El Paso was jittery, although not without good reason.
Early in the Progressive Era, California adopted initiatives and referendums.
I'm not hugely keen on them myself.
The Japanese Antarctic Expedition reached its limit at Coulman Island.
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The Supreme Court upheld corporate income tax as constitutional.
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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.
You have to make sure you know why you are going to war and then use decisive force to end it as soon as possible.
Colin Powell,
March 3, 2026
United States and Israel v. Iran
The war continues on, obviously, with the Administration struggling to explain what its about, why now, and why it can omit Congress from its constitutional duty.
It's expanded into a regional war, so far all aircraft and missiles. Included in the exchanges are those between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon.
It's become perfunctory to note that the Iranian government is horrible, which it is. It murders and rapes its own citizens in the name of an extreme variant of Shi'a Islam. But, there are a lot of horrible governments in the world. North Korea and Russia's are two such examples, Afghanistan's is another, and Trump of course cut a deal with them allowing them to return to power.
The Iranians were going to have a nuclear weapon, it has been claimed, soon, with soon being a bit of a moving target. A nuclear armed Iran would be frightening and that's the best argument for this offensive war, which would make it a preemptive defensive war. Even that argument, however, seems very poorly developed.
Marco Rubio gave the justification that, if another nation (Israel) attacked Iran, they'd attack us back, and that was an imminent threat. He claimed Iran was going to be attacked.
That basically would amount to handing the power to declare war for the United States over to Israel.
It just seems that, in reality, an aged demented Trump looking for some sort of legacy was talked into it by the Neoconservatives and Apocalyptic Evangelist in his circle of influencers, with perhaps, probably, Israel itself playing a role in that. Of all those goals, the Neocon one would be the least disturbing, which is not to say that it would not be disturbing.
One disturbing thing about that is that NPR, in its Politics podcast, ventured the opinion, not put this way, that Trump is basically drunk on power and will keep toppling governments as long as he's successful in doing so. If that's the case, we can predict that Cuba will be next as its a pet project of Marco Rubio.
The US has lost some aircraft to friendly fire, which in the age of cell phone video, makes for interesting video.
An interesting thing on this video, other than its a female pilot (she was lucky, as she nearly went down in the sea) is that the video shows the airplane to be an F-15, which means the Air Force, and not just the Navy, is flying some of these missions.
The U.S. death toll is up to five.
Afghanistan v. Pakistan
Hardly noticed in all the general war exploding in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan are fighting.
Cont:
United States and Israel v. Iran
Reports have revealed that at more than 30 military installations, U.S. commanders told troops the war on Iran is a Christian war in support of its being launched. One NCO reported that their commander told them today that the U.S. war is to bring about Armageddon and the return of Jesus Christ.
I know that this was going to occur, and at least one Evangelical pastor in the U.S. has said essentially the same thing. This, I'd note, how Mike Huckabee sees the world.
So now we're at least partially in an American Evangelical Christian holy war against Shia Islam. It'll be a shock to Evangelicals, but they're a tiny percentage of the globe's Christians, and the percentage of them that hold such Millennialist views is even smaller. This is going to hurt us all, however.
It's also being reported that J.D. Vance encouraged Trump to go "all in", for lack of a better word. I'm not sure of his thinking, but he might be approaching this with a Clausewitzian view of how to wage the war, although that will require ground troops in the end. From a military prospective, that argument has merit to it. What it lacks here is legality.
March 4, 2026
United States and Israel v. Iran
A Republican official attempted to justify the war on Iran with the figure that 700 Americans had been killed by Iran in the past 47 years.
Over 800 Iranians have now been killed by the US and Israel in the past five days.
Cont:
The US sank an Iranian frigate off of Sri Lanka yesterday. The attacking ship was a submarine.
Sinking enemy ships in wartime is legitimate. . . but this isn't a declared war.
United States in Ecuador
And we're now fighting somebody, just designated "terrorists", in Ecuador.
March 4, 2026, cont.
United States and Israel v. Iran
A Turkish missile was shot down over NATO ally Turkey and the Iranians launched a drone strike on an RAF base on Cyprus.
Without it apparently being obvious, both sides of this war are now lead or heavily influenced by competing apocalyptic visions. The US, by the theologically thin and ignorant New Apostolic Reformation Puritans and the Iranians by the Shia theocrats. Both want the wider war that they envision.
March 5, 2026
United States and Israel v. Iran
The Senate did vote on a war powers resolution that would have limited King Donny's ability to wage war. It failed.
This is being somewhat hailed as a King Donny victory, but it isn't. Actually, no matter how you regard the war, the fact that the vote occurred is a good thing as it somewhat, albeit very imperfectly, legitimizes the war. There has been some sort of vote, in other words, although less than that which is required.
The vote was largely on party lines.
| Name ▼ | State | Party | Vote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angela Alsobrooks | Maryland | D | yes | |
| Tammy Baldwin | Wisconsin | D | yes | |
| Jim Banks | Indiana | R | no | |
| John Barrasso | Wyoming | R | no | |
| Michael Bennet | Colorado | D | yes | |
| Marsha Blackburn | Tennessee | R | no | |
| Richard Blumenthal | Connecticut | D | yes | |
| Lisa Blunt Rochester | Delaware | D | yes | |
| Cory Booker | New Jersey | D | yes | |
| John Boozman | Arkansas | R | no | |
| Katie Britt | Alabama | R | no | |
| Ted Budd | North Carolina | R | no | |
| Maria Cantwell | Washington | D | yes | |
| Shelley Capito | West Virginia | R | no | |
| Bill Cassidy | Louisiana | R | no | |
| Susan Collins | Maine | R | no | |
| Christopher Coons | Delaware | D | yes | |
| John Cornyn | Texas | R | no | |
| Catherine Cortez Masto | Nevada | D | yes | |
| Tom Cotton | Arkansas | R | no | |
| Kevin Cramer | North Dakota | R | no | |
| Michael Crapo | Idaho | R | no | |
| Ted Cruz | Texas | R | no | |
| John Curtis | Utah | R | no | |
| Steve Daines | Montana | R | no | |
| Tammy Duckworth | Illinois | D | yes | |
| Richard Durbin | Illinois | D | yes | |
| Joni Ernst | Iowa | R | no | |
| John Fetterman | Pennsylvania | D | no | |
| Deb Fischer | Nebraska | R | no | |
| Ruben Gallego | Arizona | D | yes | |
| Kirsten Gillibrand | New York | D | yes | |
| Lindsey Graham | South Carolina | R | no | |
| Charles Grassley | Iowa | R | no | |
| Bill Hagerty | Tennessee | R | no | |
| Margaret Hassan | New Hampshire | D | yes | |
| Joshua Hawley | Missouri | R | no | |
| Martin Heinrich | New Mexico | D | yes | |
| John Hickenlooper | Colorado | D | yes | |
| Mazie Hirono | Hawaii | D | yes | |
| John Hoeven | North Dakota | R | no | |
| Jon Husted | Ohio | R | no | |
| Cindy Hyde-Smith | Mississippi | R | no | |
| Ron Johnson | Wisconsin | R | no | |
| Jim Justice | West Virginia | R | no | |
| Timothy Kaine | Virginia | D | yes | |
| Mark Kelly | Arizona | D | yes | |
| John Kennedy | Louisiana | R | no | |
| Andy Kim | New Jersey | D | yes | |
| Angus King | Maine | I | yes | |
| Amy Klobuchar | Minnesota | D | yes | |
| James Lankford | Oklahoma | R | no | |
| Mike Lee | Utah | R | no | |
| Ben Luján | New Mexico | D | yes | |
| Cynthia Lummis | Wyoming | R | no | |
| Edward Markey | Massachusetts | D | yes | |
| Roger Marshall | Kansas | R | no | |
| Mitch McConnell | Kentucky | R | no | |
| Dave McCormick | Pennsylvania | R | no | |
| Jeff Merkley | Oregon | D | yes | |
| Ashley Moody | Florida | R | no | |
| Jerry Moran | Kansas | R | no | |
| Bernie Moreno | Ohio | R | no | |
| Markwayne Mullin | Oklahoma | R | no | |
| Lisa Murkowski | Alaska | R | no | |
| Christopher Murphy | Connecticut | D | yes | |
| Patty Murray | Washington | D | yes | |
| Jon Ossoff | Georgia | D | yes | |
| Alejandro Padilla | California | D | yes | |
| Rand Paul | Kentucky | R | yes | |
| Gary Peters | Michigan | D | yes | |
| John Reed | Rhode Island | D | yes | |
| Pete Ricketts | Nebraska | R | no | |
| James Risch | Idaho | R | no | |
| Jacky Rosen | Nevada | D | yes | |
| Mike Rounds | South Dakota | R | no | |
| Bernard Sanders | Vermont | I | yes | |
| Brian Schatz | Hawaii | D | yes | |
| Adam Schiff | California | D | yes | |
| Eric Schmitt | Missouri | R | no | |
| Charles Schumer | New York | D | yes | |
| Rick Scott | Florida | R | no | |
| Tim Scott | South Carolina | R | no | |
| Jeanne Shaheen | New Hampshire | D | yes | |
| Tim Sheehy | Montana | R | no | |
| Elissa Slotkin | Michigan | D | yes | |
| Tina Smith | Minnesota | D | yes | |
| Dan Sullivan | Alaska | R | no | |
| John Thune | South Dakota | R | no | |
| Thom Tillis | North Carolina | R | no | |
| Tommy Tuberville | Alabama | R | no | |
| Chris Van Hollen | Maryland | D | yes | |
| Mark Warner | Virginia | D | yes | |
| Raphael Warnock | Georgia | D | yes | |
| Elizabeth Warren | Massachusetts | D | yes | |
| Peter Welch | Vermont | D | yes | |
| Sheldon Whitehouse | Rhode Island | D | yes | |
| Roger Wicker | Mississippi | R | no | |
| Ron Wyden | Oregon | D | yes | |
| Todd Young | Indiana | R | no |
Now the Republican Party owns this war.
The Administration is already in violation of the War Powers Act as it didn't give proper notice for the war. It would appear that under the act it's ability to wage war legally will expire in about 90 days. Trump appears to be just dumb enough to believe that everything will certainly be okay in that period of time, which is far from guaranteed.
European wags are calling the war, which some idiot named Operation Epic Fury, Operation Epstein Fury.
cont:
The United States and a Gulf state are now seeking to purchase drone interceptors from Ukraine.
Rather ironic, really.
Trump has called on the Kurds in Iran to revolt.
That's a really problematic call to arms. The U.S. has a history of doing this with the Kurds and then not fully supporting them when the rise up. Right now, there's a rump Kurdish state in Syria, and a Kurdish population in Iraq, that would like to form a bonafide state. If the Kurds achieved a measure of autonomy in Iran, it'd be hard not to grant them full statehood.
That's fine, in my view, but it won't be fine in Turkey's view, which creates all sorts of problems.
cont:
The House also rejected a War Powers resolution to halt the war against Iran. The vote was 212 to 219.
While this will go back in sixty days or so, this effectively amounts to Congressional authorization, although again, imperfectly.
Two Republicans voted to halt the war. Four Democrats voted in favor of it.
March 6, 2026
United States and Israel v. Iran
It's increasingly clear that the U.S. is responsible for the strike on a school that killed over 100 young girls. Apparently the structure was once used by the Iranian military, but has not been for some time.
Meanwhile:
The pastors told Trump that the love of money was the root of all evil and that he needs to repent for his deeply immoral life. . . oh wait, that didn't happen.
God will not be mocked
Galatians 6:7.
Sen. John Barrasso, who is mostly seen now days standing behind John Thune with a serious look on his face, dutifully spouted the "we've been at war for 47 years" line in the last couple of days, as if anyone cares what his opinion is on anything. Everyone knows that if Trump came out later this week and said that we're killing school girls as we hate pistachios, Barrasso would repeat that.
Time asked King Donny about whether Americans should be worried about attacks in the U.S.. His reply:
I guess…We plan for it. But yeah, you know, we expect some things. Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.
Frankly, if Americans die, unless their names is Trump, Trump doesn't appear to care. But why would anyone think he would care?
On this, Iran had decades to insert sleeper cells into the U.S., and they don't have to be staffed by Iranian nationals. That doesn't mean, however that they did. Some nations that we assumed had done that in the past, like Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany, didn't.
It's always been assumed, and probably correctly, that the Soviet Union did.
Iran? If they didn't, I can't imagine why they did not, but they may not have.
What is sure right now is that they haven't struck. That doesn't mean they won't. Using sleeper agents is usually reserved for what basically amounts to total war, and its risky. Right now, all Iran really has to do is hang on until August or so, by which time if it hasn't surrendered, disgusted Americans will use the war against the GOP for being Trump toadies. That appears likely to happen anyhow. Use of agents might serve to simply make Americans mad, which could change that.
Strikes against economic targets, however, are another matter. There's not an oil refinery in the US that a terrorist can't damage somehow and that would not only be potentially hugely disrupting, but it would require the domestic deployment of troops and drive up the price of oil like crazy. It might also not so much anger, as opposed to scare, Americans.
What average Americans have to worry about is rogue individuals. In a country in which its so easy to acquire arms, we're very open to attacks like that which happened recently in Austin, or in Australia. The Trump regime would react to that by cutting into the 2nd Amendment.
Will that occur? Well it already has. But even at that, it didn't happen during the Vietnam War, which might be the most comparable to what we're enduring right now.
Which doesn't mean that we shouldn't be worried.
But don't worry too much. Donny, who lamented how many young men were being killed in the Russo Ukrainian War at one time, isn't concerned. If you die, well, that's just one of those things.
The Washington Post reports that Russia is providing Iran targeting information.
Cont:
King Donny has demanded an "unconditional surrender" by Iran, thereby completely removing any incentive the Islamic Republic has to enter into any sort of arrangement with the US whatsoever.
Generally, demand for unconditional surrenders are monumentally stupid and rarely work. Such a demand in part caused the Third Reich and Imperial Japan to fight beyond the point at which political forces in both countries would have ended those wars, and they (if we consider them to be two different wars) beyond the point at which they otherwise would have. Even at that, Japan's surrender actually turned out to have conditions imposed by Japan.
An unconditional surrender here would completely turn Iran's fate, and that of its Islamic regime, over to the United States. Why wouldn't they just fight on? This likely serves to strengthen the unpopular government.
It also puts the US military in a situation in which a ground invasion of Iran is practically mandatory. Staging that will be difficult as the US is unlikely to gain the cooperation of Iraq or Turkey in that, and of course thanks to Donny's brilliant first term diplomacy, Afghanistan as a staging area it not an option. Therefore it would appear a large scale maritime landing would be required.
Cont:
Well, the admiration is already trying to walk that back:
When he as commander in chief determines that Iran no longer poses a threat to the US and the goals of Operation Epic Fury have been fully realized, then Iran will essentially be in a place of unconditional.
Leavitt.
March 8, 2026
United States and Israel v. Iran
No end in sight.
Kurdish sources have apparently indicated that the US asked for them to take action against Iran, but they don't trust Trump so they declined.
United States v. Cuba
The administration is giving every indication that it intends to take unauthorized military action against Cuba next.
March 9, 2026
United States and Israel v. Iran
Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the killed Supreme Leader, is the new Supreme Leader. So the attacks did not effect regime change whatsoever, so far.
The United States lifted a sanction on Indian oil allowing that country to receive it, in light of rising prices, thereby giving Russian an economic benefit in the war.
March 10, 2026
United States and Israel v. Iran
At least commentator holds Iran's new Supreme Leader is more extreme than his father.
Cont:
I had a very good call with President Putin. We talked about Ukraine which is the never ending fight…It was a positive call on that subject
We obviously talked about the Middle East. He wants to be helpful…We had a very good talk, and he wants to be very constructive.
Trump.
At this point, even if you are the MAGAist MAGA of the MAGA, to not believe that the relationship between Donald Trump and Putin isn't weird, it's a willful decision. The Russians are giving Iran intelligence against us and our reaction is to lift sanctions on their oil.
And Putin wants to be helpful. Yeah, right.
Cont:
Nobody seems to notice, but acts of terrorism against the U.S. have spread into New York and Canada.
March 11, 2026
United States and Israel v. Iran
Headline from the Casper Star Tribune:
US, IRAN DIG IN
Which in Iran's case at least, was obviously going to occur. Our President didn't realize that, as he's an idiot.
Sen. Roger Marshall on high gas prices: "Freedom is not free. Americans are gonna have to make some sacrifices."
Quite a statement in support of a war Americans didn't want launched by an oligarch who doesn't even drive.
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