King Donald's War, Part 6. The Dunce in Chief and the The Four with Conscience. The Lions Lead by the Yappy Chihuahua Edition.

Rufus T. Firefly: Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot, and look like an idiot, but don't let that fool you: he really is an idiot.

Duck Soup. 

Trump doing is signature creepy old guy dance..

June 4, 2026

Tom Barrett of Michigan, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Warren Davidson of Ohio and Thomas Massie of Kentucky crossed party lines to vote with Democrats in favor of the resolution to end the illegal assault on Iran.

The measure goes on to the Senate.  We'll see what happens there, as Trump's stabbed some Senators in the back, and they're ready to gut him like a fish now.

The action of the Senators is based on conscience.  I believe its the right one, but it also serves to remind us that we're now in an incredibly bad spot in regard to the war against Iran, and in the Middle East in general.

It should have been obvious to anyone that decapitating the Iranian regime would not lead to a liberal democracy.  The Iranian people have no real ability to overthrow their government and when they tried before the war, after we urged it, they were mowed down.  It's the IRGC that has the guns.  

When the July 20 plotters mapped out their attempt to kill Hitler, in the attempt that almost worked, it involved wiping out the Nazi state.  The idea wasn't just to kill Hitler, but to remove the Nazis in every form.  Men like Himmler, Goebbels and Goering would have ended up against a wall had the plot succeeded.  Removing those in the seat of power just opens up a vacuum for those positions to be filled.  Moreover, in the Iranian case, they'd planned for such eventualities, which we should have known as prior selective US assassinations didn't change the direction of the regime at all.

Moreover, the regime has no place to go.  It's not as if they can walk out of their offices retire to cabbage farms.   They have to remain in power.  Like the German SS in 1945, the IRGC has no place to go.  It has to keep the regime in power.

All of this is obvious.

It was likewise obvious that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz and that would so severely disrupt the world's petroleum supplies that it would actually boost the move to green energy, although people still have really awakened to that reality.

And it should have been obvious that those advocating for the war had ulterior agendas.  Israel doesn't care about U.S. global considerations and is well aware that the U.S. is a declining power.  Convincing a weak minded Trump to go to war with Iran was completely in its interest, and it doesn't care about considerations about defending Taiwan or South Korea.

Pete Hegseth and the pack of far right wing Evangelical would be Crusaders don't care what this will cost.  In the view of those in that minoritarian group of American Protestants, a big war will bring on the end of the world and the return of Christ, now.  They don't worry about the Just War Theory, as their convinced this is a Divinely ordained mission.

And, it's obvious right now, that the Iranian regime can in fact outwait Trump and its doing it.  

The war can only come to an end in one of two ways.  We quit, and leave the mess we created as it is, which is a complete and total defeat, or we undertake a largescale ground invasion.  Those are the only two options.

The second one leaves open the question of should a country pursue a victory against a legitimate enemy when the war started illegally.  It's only a hypothetical question, however, as Trump, who was so stupid as to believe the war would end in a few days, does not have the stomach for that.  That really would cause there to be a vote on the war and he knows he'd loose it.

That means the only other option for ending the war is simply leaving, which is a complete defeat.  Trump also can't bring himself to do that, as he can't stand the thought that he is what he is, a loser.

So, Trump's option will be increasingly just to ignore the war.  He basically just hopes it will go away.  In the meantime, like Hitler in the bunker, he plays with models of a reimagined gaudy capital city.

And increasingly look like this to the world.

Last edition:

King Donald's War, Part 5. Quagmire. The $25,000,000,000 and thirteen American lives later, "So we (but not Donald) were in Vietnam for 18 years. Iraq, many, many years....I've been doing this for...six weeks" Edition.

Labels: Ascendant Ignorance in the Age of Donald Trump, Gallipoli, Ignorance, Iran, Israel, King Donald's War, Pete Hegseth, Petroleum, Saudi Arabia, Straits of Hormuz, U.S. Navy, United States, United States and Israel v. Iran, War

King Donald's War, Part 5. Quagmire. The $25,000,000,000 and thirteen American lives later, "So we (but not Donald) were in Vietnam for 18 years. Iraq, many, many years....I've been doing this for...six weeks" Edition.

 

King Donny before he was a national embarrassment, and just working on being a family one.

April 30, 2026

Secretary of Defense Hegseth testified the war had cost the US $25B so far.

We clearly have absolutely no idea how to get out of it or win it.

May 1, 2026

Iran responded to King Donny's threats to ramp up the war on Iran, now in a ceasefire, with threats of their own.

They seemed rather unimpressed by Donny.

Donny's administration says it doesn't have to comply with the sixty day provision of the War Powers Act due to the ceasefire.

May 3, 2026

Iran sent the US a fourteen point peace plan.  

May 4, 2026

The U.S. rejected Iranian peace proposals and is now going to escort ships through the Straits of Hormoz.  Iran threatened to strike the ships and has already claimed to have hit a U.S. Navy craft with missiles, which the U.S. denies.

cont:

Iran attacked ships in the straits today with small surface vehicles and it resumed drone strikes on the UAE.

May 6, 2026

Yesterday was Taco Tuesday, and so we have this headline from the Tribune.

Well of course we do.  Trump's an ignorant man with extremely limited world experience with a cabinet of sycophants.  This was a war run by ignoramuses.

Trump paused his latest version of the illegal war with his escort program in the Straits of Hormuz.  We have no way out of the war that anyone in D.C. grasps.

The US has clearly and absolutely lost this war, not succeeding in a single one of its objectives.  At this point, absent ground operations, this is humiliating US defeat, worse than the loss in Vietnam.

May 7, 2026

Taco's flip on the most recent operation is because Saudi Arabia denied the US use of its airspace.

It seems to be the case that Taco didn't inform the kingdom of the operation before coming up with it.

cont:

So, now we're hitting targets in Iran again, the war we won several weeks ago, and which was definitely over before we started blockading Iran.

Compared to this, the Allied landings at Gallipoli in World War One were an absolutely stunning success.

May 10, 2026

Headline from the CST:

Let's be honest, the Administration is incompetent.  Governed by flaky theories, linked to a romantic image of the past in more ways than one, and headed by a person with dementia.  Of course it's no closer to an end.

The US sent a counter proposal to Iran. They haven't replied.

What is new is that the UK and France are deploying ships to the region in anticipation of using them to keep shipping lanes open.

We'll remind everyone once again that this war is completely illegal, and Trump should be impeached and removed from office for the illegality.

May 11, 2026

Iran's counter proposal was rejected by the US.

May 18, 2026

The UAE was hit by drones yesterday, and an attempt was made on Saudi Arabia.

Donald Trump warned Iran it was running out of time.

The New York Times informed readers that Israel had constructed a secret base over a period of a year in Iraq for the war.

May 19, 2026

Trump threatened Iran with massive devastation and then called it off claiming that regional states asked him to. 

Whatever.

The ignoramus has backed himself and the entire country into a corner and has no idea what to do.

May 20, 2026

Aided by a defecting Bill Cassidy and some other defecting Republicans who finally decided they weren't a complete pack of cowardly little sissies, Congress advanced a War Powers bill.

This isn't the same as voting on it, they're just advancing it so it can be voted on. Still, it's a blow to the Big Sissie.

May 24, 2026

Contrary to what reports are holding, no lasting solution to the conflict with Iran has been reached, particularly in regard to the nuclear material.

We appear to be on our way to something no better than what Trump ripped up in the form of what President Obama had negotiated.

And he didn't have to kill a bunch of Iranian school girls to get it.

May 26, 2026

Americans are waking up the news of more war in the war that Trump said he'd already won and a couple of days ago said a deal was close to ending.

These strikes were on missile locations and boat launching sites.

May 28, 2026

Iran retaliated with an attempted strike on a US base in Kuwait.

Trump threatened to "blow up" Oman, a US ally, if it didn't cooperate on the Strait of Hormuz.

Israel declared a swath of Lebanon a "combat zone".

And with the entry demonstrating Trump's insanity, we will close out this issue.

May 29, 2026

Iran and the US agreed to a ceasefire extension involving opening the Strait of Hormuz and starting nuclear weapons talks.

June 1, 2026

The U.S. and Iran exchanged strikes yesterday, and Iran's civil government announced it was completely yielding to the Revolutionary Guard.

Israel pushed deeper into Lebanon.

cont:

Iran is withdrawing from peace talks.  Donald Trump claims he doesn't care.

June 2, 2026

From this afternoon.

Seems like a good place to start a new entry on a war that was only going to last a few days and which Trump has repeatedly told us all is over.

Last edition:

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.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, F. E. Warren AFB, Food, Hypocrisy, Iran, Israel, King Donald's War, Lebanon, Lies, Sic transit Gloria Mundi, Straits of Hormuz, Trump Derangement Syndrome, United States, United States and Israel v. Iran, War

Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 6. Two things greater than all things are edition.

It's been a while since we hand an entry in this category as the rank stupidity of King Donny has put the entire Middle East at war while he simultaneously declares its not a war, it is a war, and that we've won and haven't won, while asking for help from Allies and declaring we need no help. 

That's what happens when the formerly most powerful nation in the world elects a demented narcissist octengenarian to office.

While the rest of the world watches the United States circle the drain, the following has been going on.

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.

When spring-time flushes the desert grass,

Our kafilas wind through the Khyber Pass.

Lean are the camels but fat the frails,

Light are the purses but heavy the bales,

As the snowbound trade of the North comes down

To the market-square of Peshawur town. 

In a turquoise twilight, crisp and chill,

A kafila camped at the foot of the hill.

Then blue smoke-haze of the cooking rose,

And tent-peg answered to hammer-nose;

And the picketed ponies, shag and wild,

Strained at their ropes as the feed was piled;

And the bubbling camels beside the load

Sprawled for a furlong adown the road;

And the Persian pussy-cats, brought for sale,

Spat at the dogs from the camel-bale;

And the tribesmen bellowed to hasten the food;

And the camp-fires twinkled by Fort Jumrood;

And there fled on the wings of the gathering dusk

A savour of camels and carpets and musk,

A murmur of voices, a reek of smoke,

To tell us the trade of the Khyber woke. 

2 

The lid of the flesh-pot chattered high,

The knives were whetted and—then came I

To Mahbub Ali the muleteer,

Patching his bridles and counting his gear,

Crammed with the gossip of half a year.

But Mahbub Ali the kindly said,

“Better is speech when the belly is fed.”

So we plunged the hand to the mid-wrist deep

In a cinnamon stew of the fat-tailed sheep,

And he who never hath tasted the food,

By Allah! he knoweth not bad from good.

We cleansed our beards of the mutton-grease,

We lay on the mats and were filled with peace,

And the talk slid north, and the talk slid south,

With the sliding puffs from the hookah-mouth. 

3 

Four things greater than all things are,—

Women and Horses and Power and War.

We spake of them all, but the last the most,

For I sought a word of a Russian post,

Of a shifty promise, an unsheathed sword

And a gray-coat guard on the Helmund ford.

Then Mahbub Ali lowered his eyes

In the fashion of one who is weaving lies.

Quoth he: “Of the Russians who can say?

“When the night is gathering all is gray.

“But we look that the gloom of the night shall die

“In the morning flush of a blood-red sky.

“Friend of my heart, is it meet or wise

“To warn a King of his enemies?

“We know what Heaven or Hell may bring,

“But no man knoweth the mind of the King.

“That unsought counsel is cursed of God

“Attesteth the story of Wali Dad. 

4 

“His sire was leaky of tongue and pen,

“His dam was a clucking Khuttuck hen;

“And the colt bred close to the vice of each,

“For he carried the curse of an unstanched speech.

“Therewith madness—so that he sought

“The favour of kings at the Kabul court;

“And travelled, in hope of honour, far

“To the line where the gray-coat squadrons are.

“There have I journeyed too—but I

“Saw naught, said naught, and—did not die!

“He hearked to rumour, and snatched at a breath

“Of ‘this one knoweth’ and ‘that one saith’,—

“Legends that ran from mouth to mouth

“Of a gray-coat coming, and sack of the South.

“These have I also heard—they pass

“With each new spring and the winter grass. 

5 

“Hot-foot southward, forgotten of God,

“Back to the city ran Wali Dad,

“Even to Kabul—in full durbar

“The King held talk with his Chief in War.

“Into the press of the crowd he broke,

“And what he had heard of the coming spoke.

“Then Gholam Hyder, the Red Chief, smiled,

“As a mother might on a babbling child;

“But those who would laugh restrained their breath,

“When the face of the King showed dark as death.

“Evil it is in full durbar

“To cry to a ruler of gathering war!

“Slowly he led to a peach-tree small,

“That grew by a cleft of the city wall.

“And he said to the boy: ‘They shall praise thy zeal

“So long as the red spurt follows the steel.

“And the Russ is upon us even now?

“Great is thy prudence—await them, thou.

“Watch from the tree. Thou art young and strong,

“Surely thy vigil is not for long.

“The Russ is upon us, thy clamour ran?

“Surely an hour shall bring their van.

“Shout aloud that my men may hear.’ 

6 

“Friend of my heart, is it meet or wise

“To warn a King of his enemies?

“A guard was set that he might not flee—

“A score of bayonets ringed the tree.

“The peach-bloom fell in showers of snow,

“When he shook at his death as he looked below.

“By the power of God, who alone is great,

“Till the seventh day he fought with his fate.

“Then madness took him, and men declare

“He mowed in the branches as ape and bear,

“And last as a sloth, ere his body failed,

“And he hung as a bat in the forks, and wailed,

“And sleep the cord of his hands untied,

“And he fell, and was caught on the points and died. 

7 

“Heart of my heart, is it meet or wise

“To warn a King of his enemies?

“We know what Heaven or Hell may bring,

“But no man knoweth the mind of the King.

“Of the gray-coat coming who can say?

“When the night is gathering all is gray.

“Two things greater than all things are,

“The first is Love, and the second War.

“And since we know not how War may prove,

“Heart of my heart, let us talk of Love!”

 Rudyard Kipling, Ballad of the King's jest

March 23, 2026.

Pakistan v. Afghanistan

Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fighting a border war.  

March 28, 2026

Mexican Drug Wars

Self defense militias are forming in the cartel ridden portion of Mexico, armed with military style semi automatic rifles, AKs and ARs, smuggled in from the US.

This actually provides a good example of the utility of something like the 2nd Amendment.  Mexican civilians are having to illegally arm themselves, which in the US they would not have to.

Russo Ukrainian War

If we had to be fighting a war, we should have been fighting this one.  But then, Donald Trump loves Vlad Putin.

Ukraine Is Starting To Wage Systems Warfare

The US Might Consider Paying Attention

April 6, 2026

Sudanese civil war

April 21, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Russia is losing more men per month in Ukraine than it can recruit.

This war has seemingly been forgotten in the US, but then the US is now an aggressor nation as well.

April 30, 2026

A second U.S. Ambassador has resigned over the embarrassing American conduct towards the embattled country.

Donald Trump, whose declared that the US has won the war its losing against Iran, declared that Ukraine lost the war its winning against Russia.

Trump repeatedly shows himself to be one of Putin's best friends.

Ukraine destroyed a Russian oil facility in a major long range drone attack and followed it up with a second drone attack yesterday on a different facility.

May 2, 2026

Mali insurgency

Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali carried out "intense air campaigns" in Malian territory against Al Qaeda backed militants.

May 3, 2026

Syrian Civil War

And the US is now out.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Not a war item, but it could help lead to one, the US is withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany and threatening to withdrawal more as Trump is upset that everyone has fallen behind him in the war on Iran.

NATO and Germany aren't reacting to these developments the way Demented King Donny thinks they should.  Rather, Europe is arming and the US is no longer a superpower.  Germany in particular is taking a view towards its military that it has not since 1945.  Donald may not wake up to this, if he ever does, until later this month when he visits China which may principally choose to treat him as a spoiled little kid. . . or not.  My prediction there is that he'll come back from China with whatever "deal" the Chinese choose to dictate.

What is occurring in Europe is exactly what National Conservatives wand, however.  They see the US, and Europe, as walled fortresses with their own interest.  They don't have much interest in helping to defend Europe against anyone, and some are pretty sympathetic with Russia.  Those people don't worry about defending democratic ideals, as they don't share them.

May 4, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine hit a Baltic petroleum loading facility in a drone strike yesterday.

May 29, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine has been pounding Russia with drone attacks.  This war is getting little attention in the US right now, with our unhinged alleged president threatening everyone and the GOP consisting of a bunch of sissies, but Ukraine appears to be flat out winning.

Russia hit an apartment complex in Romania yesterday with drones in an apparent accident.

June 1, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Full transcript: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," May 31, 2026

Last edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 5. Trump's forever war. King Donald's War, Part 1.

Labels: Donald Trump, J. D. Vance, King Donald's War, The Second Trump Administration, United States and Israel v. Iran, War, Wars and rumors of wars

Pope Leo and the Just War Theory.

To all of this, the media and digital dimensions are adding new and decisive elements. Communication networks, fragmented information environments and algorithms that reward conflict can magnify polarization and resentment, increase propaganda and make shared discernment more difficult. Thus, war is not only fought, but also culturally conditioned through simplistic narratives, a friend-or-foe mentality, disinformation and fear. When historical memory fades and the ethical principles that protect civilians and the most vulnerable are weakened, it becomes easier to justify violence as necessary, inevitable or even “sanitized.” It is in this context that humanity is slipping into a violent culture of power, where peace no longer appears as a responsibility to be taken on, but as a fragile interval between conflicts. Today, more than ever, without prejudice to the right to self-defense in the strictest sense, it is important to reaffirm that the “just war” theory, which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated. [182] Humanity possesses far more effective and capable tools for promoting human life and resolving conflicts, such as dialogue, diplomacy and forgiveness. The use of force, violence and weapons reflects a relational poverty that always has disastrous consequences for civilian populations.

Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas.

When first released, almost all of the attention given to Magnifica Humanitas was on his discussion of Artificial Intelligence, but then somebody noticed is comments on the Just War Theory, and now people are freaking out.  Conservative Catholic pundits have already come out with the "Pope is wrong" commentary, and even an Anglican journal came out with an article to the same effect.

He isn't wrong.

And this isn't really new.

First of all, the Just War Theory was always that, a theory.  It's not doctrine, and in some quarters its never been accepted.  Moreover, since World War Two the Church has really made significant modifications to what can be considered a "just war".  

So, what did Pope Leo really say here.

First, what's the Just War Theory hold?

Well, let's look at the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It states:

According to CCC 2309, the following conditions must be met in order for war to be just:

(1) The damage inflicted by the aggressor must be lasting, grave, and certain.

(2) All other means of putting an end to it must have shown to be impractical or ineffective.

(3) There must be serious prospects of success.

(4) The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated (the principle of proportionality).

So, presently, those are the criteria set out in the Catechism.  Will this be changed?  I suspect it will be modified.  And frankly, based on prior statements by the last three Popes, the Catechism does not support the view that the Pontiffs have  been stating.  The thing that they've repeatedly stated is that war is only justifiable for defensive purposes.  Hence the comment; "Today, more than ever, without prejudice to the right to self-defense in the strictest sense, it is important to reaffirm that the “just war” theory, which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated."

So, with this in mind, what we might suppose (although I'm treading on dangerous grounds here as I'm not a theologian) is that the Church would modify the material set out above to read:

A country may legitimately act in self defense when:

(1) The damage inflicted by an attacking aggressor must be lasting, grave, and certain.

(2) All other means of putting an end to it must have shown to be impractical or ineffective.

(3) There must be serious prospects of success.

(4) The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated (the principle of proportionality).

Is that a big change in what the Popes have been saying?  Not really.

But does it effect some sort of a change?  Well, yes.  A clarifying one, in my view.

What I think the Pope's statement makes clear that the moral laxity in interpreting the Just War theory is not justified.  It never has been, but all too often those citing it go on to hold that whatever war they're speaking of is kind of sort of justified by the theory.  That should not have been the case, and it needs to come to an end.  

It's needed to come to an end for a long time.

There's no way that, for example, the US and Israeli war upon Iran is a just war.  No way.  At least from the U.S. prospective, it's an illegal war as it defies the requirements of the U.S. Constitution for Congress to declare war, making it immoral to a certain extent from the onset.  But the criteria required for a just war even as the CCC states it cannot be met.  The first criteria alone, that Iran was inflicting damage upon the United States in a way that is lasting, grave, and certain, was never met.  The repeated baloney that "they've been attacking us for 47 years" didn't come close to meeting this criteria.  Yes, Iran is a sponsor of terrorism.  Terrorism, however, is an act of the weak and is largely ineffectual.  Launching a massive offensive against Iran was not justified by the fact that Iran acts immorally. 

Indeed, on that score, the war does not meet, in my view, the requirements of the forth criteria.  And it never met the requirements of the second criteria either.

A war launched to change the regime, which was an earlier excuse for the war, was certainly not justified.

And it turns out that the third criteria cannot be met either.  The war has actually made the regime more hard line. The only chance for success would require a massive ground invasion of the country, which is certainly not proportional to the hoped for outcome.

What Pope Leo has clarified is something that other Popes have said, to some degree, and which follows the history of the discussion on the death penalty. Pope St. John Paul the Great made statements to the effect that the death penalty could not be justified in the modern world. The following two Popes amplified that.  Catholic conservatives have still refused to accept that, but that's completely correct.  In the modern world, the criteria which would allow for the imposition of the death penalty simply to not exist.

And with Pope Leo's statements, it seems fairly clear that the criteria for launching an offensive war never exist either.  That's been somewhat presumed all the way back to the 1940s, but now its clear.

And, it should also be clear, this is not a mere academic discussion.

War is killing people and breaking things. There's no two ways about it.  Killing people intentionally is gravely evil, except in self defense.  Supporting killing people except in self defense is likewise gravely illegal.  The same Catholic beliefs that hold that murder is immoral, that abortion is immoral, lead directly to war and the death penalty being immoral.  You cannot, no matter how much you might want to stretch it, supporting abortion if you are a Catholic, and frankly at this point, you cannot support immoral wars.

It was Pope St. John Paul, I think, who instructed that Catholic lawyers should not represent people in divorces.  Judges can still preside over them however.  Which brings us to this next point.

Catholic politicians can clearly not support immoral wars.  When people like Chuck Gray and Megan Degenfelder come around seeking votes, as they are Catholic, their position on this war should be asked of.  If they support it, as Trump supports it, they're willing to condemn their souls to Hell for their ambitions, or at least risk that.  Those Catholics in the Trump administration supporting the war, and we don't really know who they are (we know that Vance wasn't in support of it) are doing the same, to a larger degree.  The military raid on Venezuela that occurred earlier likewise presents the same problem.  Any invasion of Cuba, which it seems likely we will do, poses the same situation.

But beyond that, can Catholic servicemen morally serve in these wars?

I'm sure opinions will vary, but I don't think they can.

And that is a real change.  And given that war involves death, that's a change for the good.

Related threads:

Just War 101: Catholic Teaching for a Dangerous Moment

Supporting Immorality in War is Immoral.

Archdiocese for the Military Services. Not a Just War.

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:

Navy Secretary leaving role ‘effective immediately,’ Pentagon announces

Undersecretary Hung Cao will serve as the Navy’s acting secretary amid John Phelan’s sudden departure.

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.

Labels: Catholic, Christianity, Donald Trump, King Donald's War, religion, The Madness of King Donald, United States and Israel v. Iran, War Crimes