Showing posts with label Sic transit Gloria Mundi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sic transit Gloria Mundi. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
King Donald's War, Part 8 and CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 140th Edition, 25th Amendment Watch Nineteenth Edition: L'arche De La Défaite Édition
Narva Triumphal Arch. It's green, just like Trump's Arch of Defeat should be. By Florstein - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19091231
Donald Trump, who can see the grim reaper at the door, and besides him when he goes to sleep and wakes up in the morning is desperately seeking a legacy that he won't achieve, that being some sort of serious man. As part of that, he seeks a monumental arch, while actually having just lost a war.
It ought to be algae green, just like the reflecting pool.
L'arche De La Défaite. The first monument to spectacular defeat ever erected by the loser. A fitting, if temporary, monument to the loser himself, Donald Trump.
Trump's second, and illegitimate, term is even two years old. With amazing speed, everything Donald Trump is touching is turning to shit.
Usually with dictators there's progress at first, simply because they tend to come in during a time of crisis and address that immediate thing before everything starts to fall apart, which it inevitably does. Arguably, in Trump's case that one thing was illegal immigration. Decades of high immigration had angered blue collar and lower Middle Class Americans in general, and Joe Biden lost control of the border with Mexico in his term, his failure to act in part brought about by a sense of humanity which unfortunately didn't carry over to his policies on abortion. Aided chiefly by that, but also fueled by anger over social changes that people simply didn't and don't support, Trump did the one thing he is good at, sold Trump.
But Trump was never popular with the majority of Americans, and, having no real existential or even political philosophy himself, he came with a pack of extreme ideologues will to advance their own agendas, as dictators always do, who don't care of people suffer as long as that extreme agenda is advanced. Trump's idealogues, however, actually come from two different camps to start with, far right wing Evangelical Christians and National Conservatives, who really don't see eye to eye on everything, while agreeing on some things.
And then there's Trump himself. Eighty years old and in declining mental and physical health, and unable to accept what he was, and is.
Sic transit Gloria Mundi.
Царь хороший, бояре плохие*
Giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea, I think the president, unfortunately, is receiving bad advice on this deal.
Ted Cruz
These fools, who think I haven’t been tough enough on Iran, when the Stock Market Just Hit A RECORD HIGH, and Oil prices are ‘tumbling’ down, are either jealous, bad people, or stupid. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!! President DJT”
Donald Trump, once again displaying his understanding of the world that if the stock markets are doing good, everybody is doing great.
The United States lost the war with Iran. It was not a war that the US should ever have been in to start with. Donald Trump was told by some of those in his own administration not to do it, but convinced by those who saw it as some sort of Evangelical Christian crusade, and coaxed along by Bibi Netanyahu, we went to war, illegally, with no plan on how to win it.
Iran won. They came out of the war stronger than they went in it, and now we're going to make them wealthier than they were before.
Some Republicans are finally actually reacting. They can see the Trump era ending and don't won't to be remembered as the men and women who paid radical Islam. Some can't quite bring themselves to do it, such as the cowardly Ted Cruz, who blames it on advisors.
Trump's not letting them do that. He's sticking to his actions and embracing the GOP with the stench of the illegal war and the dimwitted settlement to it. He's also trying to shove the final heavy lifting and excuse making off on J. D. Vance who is known to have opposed the war in the first instance. A person has to wonder about that.
Vance was supposed to go to Switzerland to sign the formal instrument of surrender. Something happened overnight, and now he's not.
Monuments to ignorance
I'm doing a great job on the Reflecting Lake. I got so into it. I've upgraded it like you wouldn't believe... It's going to be beautiful. It's going to be waterproof. It's going to be reflecting again.
Donald Trump. It's a pool, of course, not a lake. And, um, waterproof?
Algae came back to the reflecting pool immediately. It was predictable that it would, but the dark blue Rhino Lining probably increased the temperature of the water and made the water even more conducive to algae than before.
Pretty predictable.
The entire cost of the effort grossly exceeded what Trump claimed it would cost, going from seven digits to low eight digits. When the algae immediately appeared excuses were developed (it was the pipes), and the moronic MAGA conspiracy theories erupted. The algae was planted by Democrats, some truly ignorant people maintained.
Nope, it just grows in hot water.
Now, compounding the disaster, gallons of hydrochloric acid have been poured in the pool. It's removing the Rhino Lining.
That can't be ignored.
Hopefully, it's just accepted and the Tide-E-Bowl blue lining will just be allowed to rapidly peel off. A real solution that isn't something they'd use on cheap Texas hotel pool can be left for the next administration.
Perde i colpi**
She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her. She begged me to take a photo with her. She wanted a photo with me so much. I wouldn’t have even done it, but I felt sorry for her.
Donald Trump.
Donald Trump's statements are completely made up. I am frankly astonished. I don't know why the president of the United States behaves like this towards his allies, after all, it's not the first time it's happened.I can only say it is disappointing that he does not show the same determination with the enemies of the West and of the United States, whose leaders he instead treats with far greater indulgence. There is one thing he should remember: neither I nor Italy ever beg.
Giorgia Meloni
The serious and offensive words of President Trump towards Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend all of Italy. For this reason, I have decided to cancel my visit to the United States scheduled for the next 21 and 22 June.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
Trump's at the G7. They should have sent Vance to that.
Trump's mental decline is frighteningly apparent to anyone who cares to see it. He gets angry easily and says anything that comes into his declining mind. Included in that has been an increasing number of statements to and about women that are common amongst senile old men.
He has the deluded belief, it seems, that people really like him. They don't. And now people are making that plain to his face.
He probably doesn't notice. The moronic things he says on a daily basis are probably often things he really believes.
Which takes us back to the first entry. Death is hanging around Trump, but like many an old boomer for whom the Reaper is sharpening his scythe, he just can't accept that that means, but others can. Republicans are starting to finally move on. The Europeans not only have, but are starting to say "Va' a farti fottere"***.
He's not needed, except by the people who need him, and we should all be frightened by that.
June 20, 2026
On the white flag of surrender:
Military action continues on between Hezbollah and Isreal in Lebanon.
On the green reflecting pool:
On the latter, an administration tweet endorsed the insane conspiracy theory that Democrats are secretly putting algae in the pool. A person would have to be a complete moron to believe that.
Cont:
Well, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli campaign in Lebanon.
The comedy of errors in this, keeping in mind that violent death is not comedic, just won't end.
Footnotes:
*"Good Czar, bad Boyers". This was a popular excuse for Imperial loyalist as to stupid Romanov decisions. It couldn't be the Czar, it must be the Boyers.
It was the Czar.
Fanatic adherence of lunacy continually do this. "It's never been tried" is the popular one for Communist on why Communism has never worked. Not really related, but on the Communist theme, during Stalin's early reign The New Republic wrote him to inform him that some bad things were going on in the Soviet Union.
Um, Stalin knew that.
**"His shots are wasted." Applying to mental decline in Italy, a similar phrase in English for a lost cause would be "his bolt is shot", which refers to a crossbow bolt.
***"Go fuck yourself".
Cont:
Yikes.
June 21, 2026
Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz and J.D. Vance is back on the plane to Switzerland, after cancelling earlier.
June 23, 2026
Both houses of Congress have now voted to end the war.
This puts Congress and the White House on a clear collision couse.
Last edition:
Monday, June 22, 2026
Courthouse Facility Dogs? Sign of how screwed up we are, or that we miss the natural world?
I received this in my legal email:
Wyoming State Bar Members,
I am sending this email on behalf of a graduate student at the University of Wyoming who is in the psychology and law program.
The purpose of this survey is to assess legal professionals’ attitudes and beliefs about courthouse facility dogs and their impact on civil and criminal trials. You do not need to have any prior familiarity with courthouse facility dogs to complete this survey. The results of this survey will be used to inform future research on the impact of courthouse facility dogs on legal procedures and decisions, so it is essential that we hear the perspectives of as many legal professionals as possible. To be eligible for participation, you must be older than 18, fluent in English, and a current or former legal professional. This survey should take about 5-10 minutes to complete.
Saturday, June 20, 2026
CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 141st Edition, 25th Amendment Watch 20th Edition:. Sure, we lost a war to Iran, and the war in Lebanon continues on, and the $13 Rhino Lining treatment of the Reflecting Pool is coming up, but King Donny got a shiny new toy!
The Aerodrome: Boeing VC-25B Bridge. A shameful flying monument.: This blog was never intended to be political, but in the age of Donald Trump, which will go down as the most corrupt political era in U.S. h...
This is absolutely disgusting. How long is the cabinet and Congress going to allow this madness to continue?
Boeing VC-25B Bridge. A shameful flying monument.
This blog was never intended to be political, but in the age of Donald Trump, which will go down as the most corrupt political era in U.S. history, it just can't be avoided.
The Federal Government, funded by the American taxpayers in the form of taxes, and by individuals and foreign governments in the form of loans, has taken delivery of one Boeing "VC-25B Bridge", a military conversion of a Boeing 747-8 originally built as a Boeing Business Jet. The plane was delivered in 2012 to Qatar Amiri Flight and used by the House of Thani. In June 2023, it was delivered to Global Jet Isle of Man. The Qatari government gave it as a gift. . . if we assume governments really give gifts to other governments. Poor little King Donny just wasn't happy with the existing Air Force One and given that he's in his last term he couldn't wait for new ones under construction to be completed.
After he leaves office, which given his advanced age and rapidly declining mental status is likely to be before his term expires, the airplane, which has cost the United States at least $400,000,000 in "upgrades" to make it work in its role as a royal coach for his majesty, will be transferred to his presidential library foundation. Indeed, that will happen before his unfortunate illegitimate reign is over.
This is complete bullshit.
I've posted on this story, and this airplane, here before:
Air Force One.
Air Force One has been in the news a lot recently, and it started before the Qatari proposal to give the United States, or Donald Trump (it isn't clear which) a luxury outfitted Boeing 747.
Technically "Air Force One" is a call sign, and merely denotes an airplane the Chief Executive is a passenger in. If a President rode in an Air Force Cessna, that would be Air Force One. But everyone knows that it refers to one of two Boeing VC-25s, militarized 747s, that are designated for the Presidents use.
RD-2Interestingly, the first aircraft designated for Presidential use was a Navy airplane, an amphibious Douglas Dolphin RD-2 that was luxury outfitted for use by President Roosevelt. It was used from 1933 to 1939, and obviously not for transglobal flight. The President didn't really do extensive travel until World War Two.
Roosevelt's once used VC-54C.In spite of concerns over commercial aviation being used to carry the President during the war, it was in fact used and it wasn 't until 1945 that a new designated Presidential aircraft was acquired, that being a Secret Service reconfigured a Douglas C-54 Skymaster (VC-54C) which was named the Sacred Cow. It contained a sleeping area, radiotelephone, and retractable battery-powered elevator to lift Roosevelt in his wheelchair. It's only use by Roosevelt was to fly the then dying President to Yalta. Truman used it thereafter, but it was replaced by military DC-6 (VC-118) thereafter.
Truman's VC-118.President Eisenhower, who of course knew planes well, to Lockheed C-121 Constellations, Columbine II and Columbine III. The Constellation was a very popular airplane at the time, and Douglas MacArthur also had one, that one spending many years after its service at the Natrona County International Airport on an abandoned runway.
Columbine II was the first Presidential aircraft to receive the designation Air Force One.
At the end of Eisenhower's Presidency Boeing 707s came in, in part because the Soviets were using a jet to transport their Premier. 707s remained through the Nixon era, giving good service in this role.
747s, as VC-25s, entered specialized manufacture for use as Air Force One during Reagan's administration, although the first one would enter service after that. They've been used ever since.
These aren't normal 747s. They are packed with communications and electronic warfare equipment in order to have combat survivability.
Replacing the current two aircraft that are used as Air Force One is a topic that the Air Force started looking at quite a few years ago. The 747 variant which the VC-25 isn't made anymore. Production of 747s stopped in 2023 in favor of more modern aircraft. Still, the airframe remains useful in this role, and after the Air Force started to look into options, updating a 747-8 appeared to be the best option. Only Boeing was interested in the project anyway, and it will take a massive financial loss to do it.
The aircraft that are being retrofitted for this role was built, originally, as a commercial airliner. The projected is a massive one, and the delivery date will be in 2027.
What the new Air Force Ones will look like.Enter Qatar.
Qatar has offered to give the US (I guess) a luxury Boeing 747-8 for use as Air Force One until the other 747-8s are complete. But here's the thing. Boeing has been working on the complicated task fo converting the two existing 747-8s for this use for several years. After all, it's basically a combat aircraft. All accepting the plane would do is give Boeing a third one to convert, which wouldn't be ready for years.
Trump is being childish about this, as he is about a lot of things. He doesn't seem to grasp the nature of the aircraft, and likely a lot of other people don't as well. In his case, this is inexcusable. It's a combat airplane.
Frankly, it's a Cold War combat airplane.
Which gets to this.
The 747 was a big massive airliner in an era in which it was the queen of the sky. That era is over and airlines have moved on to more modern aircraft. The world in which Ronald Reagan ordered 747s is gone as well. It's still useful to have an aircraft that can be used in a global thermonuclear war, which is what it is, but that's not going to happen and it makes no sense to use it to go on weekend golfing trips to Florida.
But that's what Trump tends to use it for.
That raises an entire series of other questions, many of which have little to do with aircraft, but some of which do. It's notable that other Presidents have used lighter aircraft for more mundane trips. In November 1999, President Bill Clinton flew from Ankara, Turkey, to Cengiz Topel Naval Air Station outside Izmit, Turkey, aboard a marked C-20C. In 2000, President Clinton flew to Pakistan aboard an unmarked Gulfstream III. In 2003, President George W. Bush flew in the co-pilot seat of a Sea Control Squadron Thirty-Five (VS-35) S-3B Viking from Naval Air Station North Island, California to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, with that latter obviously being an exception. Barack Obama used a Gulfstream C-37 variant on a personal trip in 2009.
Trump can use something else than a 747 for what he uses Air Force One for in almost every single instance.
Indeed, the entire topic brings up a lot of things about the risks of having an airplane like this, a luxury airliner inside, which is really a combat aircraft. It makes it easy to forget what it really is, and it makes a President feel like an Emperor, which he is not.
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So why am I doing it again?
Since May, 2025 Donald Trump has used the existing Air Force One to fly back and forth to his Florida golf home/resort, effectively using the airplane as a toy, repeatedly. He's also used it for what are basically campaign trips. He's launched an illegal war against Iran for which the Department of Defense now seeks $80,000,000,000 to cover, and which killed thirteen Americans and untold numbers of Iranians. That war encouraged Israel to not only participate in it, or perhaps the other way around, but also to engage in an invasion of Lebanon. He's spent something like $13,000,000 to Rhino Line the Washington D. C. reflecting pool, he's trying to build a massive ballroom that will ultimately cost the taxpayer one way or another, and he's trying to build a triumphal arch, making the United States the first country in the world to build an arch after getting solidly defeated in a war.
He's demented, and he acts like an emperor. This airplane is part of that delusion.
Truth be known, the entire Air Force One thing hasn't made sense for years. Having some sort of aircraft available for Presidential use for Presidential work makes some limited sense. But most of what Trump uses the aircraft for could be achieved through commercial aviation. Indeed, not one single trip Trump has taken could not have been accomplished that way.
And that's how this should be done. Back when transpiration was by rail, the President didn't own a train. When Trump goes over to the G7 to insult the Italian Prime Minister with his lunacy, that could be done by commercial air, and should be done that way. And I mean commercial air, not chartered air. The government could get him a ticket on a regularly scheduled flight.
And when he goes to Mar A Lago he can pay for his own ticket.
I know that the objections will be "oh my, it isn't safe". That is, frankly, for the most part complete BS. Trump could get a ticket on Ryan Air and be just as safe as anyone else.
And if its a little less safe, that's a good thing. One of the problems with the modern presidency is that the occupant of the White House is too insulated from the people he supposedly serves. At one time the President shook the hands of all who lined up on New Years Day. Not anymore.
If the President had to travel with the great unwashed masses maybe he'd be less of a lunatic. Or maybe he'd just realize that its a real job.
Anyway you look at it, Air Force One is a titanic waste of money. The Air Force has aircraft. If he needs to go, he can load up on a C5A with the equipment going wherever its going.
And this waste of money is going to a Trump library just before Trump leaves office.
WTF?
If the US had to spend money on it, it should keep it. This is appalling. That should be addressed as soon as possible. If there's a current way to address it, it just should be silently done. Trump can leave office and his library, which frankly is a pointless thing in the first place, can buy a Revell model kit of a Boeing 747. This absurd flying castle can carry on in its existing role and join the two that are being built, or preferably at least one of those two contracts cancelled seeing as the US has this thing.
At that point, the signature on the under panel that Trump affixed yesterday can be fittingly modified, recalling World War Two nose art. A realistic Trump nude torso doodle, a la Epstein, can be installed. A fitting monument.
Last Edition:
King Donald's War, Part 8 and CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 140th Edition, 25th Amendment Watch Nineteenth Edition: L'arche De La Défaite Édition
Friday, June 5, 2026
Cowardly Men
She's a young beautiful woman, never smiles. I never see a smile on her face. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes, like she has hatred because we have borders, because we have a strong military, because we cut our taxes...
Donald Trump in a recent press conference.
Donald Trump is a creepy old man.
A few years ago there was a lot of ink spilled and electrons expended on whether or not there was a "crisis of masculinity" in American culture. There's still a fair amount of discussion of it, as evidenced by this New York Times op ed from this year:
A much-needed, nuanced conversation about masculinity and feminism today.
I've thought about posting in it from time to time, but never had as its a difficult topic to really address, even though, as it involves a shift in social standards, it fits right into this site's purpose.
Seeing Donald Trump insult of a female reporter the other day however, makes it impossible not to address.
Trump is a creepy old man who came of age in the 70s and had early sexual morals like that of an alley cat. He seems to lack any morals today. The comment he made was not only demeaning, it demonstrates an absolute contempt of women. The reporter is supposed to be a pretty adornment, in his view.
How many women have been confronted by the lech stating "why don't you smile more". Indeed, if you are of a certain age, "why don't you smile more?" or "why don't you wear prettier dresses" or the like is pretty much raising the flag of an intended sexual assault of the pressure type. Given Trump's dementia, it's not impossible to wonder if that was a line other women in other context have heard before.
It should have been met with a male reaction.
When I was young, even though I grew up in the 1960s and 70s, there was a set of expectations that boys learned and men followed. I think to some extent they've fallen aside as in the 1970s men lost track of what was expected of them due to the wave of First Generation Feminism. That era has passed, but knowing what to do and how to behave seems to have gone out to sea.
There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it."
Chesterton, The Thing.
The old standards weren't quaint, they existed for a reason. Two of the reasons are that men are more powerful than women and if the law of the jungle applies, lots of men will abuse women, and by abuse, you know what we mean. The vulnerable girls at Epstein Island, where Trump traveled with the other rich and often unprincipled, provide an example of that. Another reason is that the rules restrained men and oriented them towards decent behavior. Finally, and quite frankly, the rules in fact reflected centuries old views of the relationship between men and women, much of which underwent assault in the 1970s, but frankly which reflect women, and men, in their more natural roles.
Now, let's be clear. There were men who always violated these rules, some very openly, but they weren't admire for that. And the reaction to violation could go far beyond mere internal contempt.
Amongst the rules were some that seem pretty minor. You always opened the door for women, including women you didn't know. You walked around a car to let a woman out of the car and opened the door for her, and when entering a car you opened the door for her. Both of those actually reflect an era when doors were heavier, including car doors.
A man got up from his seat when women approached to address them, something depicted in the final seat of True Grit when Frank James does not get up when she approaches, and when she leaves she states "Keep your seat, trash".
That is how that was viewed.
More seriously, however, men, including teenage boys, were taught not to insult a woman's virtue in any fashion. The instruction was so serious that if you were in a relationship with a woman so insulted you were expected to immediately intervene, but it went beyond that. If you were in a setting where that was done you were also expected to intervene, particularly if you knew the girl or the knew somebody who was in a relationship with the girl. It was universally understood that a verbal rebuke of a person talking smack or insulting a girl, or saying the kind of thing Trump was saying, didn't cause them to knock it off, a fistfight was the probable result. Generally, the exchange went something like:
"Hey, knock it off and leave her alone."
The reply normally was:
"Hey dude, I didn't mean anything by it".
If,, however, the insulting person did not back off, a fight often ensued.
This is, of course, amongst younger men. If an older man, like Trump, said something like that, a verbal rebuke and walking out was the norma.
That went something like:
"You sir, are being insulting and owe her an apology".
With an old baffoon like Trump, that was normally met with:
"Um, I all I meant. . .
At which point the other men started leaving.
This is all 20th Century stuff, I'd note, and 20th Century middle class stuff. Even when I was young in rougher society fights could arise in this fashion which went right to knives. In European and European American middle class and upper class society of the 18th and 19th Century failing to yield often outright resulted in a duel.
Now, these guys just stand there like lumps, saying nothing.
One of the things about our current society is that it's really become White Trash. The gutter morals of men who view women as objects and who can't speak with any proficiency are dictating the culture of the country, and combined with this is the corruption that wealth has always brought about.
Again, Trump provides us a fine example of that. He's an immoral man who is steeped in immorality. He's hung around with the rich men who abuse teenage women to the point where questions about his behavior are legitimate questions. He's made creepy comments about his own daughter when she was young. The wheels are coming off of his ability to restrain himself. He gets closer and closer to the point at which he's going to outright proposition a woman on national television and not one male reporter has the courage to do anything about it.
But we're going to have to start doing something about this behavior.
Part of the claim of the MAGA movement and entities like the Wyoming Freedom Caucus is that they were restoring America. Instead, they're just White Trashing it up. Chuck Gray have us just such an example the other day when he acted like a 12 year old brat the Cowboy State Daily video program.
One of the things about the old rules is that even one person enforcing them was normally effective. Even within the last few years I've seen that when an official got mad about something and started swearing and another official rebuked him with "there are ladies here". I hadn't heard that in years, but it resulted in an immediate apology.
People around Trump need to start calling him on his behavior. People around Trump who pretend its not important need to be called on that. But beyond that, people in everyday conversation need to do the same. The long road back won't become from the top of the generation in charge. It'll have to come from the bottom.
Saturday, May 16, 2026
The Manchurian Candidate. It's like Donald Trump and MAGA really are the Reds.
The hammer and cycle in red. . . it might as well be the symbol of the Trump presidency.
We've remarked before on how the GOP has adopted the color red, the color of the far left, as it's own. That's beginning to seem more appropriate than ever.
Our dim illegitimate chief executive has gone to China and returned. In the process, it seems clear that he's getting ready to abandon Taiwan.
Trump's entire trip to China was a complete and utter humiliation for the United States. An embarrassment of the highest order. But it fits a pattern.
Trump loves Russia's Putin. He's super impressed with Xi. He's kind of a bit of a fan boy to Kim Jong Un. He loved Orban who was a Putin ally.
If our adversaries from former Communist states had conspired to place into office a man to act as a sleeper agent, they could not have succeeded more wildly than Donald Trump has done without being one. . . presumably. He's brought a US that was already in trouble down from a world power to a second rate collapsing nation. It's utterly incredible.
Friday, May 15, 2026
China is Closing In on Taiwan.
With China having just been visited by our extraordinarily weak, and increasingly demented chief executive, this really bears watching.
Trump's illegal war on Iran has depleted US weapons reserves massively and wasted them on hard ground targets, something military analysts know is ineffective. We have less of an ability to counter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan now than at any point since. . . well. . . probably 1947.
The likelihood of it happening his high.
The likelihood of Trump doing utterly nothing if it does happen is also high.
In 1949, when mainland China fell to the Communists, Republicans howled over "who lost China?" In 2026 or 2027 when Taiwan falls, they'll probably just kneel to their beloved, Donald Trump.
The question will be, why?
Monday, May 4, 2026
Painted Bricks: The vanity presidency He's trying to turn the whole country into a tacky branded property.
Painted Bricks: The vanity presidency He's trying to turn the whol...: The vanity presidency He's trying to turn the whole country into a tacky branded property.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
King Donald's War, Part 5. After 13/15 U.S. deaths, Hundreds of Iranian deaths, $50B spent fighting it, and a massive increase in the price of oil, King Donny surrenders to the Iranians. The "If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied" edition.
April 8,2026
What MAGA wizard King Donny said at the start of the war:
What the befuddled demented agreed to as an a starting point now:
The MAGA's I know and read about are already bragging this up as another example of Trump brilliance. This demonstrates how completely brainwashed MAGA really is. There is a Trump Derangement Syndrome alright. It's what allows people who voted for no more overseas wars, lower prices, a return to (Calvinist) Christianity, and a deep belief in a conspiracy to keep the Epstein files hidden vote for a man who has now waged two wars, surrendered to a Muslim theocracy, caused higher prices, while hiding the Epstein files and living a life contrary to the Gospels to be worshipped no matter what he does.
We lost this war, completely. We not only lost it for us, we lost it for Israel too. Israel, which duped Donny into the war, deserved it. The American people did not.
Thirteen American servicemen died for nothing whatsoever, other than an attempt at the greater glory of Trump. Their lives were wasted. Their deaths didn't serve the nation, but one man. Six were Army National Guardsmen. Six were members of the USAF.
No Trumps or Musks, or the children of the rich, died. If you visited Epstein Island, your family wasn't fighting.
And by the way, the oligarchs grew richer during the war, due to timely made trades and a rise in the price of oil, which made regular Americans poorer.
Trump once claimed that veterans were suckers. The veterans of this war are. But more than that, those who voted for Trump were proven to be. There was no excuse to support him in the last election and there's no excuse not to remove him now.
Before the war Iran was a theocracy. It still is.
Before the war the Iranian people wanted freedom. They still do, and still lack it.
Before the war Iran could launch missiles and drones at their enemies. They still can.
Before the war Iran had 1000 pounds of uranium. It still does.
Before the war the Strait of Hormuz was open. Now Iran gets to charge a toll for its passage.
During the war Iran shipped more oil at a higher price than it did before the war.
The names of the thirteen known men and women who gave their lives, not for their country but for Donald Trump, are:
CWO Robert Marzan
SFC Nicole Amor
SFC Noah Tietjens
Sgt Declan Coady
Maj. Jeffrey O'Brien
Cpt. Cody Khork
Sgt. Benjamin Pennington
Maj. John "Alex" Klinner
Cpt. Ariana Savino
TSgt. Ashley Pruitt
Cpt. Seth Koval
Ct. Curtis Angst
TSgt. Tyler Simmons
Only some of the names of the 170 some Iranian girls the U.S. killed during the war are known. Those names, including a few of the names of their teachers, are:
1. Hana Dehqani, eight years old
2. Fatemeh Salari, 34 years old
3. Reza Habashian, seven years old
4. Arya Bahadori, nine years old
5. Ali Asghar Zaeri, eight years old
6. Zahra Bahrami, seven years old
7. Ahmad Soltani, eight years old
8. Hamed Par-ashegh-nezhad, seven years old
9. Fatemeh Yazdan-panah, young girl, age unknown
10. Mahdis Nazari, seven years old
11. Athena Chamani-nezhad, six years old
12. Amirghasem Zaeri, seven years old
13. Fatemeh Dorazehi, 10 years old
14. Arad Ahmadizadeh, eight years old
15. Saman Karimzadeh, seven years old
16. Fatemeh Shahdadi, age unknown
17. Nadia Shahmiri, nine years old
18. Parham Ranjbari, nine years old
19. Mahmoud Gholamyani, 35 years old
20. Fatemeh Rahdar, 10 years old
21. Amir-Hassan Rasouli, eight years old
22. Zahra Behrouzi, eight years old
23. Mohammadhatam Raisi, 10 years old
24. Asna Raisi, 12 years old
25. Benyamin Jangjou, eight years old
26. Mohammad-Sadra Zarei, eight years old
27. Maryam Pazark, 10 years old
28. Liana Mohammadi, seven years old
29. Mandana Salari, 29 years old
30. Sara Shayesteh, five years old
31. Zoha Pasand, eight years old
32. Esra Zakeri, nine years old
33. Salma Zakeri, six years old
34. Fatemeh Taherifard, 29 years old
35. Zahra Ansari, seven years old
36. Fatemeh Fadavi, 10 years old
37. Mahna Zarei, two months old
38. Athareh Zarei, 10 years old
39. Alireza Zarei, nine years old
40. Mohammadreza Shahsavari, eight years old
41. Samira Basarde, 38 years old
42. Ehsan Saleminia, six years old
43. Fatemeh Zahra Karimi, seven years old
44. Zeynab Bahrami, 10 years old
45. Mohammad Shah-dousti, eight years old
46. Reza Barani, seven years old
47. Athena Ahmadzadeh, 10 years old
48. Khadijeh Darvishi, nine years old
49. Roqayyeh Karimi, 42 years old
50. Reza Ranjbar, six years old
51. Marzieh Bashiri-far, 38 years old
52. Mohammad-Mehdi Chegini, 10 years old
53. Mohammadian Bahrami, 17 years old
54. Ali-Akbar Karyani Pak, eight years old
55. Hananeh Mehdikhah, seven years old
56. Fereshteh Sangarzadeh, 44 years old
57. Mohammad-Ali Karyani Pak, seven years old
58. Parsa Mokhtari-nasab, 12 years old
59. Arina Arab-Kish, eight years old
60. Makan Nasiri, 12 years old
61. Esra Farahi-Zadeh, young girl, age unknown
About half of the American lives were due to a mid air accident, but they're just as dead as they would be had they died fighting. All of the Iranian lives lost that are listed are due to a targeting accident.
What the death toll for anybody in Lebanon, which opened up as a theatre of war while this was going on, we don't probably really know.
May the perpetual light shine upon them.
If any question why we died,Tell them, because our fathers lied.
None of these people had a choice in the offering of their lives for Trump's desperate attempt to have a legacy. American voters do have a choice on allowing him to continue to kill in an attempt to gain one, however. They'll have that choice in November, and through their members of Congress, they have a sort of choice now. The second it becomes clear to Republican members of Congress that their phony jobs are in danger by supporting a madman, they'll suddenly have never supported him.
April 9, 2026
Nothing is going through the Straits of Hormuz yet. . . a sign that shippers doubt the ceasefire will hold.
And it hasn't in Lebanon, where Israel continues to conduct operations arguing, logically enough, that it doesn't apply there anyway.
April 13, 2026
Well negotiations are going badly so now King Donny is threatening to blockade Iranian ports.
The world's worst dealmaker screws up the Iran negotiations
Forget the "Art of the Deal” myth.
April 17, 2026
There apparently is an agreement for a ceasefire in Lebanon.
April 18, 2026
A suspicious package caused a lockdown on parts of F. E. Warren yesterday.
Related? I don't know, but then, I don't know.
The Straits of Hormoz were announced open yesterday, and then Iran announced that they are under strict Iranian control today.
April 20, 2026
The United States announced a second round of talks in Pakistan and even discussed the delegation, with Trump claiming the parties were close to a deal.
Iran said nope, it wasn't going to any talks.
April 21, 2026
Some reporters are indicating that the US and Iran were close to a deal to end the war and that it was blown up by Trump's tweeting.
April 22, 2026
Trump was going to rain down destruction if things weren't moving yesterday, yadda yadda, yadda. . .
On other matters related to Mad King Donald's War, there are persistent rumors that recently he asked for the nuclear codes and was denied them by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Did that happen? We just don't know. If it did, we are way past the point where the 25th Amendment needs to be invoked. But again, we don't know.
April 23, 2026
More head's rolling in the DoD:
It's well known that Hegseth has the Secretary of the Army in his sights but hasn't been able to pull that off yet.
Interesting . . .
In other news, Iran is reporting that its Revolutionary Guards seized to vessels. Granted, that's not the Iranian Navy, but it does show that Iranian forces are more resilient than the US claims.
April 24, 2026
Trump's war on the global food supply
Just the latest moral and logistical atrocity.
April 25, 2026
Talks that were supposed to start today, aren't.
April 26, 2026
News has leaked that an Iranian Air Force F5 hit a US base in Kuwait awhile back.
The F5 was a great airplane. They haven't been made since 1987 but they're in the class of weapons, like the A10, that just keeps on keeping on.
The interesting thing here is that we've supposedly completely destroyed the Iranian Air Force and Navy, and yet the Iranians are still capable of flying (they were pretty limited in this before the war) and putting small boats in the sea. In order to really defeat Iran, we would have to be troops on the ground, and the Iranians will fight.
April 27, 2026
Guests and panelist on This Week made it clear that the momentum with the war is now with Iran and that if proceed on the current path, Iran will come out of the war stronger than they went in it.
April 28, 2026
It's hardly been noticed, in part because of the attack at the Correspondence Dinner, but the US is on the verge of basically formally surrendering to Iran and leaving Iran a more powerful nation than it was when the war started.
Trump Blinked
This will close out this edition. The man who is attributed with the Art of the Deal, which of course was ghostwritten, is being shown the Art of the Squeal by a nation that's not impressed with him, and which is run by people vastly more intelligent than he is. He's going to surrender. He won't call it that, but that's what he's about to do.
And with the surrender imminent, we'll go on to a new edition of this thread.
Last edition:
King Donald's War, Part 4. The Raving Madman threatens to resort to mass war crimes.
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