We are ripping you all off, fixing the market with my inane, irrational daily comments in favor of my family and rich friends, making global decisions based on my mysterious debt to Israel, increasing your cost of living under the pretense of a threat that doesn’t exist. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Donald J. Trump.
Under fascism, there is no "explaining". War is for return to old glory days, it's for the authoritarian to exercise his power, it's to take, plunder, and seize. And, it's to distract and manipulate public opinion.
“Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is.”
This should surprise no one. In November 2025, Trump hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. During the visit Mary Bruce (ABC) posed the question,, "Your Royal Highness, the U.S. intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist. 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office. Why should Americans trust you?"
Trump not only defended the Crown Prince, claiming that "things happen." Sit with that for a minute. Things happen.
Trumps reaction to any narrative that doesn't spin his way can fall anywhere on a scale between truly appalling indifference and truly appalling cruelty. More often than not he succeeds in more or less hitting both ends and everything in between. Acknowledgment of (forget respect for) human dignity, empathy for human suffering, and a firm grasp of the meaning of leadership let alone true statesmanship will never be part of the narrative.
That's the way it is. Dan and Team Steady nailed it: No, Mr. President, that’s the way you have decided it is.
I understand the consternation. War is an intrinsic evil that scars the soul of a nation. Period.
But I cannot understand the surprise. That sorry sack of fertilizer in the White House told us exactly what he was going to do. When the Nobel Committee denied him the Peace Prize—an honor he clearly never earned—he didn't just sulk; he declared himself 'unobligated.' He stood before the world and essentially said that because they refused to crown him a peacemaker, he was no longer bound to act like one.
Within weeks, he and his fellow madman, Bibi, unleashed 'Operation Epic Fury'—a massive, unprovoked bombardment of Iran. Now, with a war underway that he admits will be 'substantial' in length, he has pivoted to attack Ecuador on the other side of the globe.
It is time for the Nobel Committee to evolve. They need a brand-new category to fit the reality of 2026: The Nobel War Prize. And I would like to proffer the first nomination. I nominate Donald J. Trump—a man who has finally found an 'honor' he richly deserves."
"Fascism is intrinsically linked to war, viewing conflict as a vital, "palingenetic" (rebirth) experience that forges national unity, asserts power, and secures "living space" (Spazio Vitale). Emerging from the trauma of WWI, fascist regimes in Italy, Germany, and Japan used militarism, rapid warfare, and total war to reorder society, often leading to aggression, occupation, and genocide."
One of the earliest comments I heard him offer to the Iranian people was that when this is over we will give you your country back. When will we get our country back? We all know he has no exit plan. A repeat of our mistake in Iraq. Trump has dismissed all of the sensible, experienced and knowledgeable generals who helped us through Iraq. His military appointments are similar to his cabinet appointments and we all know how well they're all performing. I used to think that he only feared strong women, RBG, Hillary, Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi. Wrong I guess, because his cabinet appointments certainly won't make him look bad as did the women who terrified him. He shows his fear of Mark Kelly, Adam Schiff, Jamie Raskin and others who make him look like the ignorant loser he is.
I detest Trump and all his appointees, Republican boot lickers, and Maga. But he did what no other President has to date. With the support of our number one ally, Israel, they took out the head of the terrorist snake threatening the world, Iran. Khamanei and his cult of Mullah devils are gone. No matter the politics so far in this case "the end justifies the means. The Iran Mullahs were a much bigger threat than Sadaam Hussein and we lost that never ending war of choice and failed Nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan and thousands of more soldiers died. The Mullahs financed terrorism, Hamas, Hezbollah, Isis, etc. and were working on building weapons of mass destruction. Kahamenei was a bigger threat than Osama Bin Laden.
If the countless thousands of Iranians celebrating in the streets for regime change have their way, there will soon arise a power and governing vacuum in Iran that will smother and stop their attempts at retaliation. If America learned anything from Iraq/Afghanistan, with Israel's help that vacuum will be filled with leaders that care about their people, and catching up to western modernity despite Trumps lack of a plan. Rather than the toxic lunacy of religious hate that motivated the evil Mullahs, a new Iran will no longer be a urgent threat. The glass is half full for now and Democrats must stop claiming it is half empty.
Alan Segal, with all due respect, what you are either ignoring or are not aware of, is the absolute fact we, the United States of America created the modern-day problem that is Iran. And, actually, the problems extend well beyond Iran and the dark deed we performed there. Here is a brief summary of the relevant history:
How We Created the Modern Iranian "Monster:
To understand the current conflict with Iran, we have to stop looking at the symptoms and start looking at the source. The reality is that the United States and the UK created the very 'monster' they now claim to fight.
In 1953, Iran had a burgeoning, secular democracy led by Mohammad Mosaddegh. He was a man of absolute principle and a fierce nationalist who believed that Iran's vast oil wealth should benefit the Iranian people, not the bottom line of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP). Because Mosaddegh was a man of integrity, the West knew they could not buy him, influence him, or control him.
So, the CIA and MI6 orchestrated Operation Ajax—a 'tango' of subversion designed to kill a democracy in its cradle. They didn't use an army; they used dirty tricks. They hired street thugs to stage 'protests,' bribed military officials, and planted fake news stories to paint Mosaddegh as a communist.
By toppling the most moderate, democratic leader Iran ever had, we created a massive political void. We replaced a democratically elected prime minister with the absolute, iron-fisted rule of the Shah. For the next 26 years, we funded the Shah’s brutal secret police, SAVAK, as they systematically tortured and eliminated every secular, moderate, and liberal voice in the country.
By the time 1979 arrived, we had spent over two decades destroying the democratic center. The only force left organized enough to resist the Shah’s tyranny was the radical religious fringe. The Islamic Revolution wasn't an accident—it was the inevitable, violent explosion of a pressure cooker that we spent twenty-six years welding shut.
We didn't just lose an ally in 1979; we reaped the harvest of the seeds we sowed in 1953. Every time we choose 'control' over 'democracy,' we don't create stability—we just build the next monster.
thanks Jeff for your feedback, if we created the Mullah monster than with Israel's help we are correcting our mistakes by forcing a regime change. Whatever comes out can only be better for the large majority of Iranians who have suffered way too long under the Mullahs' suppression and rule. Let freedom ring.
Of course, I want the best for the Iranians. And I certainly do not approve of their government, at least since 1953, when the USA overthrew their democratic government because it would not play ball with the Huge Oil corporations, mostly from UK and beginning to be from the US. Up until that covert and 100% illegal coup, they had a pretty decent government. The only real problem was that their government dared to want to use the oil money for the betterment of their nation and the benefit of their own people, rather than to further enrich the shareholders of British Petroleum.
The USA, with collusion from the UK installed the Shah, who turned out to be a corrupt and brutal maniac, who treated the people at least as badly as the current Iranian government. He was thoroughly hated by the people, with good reason. The only "good thing" about him was that he made the foreign oil companies very happy, (very rich.)
The USA has never publicly acknowledged their horrendous actions towards Iran, let alone do a damned thing to atone or make amends.
We definitely created the current political and humanitarian mess. and we left between more than 7 decades of suffering in the name of corporate greed.
If the USA had, as a history, going in and liberating the people from terrible governments around the world, and delivering good results, I might be more open to what is going on. But out history, right up until today, screams otherwise. Iraq, Afghanistan, Chile, Argentina, Nicaragua, and at least 20 others that I could name. Not a single good outcome to be found.
Now, are you really going to tell me that Trump and Netanyahu are actually doing this for humanitarian reasons and to make the world safer for everyone? Sorry, but given our history, Trump's and Netanyahu's that is a very hard sell.
In the 60s I took a class on existentialism at SF State University and the professor used to argue very convincingly that the past doesn't exist. Keeping that in mind, Trump is in it for several reasons, Epstein, his poll numbers, and of course the $$potential and maybe his own Nobel. Netanyahu is in it for Israel's right to exist in a peaceful middle east free from anti-Israel terrorism. If one probable result is more freedom for Iranians than it is a win, win.
59% of Americans disapprove. I guarantee that’s a lot more than Democrats.
We tend to stereotype Iranians and forget the devout followers of the ‘supreme leader.’ They were in the streets demonstrating after he was killed. The Revolutionary Guard has not disappeared. They are not going to lay down their arms. There’s no plan for that. They won’t be fooled by a promise of ‘complete immunity’. There no plan for the either.
This president has endorsed the idea of armed militias coming into Iran now that all 3 tiers of leaders he thought might fit the bill. The old regime remnants (Venezuela template) and armed militias (which he may or may not supply with weapons) are not to give ‘power to the people’. A trump puppet would not have any support. A civil war doesn’t seem like a great outcome for Iranians or for the Middle East.
You don’t kill ideas with bombs. That’s what we should have learned. That’s what Obama knew. None of this would be happening if trump hadn’t torn up the nuclear agreement. Netanyahu also opposed the agreement. His tenure’s policy was to keep foreign $$ going to Hamas for all those years — knowing what they were doing with it. Bombing civilians when Hamas became too annoying. Hamas hid in the tunnels. Divided Palestinian leadership let him argue there was no negotiating partner.
Half full or full may not be the question. There was no plan, so what is in the glass? Israel and trump care nothing for Iranian, Gazan or Afghani people. It’s the people who get smothered.
Ann sadly you are a wealth of far-left misinformation and anti-Israel demonization. But you are also a woman who seems clueless about how evil Kahamenei and his other Mullah subordinates are especially to women all women not just Iranian women. they refer to them as" animals, like cows and goats to service men". Knowing this, despite our mutual dislike of Trump, and his politics you should be cheering as I am, the death of Kahamenei and several of his cohorts and more to come in a desirable regime change . I also am a fan of Obama and voted for him twice but I believe he and Kerry negotiated a horrible nuclear agreement with Iran, which would have allowed them to build nuclear weapons in 15 years which is around this time.
You also no little about your so called Palestinians in Gaza. There never was a state or country called Palestine. After the Arabs lost the War in 1967 against Israel. They started calling themselves Palestinians and claiming Israel land as theirs. In 2005 Israel gave up as a humanitarian peace offer a thriving Gaza to these Arabs no other county in the Middle East would take in. By 2007 Hamas a terrorist hate Israel group took control of Gaza and turned it into a military shithole to attack Israel via tunnels and rockets and sneak attacks. In October of 2023 Hamas, backed by Iran, invaded Israel, started a war, took 250 hostages, tortured and killed over 1200 innocent Israeli's mostly women and children. Hamas built their military tunnels under residential buildings, hospitals and schools. They used non combatant so called Palestinians and their homes as human shields.
There is no evidence that Netanyahu endorsed any money flow to Hamas. He doesn't have to argue "there is no negotiating Partner" Hamas' written charter denies Israel's right to exist and they have refused every offer of peace for over 2 decades, and still refuse to lay down their arms and leave Gaza .
Iran under Kahamenei and Mullah radical Islamic rule was an eminent threat by financing and training terrorists all over the Middle East to attack Israel and America.
Trump and Israel stopped that threat so far. The Revolutionary Guard will have to stand down to whoever fills the leadership vacuum or Israel and US will force them into submission. This is the glass half filled that has been achieved so far. This end is so important for the millions of noncombatant nonradical Islamists civilians dancing in the streets of Tehran and all over, that finally will be free from Kahamenei brutality and suppression. You are unwittingly enabling.
I can't help but notice you are one of those (almost entirely Jews) who, when discussing the Holocaust, go out of their way to vanish the many millions of non Jewish victims (the actual death toll being closer to 10 million, not that intentional lie by omission of 6).
This basically invalidates any moral stance you wish to assume as it displays a level of bigotry that is, frankly staggeringly grotesque. I suppose to you homosexuals, Romani, the disabled, Slavs etc are less than human and unworthy of being counted as equal in loss to Jews.
Hey Paul, you obviously didn't read my comments in this thread. You cluelessly call my defense of Israel and Jews, defending themselves now as they were unable to do in WWll Holocaust "staggeringly, grotesque bigotry".
The Gays, Romanis( ?) disabled, Slavs, etc. slaughtered by Hitler were not targeted and defined as part of the "Final Solution" to erase the Jews in the Holocaust. Nor is that a part of the context of this thread of comments, which is about the demonizing of Israel by those Arabs and Jew haters, that deny Israel's right to exist, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Iran and Hezbollah and so called pro-Palestinians.
The real genocide achieved by Hitler in the Holocaust will always be the justification for Jews to defend their right to exist in their own legitimate homeland Israel. I don't know the real numbers of those groups of non Jews slaughtered by Hitler. But even one innocent killed, even by my "grotesque" as you attack my morality, in reality, I detest.
If you are a member of any of those aforementioned groups also killed during the time of the Holocaust, you might want to subscribe to the meaning of these two words that define Jewish existence, "Never Again".
Most highly respected historians who study the Middle East would disagree with most of your assumptions and conclusions, particularly about Palestine and Israel.
If your desire for truth is stronger than any need to be right, please read Prof. Norman Finkelstein on the subject, and then Noam Chomsky.
Be sure to take a good look at the history of the modern-day Jewish Zionist movement, going back to the late 1800s and headed by Theodore Herzel. They committed what can only be honestly and objectively characterized as horrendous acts of terrorism against the Palestinian peasants and farmers who occupied much of the land that is now the state of Israel.
If you look at this honestly, and if you have a conscience and a functioning moral compass, I think you will come to some very different conclusions than those explicitly stated or at least implied by your comments in this thread.
Hey Jeff we definitely disagree and Finkelstein and especially Chomsky are far from "highly respected historians". Chomsky by the way was recently discovered in the Epstein files. But I guess he was only lecturing Epstein on the evils of Zionism. I was a student and a teaching assistant at SF State in the 60s and spent time dodging the Swat teams and tear gas while protesting Vietnam. Noam Chomsky was partially relevant then but when it comes to the history of Jews both he and Finkelstein are self loathing Jews and toxic and sad disappointments to the memory of the 6 million tortured Jewish souls erased by the Nazis in their concentration camps. My support for a Jewish homeland can never be separated from the context of that history of real genocide. I am guided by the same two words that justify Netanyahu's defense of Israel's right to exist, "Never Again". This provides a "functioning moral compass" for the vast majority of Jews with empathy and common sense.
Your so called Palestinian peasants and farmers were tribes of Arabs prior to the post WWII offer of the British to them of land for their own state they could have called Palestine. But they rejected it and rejected Israels founding. The PLO started calling themselves and these Arabs ,no other country in the middle east wanted, after Israel won the 1967 war, Palestinians.
Is the world just plain stupid?
An interesting questionnaire for Palestinian Advocates
By Yashiko Sagamori
If you are so sure that " Palestine , the country, goes back through most of recorded history," I expect you to be able to answer a few basic questions about that country of Palestine :
1. When was it founded and by whom?
2. What were its borders?
3. What was its capital?
4. What were its major cities?
5. What constituted the basis of its economy?
6. What was its form of government?
7. Can you name at least one Palestinian leader before Arafat?
8.. Was Palestine ever recognized by a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for interpretation?
9. What was the language of the country of Palestine ?
10. What was the prevalent religion of the country of Palestine ?
11. What was the name of its currency? Choose any date in history and tell what was the approximate exchange rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the US dollar, German mark, GB pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese Yuan on that date.
12. And, finally, since there is no such country today, what caused its demise and when did it occur?
You are lamenting the "low sinking" of a "once proud" nation.. Please tell me, when exactly was that "nation" proud and what was it so proud of?
And here is the least sarcastic question of all: If the people you mistakenly call "Palestinians" are anything but generic Arabs collected from all over -- or thrown out of -- the Arab world, if they really have a genuine ethnic identity that gives them right for self-determination, why did they never try to become independent until Arabs suffered their devastating defeat in the Six Day War?
I hope you avoid the temptation to trace the modern day "Palestinians" to the Biblical Philistines: substituting etymology for history won't work here.
The truth should be obvious to everyone who wants to know it. Arab countries have never abandoned the dream of destroying Israel ; they still cherish it today. Having time and again failed to achieve their evil goal with military means, they decided to fight Israel by proxy. For that purpose, they created a terrorist organization, cynically called it "the Palestinian people" and installed it in Gaza , Judea, and Samaria . How else can you explain the refusal by Jordan and Egypt to unconditionally accept back the "West Bank" and Gaza , respectively?
The fact is, Arabs populating Gaza, Judea, and Samaria have much less claim to nationhood than that Indian tribe that successfully emerged in Connecticut with the purpose of starting a tax-exempt casino: at least that tribe had a constructive goal that motivated them. The so-called "Palestinians" have only one motivation: the destruction of Israel , and in my book that is not sufficient to consider them a nation" -- or anything else except what they really are: a terrorist organization that will one day be dismantled.
Well we do certainly disagree. I am a Jew by birth, BTW. And I have been concerned about this mess and the history surrounding it for most of my life. I am 75 years old now. I supported Israel without question for the first 9 years of my life. I was earning money mowing lawns and doing other things to earn money by the time I was 8 years old. We lived in farm country, so that was easy and natural. I used to send more than half of that money to support the state of Israel - to plant trees and what not. I even planned to go stay on a Kibbutz for a summer when I was a bit older.
Around the time I turned 9 or 10, I started to read some histories that were different than what was promoted in school. I eventually came to very different conclusions.
Of course, I think the Holocaust was one of the darkest, maybe THE darkest single events in all of human history. I thoroughly condemn it, along with the perpetrators. And it is personal for me. Half my ancestors went up the smokestacks of Auschwitz.
At the end of WWII and with the founding of the modern state of Israel, the statement was made, "Never Again." And it was a beautiful statement. That is until the officials of Israel ruined it. They ruined it by taking on 2 words. They added, "...to us." They should have left it alone or if they had to add, it should have been "to anyone."
I do not have the time to type all the facts and historical references here. (I still work full-time as an alternative oncologist and researcher and have a busy schedule.) But I am pretty sure that if we were able to communicate more efficiently and I shared with you the real history of the modern Zionist movement, going back to Theodore Herzel, you might come to some very different conclusions about the mess in the Middle East and Israel's role and responsibilities in it.
I also had past relatives erased in the Holocaust. I'm 81 now and I simply can't understand or empathize with the opinion of any Jew who doesn't believe "to us" justifies any defense Israel choses to protect their right to exist. Only "us" experienced the Holocaust while the" anyone's" in the world ignored it, and the" to us" is raising it's ugly and toxic head again in the contemporary demonizing of Israel. I wish you well bro, but no words are going to change my mind about defending Israel and Jews.
Netanyahu & trump are 2 peas in a pod: merciless dark souls who prop themselves up on the backs of others. It is unfortunate that in an attempt to make your point you must presume my ignorance, supposed cluelessness and reference me being “a wealth of far-left misinformation and anti-Israel demonization”. It shows that you are not interested in any opinions or facts other than you own. Or a discussion without insults.
Netanyahu’s approach was reported world-wide as were multiple warnings the Israeli government received. Those warnings including the full plan a year in advance (except for date and time) & from Egypt a few days before the Hamas attack began. The government knew of the Hamas activities as demonstrated by its published estimates of tunnels, missiles etc. Whether it was hubris, ignorance or delusion - or all 3 - I do not know.
Ann, your sources are not objective and your so-called evidence you posted is out of context of the whole Israel/Gaza situation and of course you make no mention of Israel's gift for peace of a thriving Gaza. Where they moved out their own people from Gaza to accommodate the land less Arabs calling themselves Palestinians.
But you right about one thing money did flow into Gaza from lots of sources Netanyahu was aware of. BUT THE MONEY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE USED TO BETTER THE LIVES OF THE SO CALLED PALESTINIANS, YET HAMAS WHO GOVERNED GAZA TOOK MOST OF THE MONEY FOR WEAPONS AND ATTACK TUNNELS.
Here is part of an AI response from Microsoft's Co Pilot about money going
into Gaza before Hamas' savage invasion on Oct 7th:
"Warnings about diversion of funds to Hamas’ military wing
- Reported security warnings: Israeli media have reported that in 2019–2020, senior security officials (including from the Shin Bet and IDF) warned Netanyahu that Hamas’ military chief, Mohammed Deif, was diverting significant portions of the Qatari money to Hamas’ military infrastructure.
- Netanyahu’s response: Netanyahu’s office has denied wrongdoing and rejected the claim that he “boosted” Hamas, insisting the Qatari funding was a coordinated international policy aimed at stabilizing Gaza and preventing humanitarian collapse, not at arming Hamas."
But what troubles me most about your defensive response prioritizing unintended personal insults to you, is your total lack of empathy for the millions of Iranians especially women that will probably be liberated by Trumps and Netanyahu's( "dark souls") erasing truly murderous (evil to the core) Iran Mullahs responsible for suppression and murder for years of their own people?
Let me say it again: There is no objective and irrefutable evidence especially in your so called sources that Israel knew ahead of time, Hamas was going to invade and start a war.
Let me simplify my points for you and all the far leftist Israel haters:
Israel good, Hamas bad
Israel has a right to exist and defend itself ("Never Again") look it up if you don't know what those two words mean.
Kahamenei and his cohort Mullahs and their Revolutionary Guard, dangerous threat and evil
Trump (in this situation, eliminating them) right, as is Netanyahu.
“If America learned anything from Iraq/Afghanistan, with Israel's help that vacuum will be filled with leaders that care about their people, and catching up to western modernity despite Trumps lack of a plan.”
That prompted my response. As for my sources, I deliberately chose Israeli newspapers considered moderate or right of center. Reporting by i24 is considered hawkish, nationalist & right of center which makes their article noteworthy.
A discussion about the other person, what they should be concerned about & interjecting a carefully curated perspective of history for context dooms it to failure. Criticism for pointing out the (“unintended”?) negative personal remarks is the icing on the cake.
So, our evidence is only accurate and objective if it agrees with your narrative?
There are plenty of highly credible sources that do not agree with your narrative. I have mentioned several in my prior reply to your comment.
BTW, just to be clear, if we really did succeed in destroying Iran's nuclear weapons program, I am not sorry about that. They should not have nuclear weapons.
But then, no nation in the world should have the ability to destroy all life as we know if on this planet that we all must share. That means no nations should have nuclear weapons.
That is especially true for the United States of America, which remains the ONLY nation in this world to actually drop nuclear bombs on human beings.
Hey Jeff by "our" evidence does that mean you and Ann are a team? You presented Chomsky and Finklestein and she presented sources all of which are only validated as opinions not necessarily by facts. I'll agree my so called narrative is also my opinion but it is backed up by far more accepted numbers of objective experts and hard truths.
It seems we are both to the left of center and we both disagree and dislike Trump, Maga, and Republicans who enable them. But when you are so far to the left that you demonize Israel and infer that the people of Iran are better off with the Mullahs and their disposed leader Kahamenei than the regime change that is in the process now by Trump and Israel, then you have become part of the problem rather than the solution, as we used to say in the 60s.
Only trump in his tsunami of lies has wrongly said in the past "we destroyed Iran's nuclear capability. Your idealism overwhelms your common sense and reality when you say no nation should have nuclear weapons. This is far from a perfect world.
We'll never get the truth or reliable answers from this administration. They can't even decide what the goals of the war are. From what I've read and seen the past few days, Iran wasn't close to making nuclear weapons. We also supposedly destroyed their capability in the strikes last year. So why attack now? The service members who have died for what reason? If he meets with their relatives, which he won't what does he say? That's the way it is? He could care less about the lives of the military.The reckless stupidity of this administration amazes me.
I completely agree with Joey Gibson. Thanks for the clear and reasonable scenario in the midst of this unrelenting bs spilling from trump's mouth. trump is a shameless example of a "government" run amuck, which the US can't or won't make changes that will benefit us.
We are ripping you all off, fixing the market with my inane, irrational daily comments in favor of my family and rich friends, making global decisions based on my mysterious debt to Israel, increasing your cost of living under the pretense of a threat that doesn’t exist. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Donald J. Trump.
The Epstein War.
Yes. A sick individual.
,
Under fascism, there is no "explaining". War is for return to old glory days, it's for the authoritarian to exercise his power, it's to take, plunder, and seize. And, it's to distract and manipulate public opinion.
https://iporta.gr/3-of-136-world-class-bullies-%ce%ba%ce%b1%ce%ba%ce%ac-%cf%80%ce%b1%ce%b9%ce%b4%ce%b9%ce%ac-%cf%84%ce%bf%cf%85-%ce%b3%ce%b9%cf%8e%cf%81%ce%b3%ce%bf%cf%85-%cf%83%ce%b1%cf%81%ce%ac%cf%86%ce%bf%ce%b3/
“Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is.”
This should surprise no one. In November 2025, Trump hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. During the visit Mary Bruce (ABC) posed the question,, "Your Royal Highness, the U.S. intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist. 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office. Why should Americans trust you?"
Trump not only defended the Crown Prince, claiming that "things happen." Sit with that for a minute. Things happen.
Trumps reaction to any narrative that doesn't spin his way can fall anywhere on a scale between truly appalling indifference and truly appalling cruelty. More often than not he succeeds in more or less hitting both ends and everything in between. Acknowledgment of (forget respect for) human dignity, empathy for human suffering, and a firm grasp of the meaning of leadership let alone true statesmanship will never be part of the narrative.
That's the way it is. Dan and Team Steady nailed it: No, Mr. President, that’s the way you have decided it is.
I understand the consternation. War is an intrinsic evil that scars the soul of a nation. Period.
But I cannot understand the surprise. That sorry sack of fertilizer in the White House told us exactly what he was going to do. When the Nobel Committee denied him the Peace Prize—an honor he clearly never earned—he didn't just sulk; he declared himself 'unobligated.' He stood before the world and essentially said that because they refused to crown him a peacemaker, he was no longer bound to act like one.
Within weeks, he and his fellow madman, Bibi, unleashed 'Operation Epic Fury'—a massive, unprovoked bombardment of Iran. Now, with a war underway that he admits will be 'substantial' in length, he has pivoted to attack Ecuador on the other side of the globe.
It is time for the Nobel Committee to evolve. They need a brand-new category to fit the reality of 2026: The Nobel War Prize. And I would like to proffer the first nomination. I nominate Donald J. Trump—a man who has finally found an 'honor' he richly deserves."
"Fascism is intrinsically linked to war, viewing conflict as a vital, "palingenetic" (rebirth) experience that forges national unity, asserts power, and secures "living space" (Spazio Vitale). Emerging from the trauma of WWI, fascist regimes in Italy, Germany, and Japan used militarism, rapid warfare, and total war to reorder society, often leading to aggression, occupation, and genocide."
One of the earliest comments I heard him offer to the Iranian people was that when this is over we will give you your country back. When will we get our country back? We all know he has no exit plan. A repeat of our mistake in Iraq. Trump has dismissed all of the sensible, experienced and knowledgeable generals who helped us through Iraq. His military appointments are similar to his cabinet appointments and we all know how well they're all performing. I used to think that he only feared strong women, RBG, Hillary, Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi. Wrong I guess, because his cabinet appointments certainly won't make him look bad as did the women who terrified him. He shows his fear of Mark Kelly, Adam Schiff, Jamie Raskin and others who make him look like the ignorant loser he is.
Your reporting is truly appreciated.
Thank you Dan.
What an absolute mess we are in right now
In 1941, Japan launched an attack on Pearl Harbour. How is this different from Iran?
I detest Trump and all his appointees, Republican boot lickers, and Maga. But he did what no other President has to date. With the support of our number one ally, Israel, they took out the head of the terrorist snake threatening the world, Iran. Khamanei and his cult of Mullah devils are gone. No matter the politics so far in this case "the end justifies the means. The Iran Mullahs were a much bigger threat than Sadaam Hussein and we lost that never ending war of choice and failed Nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan and thousands of more soldiers died. The Mullahs financed terrorism, Hamas, Hezbollah, Isis, etc. and were working on building weapons of mass destruction. Kahamenei was a bigger threat than Osama Bin Laden.
If the countless thousands of Iranians celebrating in the streets for regime change have their way, there will soon arise a power and governing vacuum in Iran that will smother and stop their attempts at retaliation. If America learned anything from Iraq/Afghanistan, with Israel's help that vacuum will be filled with leaders that care about their people, and catching up to western modernity despite Trumps lack of a plan. Rather than the toxic lunacy of religious hate that motivated the evil Mullahs, a new Iran will no longer be a urgent threat. The glass is half full for now and Democrats must stop claiming it is half empty.
Alan Segal, with all due respect, what you are either ignoring or are not aware of, is the absolute fact we, the United States of America created the modern-day problem that is Iran. And, actually, the problems extend well beyond Iran and the dark deed we performed there. Here is a brief summary of the relevant history:
How We Created the Modern Iranian "Monster:
To understand the current conflict with Iran, we have to stop looking at the symptoms and start looking at the source. The reality is that the United States and the UK created the very 'monster' they now claim to fight.
In 1953, Iran had a burgeoning, secular democracy led by Mohammad Mosaddegh. He was a man of absolute principle and a fierce nationalist who believed that Iran's vast oil wealth should benefit the Iranian people, not the bottom line of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP). Because Mosaddegh was a man of integrity, the West knew they could not buy him, influence him, or control him.
So, the CIA and MI6 orchestrated Operation Ajax—a 'tango' of subversion designed to kill a democracy in its cradle. They didn't use an army; they used dirty tricks. They hired street thugs to stage 'protests,' bribed military officials, and planted fake news stories to paint Mosaddegh as a communist.
By toppling the most moderate, democratic leader Iran ever had, we created a massive political void. We replaced a democratically elected prime minister with the absolute, iron-fisted rule of the Shah. For the next 26 years, we funded the Shah’s brutal secret police, SAVAK, as they systematically tortured and eliminated every secular, moderate, and liberal voice in the country.
By the time 1979 arrived, we had spent over two decades destroying the democratic center. The only force left organized enough to resist the Shah’s tyranny was the radical religious fringe. The Islamic Revolution wasn't an accident—it was the inevitable, violent explosion of a pressure cooker that we spent twenty-six years welding shut.
We didn't just lose an ally in 1979; we reaped the harvest of the seeds we sowed in 1953. Every time we choose 'control' over 'democracy,' we don't create stability—we just build the next monster.
thanks Jeff for your feedback, if we created the Mullah monster than with Israel's help we are correcting our mistakes by forcing a regime change. Whatever comes out can only be better for the large majority of Iranians who have suffered way too long under the Mullahs' suppression and rule. Let freedom ring.
Of course, I want the best for the Iranians. And I certainly do not approve of their government, at least since 1953, when the USA overthrew their democratic government because it would not play ball with the Huge Oil corporations, mostly from UK and beginning to be from the US. Up until that covert and 100% illegal coup, they had a pretty decent government. The only real problem was that their government dared to want to use the oil money for the betterment of their nation and the benefit of their own people, rather than to further enrich the shareholders of British Petroleum.
The USA, with collusion from the UK installed the Shah, who turned out to be a corrupt and brutal maniac, who treated the people at least as badly as the current Iranian government. He was thoroughly hated by the people, with good reason. The only "good thing" about him was that he made the foreign oil companies very happy, (very rich.)
The USA has never publicly acknowledged their horrendous actions towards Iran, let alone do a damned thing to atone or make amends.
We definitely created the current political and humanitarian mess. and we left between more than 7 decades of suffering in the name of corporate greed.
If the USA had, as a history, going in and liberating the people from terrible governments around the world, and delivering good results, I might be more open to what is going on. But out history, right up until today, screams otherwise. Iraq, Afghanistan, Chile, Argentina, Nicaragua, and at least 20 others that I could name. Not a single good outcome to be found.
Now, are you really going to tell me that Trump and Netanyahu are actually doing this for humanitarian reasons and to make the world safer for everyone? Sorry, but given our history, Trump's and Netanyahu's that is a very hard sell.
In the 60s I took a class on existentialism at SF State University and the professor used to argue very convincingly that the past doesn't exist. Keeping that in mind, Trump is in it for several reasons, Epstein, his poll numbers, and of course the $$potential and maybe his own Nobel. Netanyahu is in it for Israel's right to exist in a peaceful middle east free from anti-Israel terrorism. If one probable result is more freedom for Iranians than it is a win, win.
59% of Americans disapprove. I guarantee that’s a lot more than Democrats.
We tend to stereotype Iranians and forget the devout followers of the ‘supreme leader.’ They were in the streets demonstrating after he was killed. The Revolutionary Guard has not disappeared. They are not going to lay down their arms. There’s no plan for that. They won’t be fooled by a promise of ‘complete immunity’. There no plan for the either.
This president has endorsed the idea of armed militias coming into Iran now that all 3 tiers of leaders he thought might fit the bill. The old regime remnants (Venezuela template) and armed militias (which he may or may not supply with weapons) are not to give ‘power to the people’. A trump puppet would not have any support. A civil war doesn’t seem like a great outcome for Iranians or for the Middle East.
You don’t kill ideas with bombs. That’s what we should have learned. That’s what Obama knew. None of this would be happening if trump hadn’t torn up the nuclear agreement. Netanyahu also opposed the agreement. His tenure’s policy was to keep foreign $$ going to Hamas for all those years — knowing what they were doing with it. Bombing civilians when Hamas became too annoying. Hamas hid in the tunnels. Divided Palestinian leadership let him argue there was no negotiating partner.
Half full or full may not be the question. There was no plan, so what is in the glass? Israel and trump care nothing for Iranian, Gazan or Afghani people. It’s the people who get smothered.
Ann sadly you are a wealth of far-left misinformation and anti-Israel demonization. But you are also a woman who seems clueless about how evil Kahamenei and his other Mullah subordinates are especially to women all women not just Iranian women. they refer to them as" animals, like cows and goats to service men". Knowing this, despite our mutual dislike of Trump, and his politics you should be cheering as I am, the death of Kahamenei and several of his cohorts and more to come in a desirable regime change . I also am a fan of Obama and voted for him twice but I believe he and Kerry negotiated a horrible nuclear agreement with Iran, which would have allowed them to build nuclear weapons in 15 years which is around this time.
You also no little about your so called Palestinians in Gaza. There never was a state or country called Palestine. After the Arabs lost the War in 1967 against Israel. They started calling themselves Palestinians and claiming Israel land as theirs. In 2005 Israel gave up as a humanitarian peace offer a thriving Gaza to these Arabs no other county in the Middle East would take in. By 2007 Hamas a terrorist hate Israel group took control of Gaza and turned it into a military shithole to attack Israel via tunnels and rockets and sneak attacks. In October of 2023 Hamas, backed by Iran, invaded Israel, started a war, took 250 hostages, tortured and killed over 1200 innocent Israeli's mostly women and children. Hamas built their military tunnels under residential buildings, hospitals and schools. They used non combatant so called Palestinians and their homes as human shields.
There is no evidence that Netanyahu endorsed any money flow to Hamas. He doesn't have to argue "there is no negotiating Partner" Hamas' written charter denies Israel's right to exist and they have refused every offer of peace for over 2 decades, and still refuse to lay down their arms and leave Gaza .
Iran under Kahamenei and Mullah radical Islamic rule was an eminent threat by financing and training terrorists all over the Middle East to attack Israel and America.
Trump and Israel stopped that threat so far. The Revolutionary Guard will have to stand down to whoever fills the leadership vacuum or Israel and US will force them into submission. This is the glass half filled that has been achieved so far. This end is so important for the millions of noncombatant nonradical Islamists civilians dancing in the streets of Tehran and all over, that finally will be free from Kahamenei brutality and suppression. You are unwittingly enabling.
I can't help but notice you are one of those (almost entirely Jews) who, when discussing the Holocaust, go out of their way to vanish the many millions of non Jewish victims (the actual death toll being closer to 10 million, not that intentional lie by omission of 6).
This basically invalidates any moral stance you wish to assume as it displays a level of bigotry that is, frankly staggeringly grotesque. I suppose to you homosexuals, Romani, the disabled, Slavs etc are less than human and unworthy of being counted as equal in loss to Jews.
Hey Paul, you obviously didn't read my comments in this thread. You cluelessly call my defense of Israel and Jews, defending themselves now as they were unable to do in WWll Holocaust "staggeringly, grotesque bigotry".
The Gays, Romanis( ?) disabled, Slavs, etc. slaughtered by Hitler were not targeted and defined as part of the "Final Solution" to erase the Jews in the Holocaust. Nor is that a part of the context of this thread of comments, which is about the demonizing of Israel by those Arabs and Jew haters, that deny Israel's right to exist, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Iran and Hezbollah and so called pro-Palestinians.
The real genocide achieved by Hitler in the Holocaust will always be the justification for Jews to defend their right to exist in their own legitimate homeland Israel. I don't know the real numbers of those groups of non Jews slaughtered by Hitler. But even one innocent killed, even by my "grotesque" as you attack my morality, in reality, I detest.
If you are a member of any of those aforementioned groups also killed during the time of the Holocaust, you might want to subscribe to the meaning of these two words that define Jewish existence, "Never Again".
Most highly respected historians who study the Middle East would disagree with most of your assumptions and conclusions, particularly about Palestine and Israel.
If your desire for truth is stronger than any need to be right, please read Prof. Norman Finkelstein on the subject, and then Noam Chomsky.
Be sure to take a good look at the history of the modern-day Jewish Zionist movement, going back to the late 1800s and headed by Theodore Herzel. They committed what can only be honestly and objectively characterized as horrendous acts of terrorism against the Palestinian peasants and farmers who occupied much of the land that is now the state of Israel.
If you look at this honestly, and if you have a conscience and a functioning moral compass, I think you will come to some very different conclusions than those explicitly stated or at least implied by your comments in this thread.
Hey Jeff we definitely disagree and Finkelstein and especially Chomsky are far from "highly respected historians". Chomsky by the way was recently discovered in the Epstein files. But I guess he was only lecturing Epstein on the evils of Zionism. I was a student and a teaching assistant at SF State in the 60s and spent time dodging the Swat teams and tear gas while protesting Vietnam. Noam Chomsky was partially relevant then but when it comes to the history of Jews both he and Finkelstein are self loathing Jews and toxic and sad disappointments to the memory of the 6 million tortured Jewish souls erased by the Nazis in their concentration camps. My support for a Jewish homeland can never be separated from the context of that history of real genocide. I am guided by the same two words that justify Netanyahu's defense of Israel's right to exist, "Never Again". This provides a "functioning moral compass" for the vast majority of Jews with empathy and common sense.
Your so called Palestinian peasants and farmers were tribes of Arabs prior to the post WWII offer of the British to them of land for their own state they could have called Palestine. But they rejected it and rejected Israels founding. The PLO started calling themselves and these Arabs ,no other country in the middle east wanted, after Israel won the 1967 war, Palestinians.
Is the world just plain stupid?
An interesting questionnaire for Palestinian Advocates
By Yashiko Sagamori
If you are so sure that " Palestine , the country, goes back through most of recorded history," I expect you to be able to answer a few basic questions about that country of Palestine :
1. When was it founded and by whom?
2. What were its borders?
3. What was its capital?
4. What were its major cities?
5. What constituted the basis of its economy?
6. What was its form of government?
7. Can you name at least one Palestinian leader before Arafat?
8.. Was Palestine ever recognized by a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for interpretation?
9. What was the language of the country of Palestine ?
10. What was the prevalent religion of the country of Palestine ?
11. What was the name of its currency? Choose any date in history and tell what was the approximate exchange rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the US dollar, German mark, GB pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese Yuan on that date.
12. And, finally, since there is no such country today, what caused its demise and when did it occur?
You are lamenting the "low sinking" of a "once proud" nation.. Please tell me, when exactly was that "nation" proud and what was it so proud of?
And here is the least sarcastic question of all: If the people you mistakenly call "Palestinians" are anything but generic Arabs collected from all over -- or thrown out of -- the Arab world, if they really have a genuine ethnic identity that gives them right for self-determination, why did they never try to become independent until Arabs suffered their devastating defeat in the Six Day War?
I hope you avoid the temptation to trace the modern day "Palestinians" to the Biblical Philistines: substituting etymology for history won't work here.
The truth should be obvious to everyone who wants to know it. Arab countries have never abandoned the dream of destroying Israel ; they still cherish it today. Having time and again failed to achieve their evil goal with military means, they decided to fight Israel by proxy. For that purpose, they created a terrorist organization, cynically called it "the Palestinian people" and installed it in Gaza , Judea, and Samaria . How else can you explain the refusal by Jordan and Egypt to unconditionally accept back the "West Bank" and Gaza , respectively?
The fact is, Arabs populating Gaza, Judea, and Samaria have much less claim to nationhood than that Indian tribe that successfully emerged in Connecticut with the purpose of starting a tax-exempt casino: at least that tribe had a constructive goal that motivated them. The so-called "Palestinians" have only one motivation: the destruction of Israel , and in my book that is not sufficient to consider them a nation" -- or anything else except what they really are: a terrorist organization that will one day be dismantled.
Aren't Pallestinians the children of Shem?
Well we do certainly disagree. I am a Jew by birth, BTW. And I have been concerned about this mess and the history surrounding it for most of my life. I am 75 years old now. I supported Israel without question for the first 9 years of my life. I was earning money mowing lawns and doing other things to earn money by the time I was 8 years old. We lived in farm country, so that was easy and natural. I used to send more than half of that money to support the state of Israel - to plant trees and what not. I even planned to go stay on a Kibbutz for a summer when I was a bit older.
Around the time I turned 9 or 10, I started to read some histories that were different than what was promoted in school. I eventually came to very different conclusions.
Of course, I think the Holocaust was one of the darkest, maybe THE darkest single events in all of human history. I thoroughly condemn it, along with the perpetrators. And it is personal for me. Half my ancestors went up the smokestacks of Auschwitz.
At the end of WWII and with the founding of the modern state of Israel, the statement was made, "Never Again." And it was a beautiful statement. That is until the officials of Israel ruined it. They ruined it by taking on 2 words. They added, "...to us." They should have left it alone or if they had to add, it should have been "to anyone."
I do not have the time to type all the facts and historical references here. (I still work full-time as an alternative oncologist and researcher and have a busy schedule.) But I am pretty sure that if we were able to communicate more efficiently and I shared with you the real history of the modern Zionist movement, going back to Theodore Herzel, you might come to some very different conclusions about the mess in the Middle East and Israel's role and responsibilities in it.
I also had past relatives erased in the Holocaust. I'm 81 now and I simply can't understand or empathize with the opinion of any Jew who doesn't believe "to us" justifies any defense Israel choses to protect their right to exist. Only "us" experienced the Holocaust while the" anyone's" in the world ignored it, and the" to us" is raising it's ugly and toxic head again in the contemporary demonizing of Israel. I wish you well bro, but no words are going to change my mind about defending Israel and Jews.
Netanyahu & trump are 2 peas in a pod: merciless dark souls who prop themselves up on the backs of others. It is unfortunate that in an attempt to make your point you must presume my ignorance, supposed cluelessness and reference me being “a wealth of far-left misinformation and anti-Israel demonization”. It shows that you are not interested in any opinions or facts other than you own. Or a discussion without insults.
Netanyahu’s approach was reported world-wide as were multiple warnings the Israeli government received. Those warnings including the full plan a year in advance (except for date and time) & from Egypt a few days before the Hamas attack began. The government knew of the Hamas activities as demonstrated by its published estimates of tunnels, missiles etc. Whether it was hubris, ignorance or delusion - or all 3 - I do not know.
The Bibi approach to keeping Hamas fat & happy:
• https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/netanyahu-money-to-hamas-part-of-strategy-to-keep-palestinians-divided-583082
• https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-years-netanyahu-propped-up-hamas-now-its-blown-up-in-our-faces/
• https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/three-suitcases-stuffed-with-15m-passed-to-hamas-in-gaza-571449
• As widely reported around the world: https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/1582409926-lieberman-netanyahu-sent-mossad-chief-to-qatar-to-beg-for-hamas-financing
Ann, your sources are not objective and your so-called evidence you posted is out of context of the whole Israel/Gaza situation and of course you make no mention of Israel's gift for peace of a thriving Gaza. Where they moved out their own people from Gaza to accommodate the land less Arabs calling themselves Palestinians.
But you right about one thing money did flow into Gaza from lots of sources Netanyahu was aware of. BUT THE MONEY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE USED TO BETTER THE LIVES OF THE SO CALLED PALESTINIANS, YET HAMAS WHO GOVERNED GAZA TOOK MOST OF THE MONEY FOR WEAPONS AND ATTACK TUNNELS.
Here is part of an AI response from Microsoft's Co Pilot about money going
into Gaza before Hamas' savage invasion on Oct 7th:
"Warnings about diversion of funds to Hamas’ military wing
- Reported security warnings: Israeli media have reported that in 2019–2020, senior security officials (including from the Shin Bet and IDF) warned Netanyahu that Hamas’ military chief, Mohammed Deif, was diverting significant portions of the Qatari money to Hamas’ military infrastructure.
- Netanyahu’s response: Netanyahu’s office has denied wrongdoing and rejected the claim that he “boosted” Hamas, insisting the Qatari funding was a coordinated international policy aimed at stabilizing Gaza and preventing humanitarian collapse, not at arming Hamas."
But what troubles me most about your defensive response prioritizing unintended personal insults to you, is your total lack of empathy for the millions of Iranians especially women that will probably be liberated by Trumps and Netanyahu's( "dark souls") erasing truly murderous (evil to the core) Iran Mullahs responsible for suppression and murder for years of their own people?
Let me say it again: There is no objective and irrefutable evidence especially in your so called sources that Israel knew ahead of time, Hamas was going to invade and start a war.
Let me simplify my points for you and all the far leftist Israel haters:
Israel good, Hamas bad
Israel has a right to exist and defend itself ("Never Again") look it up if you don't know what those two words mean.
Kahamenei and his cohort Mullahs and their Revolutionary Guard, dangerous threat and evil
Trump (in this situation, eliminating them) right, as is Netanyahu.
“If America learned anything from Iraq/Afghanistan, with Israel's help that vacuum will be filled with leaders that care about their people, and catching up to western modernity despite Trumps lack of a plan.”
That prompted my response. As for my sources, I deliberately chose Israeli newspapers considered moderate or right of center. Reporting by i24 is considered hawkish, nationalist & right of center which makes their article noteworthy.
A discussion about the other person, what they should be concerned about & interjecting a carefully curated perspective of history for context dooms it to failure. Criticism for pointing out the (“unintended”?) negative personal remarks is the icing on the cake.
So, our evidence is only accurate and objective if it agrees with your narrative?
There are plenty of highly credible sources that do not agree with your narrative. I have mentioned several in my prior reply to your comment.
BTW, just to be clear, if we really did succeed in destroying Iran's nuclear weapons program, I am not sorry about that. They should not have nuclear weapons.
But then, no nation in the world should have the ability to destroy all life as we know if on this planet that we all must share. That means no nations should have nuclear weapons.
That is especially true for the United States of America, which remains the ONLY nation in this world to actually drop nuclear bombs on human beings.
Hey Jeff by "our" evidence does that mean you and Ann are a team? You presented Chomsky and Finklestein and she presented sources all of which are only validated as opinions not necessarily by facts. I'll agree my so called narrative is also my opinion but it is backed up by far more accepted numbers of objective experts and hard truths.
It seems we are both to the left of center and we both disagree and dislike Trump, Maga, and Republicans who enable them. But when you are so far to the left that you demonize Israel and infer that the people of Iran are better off with the Mullahs and their disposed leader Kahamenei than the regime change that is in the process now by Trump and Israel, then you have become part of the problem rather than the solution, as we used to say in the 60s.
Only trump in his tsunami of lies has wrongly said in the past "we destroyed Iran's nuclear capability. Your idealism overwhelms your common sense and reality when you say no nation should have nuclear weapons. This is far from a perfect world.
We'll never get the truth or reliable answers from this administration. They can't even decide what the goals of the war are. From what I've read and seen the past few days, Iran wasn't close to making nuclear weapons. We also supposedly destroyed their capability in the strikes last year. So why attack now? The service members who have died for what reason? If he meets with their relatives, which he won't what does he say? That's the way it is? He could care less about the lives of the military.The reckless stupidity of this administration amazes me.
I completely agree with Joey Gibson. Thanks for the clear and reasonable scenario in the midst of this unrelenting bs spilling from trump's mouth. trump is a shameless example of a "government" run amuck, which the US can't or won't make changes that will benefit us.
WHO is not doing their job to control this man? Is it Congress? Why? What can the everyday average American do?