim of a brutal beating. That version of events began unraveling when prosecutors dropped felony charges against the injured man, Julio C. Sosa-Celis, and one of his housemates, Alfredo A. Aljorna, who had fled from immigration agents. Yet video footage of the shooting, newly obtained by The New York Times [under an FOIA request], raises questions about why it took weeks for the government’s case to fall apart. The video contradicts the agent’s claim that three assailants had beaten him with a shovel and broom for roughly three minutes before he opened fire. Instead, the confrontation depicted in the video lasts about 12 seconds and shows two men struggling with the agent. It shows no sustained attack with a shovel. The federal government had access to that video within hours of the shooting on Jan. 14, the Minneapolis police chief said. Yet prosecutors did not watch the footage, an official said, until nearly three weeks after they filed charges against the two men.” The link appears to be a gift link.
Julian Mark & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “The Supreme Court on Monday cleared a path for Stephen K. Bannon’s effort, backed by the Justice Department, to dismiss his conviction for defying a congressional subpoena related to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. In a brief, unsigned order Monday morning, the court vacated a judgment by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding Bannon’s conviction. The high court sent the case back to the appeals court for reconsideration in light of a motion to dismiss that the Justice Department filed two months ago. Bannon, an influential right-wing podcaster and former chief strategist to ... Donald Trump, spent four months in prison in 2024 after a jury found him guilty on two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress. Bannon had refused to respond to demands for testimony and documents by a House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol, the jury found.” Update: the link is a gift link. An AP report is here.
~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the Iran war. From the pinned item at 4:20 am ET: “Israel and Iran traded strikes early Monday, a day after ... [Donald] Trump issued his latest ultimatum to Iran to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on its power plants and other civilian infrastructure. Mr. Trump, seemingly emboldened by the U.S. rescue of an American airman in Iran over the weekend, told Fox News on Sunday that he believed he could reach a deal with Iran by Monday. But he said he was 'considering blowing everything up' and taking control of the country’s oil if Iran did not cooperate.... [After issuing an expletive-laden (profane) post threatening to blow up Iran's infrastructure, h]e later wrote 'Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!' without elaborating.” ~~~
~~~ The AP's live updates are here. “The head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, was killed, according to Iranian state media. Israel claimed the killing Monday. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said: 'Iran’s leaders live with a sense of being targeted. We will continue to hunt them down one by one.' Israel and the United States carried out a wave of attacks on Iran on Monday, killing more than 25 people. Iran responded with missile fire on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors.”
Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times have more on the rescue of a downed U.S. airman: “In the end, Navy SEAL Team 6 commandos extracted the officer in a massive operation that involved hundreds of special operations troops and other military personnel. There were no U.S. casualties among the rescue team, Mr. Trump said. All the commandos and the weapons officer returned safely, a senior U.S. military official said. Rescue planes flew the injured airman to Kuwait for medical treatment.... Finding the downed airman, who had been hiding behind enemy lines with little more than a pistol as defense, had been the U.S. military’s highest priority over the last 48 hours. After ejecting from the F-15E, the officer hid in a mountain crevice, his location initially unknown to either Americans trying to rescue him, or Iranians trying to capture him. The C.I.A. initiated a deception campaign to try to confuse Iranian forces, and convince them the airman had already been rescued and was moving out of the country in a ground convoy, a senior administration official said. The agency also ultimately found the airman’s hiding place, passing the information on to the Pentagon, which mounted the rescue operation, the senior administration official said.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Greg Jaffe, et al., of the New York Times have more on the dramatic rescue. “This account of the weapons officer’s fight for survival and rescue is based on interviews with about a dozen current and former military and administration officials....”
~~~ Julian Barnes of the New York Times elaborates on the CIA's contribution. (Also linked yesterday.)
On Easter, the POTUS* Goes Nuts, Invoking Allah in His Promise to Commit Massive War Crimes. Hannah Knowles, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump escalated his threats to target Iran’s infrastructure if it does not open up the Strait of Hormuz, warning the country will be 'living in Hell' in an expletive-filled message on social media Sunday. He later suggested that the United States could target 'every power plant' in the country — an attack that experts warned could amount to war crimes. 'Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,' Trump wrote on ... his social media platform. 'There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.'... There is little sign Tehran and Washington are close to striking a deal to open the vital shipping route that Iran has effectively closed since the attacks began about five weeks ago.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Julia Manchester & Mallory Wilson of the Hill: Donald “Trump said in a brief phone interview with The Hill on Sunday that he is not ruling out ground troops in Iran if Tehran does not make a deal.... 'Normal people would make a deal. Smart people would make a deal,' the president said.” ~~~
~~~ digby notes that the media are sanewashing Trump's insane threats to commit crimes against humanity. MB: At least the New York Times let one reporter call out Trump's threats: ~~~
~~~ Here's the headline on a New York Times straight report by Edward Wong: “Trump Revels in Threats to Commit War Crimes in Iran.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Joe DePaolo of Mediaite: “Numerous Democratic lawmakers are questioning ... Donald Trump’s mental acuity — and some are even ramping up their calls for him to be removed from office via the 25th Amendment — following his stunning new threat to Iran.... 'These are the ravings of a dangerous and mentally unbalanced individual,' wrote Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in a post on X. 'Congress has got to act NOW. End this war.'... 'If I were in Trump’s Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment,” [Sen. Chris] Murphy [D-Conn.] wrote on X. 'This is completely, utterly unhinged. He’s already killed thousands. He’s going to kill thousands more.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Even MTG Is Stunned. Joe DePaolo of Mediaite: “Former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called out ... Donald Trump’s new threat against Iran in stunning fashion — claiming it shows 'he has gone insane.'... Greene wrote, in a post on X[,] 'Everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump’s madness. I know all of you and him and he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Josh Marshall of TPM: “The man is careening from one day to the next from ‘the Strait doesn’t matter’ to (alternatively) ‘not our problem/it will open itself’ to ‘I give you fucking two days or you’ll be living in hell. Of course, then, he has then repeatedly 'postponed' the day of destruction after encouraging talks with Iran leaders, talks which we then learn a few days later never occurred.... These are the words of a man who has spent a lifetime either TACOing or bullshitting his way out of messes suddenly coming up against an immovable object and at a moment when he already appears to be under some mix of extreme psychic strain and a more general senescent decompensation.” Marshall is betting that Saudi Arabia's effective leader Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), who planted a story in the New York Times that he told Trump to finish the job, is calling the shots. Marshall thinks Trump with TACO out of these latest threats. BUT ... "What it means is that this war is likely to last a lot longer than most people think.... I don’t think Trump can leave, even though he’s desperate to. That is the context in which we need to see these escalating rage tweets." ~~~
~~~ Paul Krugman is less sanguine: "America as we knew it may end Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Heather Cox Richardson joins the hair-on-fire brigade. She includes evidence that we've been here before, and that was when there were cooler, more intelligent heads around who were able to prevail against Trump's lunatic threats. ~~~
~~~ But don't worry, people. Life on this planet all hangs on ... Steve Witkoff!
~~~ Barak Ravid of Axios: "The U.S., Iran and a group of regional mediators are discussing the terms for a potential 45-day ceasefire that could lead to a permanent end to the war, according to four U.S., Israeli and regional sources with knowledge of the talks.... The sources said the chances for reaching a partial deal over the next 48 hours are slim. But this last-ditch effort is the only chance to prevent a dramatic escalation in the war that will include massive strikes on Iranian civilian infrastructure and a retaliation against energy and water facilities in the Gulf states.... [Donald] Trump's 10-day deadline to Iran was expected to expire Monday evening. But on Sunday, Trump extended his deadline by 20 hours and posted on Truth Social a new deadline of Tuesday at 8pm ET. Trump told Axios on Sunday that the U.S. is 'in deep negotiations' with Iran and that a deal can be reached before his deadline expires on Tuesday. 'There is a good chance, but if they don't make a deal, I am blowing up everything over there,' he said.... Four sources withknowledge of the diplomatic efforts said the negotiations are taking place through Pakistani, Egyptian and Turkish mediators and also through text messages sent between Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi." ~~~
~~~ Marie: So the chances of reaching even a partial deal "are slim," but somebody is placating Trump and keeping him from blowing up Iran by telling him a deal is within reach. How long is a person with the patience of a rabid rat going to fall for this ruse? ~~~
~~~ Here's the lead graf in the Daily Beast story about how Trump spent Easter Sunday, courtesy of Yahoo! News Canada: “Donald Trump, a Christian, opted to skip Easter service and instead went on a bizarre tour of Washington, D.C. The 79-year-old president spent Easter Sunday taking a 'ceremoniously slow' presidential motorcade tour around Memorial Circle — close to the Arlington Memorial Bridge, where he hopes to build an arch honoring himself, according to pool reports. During his travels, he also stopped at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.” A story by Hello! that follows on the Yahoo! Canada page goes on to offer more details on Trump's day of leisure.
~~~ MEANWHILE, Back at the Vatican... Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post: “Pope Leo XIV used his first Easter speech Sunday to deliver a resounding call for peace in times of renewed war, declaring, 'Let those who have weapons lay them down!... Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace!' Leo said. 'Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them! We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent. Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people.' The Chicago-born leader ... has amped up his vocal campaign to denounce violence in the Middle East while also seeming to push back against efforts by the Trump administration and its allies to harness religion and God in their framing of politics and war. This Easter is seen as especially portentous for the Vatican and the world’s largest Christian faith. Pope Francis died a day after greeting the crowds in St. Peter’s Square on Easter last year, and a new American pope is now navigating a global landscape upended by a White House that is unleashing military might overseas while embracing a nativist agenda at home — in words and deeds often seen by the Vatican as challenging the tenets of Catholicism.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Top Trump Administration Officials Unaware of First Amendment. David Crary of the AP: “Numerous previous presidents have issued statements in recognition of Easter Sunday. This year, the Trump administration went a step farther, with several key Cabinet departments heralding Christ’s resurrection on their official social media accounts. 'He is risen,declared the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department. The Defense Department shared a post on X from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: 'The tomb is empty. The promise is fulfilled. Through His sacrifice, we are redeemed. We stand firm in faith, courage, and truth.' The Justice Department also chimed in on X.... The overall tradition, widely adhered to over the decades, has been for presidents and their administrations to honor the constitutional separation of church and state, and avoid a clearcut favoring of one faith over others.”
Still Meaner Than a Junkyard Dog. Zolan Kanno-Youngs, et al., of the New York Times: Despite DHS's missteps and murders, “there is little sense inside the administration that [Stephen] Miller [-- the architect of the catastrope --] has lost his standing with Mr. Trump. Far from acknowledging defeat, Mr. Miller appears to have simply adjusted his strategy in an effort to minimize political fallout.... Mr. Miller, who holds the dual titles of deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser, continues to preside over regular calls with national security and immigration officials. He is pushing for new ways to squeeze the lives of undocumented immigrants and those with legal protections, such as making it harder to get public housing or other benefits, officials said. He has targeted those with refugee status, particularly Somalis, a group he has long derided. He is also putting the finishing touches on a rule to block green cards for immigrants who might need public assistance, according to White House officials.” ~~~
~~~ Thank You for Your Service. Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: “A U.S. Army staff sergeant and his wife arrived at his base in Louisiana last week, expecting to begin their life together as newlyweds.... [But] Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the base and detained his wife, an undocumented Honduran immigrant who was brought to the U.S. as a toddler. By nightfall, she was in a detention facility with hundreds of women facing deportation as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The detention came just days after Annie Ramos, 22, a college student with no criminal record, and Matthew Blank, 23, celebrated their marriage with family and friends.... When U.S. citizens marry undocumented immigrants, their spouses become eligible for legal permanent residency through marriage, and they can apply for citizenship three years after receiving their green card.... [Margaret Stock, an expert on immigration law and the military,] said the military would typically have allowed Ms. Ramos to get her military ID and told the couple to file their immigration papers.... On Saturday, [Sergeant Blank] and his mother traveled to the detention center ... with the completed form to apply for Ms. Ramos’s green card. It only needed her signature. Guards barred them from bringing anything inside.”
~~~~~~~~~~
17 comments:
Krugman couldn't be more clear:
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-terrorist-in-chief
Years ago, during my early Stephen King phase, I read one of his most enjoyable (and unfortunately, prophetic) novels, 'The Dead Zone". The villain in this novel is just as scary as the nastiest, weirdest monsters King ever fashioned out of whole fear cloth: a Trump-like nut job narcissist who becomes president by pretending to be a man of the people. He is also a religious fanatic who claims god works through him. Even though Trump doesn't specifically claim this, the religious zealots he surrounds himself with do, even suggesting that his sufferings make him akin to Jesus. Fat Hitler, who already fancies himself the greatest president in history, must thoroughly enjoy being considered a god like figure.
And not to belabor the point (watch the clip), Fatty, very much like the insane politician in King's novel, has no compunction about murdering millions if he believes it would redound to his personal glory (look at all the Americans he killed during Covid).
We are way beyond the point of considering thinking like this to be wild pearl clutching by weenie ass liberals. Trump is so far around the bend, he can see his fat ass up ahead of him. And unlike the reticent Secretary of Defense in this clip, were Fatty to demand that Drunk Pete assist him in the use of nuclear weapons, there would be no reticence. There has been a steady dismantling of the core group of adults at the Pentagon who would oppose such insanity.
Back in the 60s at the height of the Cold War, a number of films were produced that warned of nuclear armageddon, "Dr. Strangelove", and "Fail Safe", and another, "Seven Days in May", which considered the possibility of a coup initiated in order to increase the possibility of nuclear war. As scary as those films were, they were still fiction. We have never been as close to a true dead zone as we are this very hour.
Ken,
Krugman hopes that there are at least a few true (as opposed to MAGA) patriots left on the right side of the aisle. Sorry, Paul. There's no one there who isn't a craven grifter or a craven traitor. None of them will stand up to the colicky infant now throwing his baby food all over the room.
Fat Hitler's problem today is that he has been so used to being able to bully and bluff and lie his way out of trouble that he has no idea what to do when that shit doesn't work anymore. His ignorance and stupidity are typically offset by his aggressive bullying tactics, but no more. He simply has no idea what and who he is dealing with in Iran. The Iranian leadership has been gearing up for this sort of thing for decades. They are not giving in to a fat bully, and they especially will not give in if it looks like they're caving to Israel as well. They would rather burn and die. Like most cowardly bullies, Fatty has no clue how to handle someone who stands up to him, who gives him the finger when he screams at them, who punch back when he shoves them. And now he is afraid. He is really afraid. He is afraid of looking weak and stupid, of being laughed at as the fraud he is. His only recourse is to scream louder. But he also has control of a nuclear arsenal and don't think he hasn't considered nuking Tehran.
But he is, at heart, a coward, so there is always the real possibility that he will TACO his way out of this. His problem is how does he make it seem like someone else is to blame. How does he pin all this on someone else? It's way too late to leave the field and declare victory. Iran still controls the Strait. They still have stranglehold on 20% of the world's oil and the global price of 100% of that resource. And there's nothing a fat bully can do about it. Even if he declares the war over and himself the glorious victor, Iran still wins.
Someone will have to pay for this insanity, and we all know who never picks up the check.
"nobody has ever seen anything like it!!!". Unfortunately, the tv is on and FH is jabbering word salad with lots of exclamation points!!!! (and at least one threat). ....pause to find the remote....Turning to Jared Yates Sexton instead, in Dispatches From A Collapsing State, to read that we are Leaderless at the Limits of Empire,
"Simply put, capitalism as an economic force works in a predictable fashion. It leaps from host to host like a parasite or a possessing demon, fuses with the host in order to carry out its desires, this symbiosis benefits the host at first until the needs of the host and capitalism begin to differ, and then, as the decline ensues, capitalism jumps to the next waiting body. The United States took over for Great Britain following the destruction of Europe during the war and, from there, our standing as the dominant militarized society allowed capitalism to 1. eliminate opponents and alternatives 2. secure an international system of trade and exploitation that depowered organized labor, trapped billions in oppressive regimes and labor 3. normalize dictatorial violence by authoritarians and extralegal manipulation by intelligence agencies in order to smooth out any frictions in that system 4. redistribute tens of trillions of dollars in America alone from the working and middle classes to a select few oligarchs 5. leverage historical inequality and concentration of wealth to whittle away at liberal democracy and representative government in order to bolster antidemocratic momentum and 6. prepare conditions for the movement away from liberal democracy and the nation state as bedrocks of order and toward the next step in capitalist evolution, likely an autocratic state of play in which transnational corporations and oligarchs work alongside multi-polar powers as the next host, likely China, is prepared"
A little inside baseball....
So much crap hits the wall every day that it's impossible to dig very deep into each horror as the days pass, but it's useful to do so if time permits.
The other day I heard the wonderful ladies on the Sisters-in-Law podcast deconstruct the arguments made on behalf of the racist-hater-in-chief over his attempt to tear up the 14th Amendment.
The way this works is we read about a Fat Hitler attempt to do A, then it goes to court at some point, and a judge or several judges, or as in this case, the Supine Court justices, say either yea or nay, then we read about the outcome. What we don't typically get is the play by play, the inside baseball if you will, of how it all played out. This is what was offered by Joyce Vance, Barb McQuade, Jill Wine-Banks, and Kimberly Atkins Stohr.
The biggest takeaways, for me, aside from the appearance of the fat bully who showed up to try to browbeat "his" Justices into doing his bidding then storming out as the ACLU lawyer began her presentation to the Court (the height of disrespect and oafishness), were two tricks tried by Fatty's Solicitor General, John Sauer, who tried mightily to persuade the Court to disembowel birthright citizenship.
One trick was this: "Look guys, no other country in the world does this. Loads of other countries take a dim view of birthright citizenship."
As Joyce Vance pointed out, this line of reasoning has long been a huge no-no to the Heritage and Federalist legal people, and, quite frankly to Justices like Alito and Thomas. Under no circumstances should an argument be made involving US law that references what any other country does. Who cares what they think or do? Fuck them. But he tried it anyway.
The other magic trick he tried was inserting new language into the Constitution. And this is something plenty of PoT hacks have been shouting about for some time, especially in the Traitor ecosystem. It's not enough for the parents of these babies to be physically present in the US at the time of birth, those immigrants/visitors/what have you, MUST be both domiciled here permanently OR demonstrate unquestionable loyalty to the United States.
Um...okay. But as the Sisters pointed out, nowhere in the Constitution does it say anything about these new requirements. Not only that, but if you consider that the majority of this Supine Court consider themselves strict constructionists, textualists, originalists, how is it that they would be perfectly fine with adding new words to the document, even in order to please the Dear Leader?
One more funny bit about that texualist canard (because that's what it is). As Kim Atkins Stohr suggested, armed robbery, if you want to remain originalist, should only be considered that if someone gets stuck up with a single shot musket, Glocks, AKs and any sort of firearm created after 1789 would not be recognized by the founders.
Anyway, the bottom line here is the lengths to which Trump has corrupted everything and everyone around him. He is a toxic scourge who lashes out at everything around him when he doesn't get what he wants. And a little inside baseball especially in vitally important Supreme Court oral arguments demonstrates the depths to which everyone in his orbit must sink in order to pump up his ignorant ass.
I know it's naive to think that when he's gone things will be better. We will still have scumbags and the MAGA horde who thrive on hatred and hypocrisy, but Jesus, it will feel so much better when this fat prick is back out on the street for good.
The Next Coup Attempt
"We are seven months away from the most consequential midterm election in the history of the United States. Meanwhile, we are fighting a war. These are the structural conditions for a coup attempt in which a president tries to nullify elections and take permanent power as a dictator...
Trump is surrounded by people who are making money from the war; each day of war strengthens a warmongering lobby with personal access to the president. As the war lengthens, the chance that it will be exploited for a coup attempt increases.
Trump tells us that he is chiefly concerned with the permanence of his own comfort and power (think about ballroom and bunker), much of which he will lose when his party is defeated decisively in the midterms. He regularly declares his intention to meddle in the elections. His party backed a bill which would have turned elections into a sham. Trump wants to increase the defense budget by nearly 50% without any review of what the money is for; this is strategic nonsense, and has to be understood as a payoff for the men who, as he imagines, will help him install a dictatorship. Hegseth is meanwhile purging the highest officer ranks of people of principle.
It is up to us to put two and two together: Trump will seek to exploit the war (or the next one) to alter the elections. We bear responsibility for what comes next."
He's telling us what he wants to do. He's already tried it once, and this time the stakes are much higher. He WILL try this, no matter how much the corporate media sanewashes his insane screeds. It's coming. and right soon.
Wendy,
Talking about China, Fat Hitler's war is certainly empowering Russia by pouring billions into Putin's coffers, but he is giving a much bigger boost to China. Currently, China is helping Iran through various channels, including economically. But Trump's war is providing China with the perfect platform to Beta test it's imaging and surveillance software leading to improvements in these military systems for future conflicts, possibly even against the US.
"Chinese geospatial artificial intelligence and software company MizarVision, which the Chinese government has a small ownership stake in, has been publishing detailed satellite images with tagging data of multiple US military sites in the lead-up to, and during, the Iran war.
The imagery showcases an AI tool that identifies and tags military forces across vast areas, a capability that once required the resources of a national intelligence agency.
The Pentagon believes the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is using the AI-enhanced satellite imagery to help target sites, according to a source within the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the intelligence branch of the American military."
So not only has he denigrated, debased, and severely diminished American standing in the world, attacked allies and helped enemies, he has provided both China and Russia with the opportunity to make money and improve their military capabilities at our expense, all while creating an international economic crisis. All so he can feel like a big man, not the cowardly bully and fraud he really is.
The astonishing incompetence of this fat moron and his circle of idiots surpasses all understanding.
How long before some Fat Hitler-MAGA nut revives a serious (and seriously psycho) plan from the 60s to use atomic bombs to Nuke the Strait!
No kidding. This was an idea once promoted by none other than Newt (the Philandering Historian) Gingrich.
"With the world struggling to get oil supplies moving from the Middle East, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich raised eyebrows with a social media post highlighting a radical idea: Use nuclear bombs to cut a new channel along a route that would avoid Iranian threats in the Strait of Hormuz."
"Instead of fighting over a 21-mile-wide bottleneck forever, 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" wrote Gingrich, the old bomb thrower, on X."
Just like that!
This might have been a bit of a joke, but at one point, this was considered a good idea.
None other than Edward Teller, Father of the Hydrogen Bomb, once suggested using nukes to open a new waterway in the Middle East when the Suez Canal was closed off in the 1950s. He called his idea "Project Plowshare".
"Project Plowshare advocates, led by Teller, sought to use what they called 'peaceful nuclear explosions' to reduce the costs of large-scale earthmoving projects and to promote national security. They envisioned a world in which nuclear explosives could help extract natural gas from underground reservoirs and build new canals, harbors and mountainside roads, with minimal radioactive effects.
To kick-start the program, Teller wanted to create an instant harbor by burying, and then detonating, five thermonuclear bombs in an Indigenous village in coastal northwestern Alaska."
Can't you just imagine Fatty's idiot hacks demanding that we use nukes in Alaska to dig up more oil?
Luckily, this idea was shitcanned, but what with the moronocracy now in power, who knows whether this plan might not be resurrected?
"I would like to try cake"
"Top Doctor Sounds Alarm on Trump, 79, Over ‘Dementia Signs’
MS NOW medical analyst Dr. Vin Gupta has sounded the alarm about President Donald Trump’s health following Trump’s incendiary Easter Sunday Truth Social post."
Fragility of Democracy
"In the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington quietly removed from its website educational resources about American racism and canceled a workshop about the “fragility of democracy.”"
Public Notice
Trump's war crime campaign explained
"Trump Slashed Science Funding. Now the U.S. Could Face a Costly Brain Drain.
The White House’s attacks on academia and budget cuts for research have provided an opening for other countries to poach leading scientists."
“without a reversal, the cuts to science could shrink the U.S. economy by nearly $1 trillion over 10 years. That could leave the U.S. lagging behind China, which is investing heavily in research.”
But authoritarians gonna authoritarian.
"At Fairhope’s recent [from last year] No Kings rally, a grandmother showed up in a 7-foot-tall inflatable penis costume she’d bought at a Halloween costume store. Renea Gamble, 62, an ASL interpreter, was arrested by officer Andrew Babb, a corporal with the Fairhope Police.
Gamble asks Babb twice if she is being detained. He ignores her and continues his scolding.
“If I’m not being detained, I’m gonna go ahead and leave,” Gamble says. Babb tackles and handcuffs her, etc., etc. Video captures police trying to stuff a handcuffed , 7-foot inflatable penis into a squad car.
Instead, the city of Fairhope doubled down. Rather than dropping the case, the city attorney slapped Gamble with additional charges earlier this year: disturbing the peace and giving a false name to law enforcement. Her trial, first set to take place months ago, has been delayed multiple times. It is now set for April 15."
"RNC Sues To Strip Voting Rights From Those OverseasA new lawsuit filed Monday by the Republican National Committee (RNC) seeks to strip voting access from a group of U.S. citizens living abroad. It’s the GOP’s latest move in its growing campaign against overseas voters. The complaint targets a longstanding Virginia law that allows Americans living overseas to vote using a parent’s last address in the state — even if they themselves have never lived there.
The case mirrors — and expands on — similar Republican efforts in Michigan, Arizona and other states signaling a coordinated push to eliminate voting rights for certain overseas U.S. citizens ahead of the 2026 midterms."
At the Easter Egg Roll.
"A PBS cameraman appeared to capture a printout of President Donald Trump's "Arc de Trump" vision for Memorial Circle in Washington, D.C."
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