Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 5. Oh oh, it didn't work. Now What? The Pearl Harbor 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.

What do we mean by the defeat of the enemy?  Simply the destruction of his forces, whether by death, injury, or any other means—either completely  or enough to make him stop fighting. . . .  The complete or partial destruction of the enemy must be regarded as the sole object of all engagements. . . .  Direct annihilation of the enemy's forces must always be the dominant consideration.

Carl von Clausewitz.

I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.

Isoroku Yamamoto.

It didn't work.

The United States did not destroy Iran's nuclear program, it merely set it back several months.

That was, quite frankly, a pretty predictable outcome.  Indeed, I predicted it.

The question is, now what?

Iran has learned that its security is, in fact, in building a nuclear weapon.  It's going to do it.

The only way to stop that would be a ground invasion of Iran, which we don't have the stomach to do, and which Israel can't do.

Israel gambled that they could take control of the air, and that this was the time to do it. That set up the scene for the US to come in with the GBU-57A/B MOP, which they gambled we would.  

We committed them.

It failed.

Military gambles are always judged in hindsight.  Japan didn't take out the U.S. Navy on December 7, 1941, as the carriers weren't at Pearl Harbor.  If they had been, the story would be different.  The Germans didn't defeat the Soviets in Operation Barbarossa, but they came close.  If it had worked, it would be regarded as one of the greatest military feats of all time, rather than a disastrous miscalculation.

We'll see what happens here, but my guess is that by this time next year, Iran has the bomb.

June 26, 2025

United States and Israel v. Iran

The Trump administration is getting increasingly spastic over the developing facts that Operation Midnight Hammer didn't really work, or rather than it achieved minor success but failed to achieve its objective.

As per usual, the administration simply accuses everyone who disagrees with them of lying or insulting servicemen.  That's complete and utter nonsense. The objective was a tough one and the odds were against it.

Hegseth held a press conference today that was essentially a rant due to these questions being brought up.  It was pathetic.

The big difference here, as compared to other Trump counterfactuals, is that the Trump smokescreen will evaporate with a mushroom cloud.

The question is how soon.

cont:

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  declared victory in the recent war and discounted the damage caused by American airstrikes.  His tone was absolutely defiant.

June 27, 2025

United States and Israel v. Iran

After criticizing ‘warmonger’ Liz Cheney, Hageman backs U.S. intervention in Iran

I"m quite certain that Donald Trump could declare war on the entire world and Wyoming's delegation would support it.

June 29, 2025

Israel v. Hamas

As its seemingly now become too routine to take notice of, we will note that the fighting is still going on in Gaza.   The humanitarian crisis carries on, and Israeli strikes this week killed 72 people.

June 30, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

The war in Ukraine, the one that Trump promised to end upon being nominated but then later stated that was "hard", is heating up.

Looks like Trump was full of crap about his magical negotiation powers.  Where's that "art" of the deal?

Anyhow, Russia launched its biggest aerial of the war so far, firiging a total of 537 aerial weapons at including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles. 249 were shot down and 226 were lost.

The Russians have amassed 50,000 troops near Sumy.

Israel v. Hamas

Israel has ordered evacuations from norther Gaza.

United States and Israel v. Iran

An interesting post:

The inmates are running the asylum! That is what it looks like to me. Their entire administration is not based on anything that resembles sanity. 

And on the same topic:

 Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @AdamKinzinge· 12h

So what seems clear from the intel, is that we probably should have reloaded the B2s, and gone for a second round.  Instead the impulsive toddler was desperate to have a strong ending to the movie and declare a cease fire.

This is a show to him, entertainment, and he’s the “star”

July 8, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Roman Starovoyt, age 53, who had been fired as Russian transportation minister just hours prior, was found dead from a gunshot wound in his car.  Russian authorities stated suicide might be a possibility.

He's also been the governor of Kursk relatively recently.

July 9, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorized a pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine last week. Currently it seems Trump will resume them.

Trump reports he's upset with Putin, probably for busting the bubble that Trump has any persuasion over him.  Trump's efforts at bringing about peace have failed.\

July 14, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

It appears that the US will be increasing military aid to Ukraine, funneling the new arms through other NATO countries.

Trump has indicated that if Russia doesn't end the war in 50 days he will impose 100% secondary tariffs.

Last edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 4. The GBU-57A/B MOP Edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2025, 2025 Israel v. Iran War, Cynthia Lummis, Donald Trump, Harriet Hageman, Iran, Israel, John Barrasso, Predictions, Russo Ukrainian War, United States, War, Wars and rumors of wars, Weapons, You heard it here first

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 96th edition. The Epstein Files.

“In brief, my lord, we both descried

(For then I stood by Henry’s side)

The Palmer mount, and outwards ride,

Upon the earl’s own favourite steed:

All sheathed he was in armour bright,

And much resembled that same knight,

Subdued by you in Cotswold fight:

Lord Angus wished him speed.”

The instant that Fitz-Eustace spoke,

A sudden light on Marmion broke:

“Ah! dastard fool, to reason lost!”

He muttered; “’Twas nor fay nor ghost

I met upon the moonlight wold,

But living man of earthly mould.

O dotage blind and gross!

Had I but fought as wont, one thrust

Had laid De Wilton in the dust,

My path no more to cross.

How stand we now?—he told his tale

To Douglas; and with some avail;

’Twas therefore gloomed his ruggéd brow.

Will Surrey dare to entertain,

’Gainst Marmion, charge disproved and vain?

Small risk of that, I trow.

Yet Clare’s sharp questions must I shun;

Must separate Constance from the nun—

Oh, what a tangled web we weave,

When first we practise to deceive!

A Palmer too!—no wonder why

I felt rebuked beneath his eye:

I might have known there was but one

Whose look could quell Lord Marmion.”

Marmion, Sir Walter Scott.

The reason that late procurer Jeffrey Epstein remains in the news is that the Republicans made the "Epstein files" a big deal.

That's the only reason.

I don't believe that Trump had Epstein murdered.  I don't believe the really bizarre conspiracy theory that the Clintons did either.  Even at the time that was asserted, however, I thought that it made a lot more sense that Trump would have offed Epstein than the Clintons, but I don't believe that either happened.  

Epstein and Trump knew each other, and that association (I don't know if Trump has any actual friends at all, I somewhat doubt it) was more than casual.  Epstein claimed to know that Trump liked to screw the wives of Trump's "friends" and that he first had carnal knowledge of Melania aboard the Lolita Express.  At least based on what is out there, Epstein never claimed that Trump dabbled with the underaged.  Trump did claim that Epstein like women "on the younger side", which can mean a variety of things.  Author Michael Wolff  claimed that Epstein claimed he had photos of Trump with topless "young women" sitting on his lap, which again doesn't mean they were underaged.

There have been, however, some accusations, and that's what they are, accusations, that went beyond that.  "Katie Johnson" claimed that she was raped by Trump in association with Epstein.  Was she?  How would we know, the suits were never advanced, and the allegations are so extreme that there's plenty of reason to question them.

And other women claimed they were abused by Trump, while teenagers, on Epstein's island.

But still, all of this may just prove what we already know.  Trump can be proven to be a creep, but that doesn't mean he's a pedophile, if the women's claims are disregarded (which generally, we tend not to do with accusatrices).

Having said that, there's the smoke and fire matter.  People related rumors about the Hefner mansion for years before the full truth of its horrors were told after his death.  Hefner was a rapist, under the current definition, based on what one of his female house guests related to have witnesses in terms of compelled sex.  James Brown was violent towards women there.  Bill Cosby, who turned out to be a rapist, frequented it.

Can you really have an island dedicated to sexual trafficking and not descend into rape?  Can you really circluate underaged girls and not have them compelled into sex? 

During Biden's administration, the populist far right, which got ahead of Trump in its conspiracy theories, whipped itself into a frenzy with the belief that Democrats were a secret cabal of pedophiles, and that the Epstein Files would reveal a vast number of important Democrats who were involved .  As soon as the files were released, we were told, the lid was going to be off this horrific discovery.  Trumpite figures adopted releasing the Epstein files as one of the things they were going to do.

After the election, Pam Bondi did in fact release part of the FBI files on Epstein, which is seemingly now forgotten even by Bondi.  She claimed she had an Epstein client list on her desk that she was reviewing, with the information set to be released.

Now the list is lost, or maybe never existed.

Hmmm. . . 

Well, if a list existed, it's being hidden, and given the way the Trumpites approached this, there's real reason to wonder why.  They cried for the information, it didn't get released if there was a list, and it should be.  Is it lost?

If it is, how did that happen?

We're also told a list never existed, and it might not have.  That would have been smart for Epstein, and Epstein was no dummy.  How much of a list would he have needed?

Well, maybe some sort of list.  Knowing the high rollers being supplied with teenage girls would, I suppose, perhaps be easy enough, but you'd think you'd write this stuff down for self protection if nothing else.

All of which fuels more conspiracy theories.

Chances are there was no client list.  Epstein probably packed a list of perverts around in his head.  Probably most of the girls he supplied were young, but not underaged, probably. 

But now, we'll never really know.

What we do know is that somebody was lying.  Bondi, for example, either had a list and "lost" it, or she never had one.  Others who suggested there was all sorts of smoking gun material that would come to light, if they didn't lie, were in the neighborhood of lies.

But then, Trump has lied so often that people have become numb to it.

Gary Hart had to drop out of the 1988 Presidential election when an affair he engaged in, involving a boat called Monkey Business, came to light.

My, how our standards have fallen.

Last edition.

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 95th edition. Making us a more barbaric society.

Labels: Barbarians, Crime, Immigration, mehr Mensch sein, Modernity Is Barbarism, Sudan, The Second Trump Administration, Zeitgeist

Where's the outrage?

Kristi Noem didn’t approve FEMA rescue teams for over 72 hours after the Texas floods, following a rule she imposed that required her personal sign-off on any operation over $100,000.

Was there not a Barbie dress up outfit for the occasion?

This was pretty clearly going to cost over $100,000.

When Bush II was President, there was outrage that he didn't go to Louisiana to view hurricane damage immediately.

The very same thing was true when Obama was President.

Joe Biden took flack for not reacting to floods in South Carolina instantly.

Is anyone demanding that King Don put his golf shoes on the ground in Texas?

Not that I think it would do anything.  I always thought the outcry about a President not going to to a disaster was absurd.  Noem, however, deserves criticism here.

So, frankly, does the State of Texas, which falls into the "don't tax me" camp, and therefore has inadequate warning systems.

You do get what you pay for, and lack of payment can be tragically lethal.  That sort of tragedy is going to be increasing during the Trump era, and for quite some time thereafter.

For the meantime, MAGA's should be howling.  Shouldn't they expect the same level of direct involvement that Bush and Obama had?

And for Federal help. . . Wyoming delegation. . . what are you going to do to help us. . . it's fire season.

George W. Bush turned 79 yesterday.

Thereby making him slightly younger than Donald Trump.

That's amazing if  could sider how long he's been out of office, although it shouldn't be.

He was 54 years old when he took office.

Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 4. The GBU-57A/B MOP 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.

GBU-57A/B MOP

You can't say civilization don't advance... in every war they kill you in a new way. 

Will Rogers.

We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.

Donald Trump.

We find ourselves with another predictive entry.

Yesterday, June 17, was an extremely odd day.  Trump left the G7 meeting austensibly to deal with the war between Israel and Iran, but notably before the topic of the Russian invasion of Ukraine came up.

Trump, of course, had promised to end the war between Ukraine and Russia upon being nominated to the Oval Office.

He lied.

Since that time, he's been an enthusiastic supporter if Israel's ongoing war in Gaza and, as of yesterday, was indicating that the US saved the life of Iran's Supreme Leader, but the US may decide to kill the de facto Iranian head of state itself, something that nations generally do not do and which frankly would make Trump fair game in the eyes of Iranian radicals.  Trump might finally get a first hand taste of being the enemy the way he did not in the 1960s.

Threatening to murder, and that's exactly what it would be, the head of a state of a foreign country is moronic, as well as deeply immoral.

It appears that Mike Huckabee, whom Trump stupidly appointed as the American Ambassador to Israel, has Trump's ear, which is dangerous.  Huckabee sent a weird missive to Trump yesterday or the day before which Trump praised and reposted.  Huckabee is a Christian Zionist/Millennialist Restorationist who seeks to help bring about the Second Coming by advancing the cause of Israel.  A minority branch of Protestantism, which itself is a minority of Christians, there's likely nothing Israel could do that Huckabee won't back. He's basically backing the United States entering the war against Iran.

The reason that Israel would want that to occur is depicted above.  Israel is attempting to end the Iranian nuclear program, and perhaps achieve much more, from the air.  By now it's probably clear that it can't do that without use of a GBU-57A/B MOP, assuming that could even do it.  The GBU-57A/B MOP is the worlds' largest deep penetration bunker buster bomb, and it might, but only might, be able to destroy Iran's underground nuclear facilities.

Only one airplane in the world right now can carry the GBU-57A/B MOP, that being the B-2 bomber.  The B-52 can also carry then, but none are currently set up to do so. The B-2 can carry two.

And it's highly probable that they've asked the US to deploy them for this purpose.

And fairly probable the US will do so.

June 18, 2025

Israel v. Iran

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel claimed Tuesday to have killed a top Iranian general as it traded more strikes with its longtime foe, and U.S. President Donald Trump warned residents of Tehran to evacuate while demanding that Iran surrender without conditions.

From the AP.

On the above, there's a pretty good chance that Trump feels that acting like he's going to attack Iran is going to convince Iran to enter some sort of bargain.  Iran is pretty hard to intimidate.

Also, there's a good chance that Trump will TACO the moment and suddenly declare he achieved something, once he thinks over the consequences of attacking Iran, or once clearer heads than Mike Huckabee's get to him.  Not that I want him to attack Iran.  I think that would be stupid.

If the latter occurs, Trump's loyal fans will claim that he was the master negotiator, but I doubt Israel will quit pounding Iran, and that Iran will quit responding.  Israel has the upper hand right now, but it's extremely difficult to win a war only through the air, and Israel has no ability to deploy ground forces against Iran. For that matter, Iran's neighbors likely wouldn't tolerate that.  It's an impossibility, however.  Air wars degrade over time as targets reduce or become less vulnerable, and Israel is unlikely to be able to protect itself from missile strikes indefinitely.

June 19, 2025

Israel v. Iran

Iran hit Israel with a ballistic missile carrying a cluster munition warhead hitting, amongst other things the Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva.

Donald Trump is weirdly claiming that he'll take two weeks to decide if the US will enter the war, which a competent leader would not announce, even if contemplating it.

Legally entering the war would require a Declaration of War, which won't be occurring and a bare minimum the War Powers Act should come into play.

June 22, 2025

The United States and Israel v Iran

The US hit Iranian nuclear targets yesterday.  Trump's speech on the same:

Thank you very much.

A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive, precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime. Fordo, Natanz and Esfahan. Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise.

Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror.

Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not. Future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.

For 40 years, Iran has been saying. Death to America, death to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs, with roadside bombs. That was their specialty. We lost over 1,000 people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East, and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate in particular. So many were killed by their general, Qassim Soleimani. I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue.

I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we've gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel. I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they've done. And most importantly, I want to congratulate the great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight, and all of the United States military on an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many, many decades.

Hopefully, we will no longer need their services in this capacity. I hope that's so. I also want to congratulate the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan 'Razin' Caine, spectacular general, and all of the brilliant military minds involved in this attack.

With all of that being said, this cannot continue. There will be either peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes. There's no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight. Not even close. There has never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago.

 And I want to just thank everybody. And, in particular, God. I want to just say, we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you.

The legality of this is really questionable, as is the wisdom, and effectiveness, of it.  And the development of the US openly taking a part in a Middle Eastern War, started by Israel, on behalf of Israel, is a dangerous development.  The US has never done that before.

As war is an extension of politics by other means, and all politics is local:

Wyoming Delegation Praises Trump’s Decision To Bomb Iran's Nuke Sites

June 23, 2025

The United States and Israel v Iran

Since the US B-2 missions (which were impressively flown out of Missouri in the longest bombing mission of all time), there have global reactions to the strike, some of which praised it.  It's clear that European nations generally support them.

Russia issued a statement in which it condemned them and indicated that now other nations may transfer nuclear weapons to Iran.  How much Russia can be trusted in regard to anything it states is a clearly open question, but being concerned about this possibility, particularly as Pakistan is nearby, is perhaps merited.  Likewise, being concerned about what rogue state North Korea may do is also warranted.

Iran itself has indicated that it will close the Straits of Hormuz and that it will otherwise retaliate.

The morality of this action is debatable and interesting.  It's clearly an act of war with no clear exist strategy based on the hope of Iranian concession.  However, the argument can be made that waiting until Iran had a nuclear weapon, which they are clearly working on, would put the world in an untenable position.  

That it is an act of war was interestingly noted when a Congressman on This Week said Iran could "sue for peace".  You only sue for peace in a declared war, which this is not.

A group of Congressmen have put together a war powers resolution seeking to limit further US action.  It's all Democrats save for one Republican.  If history is our guide, politically most Americans will support action against Iran, at least at first.  If things drag on, they'll be discontented.  In the short term condemning the strike is probably a bad political move, but in the long term it might not be.  If Iran is not cowed into submission, and perhaps its regime can't afford to be, we'll either have to materially support an ongoing Iranian air war indefinitely or become more involved in it.  People repeatedly are noting that there will not be "boots on the ground", and there very likely won't be on a largescale, but on a small scale there may very well be.  If Iran closes the Straits of Hormuz the U.S. Navy will have to reopen them, and that will be a major task.

cont:

Yeoman's Fourth Law of History at work, and Donald Trump demonstrating that he doesn't know how economies work.

June 24, 2025

The United States and Israel v Iran

On the Iranian retaliation, which was muted:

Update Video: Iran “Retaliates.” It appears to be over.

Apparently a cease fire has been agreed to, although there may have been some post agreement fighting.

A ceasefire isn't a peace agreement. What's going on, and what was achieved, are the real questions.

And of course, Trump is acting weird.

And this:

We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.

Donald Trump.

June 24, 2024

United States and Israel v. Iran.

An early assessment holds that Iran's nuclear facilities were not destroyed, only damages, and they're merely set back in the production of an atomic weapon a few months.

Can't say I'm surprised.

So the US attack may have simply reinforced the Iranian desire for a nuclear weapon.

cont:

A report by an expert on NPR Politics holds that there's no way that Iran's nuclear program was destroyed.

July 4, 2024

Russo Ukrainian War

Kyiv is getting pounded by a large scale drone attack.

The US has halted many weapons transfer programs to Ukraine on the basis that the US needs to rebuilt its own arms stockpile.

Last edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 3. The peace didn't break out on day one edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2025, California National Guard, Civil Unrest, Commandos, Kurds, National Guard, Russia, Russian Air Force, Russo Ukrainian War, Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrainy, Texas National Guard, Turkey, Ukraine, War, Wars and rumors of wars

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 94th Edition. Performance Bad Art and the News.

My goodness.

An item in the cultural wind we noted yesterday here; 

Lex Anteinternet: Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 93d Edition. Porn ind...: Porn industry, Supreme Court weigh in as Wyoming requires age verification on adult sites : As of Tuesday, Wyomingites' access to some c...

That being this:

In other sex, sort of, news, a dude who looks like a dude went to the lady's room accompanied by the press (including a dude) and hoped to get arrested.

Transgender woman protests new law with visit to a Wyoming Capitol bathroom: Rihanna Kelver used the women’s restroom at the Wyoming Capitol building Tuesday in defiance of a new law prohibiting transgender people’s use of public facilities.

Has managed to be a feature story in every Wyoming news outlet, it seems.  At least its in Wyofile, Cowboy State Daily, and the CST.

So, to get this straight, a guy, dressed as gal, goes to the lady's room, and nothing happens.

Is that really news?

If so why?

Well, because the dude claims to be a gal, and was hoping to get busted by the police, who had other things to do and didn't take note of it.

But still, you see (are you paying attention), he could have been arrested, really, he could have been. . . 

and was hoping to be. . . 

but, sadly, was not.

This is, I'd note, something for real conservatives to take note of. This guy has a mental illness being celebrated on the left as normal.  Almost everyone knows that's BS.  And the stench of that is what is causing, in part, conservatives, who would otherwise be horrified, to vote for a moral heap of stench such as Donald Trump, which Trump well knowns.

Indeed, right now, the Trumpites and his Merry Band of National Conservatives hope stuff like this keeps your eyes off the Big Ugly, and causes you to forget the Big Ugly in the next year.

And the press, for its part, plays into the delusion of the lies of the right and left.

Transgender woman protests new law with visit to a Wyoming Capitol bathroom

That didn't happen. What happened is a man who wants to be a girl, went to the capitol bathroom with members of the press and his female fiance (so I guess he's wants to be girl. . . but still marry a girl), hoping to be arrested, but nobody cares or even notices.  A headline reading:

Man goes to capitol bathroom dressed as woman and nothing happens

Wouldn't be news, I guess.

On the Big Ugly, headline from the Tribune.

Medicaid, insurance cuts in ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ will harm Wyoming, healthcare advocates warn.

I personally know one person whose a radical Trump fan who completely depends on government healthcare.  I suppose folks in that category deserve to get what's coming.

Chances are that Wyoming is going to be hammered by this. Chances are that Dr. John Barrasso, our Senator, knows that, even though he said it "probably" won't happen.

The question is if we care about the human impact or not.

Speaking of headlines, this is making the rounds:

First Wyoming measles case in 15 years found in Natrona County

I'm making assumptions here, but it's going to turn out that the negligent parents, or parent, didn't vaccinate their kid.

Wyoming has a first rate education system.  I note that, as a parent who wouldn't vaccinate a child probably isn't from Wyoming originally, I'm guessing, and is a dumbass.  The Wyoming Freedom Caucus sort of hates education, because educated people know stuff and won't play this game, tend not to believe their fanciful version of reality, and hence we have this headline.

Wyoming expected to see $686M deficit in education spending

With an ignorant population, they can hope to bring Wyoming into rural stupidity such as occurs elsewhere in the US and helps explain a population voting to slit their own throats.  They wouldn't see it that way, as they're ignorant themselves in many, although not all, instances. 

And we have this:

Trump mental health cuts hit rural schools hardest

Last edition:

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 93d Edition. Porn industry retstricted, Supreme Court weigh in as Wyoming requires age verification on adult sites, Dudes in the lady room, and on women's teams, Trump helping where no law or help was needed.

Labels: 2020s, 2025, 2025 Wyoming Legislative Post Mortem, 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, children, flap de jour, law, Populism, pornography, Teenagers, The Second Trump Administration, Wyoming, Zeitgeist

Blog Mirror: Doctors are warning of Trump’s dementia—it’s time corporate media report on this!

 The corporate media might not be reporting on this, but I have been:

Doctors are warning of Trump’s dementia—it’s time corporate media report on this!

Tread lightly on our public land, politicians!

Tread lightly on our public land, politicians!: If Wyoming's congressional delegation continues to follow Trump's zeal to sell public lands in the West, they’ll face a political firestorm, writes columnist Rod Miller.

The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Second Edition.

Trump at a college commencement on May 1, 2015.  Probably a copyrighted photograph, but posted here under fair use to show Trump's bizarre character.

Barry R McCaffrey@mccaffreyr3 19h

Trump to rename Veterans Day as ‘Victory Day for World War I’ - POLITICO — This is nuts.

He's clearly nuts.  But not just nuts, he's stupid, and mean.

Section 4

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

There's an entire selection of recent news interviews recently where King Donny is rambling and incoherent, but here's another example of his oddity.  Trump is going to rename Victory In Europe Day to “Victory in World War II Day” even though it VE Day really was only a victory in Europe.

The war raged on against Japan after VE Day.

And for a complete collection of ramblings, etc.:

I don't know what Trump's talking about anymore and neither does he

The man is demented.

Of course, added to this pathetic scene, Trump posted a photo of himself dressed like the Pope last week.  

Donald Trump insults Catholicism.

This brought immediate condemnation, but it also broke "oh, it's just a joke".  First of all, for a dignified office, sophomoric jokes should be out of the question.  The man occupying the position that is routinely cited, probably inaccurately now, as the most powerful in the world, should not be acting like a 7th grader.  But he does so all the time.

Assuming it is a joke.  Quite a few things that Trump does that are not taken seriously turn out to actually be his real views.

I dare say that this sort of conduct by any other President in the past would have resulted in the invocation of the 25th Amendment by now.  It's not here, as those backing Trump need him for their agenda.  National Conservatism and Project 2025 depend on him.  His loyal base apparently has no problem with his antics, and those running the show depend on those people.  That probably explains why J. D. Vance is not President yet, as nobody can be sure of who, if anyone, supports him.

This will get worse.

May 5, 2025

Two gems this morning.

A tariff on foreign movies, and this:

Alcatraz is a National Park now. When it was open it was plagued with battling the elements.

May 5, 2025

Keith Olbermann@KeithOlbermann7h

Something that is underscored every time an actual world leader goes to the White House: Donald Trump is wildly and increasingly insane.

May 8, 2025

Reporter:  We are seeing the ports here in the US—the traffic has really slowed and thousands of dock workers and truck drivers are worried about their jobs”.

Trump: “That’s good, it means we lose less money”.

May 15, 2025

This is the guy running my administration. His name is Stephen Miller... We need a building like this back home.

Trump in Abu Dubai

We have costs are way down. Groceries. We have a term grocery. It’s an old term, but it means basically what you’re buying, food. It’s a pretty accurate term but it's an old fashioned sound.

Trump again.

March 16, 2025

Oh yeah. . . thats a comment by a "stable genius". . . 

May 19, 2025

Really losing it.

May 26, 2025

May 26, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Trump posted the following yesterday:

I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia! Likewise, President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop. This is a War that would never have started if I were President. This is Zelenskyy’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not “Trump’s,” I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires, that have been started through Gross Incompetence and Hatred.

More and more it's impossible not simply regard Trump as stupid.

June 4, 2025

Truly, this author nails the current situation:

The media has indulged in a lot of conveniently after-the-fact handwringing over Biden’s age and how Democrats dealt with it. The reality is that Biden was old but governed normally. Trump governs erratically because he’s unglued. That’s the true cover-up, one the media is enabling when they seem more concerned with the mental condition of a former president than the escalating madness of the current one.

Stephen Robinson, Public Notice.

June 5, 2025

You know, Ukraine had the most beautiful turrets. They call them turrets. The little towers. Beautiful towers. The most beautiful in the world. They're all now laying on their side.

Donald Trump.

cont:

Eggs have come down 400 percent. Everybody has eggs now. They have eggs for breakfast again.

Donald Trump. 

June 17, 2025

"We"?

"Sky trackers"?

"Stuff"?

Related threads:

Narcissistic personality disorder

The Economist: The Alzheimer's edition.

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist 82nd Edition. The This Is Your Economy On Dementia Edition.

The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution and our Cheery Belief that Age just Doesn't Matter

We should worry.

Last tragic edition:

The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List.

Labels: 2025, 2026, 25th Amendment Watch List, Donald Trump, Gaza, Greenland, Gulf of Mexico, J. D. Vance, law, Mental Health, Stupidity, The Liz Cheney Maxim, The Madness of King Donald, The Second Trump Administration