Downfall. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Twelfth Edition. He's insane, we all know it, and he's in power. This will get much, much, worse.

Richard Nixon and Donald Trump.  One man worried his cabinet who planned around a possible mental collapse that didn't come, the other is having a mental collapse and his cabinet is doing nothing.

We later learned that in 1973 as Nixon came under increased pressure due to Watergate, his aids feared he would do something rash.  Nixon was reacting badly under the stress.  He was lashing out.  He was drinking heavily.

Of course, in the end, he resigned.

Donald Trump, who like Hitler doesn't drink, is visibly collapsing before our eyes.  He's obviously been in a state of mental decline for a decade now, and its increasing.  He was heavily impaired when elected, making any rational person wonder why he was elected to the office, other than that people the weird insurrectionist feared that Joe Biden's dementia was too advanced to allow for him to hold office again, something that history should not forgive Biden for.  Even that doesn't really explain it, as Harris was the alternative in the end, for people who play along with the two party system nightmare that actually doesn't have to exist.

A major difference between late stage Nixon and late stage Trump, other than that Nixon was not insane (a major difference) is that Nixon was surrounded by sane, if not always admirable, advisors.  Trump is surrounded by sycophants.

That's a huge difference as we now know that Nixon's advisors consulted amongst themselves about his mental state. They were worried about it.  None of them were as deeply loyal to Nixon at all costs as Trump's sycophantic advisors are to him.

Many, including me, have wondered how it is that Trump's cabinet hasn't acted to replace him.  Heather Cox Richardson, in one of her video shorts, has provided the answer.  The people surrounding Trump have nowhere else to go.

In Trump's first administration his cabinet included sane people.  Trump didn't know how to take office and in fact his natural laziness kept him from really ever fully forming a government.  That natural laziness came into effect when he was elected a second time.  He was kept from acting like a king in his first term as his advisor wouldn't let him, and he didn't like that.  In his second term he wanted people who would slavishly do what he wanted without question, and he got them almost exclusively.

If you look at the current cabinet you can see that, with perhaps two or three exceptions, it's wholly made up of people for whom Trump is their only chance. Some may be rich, but wealth is credited much more than it should be as allowing for intellectual independence.  People lavish praise on Trump not because they believe it, but because they are his willing concubines and have prostituted themselves to him.  Some of these people are outright dim.  Some have just sold their souls and know that when Trump falls, they fall with him, as Richardson has noted.

Why these people are in this position is another matter.  Some got there as they believe in Trump.  Others were placed their by forces supporting Trump, knowing that he was too lazy to actually do the work to pick competent people.  The Heritage Society, for example, saw Trump as a hollow vessel they could pour their radicalization through.

Trump's cabinet, therefore, is much like Hitler's.  Where was Goebbels going to go?  And Trump's true followers are much like members of the German SS, who fought to the bitter end.  They didn't see a future, literally, in a post war Germany where they figured they'd be killed, if not by the Allies, then by the Germans.  MAGA still shows up like the Waffen Grenadier Brigade of the SS Charlemagne, the French SS unit that went down fighting in Berlin.  They thought the alternative to that was a bullet in the back of the head.  Real Trump loyalist show up as they fear that if Trump fails, or more likely when he does, they're era is over.  And like the SS in Berlin, they fanatically hope that Der Fuehrer will pull off a miracle, which he won't, or that they'll be saved by some mysterious outside force at the last hour.

That won't happen either.

Many people have wondered how the Germans were so cowed by a leader who was sending them into a disaster.  It can't be said that Americans are.  Only 30% of Americans actually support Trump.  Probably an equal if not larger number outright hate him at this point.  If the election was held today the Republicans would loose both houses, and in November when the election is held, they will.  

But here's the dangerous thing.  Between now and November the leadership of the US is in the bunker and Der Fuehrer is insane.

I've long held that Trump would be removed in 2026 by the 25th Amendment.  I hadn't considered, however, the points Richardson raises.  He still might be but as she notes if Trump goes down, they all go down with him. They're a bunch of cowardly sycophants and they do not appear to be willing to save their country any more than Goebbels was.

Still, even in Hitler's cabinet not everyone was unquestionably loyal towards the end.  Himmler actually serious considered trying to cut a separate deal with the Allies and effectively remove Hitler via a coup.  There was even one SS member in the July 20 plot.  It remains possible, but only barely so, that the cabinet will vote to save itself.

We know that at least a few people in the cabinet likely are willing to do that.  J. D. Vance is one.  Marco Rubio another.  Both of them hope to be President and neither benefits from going down with Trump.  I've long thought they were playing out this string until they could act.  But two men alone won't get it done.  There's likely a few more, but only few. None of the ass kissers in cabinet meetings are amongst them.

Which brings us to this.  Over the next few months things are going to be extremely bad.  Trump's mental state is declining so rapidly it's difficult to gauge.  He's going to pull out of the war he joined with Israel which will be a major defeat he can't disavow.  The economy will not rapidly recover and he can't blame that on Biden.  He's lost the Hispanic vote and he  won't be able to get it back.  The Arab American vote which dimly voted for him is lost as well.  The people who are left in his cabinets who openly support him increasingly look like outright kooks.  The financial flood to his family is not being ignored and is very likely to result in post Trump criminal prosecutions, maybe of Trump himself.

And yesterday, a judge made clear that his obscene bordello on the Potomac addiction to the White House will never happen.

He's a desperate, and demented, man.

Trump, from now to November, will try to steal the November election.  He's already trying.  And he'll do every odd thing imaginable or never imagined to try to deflect attention form his failure.  There will be no limit to what he will try.  Invasions of Cuba and Greenland are possible, with Cuba almost a certainty.  Deals with Russia, or China, or whomever.  Attempts to cancel the election, or seize the polls are probable.  Ignoring the courts a near certainty.

The 25th Amendment should save us from this but might not.  Impeachment of Trump should occur, but will not, unless there's a massive post November shift in Congress.

Instead, expect things to get worse and worse.  And expect the few members of the administration who aren't willing to go down in the bunker to start resigning.  Vance can't, Trump being removed or dying in office is his only hope of being President. Rubio can, and he will, likely before November.

April 6, 2026

Trump's mental status is collapsing.

That post, posted on Easter, read like something a drunk man would post, and frankly but for the fact that we believe Trump doesn't drink, this post would receive that speculation. 

This post has renewed public demands for invocation of the 25th Amendment, and it should.  Trump is insane.  The reference to God in Arabic is insulting to Muslims, the vast majority of whom have nothing to do with Iran or its leadership.

We're committing war crimes under the leadership of a madman.

I'll note I'm not the only one whose concerned.

I'd originally posted that yesterday as a standalone, which I've taken down as I've posted it here.  But what I'll note is that Klungman doesn't say what a lot of us are thinking.  Trump is, in my view, edging up on using an atomic bomb.

In normal times, which these are not, there'd be sufficient people around him to probably put a halt to that. Now there aren't.  The cabinet appears to be nearly complete flunkies.  We'll know this is true if Trump remains in power this week.  The military is being stripped of those who oppose rationality.

We not only live in dangerous times, we live in times in which the most powerful nation on earth is governed by a madman.

At this point anybody running in the fall with an "Endorsed by President Trump" (this means you, Delgenfelder) is absolutely unqualified for office.

By the way, the man whom Evangelicals and some others routinely praise as a great Christian spent the day riding around in Washington DC and visiting one of his golf courses.  No attendance at church.

cont:

Today is a very special day. It's a day where we celebrate Jesus. It's a day where we celebrate religion. It's an honor to be the president. Our country is doing so well. We've broken every record in the stock market. We've broken every record in our military. And what about the rescue?

Donald Trump in an Easter speech.  He's insane.

cont:

If I had my choice, what would I like to do? Take the oil, because it's there for the taking…Unfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home. If it were up to me, I'd take the oil. I'd keep the oil. I would make plenty of money.

Trump. What a morally bankrupt human being.

cont:

I'm polling higher than anybody has ever polled in Venezuela. So after I'm finished with this I can got to Venezuela. I will quickly learn Spanish. It won't take long. I'm good at language. I will go to Venezuela. I'm going to run for president.

Trump again.

There are a pile of these from today.  Trump is bat shit crazy.  Supporting him at this point is criminal, and not invoking the 25th Amendment is as well.  He's completely, utterly, insane.

April 7, 2026

Today we have the news that the insane Donald Trump, in addition to declaring his intention to run for the Presidency of Venezuela (don't discount that with any of the numerous excuses his apologist give for his bat shit crazy statements, we should assume he means it), is defending his statement about keeping Iranian oil on the basis that he's "a businessman" and "to the victors, go the spoils".

Today we're promised a full slate of war crimes.

We offer here a bit of a note.

Often people with a psychotic criminal drive they cannot control hope for intervention.  Trump is so out of control right now there's more than a little reason to believe that he's hoping for the same.  He has no way out, he's lived a life of utter depravity.  The 25th Amendment and hope supervision get him out of the mess he's created, and frankly away from a host of people he probably doesn't like.

Cont:

Even this threat is immoral.  

If carried out, it's murder.

Only the immoral will support a thing like this.  Donald Trump is a deranged monster.

April 9, 2026

Having learned that being a demented madman didn't impress Iran, he's back at it again with Greenland.

This man needs to be removed from office now.  The 25th Amendment needs to be applied immediately.

Last edition:

The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Eleventh Edition. He's insane, and we all know it. Somebody close to him is watching it.

Labels: 25th Amendment Watch List, Conspiracy Theories, Donald Trump, Mental Health, Saudi Arabia, The Madness of King Donald, United States and Israel v. Iran

Tuesday, April 9, 1946. The Bomb, the accused, and pregnant Fräuleins.

The Rocky Mountain News reported on expenses associated with The Bomb.

The tragic story of Viola Elliot was back on the front page.  She first appeared there on February 8, 1946, when she gave birth while a prisoner due to the homicide in issue.

As we noted then:

She was accused of the beating death of her stepson, Robert.  She denied it, but she was convicted of second degree murder.  Her 8 year old son by a previous marriage was a witness for the prosecution at the trial and Mrs. Elliot admitted at the time of arrest that she had hit and kicked the child on the occasion of his death.  She later changed her story and claimed he'd tripped on his pajamas.

Her parents and husband said they'd stand by her at the time of her arrest, but I wonder if that was still the case later on.  At her sentencing, she stated that Leslie was just as responsible for the death and the judge agreed.  Leslie had already been arraigned for assault and battery and assessory after the fact.  In April she petitioned the County to make her children wards of the County, to which her husband objected.  They were noted to be "estranged" by that time.

Viola was 27 years old and on her second marriage at the time.  She would have had her first child, if her son who testified was the first at age 19 in 1937 or 1938.  The paper mentioned that there were three children, including the murdered boy.  Interestingly, I can find one other reference to a "Miss Viola Elliot" from 1937 indicating that Viola Elliot was employed as an arts and crafts teacher.  A 1943 edition mentions a Viola Elliott as being just back in town after visiting her husband in Tennessee, who was probably in the service.

Viola received 15 to 20 years for the murder.

Leslie would receive six months for assault and battery.

Her mother, Alice Faber, testified at the trial, as did her father.  Alice died in 1966 and is buried in Denver.  Her obituary listed Viola as still living, still with the last name Elliot, and in Denver.  The Fabers also had a son named Wilmer, who was alive at the time.  The boy who testified at the trial was living in California.

Her father died in 1961.

The impacts of the war in addition to the bomb were a story several pages in.

Peacetime conscription had not been a thing prior to 1940 and there remained a lot of opposition to it.  Indeed, it would go away for a time.

The plight of pregnant German girls in Munich, made so by American GIs, was seemingly without a solution and without sympathy.  By this point the Occupation Authorities were allowing for fraternization, but the U.S. Army was not approving enlisted marriages.  The young women seemingly expected help from the Army.

Munich had been Hitler's adopted town, we'd note, which is interesting in context here as the women in question would have become pregnant by American GIs very soon after the end of the war.

Last edition:

Thursday, April 4, 1946. Hirohito lucks out.

Labels: 1940s, 1946, Far Eastern Commission, Hirohito, Marilyn Monroe, Playboy, Standards, War Crimes, Women

Tomato and Bacon Sandwich (1945) on Sandwiches of History

 

Sunday, April 9, 1876. Homestake.

Fred and Moses Manuel strike gold in a rock outcropping near the present day town of Lead.  It would become the Homestake Mine, and lead to the founding of the town.

The mine is still in operation.

Last edition:

Wednesday, April 5, 1876. Arsenal Hill Explosion.

Labels: 1870s, 1876, Disaster, Utah (Salt Lake City)

 

I’m glad he’s dead — A eulogy to public servants

 

Teen birth rates hit another historical low in 2025, CDC says

An AI Threat Looms, and We Are Not Prepared

An AI Threat Looms, and We Are Not Prepared: We need legal authority that allows the government to shut down a dangerous AI system the moment a crisis begins. . . 

So, if you lose a war, rather than a Triumphal Arch, do you get a hurricane fence of disgrace?

University of Wyoming’s new president must be ready to face the Freedom Caucus

 

University of Wyoming’s new president must be ready to face the Freedom Caucus

King Donald's War, Part 4. The Raving Madman threatens to resort to mass war crimes.

The threat of destroying a whole civilization and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified. There are other ways to resolve conflict between peoples. I call on President Trump to step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost.   

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem, and his first words were ‘Peace be with you.’ As the Holy Father, in his Urbi et Orbi message on Easter reflected, the peace that ‘Jesus gives us is not a peace that merely silences the weapons, but one that touches and transforms the heart of each of us! Let us make heard the cry for peace that springs from our hearts!’ 

Pope Leo has invited everyone to join him in a prayer vigil for peace on Saturday, April 11. I make a special plea to my brother bishops, the priests, the laity, and all people yearning for true peace to join the Holy Father’s Vigil for Peace, whether virtually, or in parishes, chapels, or before the Lord present in the quiet of their hearts to join with our Holy Father as we pray for peace in our world.

Let us entrust to the Lord ‘all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give. Let us entrust ourselves to him and open our hearts to him! He is the only one who makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5).

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Last edition:

King Donald's War, Part 3. The Bunker.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, Curragh Mutiny, Curtis B. LeMay, Donald Trump, Iran, Isreal, J. D. Vance, King Donald's War, The Madness of King Donald, the spoken word, United States and Israel v. Iran

Chris Christie on the Baby Boomers. How to make an entire demographic outraged with one fairly truthful comment.

Chris Christie said this in a C-Span interview. 

Baby boomers—the most selfish generation in American history, the most self-centered generation, the least sacrificing generation American history. You look at Biden and Trump in particular, and they personify that

I commented on it on Twitter, defending what he said.

There's a large element of truth to it.

People reacted overall to the statement with outrage.  Lots of Boomers died in Vietnam, it was pointed out.

Biden and Trump sure didn't serve in Vietnam.

Christie is fat, was all some people could say.  Well, yep, Christie is fat, and Biden and Trump are demented due to age.  I'll take fat over demented  (indeed, from personal experience I'll note that demented people really like to point out when somebody is fat, oddly enough, and Trump does that a lot).

There are "some" good Boomers.  Oh come on, there are lots and lots of good Boomers. Defending a generation with a reserved "some" means the person making the statement basically agrees with the underlying comment.  

"Biden isn't a boomer".  True, he was born in 1942, not 1945.  But as one person posted in reply to that, "he's close enough".  

"Christie is a boomer".  Yeah, so what?  And to add to that, he really isn't.  Both the Biden comment (1942) and this one  (Christie was born in 1962) point out that the guardrails to generations are somewhat fluid.  Moreover, the fact that late Boomers in no way whatsoever fit into the Boomer generation has caused later demographers to define them as being in Generation Jones. Their experiences, including getting the shaft from Boomers, is completely different from the real Boomers.

And indeed, Boomers just can't grasp that.  There's a lot, and I do mean a lot, of discontent, and even outright animosity, towards the Boomers, and its largely justified.

Boomers are a unique generation.  There are a lot of them, for one thing, but they also came into the country at a unique time. They were the children of the generation that was young during the Great Depression and which fought World War Two.  We're not going to use the "Greatest Generation" moniker here, as while that generation is admirable, it doesn't deserve that title.

The World War Two Generation was a broken one.  As with the Boomers, you can't take a sweeping statement like that and apply it to everyone, but there are generational characteristics.  That generation's attachment to home and family was weakened by the desperation of the Depression.  As an example, my mother was pulled out of school at age 16 in order to work, and while she was always close to her family, she left home when still a teenager as she was tired of her income being treated as just the family's, and not her.  Her mother begged her to stay, and then begged her to return.  She didn't (she lived with an uncle who gave her a job across the continent).

And an entire generation of men was trained to kill with a large number of them actually experiencing that.  Killing other people, particularly in that fashion, is not normal, and every other human vice opens up after it.  Not everyone who killed or was trained to kill engaged in that vice, but more did than Americans cared to acknowledge.  That helped bring about postwar domestic instability everywhere, with some of those Boomers born not so much into idyllic families but into ones that were struggling with parental infidelity, violence, brutality and alcoholism.  Not all, to be sure, but more than you might suspect.

They also came home to a United States in an economic boom which meant a massive transfer in economic status for people who hadn't expected it and who didn't really know how to handle it.  Those pictures of ideal American families in the 50s don't address a culture that was beginning to be taken ever by consumerism.  

By the time the first Boomers, the real ones, were entering their adulthood all that was in full bloom.  And their parents wanted them to be free of the horrors that had been inflicted upon them, so they handed them educations and businesses when they were young, not trying to really hold on to them.

The Baby Boom Generation early on figures that all the rules that preceded were stupid, and like people who succeed in business and life early on (the latter of which they really didn't), they came to believe they were really smart.  And they often held the generations, including Generation Jones, that came behind them in contempt.  Handed businesses, they wouldn't hand them over.  Handed advantage, they didn't see that they needed to help others obtain it.  Handed wealth, they felt free to use to use it for personal and societal destruction.

American society has become one, as one commentator noted, that's being run by oligarchs. Well, the Boomer focus on money, making it, and career, which really started to come into focus in the 1970s, helped get us there.  The mess they made of their family lives and indeed even the topic of sex, in which everything was all about themselves, has made a mess of domestic life that current generations are trying to fix.   

And they won't let go of things now.

And that's the main thing.

Now, let me take a step back.  I've written here as if all the Boomers are a monolith.  They are not. 

Thousands of men volunteered to fight in Vietnam, and a lot of them did not come back.  Environmentalism, which the Republicans have struggled against, was something started by their parents, but which was adopted to an enormous degree, had a huge positive impact, may have saved the planet for generations, and my save it in its entirety yet.  The same is true of conservationism, which dates back well over a century but which was very well expressed in the Boomers.  The combined legacy of environmentalism and conservationism is so deep that younger generations truly cannot grasp it.

So then, what of reality?

Well, the record is mixed.  It always was.  The World War Two generation did save the country, but in doing so they were rising to a challenge that they had to, and many sacrificed not only their bodies, but frankly their temperaments.  The Silent Generation built much of the post war world in their shadows and without their acknowledgement, even fighting a war without complaint that costs the US as many lives as the Vietnam War but which is in fact largely forgotten.  The country started yielding to the young Boomers by the 60s and in their heyday they tore everything down and when they went to build back up, they managed to forget and dump much of the humanity that had characterized prior generations, no matter how flawed they were.

So what now?

The old order changeth yielding place to new And God fulfills himself in many ways Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me I have lived my life and that which I have done May he within himself make pure but thou If thou shouldst never see my face again Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.

Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Boomers can rightfully take credit for some great things, although the current ones, in the age of Trump, don't seem to want to.  They can be blamed for a lot of things that caused the rise of Trump and MAGA, which is a movement largely in younger generations, something that's often missed.  The liberal "Me Generation" aspect of the demographic was harmful in ways that we are still desperately trying to recover from, and turning, oddly, to Boomers who exhibit the trait, such as Trump, to try to fix.

They won't.

The Boomers want to remain relevant.  Post anything on this topic and you'll be accused of agism.  But the truth is, they needs to step back to the sidelines now in everything they are in.  The biggest favor they can do for Gen X and Gen Y (it's too late for Gen. Jones, our day is already over having never started) is to step back, and out of the way.  If in office, get out.  If heading a business that isn't you alone, step down.  If hoping for a Bishopric, stop.

Time to yield.

We need to amend the Constitution, Part Two. The Budget.

1862 U.S. Dollar.

The United States Constitution actually lacks a budget provision.  What provisions it has provide the following:

• Article I, Section 8 (Spending Clause): Grants Congress the power to lay and collect taxes, pay debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare.
• Article I, Section 7 (Revenue Bills): Dictates that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House of Representatives.
• Article I, Section 9 (Appropriations Clause): States "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law," ensuring Congress, not the executive branch, controls spending.

We need a specific set of controls on the budget.

For decades Congress has spent more than it brings in through taxes. It's at the crisis level presently, with Congress busing the budget and adding to the deficit at a monumental level.

At one time, pundits use to ponder if national debt and deficit spending were bad things. They are, but no credible person doubts that the current levels will actually destroy the American economy in the near future.  Trump, listing to extreme pundits and having graduated from Wharton, which apparently is a preparatory preschool based on his level of lack of understanding of economics, believed that tariffs would fix this and everything.

Well, it hasn't, and it won't.

We are now at the point where we need a severe austerity budget, or a massive rise in taxes, or both.  We have no real choice.

Anyhow, on fixing the budgetary process, it can be fixed. The Constitution should be amended to require a balanced budget, with a provision to retire 10% of the national debt as part of it, annually, save in the instance of a Declaration of War, or a Declaration of National Emergency.

To put this plainly, this would require ever budget to be balanced and the national debt completely retired within a decade.

Of course, what if Congress ignored that.

The amendment would provide that if Congress failed to pass a balanced budget, but passed a budget by a set day, taxes of all types and government fees of all types would automatically proportionally rise to cover the budget.  Additionally, government payments, outside of payments for debts, medical obligations, and wages would cease.  Payments of all types to Congress would completely cease, including payments for their staff. 

Yes, that's harsh.  The harshness would be the club that would put the pressure on to keep it from occurring.

If no budget was passed, say by February 1 of each year, the last balanced budget would come back into effect (it was during the Clinton era), with the additional provision of 10% of the national debt being paid for.  If taxes had to go up to make that work, and the other provisions noted, they would.

Yes, this is severe, but the severity of it is what would cause Congress to actually take this seriously.  

We know what a Declaration of War is. What would the Declaration of an Emergency be?

Well, predicting an emergency is tough, but I'd require 3/4s of the Congress to declare it and it could only last for one year.  To renew it a second time would require 3/4s of the Congress and 3/4s of the state legislatures.

One final thing.  No government assets of any kind could be sold to balance the budget or help retire the debt.

Wednesday, April 7, 1926. Gibson shoots at Mussolini.

Violet Gibson shot Benito Mussolini, but only grazed his nose.  The attack seems to have been a lone wolf type event with Gibson not being mentally well.

On the same day, although unrelated, three staffers of anti-Fascist newspapers were murdered in the country and journalist Giovanni Amendola died from injuries sustained nearly a year earlier.

Last edition:

Holy Saturday, April 3, 1926

Labels: 1920s, 1926, Art, Easter, Holy Saturday, Holy Week, J. C. Leyendecker

Medieval Hot Cross Buns

A bit late for Easter, unless I suppose you are Orthodox and on the Old Calendar, in which case Easter is next Sunday, but a fascinating look at the classic Eastertime bread.

King Donald's War, Part 3. The Bunker.

 

April 1, 2026

The British are hosting talks on opening the Straits of Hormuz.

The intellectual toddler King Donny is threatening to take the US out of NATO, which he cannot legally do.

Things are going to get very bad.

The illegitimate demented octogenarian would be king will address the nation tonight.

April 2, 2026

King Donald, his popularity sinking like a rock and facing the inevitability that Congress is not going to vote to fund an additional $200B for his losing vanity project war against Iran, came on to television last night to try to explain and get support for it.

I didn't watch it. I've been to nursing homes and, while I'm ashamed to say it, they make me uncomfortable.

It was the usual pile of shit. The war will be over soon, we're going to bomb Iran into submission, they've been at war with us for 47 years, other people should do the hard job of fixing the Straits of Hormuz that we broke.

We haven't been at war for 47 years, nobody is going to take on the ground fighting opening the Straits would require, the war won't be over soon.  We didn't for Bibi.

It won't be over this time next year, but Americans, by that time, will be fighting and dying on the ground.

Oh well, Cuba will be easier, right?

Cont: 

Pete Hegseth took to social media today to post "Bomb them back to the stone age".

Pete is a Princeton graduate, so this is yet another example of my totally losing any sense of respect for Ivy League schools. Do they not teach history at Princeton?

That phrase arose with Curtis B. LeMay and is what he proposed to do to North Vietnam.  LeMay fist used the phrase in 1965, and by the end of the war, we were using B-52s on targets in North Vietnam.

We lost the war.

At this point, I feel that somebody should see if Classic Comics has published a series on the Vietnam War.  If they did, we ought to send a case of them to the Department of Defense.

April 3, 2026

A forty nation video conference was held on opening the Straits of Hormuz following the end of King Donny's War.  The U.S. did not attend.

It's really clear at this point that there are major cracks in the U.S. defense establishment and a large number of officers are on the verge of an open break with Secretary of Defense Hegseth.  We might be edging up on a Curragh Mutiny.

A look at some interesting connections.

cont:

A U.S. F-15E was shot down.  The fate of the crew is unknown, but gunfire has been heard in the area where the two man crew may have gone down.

And so it begins.  As the air campaign continues, more and more of this will happen.  

And now this:

White House Seeks $1.5 Trillion for Defense in New Budget Request

The huge proposed increase would be partly offset by steep cuts to domestic programs, some of which the Trump administration describes as wasteful.

This is insane.

April 4, 2026

One crewman was recovered, another is alive but on the ground in Iran.  An A-10 was shot down.

And, like the claims made by Herman Goering at the time of the Battle of Britain, Trump's claim of air invulnerability prove to be stupid.

No surprise there, however.

More leaked information reveals that J. D. Vance, to his credit, was adamantly opposed to the war.

The new budget being sought by the Administration seeks $1.5T for the Defense.  This has reached the absolutely insane level.  It's probably dead in the water, and should be, but frankly it's time to take the military way down in size and vest most of its resources of all types in the reserves.

April 6, 2026

Eine Tirade aus dem Bunker.

Oh don't worry, nothing to see here.  Donny is completely well and in command of his faculties.

That went out on Easter, by the way.

On the same day Americans woke up to the news that a pilot on the run was rescued, which is or should be a relief to everyone.

Because it is, or should be, a relief to everyone, nobody is supposed to look at the overall story here.  A F-15E was shot down by a country we told can't shoot anything down. An immediate rescue mission resulted in an Army Blackhawk being shot down and an A-10 being shot down, the latter being piloted to Kuwait airspace before the pilot ejected.  The Special Forces unit that rescued the pilot used two C-130s of a special type and actually had them land, and had to destroy them. We're told the ground they landed on was too soft to allow for them to be taken off, but frankly I have my doubts about that.

Overall, it's amazing that this didn't result in an additional casualties.  It's a tribute to the post Jimmy Carter era military we're busy destroying right now that they could pull this off, but it was a close run thing.  We can't guarantee that will keep occuring.

And we have no way out, as we never had any concept of what we were doing in the first place.

While Donald, who is insane, was ranting about killing people, committing war crimes, riding around Washington D.C. and visiting a Golf Course, the Pope delivered his Easter address.

Brothers and sisters,

Christ is risen! Happy Easter!

For centuries, the Church has joyfully sung of the event that is the origin and foundation of her faith: “Yes, Christ my hope is arisen / Christ indeed from death is risen / Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning” (Easter Sequence).

Easter is the victory of life over death, of light over darkness, of love over hatred. It is a victory that came at a very high price: Christ, the Son of the living God (cf. Mt 16:16), had to die — and die on a cross — after suffering an unjust condemnation, being mocked and tortured, and shedding all his blood. As the true immolated Lamb, he took upon himself the sin of the world (cf. Jn 1:29; 1 Pet 1:18–19) and thus freed us all — and with us, all creation — from the dominion of evil.

But how was Jesus able to be victorious? What is the strength with which he defeated once and for all the ancient adversary, the prince of this world (cf. Jn 12:31)? What is the power with which he rose from the dead, not returning to his former life, but entering into eternal life and thus opening in his own flesh the passage from this world to the Father?

This strength, this power, is God himself for he is Love who creates and generates, Love who is faithful to the end and Love who forgives and redeems.

Christ, our “victorious King,” fought and won his battle through trusting abandonment to the Father’s will, to his plan of salvation (cf. Mt 26:42). Thus he walked the path of dialogue to the very end, not in words but in deeds: to find us who were lost, he became flesh; to free us who were slaves, he became a slave; to give life to us mortals, he allowed himself to be killed on the cross.

The power with which Christ rose is entirely nonviolent. It is like that of a grain of wheat which, having rotted in the earth, grows, breaks through the clods, sprouts, and becomes a golden ear of wheat. It is even more like that of a human heart which, wounded by an offense, rejects the instinct for revenge and, filled with compassion, prays for the one who has committed the offense.

Brothers and sisters, this is the true strength that brings peace to humanity, because it fosters respectful relationships at every level: among individuals, families, social groups, and nations. It does not seek private interests, but the common good; it does not seek to impose its own plan, but to help design and carry out a plan together with others.

Yes, Christ’s resurrection is the beginning of a new humanity; it is the entrance into the true promised land, where justice, freedom, and peace reign, where all recognize one another as brothers and sisters, children of the same Father who is Love, Life, and Light.

Brothers and sisters, through his resurrection, the Lord confronts us even more powerfully with the dramatic reality of our freedom. Before the empty tomb, we can be filled with hope and wonder, like the disciples, or with fear like the guards and the Pharisees, forced to resort to lies and subterfuge rather than acknowledge that the one who had been condemned is truly risen (cf. Mt 28:11–15)!

In the light of Easter, let us allow ourselves to be amazed by Christ! Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us! Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!

We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent. Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people. Indifferent to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflicts sow. Indifferent to the economic and social consequences they produce, which we all feel. There is an ever-increasing “globalization of indifference,” to borrow an expression dear to Pope Francis, who one year ago from this loggia addressed his final words to the world, reminding us: “What a great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of the world!”

The cross of Christ always reminds us of the suffering and pain that surround death and the agony it entails. We are all afraid of death, and out of fear we turn away, preferring not to look. We cannot continue to be indifferent! And we cannot resign ourselves to evil! Saint Augustine teaches: “If you fear death, love the resurrection!”. Let us too love the resurrection, which reminds us that evil is not the last word, because it has been defeated by the Risen One.

He passed through death to give us life and peace: “I leave you peace; I give you my peace. Not as the world gives it, I give it to you” (Jn 14:27). The peace that Jesus gives us is not merely the silence of weapons, but the peace that touches and transforms the heart of each one of us! Let us allow ourselves to be transformed by the peace of Christ! Let us make heard the cry for peace that springs from our hearts! For this reason, I invite everyone to join me in a prayer vigil for peace that we will celebrate here in Saint Peter’s Basilica next Saturday, April 11.

On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil. To the Lord we entrust all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give. Let us entrust ourselves to him and open our hearts to him! He is the only one who makes all things new 

Happy Easter!

 cont:

And more war news since we first posted.

Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey proposed a 45 day ceasefire which was hopefully reported on by the news.  Fighting would stop for 45 days and the Straits of Hormuz reopen.  Basically, what they cleverly were proposing was a 45 day break in the fighting as once it stops, it's not going to restart.  That would give the US enough time to declare victory and get out, like in Vietnam.

Iran said no.  It doesn't, it says, want to give time for the US to rearm.

That's amazing as they likely know that if the fighting stops the US will leave. Their thinking isn't clear, but they clearly don't believe they're losing.

Something that's been missed in reporting is that Iran is selling and shipping more oil now than before the war.  About 1/3d more.  And of course, they're getting more cash for the oil they are selling.

They are reportedly also repairing missile bunkers rapidly.

The only way the U.S. can actually win this war is through a massive ground invasion.  Congress is not going to approve that.

Trump's war crime deadline expires tomorrow.

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We need to amend the Constitution. Introduction.

If Donald Trump's illegal occupation of the Oval Office (he's an insurrectionist and not legally qualified to occupy the office with out Congressional relief) has shown us anything, it's that much of the way American government has been working is identical to the way the British one does. . . we just figure it works this way.

Trump, who is not a very smart man, smashed that as Trump is all about Trump, and doesn't what he wants.  He's therefore demonstrated where all the holes are, although frankly quite a few of them have been obvious for some time.  

In this series, we'll look at what needs to be fixed, and how to fix it.