July 21, 2026.
If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied.
Kipling.
Just 19 years old. She died, not so that Iran would not have a nuclear weapon, not for liberal democracy in Iran, but because a demented old narcassist duped by a prime minister of a desperately minoritarian regime in the Middle East could spill her blood for its purposes.*
Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, and every American supporting this war has blood on their hands.
And not just hers.
Isabella Gonzales. A life cut short, and a life taken on behalf a regime that would likely send her to Mexico on the basis that she has a Spanish last name, if it could, for a war that most Americans don't want, and which is being fought for Israel.
I'm not, as I've noted before, in favor of women in combat. Pvt. Gonzales left a few social media type posts of herself, in uniform, acting very cute, and very feminine. She did not deserve this. It sounds brutal to say this, but this is a man's role.
But more than that, this is a role that should be filled, if it had to be, by those who brought it about. Why are the Trumps not in action?
Why have they never been?
A person who did.
Take up the White Man’s burden— Send forth the best ye breed— Go send your sons to exile To serve your captives’ need*
Nah, that's not going to happen.
Most days now, it won't even be the main headline. Troops will go on killing and dying, and for what? A goal never clearly expressed, and which cannot be obtained without massive loss of life.
July 22, 2026
The third soldier:
Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, age 28.
And killed elsewhere in Iraq.
Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, age 30.
I suppose their faces look like America as it is. . . but not really the America that people like some in the Trump seem to want it to look like.
CST headline:
Well, like they say, freedom isn't free, and apparently giving up your freedoms for a demented narcissist isn't either.
The Houthis are threatening to close the Red Sea.
July 24, 2026
From the CST:
July 26, 2026
The Houthis hit oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia yesterday.
News reports hold that the administration has put on hold an escalation of the war due to a shortage of air defense munitions. Savvy analysts, including yours truly, have been warning about that occurring for months, and not it's here.
So, in keeping with that, a prediction.
This is also likely a moment that Putin and Xi have been waiting for as well. Our weapons stockpile has been built up over years, and now we've wasted it on a war fought for Israel and Trump's vanity. Both Putin and Xi know that the next President, assuming at Trump 2028 coup to be unsuccessful, and assuming that we don't have another President before 2028, is much less likely to be a complete patsy and geopolitical dimwit.
For Russia, that means Russia needs to fight on in hopes it can win before the next administration comes on. For Xi, that means the time to invade Taiwan is. . . now.
July 27, 2026
We're really back to, if not surpassing, the Vietnam War era administration fibbing levels.
Pentagon reveals hundreds of new Iran war casualties
July 29, 2026
Trump openly showed frustration with Netanyahu who was in town for Lindsey Graham's funeral as Bibi announced ahead of time that he wanted to share Israeli intelligence on Pickaxe Mountain.
That intelligence would reportedly show that the Iranians are reconstituting their nuclear program there and have no plans to give it up, which is obvious. That frustrates Donny, however, who was basically suckered into the war by Bibi and now can't find a way out. Bibi is trying to keep him focused and involved.
Iran launched a series of missile strikes on US targets yesterday. The missiles were reportedly alls hot down, but they cause the US to burn through it's depleting anti missile supply.
July 30, 2026
Well worth reading. We're not only losing, recent actions have made us even weaker than we were before.
Midweek Update #21: Iran Is Toying With The USA
Plus: Iranian Strategy; How Does This End?
We really have a evered amateurs at war problem going on. Hegseth apparently just feels that bombing wins wars, which has never worked. Trumps managed to go from having a horror of war into being nearly bloodthirsty, at least in his rhetoric. We're depleting weapons like crazy when we're already broke.
The war not only will have a losing result, but this is going to have a severely bad end for the country.
July 31, 2026
The U.S. resumed strikes on Iran yesterday. A drone strike on gas vessels in Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta occurred which is fairly clearly linked to the war, but the details have yet to be developed.
As an aside, I've already noted that the recent dead are half female and 3/4s minorities. It's also the case that one, Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, was lesbian in a same gender union.
I'm noting that as the dead do not line up with Pete Hegseth's and MAGAs world view of who are Americans, yet they're the ones dying.
Iran has conducted a cyber attack on the Minnesota public water systems.
Cont:
The dipshit in the Oval Office blamed Minnesota for the Iranian attack on that state's public water systems.
He really doesn't care about you folks.
August 1, 2026
The illegitimate Trump Administration is meeting at Camp David today to discuss the illegal war it started.
August 3, 2026
Trump called off attacks and promised not to resume if a deal could be reached quickly.
It's won't be.
Iran and Oman are apparently in separate discussions on the Strait of Hormuz.
August 4, 2026
Trump claimed yesterday that talks were "underway". Iran denied that any were going on.
In fact, last night, Iran has launched a drone attack on a U.S. military base in Kuwait. and Iran struck a cargo vessel off the coast of Oman, all after King Donny claimed the U.S. and Iran have resumed negotiations.
Nobody knows for sure what the story is here, but we all know that Trump is an outrageous liar.
Trump is showing signs of getting increasingly frustrated with the war and clearly doesn't have any idea what to do. Iran knows that and has zero incentive in working with him on anything. More likely than not this is going to drag on for many more months.
The critical breaking point may prove to be a military one. The US cannot sustain the war and it's now very clear that's the case. Every single day of active fighting in the Middle East brings war with China, now inevitable in my view, closer.
"Amateurs talk tactics, professionals study logistics" is the phrase that come to mind. Trump isn't a student of either. Neither is Hegseth, by observation . Trump listened to armature hawks like Hegseth whose war philosophy seemed boil down to "make big boom, kill people, opponents surrender" which would demonstrate that he wasn't much of a student of history.
The U.S. Army has used up most of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles in the war.
August 6, 2026
Apparently Hegseth and Trump got into a raging argument about the war at Camp David.
August 8, 2026
Iran has announced that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States meets certain conditions, including lifting the U.S. naval blockade and sanctions, withdrawing U.S. forces from around Iran, paying war reparations, releasing frozen Iranian assets, and ending attacks on Iran’s allies and threats against the country.
Yup, they're dictating terms to the U.S.
Those responsible for this debacle, from the Secretary of Defense down to the military planners, need to go, and need to go right away. Fire them.
August 10, 2026
Leaks from the Administration indicate that Trump is now at the point that the US will end the war if Iran only promises to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.
Iran is refusing that offer, wanting the US to pay reparations.
This is a complete defeat.
Donald Trump is about to become what he never wanted to be: Jimmy Carter. Held hostage by Iran. And it was all voluntary.
Chris Christie.
This is such a humiliating turning point that we will close this edition out with this.
Footnotes:
*“The White Man’s Burden" by Kipling, quote in part.
I don't admire the sentiments in this poem at all. It's racist. But it expresses the type of WASP colonialism, sans the Protestantism which at least moderated it a bit, of the colonial 19th Century, that the US is now experiencing under Donald Trump.
Related threads:
Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 8. Donald Trump, China's (and Russia's) greatest ally edition.
Last edition:
