Sunday, March 1, 2026
Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 2. Quand les riches font la guerre, ce sont les pauvres qui meurent Edition.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
Quand les riches font la guerre, ce sont les pauvres qui meurent.
Jean Paul Sartre
February 8, 2026.
Russo Ukrainian War
The administration of Demented Don the pretend President, who is going to end the Russo Ukrainian War within 24 hours of his being nominated for President in 2023, and who has ended eight wars but hasn't since he was elected to serve an office he's not constitutionally qualified to hold, has given the warring parties until June to wrap the war up.
By June there's a good chance he'll be in a nursing home pointing out to the nurses where the ballroom will be built.
February 15, 2026
February 28, 2026
United States and Israel v. Iran
Americans are waking up this morning to find that Donald Trump and Bibi Netanyahu have launched an undeclared, and hence form the U.S. prospective, an illegal war against Iran. Missile strikes have already hit all over Iran which have been, so far as we can tell, ineffectual, and Iran has already hit back, hitting Israel, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.
Trump made a late night statement in which he sounded like an inarticulate grade schooler. The supposed basis of launching the war was that Iran posed a grave threat to the U.S. Wearing a trucker's cap, the appearance of being a toddler was fully effectuated.
The text of his message was:
A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.
Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world. For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted death to America and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder, targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries.
Among the regime's very first acts was to back a violent takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, holding dozens of American hostages for 444 days. In 1983, Iran's proxies carried out the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American military personnel.
In 2000, they knew and were probably involved with the attack on the USS Coal. Many died. Iranian forces killed and maimed hundreds of American service members in Iraq. The regime's proxies have continued to launch countless attacks against American forces stationed in the Middle East in recent years, as well as US naval and commercial vessels in international shipping lanes.
It's been mass terror. And we're not going to put up with it any longer. From Lebanon to Yemen and Syria to Iraq, the regime has armed, trained and funded terrorist militias that have soaked the earth with blood and guts.
And it was Iran's proxy Hamas that launched the monstrous October 7 attacks on Israel, slaughtering more than 1,000 innocent people, including 46 Americans, while taking 12 of our citizens hostage. It was brutal. Something like the world has never seen before.
Iran is the world's number one state sponsor of terror and just recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested. It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I'll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon.
That is why in Operation Midnight Hammer last June, we obliterated the regime's nuclear program at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. After that attack, we warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons. And we sought repeatedly to make a deal. We tried. They wanted to do it, they didn't want to do it again. They wanted to do it, they didn't want to do it, they didn't know what was happening. They just wanted to practice evil.
But Iran refused, just as it has for decades and decades. They rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions. And we can't take it any more. Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long-range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas and could soon reach the American homeland.
Just imagine how emboldened this regime would be if they ever had and actually were armed with nuclear weapons as a means to deliver their message.
For these reasons, the United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests. We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally, again, obliterated. We are going to annihilate their navy. We are going to ensure that the region's terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces and no longer use their IEDs, or roadside bombs, as they are sometimes called, to so gravely wound and kill thousands and thousands of people, including many Americans.
And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. It's a very simple message. They will never have a nuclear weapon. This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States Armed Forces. I built and rebuilt our military in my first administration.
And there is no military on Earth even close to its power. Strength or sophistication. My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to US personnel in the region. Even so, and I do not make this statement likely, the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now, we're doing this for the future. And it is a noble mission.
We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran. We ask God to protect all of our heroes in harm's way. And we trust that with his help, the men and women of the armed forces will prevail.
We have the greatest in the world. And they will prevail.
To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity. Or, in the alternative, face certain death. So lay down your arms. You will be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face certain death.
Finally, to the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.
For many years you have asked for America's help, but you never got it. No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight. Now you have a president who is giving you what you want. So let's see how you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach.
This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.
May God bless the brave men and women of America's armed forces. May God bless the United States of America. May God bless you all. Thank you.
Promising the Iranians freedom (while working at home to take it from Americans), is a pretty big promise that can only be effectuated by actually invading the country. If he's hoping to spark a domestic revolution, he's delusional.
Some other commentators:
Task & Fury:
US launches ‘major combat operations’ against Iran
American and Israeli warplanes bombed Tehran Saturday as Trump promised to “obliterate” Iran’s missile program in Operation Epic Fury.
Phillips O'Brien:
The USA And Israel Have Started Bombing Iran: A Primer
What Do We Know, What Should We Be Asking?, For What Should We Be Watching
Cont:
Apparently Israel attempted to directly take out the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the President of Iran, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, crossing a line that warring states do not cross. Targeting the actual head of a foreign country is extremely rare, although the US did, unsuccessfully, with Khadafi.
This is a profoundly bad move.
The thought probably was that if the regime was decapitated, it'd spark a revolution Maybe it would have, but it failed and now Iran will have every incentive to target Netanyahu and Trump. I suspect that Netanyahu would be extremely difficult for Iran to target but Trump, while difficult, would be less so. US leaders have nearly been hit before in a political targeting, that being Truman, and perhaps arguably both Kennedys.
The Allies didn't target Hitler during World War Two. The Nazis didn't target any Allied leader. The Allies didn't target the Japanese leadership. The US and RVN never attempted to kill the heads of North Vietnam. This was a really bad move.
March 1, 2026
United States and Israel v. Iran
Raisi was in fact killed in a raid that clearly was calculated to decapitate the Iranian regime and which hit other key Iranian figures. Cheering could be heard in Tehran when the news broke.
The war is continuing on, however. And the big question is now what. The U.S. and Israel have committed both countries, and more particularly the US, to a war of regime change, something Republicans were supposedly against in the post Bush era. The Iranian regime is a bad one, to be sure, but in order to topple it, now, its going to require boots on the ground.
Rest assured, none of those boots will be filled by Trumps.
So here we have an interesting set of existential issues. Trump has committed the country to a war illegally, and completely contrary to what the MAGAs claim they stand for. The Iranian regime is, and let's be clear, still is, a terrible one and has been since the 1970s, but no prior Western nation sought to topple it by armed force. And the US and Israel have killed the head of state, which opens up retaliatory moves of the exact same character.
Given Trump's mental state, moreover, it's really unlikely that any of this was his idea. So whose was it?
Mad King Donny, as an aside, was posting stupid tweets.
Wars end, when the party that was attacked decides they are over. The Iranian regime has little incentive to end this one.
Last edition:
Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 1. The Return of the Neo Con Edition.
Friday, March 1, 1946. Things that almost were.
Kim Il Sung, was saved from an assassination attempt when Red Army officer Y.T. Novichenko caught a hand grenade thrown at him.
Operation Coronet, the invasion of Honshu, was planned to commence on this day.
Bombshell actress Lana Wood, sister of Natalie Wood, was born.
Last edition:
Thursday, February 28, 1946. Ho Chi Minh asks Truman for help.
Labels: 1930s, 1938, 1939, 1940s, 1946, Franklin Roosevelt, French Indochina, French Indochinese War, Harry S. Truman, Ho Chi Minh, Hungary, Vietnam
Wednesday, March 1, 1916. Submarines in fleet actions. Villa kidnaps a family.
Villistas entered the ranch of Maud and Ed Wright and kidnapped the Wrights, their two year old son, and Frank Hayden, a guest. The Villistas killed Ed and Frankly, but would spare Maude and Johnny. During the ordeal Maude heard them discussing their intended raid on Columbus, New Mexico.
Maude would be kept in captivity right through the raid.
Germany commenced using submarines in fleet actions.
Last edition:
Monday, February 28, 1916. The death of Gregorio Cortez.
Wednesday, March 1, 1876. The Big Horn Expedition commences.
Today In Wyoming's History: March 1: Gen. George Crook left Ft. Fetterman bound for the Powder River basis with a command that was to search for Sioux who were off the Reservation.
Ft. Fetterman had the reputation of being one of the worst forts to be stationed at in the Frontier West, and it had the highest insanity rate of any U.S. military post at the time.
Last edition:
The Best Post of the Week of February 22, 2026. The launching an illegal war edition.
The week in which King Donny launched the third illegal military action of his second short term.
Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 1. The reap what you sow edition.
Friday, February 22, 1946. The Long Telegram.
Last edition:
The Best Posts of the Week of February 15, 2026. The tantrum edition.
Saturday, February 28, 2026
Thursday, February 28, 1946. Ho Chi Minh asks Truman for help.
Putative President of Vietnam Ho Chi Minh telegrammed President Truman and asked him to dissuade France from returning troops to French Indochina. Truman did not reply.
Ho in 1946.
FDR would have almost certainly taken the opposite position from Truman, who supported France, and quietly have opposed France resuming colonial occupation of Indochina.
Ho was, of course, a Communist, so the rosy spin on the historical counterfactual here probably isn't all that warranted.
Béla Imrédy, age 54, former Prime Minister of Hungary from 1938 to 1939, was executed by firing squad for collaboration with the Nazis.
Last edition:
Wednesday, February 27, 1946. What is Russia up to now?
Monday, February 28, 1916. The death of Gregorio Cortez.
If the authority to make an arrest is wanting, the person attempting such arrest is in the wrong and a trespasser, and the person so arrested can resist him, regardless of his knowledge that the arrest was illegal.
Judge Henderson, Cortez v. State, 44 Tex. Crim. 169
Folk hero Gregorio Cortez Lira died in Manor, Texas.
A legend due to the large manhunt that followed an incident concerning a horse, which lead to violence, he was only forty years old at the time of his death of unknown causes. That event, which lead ultimately to a conviction for manslaughter and horse theft, with two life sentences, had ultimately seen the convictions as his claims of self defense came to be accepted.
The incident arose out of a poor understanding of the Spanish words for horses.
The excellent film The Ballad Of Gregorio Cortez details the events.
Cortez lived on both sides of the border, and was a tenant farmer and vaquero by trade. He'd fought in the Mexican Revolution for Huerta.
The British took Sidi Barrani, which had been held by the Senussi, with no resistance.
Last edition:
Sunday, February 27, 1916. Mud at Verdun.
Thursday, February 28, 1901. Wars proving easier to start, than stop.
Negotiations took place at Middleburg between Lord Kitchener and Boer General Louis Botha.
They would fail.
The Army established the Army Nurse Corps.
The all female Army branch reflected a growing societal emphasis on professionalism as well as the growing role of women in society.
The United States Congress rejected the proposed agreement that had been signed by the United States Department of the Interior with the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, and negotiations had to begin again.
Chemist Linus Pauling was born in Portland Oregon.
Last edition:
Tuesday, February 26, 1901. Boxer executions.
Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 2. The "War, what's it good for?" edition.
February 28, 2025
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, uhh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Edwin Starr. War, 1970.
Oil is at $67.29.
It'll go up over the next several days with the US and Israel ineffectually rocketing Iran, and Iran ineffectually rocketing the entire Arabian Peninsula in a war that's going to get much, much, worse.
War, what's it good for? Well it's good for raising the prices of everything, that's for sure.
A local headline:
Company eyes Wyoming for massive crude oil pipeline
Pipelines create a lot of work while they're being built, although usually the pipeliners are from out of state.
Last edition:
Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 1. The reap what you sow edition.
Friday, February 27, 2026
Lex Anteinternet: The 2026 Election, 5th Edition, part two: The Saddle Up Edition
.jpg)
Lex Anteinternet: The 2026 Election, 5th Edition: The Saddle Up Edit...: The last edition of this was already sufficiently confusing that a new one is in order. In this one, when we list the candidates to start wi..
February 27, 2026
For some reason, this thread won't update, so were on to a part two of it. This same glitch impacts a few other threads on the site as well.
The news to post is that David Giralt, combat veteran, is promising to be the biggest Trump stooge in the GOP if elected to the House, which now means that Chuck Gray, whose never really had a job, has to compete with somebody who has, for complete sycophant status.
Gray's released television ads, by the way, featuring himself in rural settings and promising a bunch of things won't happen on his watch, including men in girls sports, and "woke" wind projects, an easy promise to make as that's already been addressed. He even went out and bought a Western cut wool shirt, which now means he gets to be subjected to Yeoman's questions, including "Chuck, would you like to ride this horse. . . "
In something really disturbing, it's been revealed that executive orders have been prepared for Trump to try to take over the 2026 election. He will try it. If he succeeds, that's the end of American democracy.
Cont:
Gray took time out of his busy job of stamping UCC filings to shovel some s*** about the State of the Union address:
Secretary Gray Releases Statement Applauding President Trump’s State of the Union Address
CHEYENNE, WY – Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray has released the following statement applauding President Trump’s State of the Union Address: “President Trump’s State of the Union was an absolute masterclass triumph. President Trump discussed the tremendous accomplishments of his administration in unleashing American innovation and prosperity with an America First agenda.He has brought our economy roaring back. As we approach our 250th anniversary, President Trump also discussed the courage and perseverance of the American people with tremendous introductions of American patriots.And when the radical Left refused to stand and acknowledge that American citizens should come first, the truth was laid bare for all to see. The radical Left is out of control and outrageously wrong. But the silent majority will continue to stand for common sense policy that puts America First!”
Gray is probably hoping for Don to endorse him. Nobody really gives a rat's ass what the Wyoming Secretary of State thinks about a State of the Union address.
As a nearly random observation, any time anyone tags a private enterprise project to National Defense, it's a complete money loser.
An email from Rep. Hageman is doing that with "clean coal". Secretary of Defense Hegseth just said the same thing.
Horse hockey. Coal quit being relevant to national defense the moment the Royal Navy switched to oil.
Highways, I'd note, were the same way. We built the Interstate Highway system as states couldn't afford to do it and nobody could compete with rail "Needed for defense". Oh bull. The military still ships by rail.
This is always just a way to prop something up with Federal money or a Federal program. Some claim that's why the Air Force bought Studebaker trucks just before Studebaker went belly up, or why the service bought Dodge trucks for so many years, and mind you I like Studebaker and Dodge trucks.
The 2026 Wyoming Legislature, Part 5. The Ignorant don't realize how ignorant they really are edition.
Week three, and we get this:
Courthouses of the West: After abortion ruling, lawmaker tries to deny Wyom...: After abortion ruling, lawmaker tries to deny Wyoming court security funding The House struck down Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams’ amendmen...
Californian Rachel Rodriguez-Williams likely wasn't around when far right paranoia caused the constitutional amendment which set this situation up, so she isn't personally to blame for the abortion ruling.
But the Republican Party in Wyoming, is. Like the Soviet submariner officer, in The Hunt For Red October, what rank and file Republicans ought to be saying is "You arrogant ass, you killed us!"
The WFC, we'd note, is still attacking UW's budget.
Donald Trump's biggest fan took a blow:
February 25, 2026
Wyoming Freedom Caucus fills House negotiating team tasked with bridging $170M budget gap
Great, the Carpet Bagger Caucus that would return Wyoming to 1860 South Carolina will be a major say in the budget once again.
Cont:
Opinion: Wyoming Doesn’t Need Saving
February 26, 2026
I didn't even know that this blatantly unconstitutional bill sponsored by carpetbagging Chuck Gray" had been around:
Voting ban proposal for certain dual citizens dies
February 27, 2026
The Bextel Bucks hearing commenced with Bextel using the Confederate Caucus claim that "there's Republicans pretending to be Democrats in here" as some sort of excuse before Art Washut graveled her down.
In her defense, that's true. She is one. So is Bear. So is Allemand. So are all the of the Freedom Caucus. They're not Republicans, they're Dixiecrats through and through.
February 28, 2026
Some good news:
Lawmakers restore most UW funding in unified budget, including $40M block grant
And the Confederate Caucus may complain about the fact that they were such moronic idiots they took checks on the House floor and got caught:
Last edition:
The 2026 Wyoming Legislature, Part 4. The Held Up Edition
Wednesday, February 27, 1946. What is Russia up to now?
Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal lifted restrictions on assignments for Black sailors.
Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg delivered his "What is Russia up to now" speech in which he criticized the Truman Administration's policy of cozying up to the Soviet Union.
Who would guess that 80 years later the GOP President would have the biggest crush possible on the leader of Russia? But then who would guess that the GOP would evolve into a party of sycophantic stooges?
Truman asked Herbert Hoover to help convince Americans to aid in worldwide famine relief.
Last edition:
Friday, February 22, 1946. The Long Telegram.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)