Once again, the stupid, evil war that Trump started on behalf of Israel is (apparently) on pause. The why is worrisome.
It may be for essentially the same reason that Trump pretended to agree to cease hostilities a few weeks ago via the so-called Memorandum of Agreement, which Trump failed to agree with. (The MOA stated explicitly that Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz; Trump pretended to agree and then feigned outrage – and resumed the bombing – when the Iranians asserted their control over the Strait.) There is also the corner that Trump has boxed us into – that being the pending effects of draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to buffer the loss of 20-30 percent of the world’s oil supply. The tanks are running dry, so to speak – and when they do, the effects could be catastrophic, for us.
I italicize “us” to emphasize it won’t be Trump or his Wall Street fixer/shorter cronies who are affected, except perhaps politically (as if that meaningfully mattered). Trump may be remembered as even worse than Nixon but recall that Nixon never lacked for anything, materially. Neither will Trump. Neither will his Wall Street fixer/shorter cronies. They have billions. Many of us are sweating the cost of groceries.
The War Tax is now (as of July 27) about 30 percent on every gallon of gas we buy relative to the pre-war cost of gasoline last July. It is equivalent to a near-doubling of the federal tax on gasoline we’d already been paying and at least that tax went to pay for things like roads. This tax is going to pay Exxon/Mobil. It is on top of the taxes we pay (that we are forced to pay; proper language is important) to finance things like this stupid, evil war. Imagine how many pot-holed American roads could be paved over with nice fresh asphalt for the money literally blown up on the bombs rained down on Iran. Does anyone remember the $5k rebate checks Trump and his hair-plugged grifter friend said were coming? Americans – all of us – could have gotten back (again, language matters) far more than just $5k if Trump had decided to DOGE the so-called “defense” apparatus. He did at least have the inadvertent decency to use proper language. The Department of Defense is now (correctly) the Department of War.
They really do tell us what they mean. We just have to listen.
Anyhow, the war seems to be on pause, yet the war is not won. The Iranians retain control of the Strait; shipping is not moving (the obvious lies of the administration to the contrary notwithstanding). The oil is not flowing. The SPR isn’t re-filling. And time is running out. This is a stalemate that cannot endure. Not without devastating repercussions. Trump has two choices. The first is to accept the war has been lost and (this time) actually agree that Iran now controls the Strait – just as Panama controls the Panama Canal – and get the oil flowing again. This option is of course intolerable to Trump and to Israel, which amounts to the same thing. Trump being Israel’s spray-tanned Golem.
This brings up the second choice, which is to go for broke and try to win this stupid war. Since it has not been won so far – via bombs and missiles – the next step is probably ground troops, a full-scale invasion. However that would require positioning the troops in or near Iran and how to do that given Iran can slaughter them as they assemble? in 1944, the Germans had no way to stop the troop build-up on the island of England. The Iranians are not in that position. They are in the position the Germans would have been in, back in ’44, had they been able to devastate any assembly point on the island of England. If they had been in that position, there would probably have not been a D-Day (and there would probably still be a Greater German Reich).
That leaves one tool in Trump’s bag of tricks. The one all sane people hope is not taken out of the bag. This hope assumes Trump is sane. That may well be a false hope.
In any event, we shall soon see – one way or the other.
. . .
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 on pause. The why is worrisome.){kind=link}
It is rumored that one major reason for Trump’s latest “pause” is that the Pentagon is running low on weapons. The trillion-dollar-plus defense budget can buy a lot of shit, but it is also loaded with bloat and grift and inefficiency, and the relatively few defense contractors out there cannot keep up with replenishing the stuff Uncle Sham has been giving to Ukraine and Israel.
Wasn’t it the case that last year, FedGov was trying to get back weapons we had given to the South Koreans so we could to give them to the Ukrainians, and the Koreans were balking at it?
As far as a ground invasion… LOL. It ain’t gonna be Spc. Shaniqua, the single black mom, bayonetting Iranian Revolutionary Guards to death, I can tell you that. Then military is a gigantic affirmative action grift. Sure, there are some very hardcore Spec Ops dudes, there is Seal Team Six, there are hardcore white dudes flying jets off of aircraft carriers and all of that, but if you are talking about the average enlisted types in “Big Army” that is a whole different ballgame.
Hi X,
If you or anybody else is interested, Scott Horton interviewed Andrew Cockburn on both the neocons and the American MIC’s inefficiency…mind you this was over two years ago May 9, 2024…coincidentally I listened to it when driving down I81 in SW Virginia near EP’s abode. In any case he makes the point that there is no competition in U.S. weapons production so what we get is overly expensive, complex, obselete junk…..here’s the URL and it’s really worth a listen.
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/5-9-24-andrew-cockburn-on-the-neoconservatives-and-the-military-industrial-complex/
I promise, last post for a while….
Oh one further note, Cockburn published a book called spoils of war….check out the reviews on Amazon
Iran should just finish the job…israel not only needs to disappear, using the jews’ own logic–collective responsibility and collective punishment, every jew in the world must be put on notice and held responsible for not only the genocides presently taking place in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and anywhere else the jews have their filthy bloody paws in to.
A start would be to invalidate all israeli passports worldwide, making them useless for identification or travel. The jews can travel on their secondary passports…
we need yellow stars and ovens, lots of ovens
things are going to keep getting worse until the world comes to it’s senses about who these people are and how damn destructive they are to our societies
no mr nice guy
I just became aware of this site today. Hope they show these clips continuously at Lindsey Graham’s memorial service.
https://archivegenocide.com/
according to ynet @ 7:01 pm “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plane has landed in Washington. During his political visit to the U.S., Netanyahu will attend the memorial service for Senator Lindsey Graham and later meet with President Donald Trump. The meeting with Trump is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.” (on Tuesday after the service?)
For those following the “Where’s Turtle” saga.
A new pic and update has been released:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/mitch-mcconnell-provides-health-photo-160816827.html
Is it me or is this pic the exact same faces of the earlier pic?
Is a video impossible? A news interview? Why haven’t we heard from Mitch’s kids? I am extremely disappointed in the Paparazzi. They followed Lady Di around like a sheep dog, but we can’t even locate McConnell’s whereabouts. Are the Flock and Ring cameras working? No mention where this dude is at. Can we see the security cameras at George Washington University Hospital upon his release? The morgue employees must be paid well for no one to come forward.
You still suck, Andy.
All that proves, is that someone is really good at Photoshop.
Hi Publius,
They are going to get away with it. The man is dead. We are about a week way that a Special Election cannot be called and I am sure Elaine will be enlisted as the new Senator once Mitch is declared ill on the 5th and dead on the 10th of August.
They lie to us and most don’t care.
Hi RG,
Yup. Re the lying. That said, I think many Americans are just tired. What can we do, after all? I can write articles. Others can call their (stifling bely laugh) “representative” to demand answers (ha!) but in the end, they just do what they do and there’s very little we can do about it. I understand why the Russians liked Vodka.
The Russian ordinary people understood the hypocrisy but could do very little as the Russian state was very powerful.
The American people are not at that stage of understanding as the food, beer and sportzball is very plentiful.
“We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us.” – Soviet aphorism
The fleece is a bad sign. Back when I was an orderly, paying my way through college, we only broke out the fleece when bedsores were either imminent or present. If he’s still alive at all, he’s probably not in good shape.
Hi RG,
That pic is so obviously fake it’s insulting. I bet you could superimpose the faces of the Dirty Old Turtle and his wife as depicted over the previous depiction and they’d match.
You’re absolutely right. If the Dirty Old Turtle is alive – and functional – he’d have a live press conference or at least do an interview with reporters to prove he is alive and functional. It’s such an obvious thing. The fact that he’s not doing it tells me he’s plastron up.
Carapace conference or GTFO!
Hi Publius,
Yup. I don’t think it’ll happen, though. I’d bet $100 he’s dead. And I never bet.
https://media1.tenor.com/m/uSziLJ8y3X8AAAAC/shy-scared.gif
“Another Pause?”
Naw, the pause was just to reload missiles and bombs. The war will restart in two weeks.
“Piss or get off the pot, Mr. President.”
Ideally, it would have been nice for him to have had someone, anyone on staff who understood ME politics, or, worst case, agree to ONLY another 12 Day War. Between Mossad, CIA and MI6, surely they could have come up with another Stuxnet or something to deal with the nuclear issue.
H/T Alistair Crooke on Judge Napolitano 7.27.26: “Massive Fire Erupts At World’s Largest Oil Processing Plant In Saudi Arabia After Drone Attack. A massive fire broke out at Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq refinery after drones struck the facility and the East-West Pumping Station in Saudi Arabia. NASA FIRMS satellite imagery confirmed extensive fire activity at the site, indicating significant damage to one of the world’s most important oil processing facilities.
“Abqaiq is the world’s largest crude oil stabilisation plant and processes between 5 and 7 per cent of global oil supply, making it a vital hub for international energy markets.
“Saudi Arabia has BLAMED IRAN-BACKED RESISTANCE GROUPS IN IRAQ for carrying out the attack. Following the strike, authorities began emergency flaring at multiple production sites as part of their response to the incident.”
https://www.news18.com/world/massive-fire-erupts-at-worlds-largest-oil-processing-plant-at-saudis-aramcos-abqaiq-after-iranian-drone-attack-video-10236547.html
This is just a silly ass guess on my part, but I believe it’s the Israeli backed ISIS terrorists in Iraq or Israel itself operating from its “secret bases” in Iraq responsible for this attack (Iran doesn’t send drones from Iraq). May it blowback on Israel like a blowtorch!
Alistair Crooke said the Houthis had done the attack & Intel Slava also reports that the Houthis have claimed responsibility: “Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense said the facility was targeted by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, while Ansar Allah (Houthis) claimed responsibility for the attack.”
A massive archive of evidence showing Israeli war crimes committed over the past 3+ years is now publicly available.
The archive is searchable, sorted by various tags, with incidents geolocated on a map. All media is downloadable. New evidence continues to be logged as new incidents occur.
WARNING: This is an extremely upsetting feed to scroll through.
MAIN SITE
https://archivegenocide.com/
Rewind a few years to the years of Barack Obama during the so-called Arab Spring in which he committed U.S. resources to support of the Saudi/UAE interference in the Yemeni civil war…..the group we call the Houthis came out on top and ended up backing Saudi Arabia and everybody else off by threatening Saudi oilfields……scroll forward to today, I’d put my money on Ansar Allah in this case….the kingdom of Saudi Arabia only exists because of U.S. backing and the U.S. is getting its proverbial nutsack handed to it in west asia…..it would not surprise me to see S.A. and U.A.E. fall as none of them have the support of their populaces AND the U.S. can no longer keep them in power. The whole area is a total mess and like the tar baby, our politicos and so-called “elites” have gotten us all stuck in that mess…..much more effective to just trade for resources and skip the bloodshed…..
Pretty much. If things continue,, future historians will likely point to the failure to stop the expansion of the proxy armies as the turning point in the dominance of the West, and the rise of Islam.
If you want to talk about proxies…
“Iraqi authorities arrested cells working for Ukraine in Iraq and accused them of carrying out several attacks, National Security Adviser Qasim Al-Aboudi said on Monday.”
https://shafaq.com/en/Security/Ukraine-linked-cells-arrested-over-attacks-in-Iraq
Sy Hersh said the USA took out Nordstream, but Germans eventually accused the Ukrainians.
Qui bono? Iran certainly doesn’t. Arabs don’t. ISRAEL who wants Iran’s power plants and infrastructure decimated definitely benefits.
Yes, I trust Baghdad Bob. If you look closely, you can see his lips moving. Not sure I understand why Ukraine would have set up in secret in Iraq when pretty much anyone else would have hosted them.
But, yeah, the wars are rapidly merging into one. You think Israel favors the destruction of Iran rather than the destruction of the IRGC? Instead of say a necessary means to bring about the destruction of the IRGC?
Israel claims they attacked Iran from secret bases in Iraq during the Ramadan War. Sure whoever these “ukrainians” are it’s Israel behind it.
Israel wants Iran destroyed so it will never be a threat to Israel. Israel wants to break Iran up similar to what they did to Syria, Libya and Iraq and what they are doing to Lebanon. They are turning S. Lebanon into Gaza: that is destruction.
3.31.26 JPost: “Israel is systematically damaging Iran’s national infrastructure, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a Tuesday cabinet meeting.
“We have damaged 70% of their steel production capacity,” Netanyahu said, emphasizing that “with a few dozen weapons, we have reduced their GDP by 2-3%.”
3.20.26 The Hill. “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said Israel “acted alone” in its attack on Iran’s largest gas compound, an action that President Trump said he did not approve of.
“Netanyahu, during a press conference, said despite the strike, there is no disagreement between him and Trump over the ongoing military operation in Iran.
“It’s been said that for 40 years I’ve been saying that Iran is a danger to Israel and a danger to the world,” Netanyahu said. “That is true. You know who else said that? President Trump.” …Trump claimed the U.S. knew nothing about the attack in advance. Three Israeli officials, however, told The New York Times the strike was coordinated with the Trump administration in advance.
“The president said during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi earlier Thursday that he did not agree to the attack, adding that he told Israel, “don’t do that.”
_______________
Iran blamed Israeli agents inside Iran for attacking Saudi Arabia and Oman early in the war. Tucker Carlson also reported that “authorities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia had arrested Mossad agents allegedly planning bombings.”
https://www.facebook.com/trtworld/videos/israel-wants-to-hurt-iran-and-qatar-and-uae-and-saudi-and-bahrain-and-oman-and-k/816797780679656/
I really don’t like being put in a position to cheer against my own country, yet here we are. Other than military contractors and extreme volatility in the betting markets, no one profits from this. The longer it goes on the more prices of everything will rise.
Maybe something good can come out of it. Something like, we as a people learning the proper amount of hatred and pushback against our elitist congress. Crackhead Z, Bibi, Trump, along with all of clown/gress should have their heads shaved, stripped to their magic undergarments, then slathered in jam, conscripted into being fly and mosquito magnets along the shores of the fetid Potomac. This should be the first punishment for their war crimes. The fact that they can still go home and show their faces in public, after linking our defense to Israel shows how beat down and feckless Americans have become.
I suspect that what’s happening in Iran is a case of the de-industrializing, outsourcing, offshoring, and globalization chickens coming home to roost. We just can’t make the weapons we need to fight and win wars.
So what you’re saying is, it is lamentable that they cannot pull off a successful raid.
“You never had no wins,
Slidin’ in these dens with Timbs’, Mac 10s and broke friends”
-Raekwon, Incarcerated Scarfaces
If you wanna rob and kill those people, its entirely on you. It is not in my name and I want nothing to do with it.
Not to be a warmonger here, but expansion of the Lucas drone project and working out some kind of a deal for Ukrainian drone tech would be a big leap forward not only for re-industrialization, but also decentralization. Ukraine has made some excellent decisions with private companies coming up with new tech, stuff that can be manufactured in their basements or garages, and with incentivizing the troops by supplying more to those units that use the drones to the greatest effect.
I suspect when the dust clears, we will find out that it was units trying to outdo each other to get new goodies that is the reason that container ship of Russian weapons headed for Iran blew up in the Caspian.
Steve says:
“Not to be a warmonger here, but expansion of the Lucas drone project and working out some kind of a deal for Ukrainian drone tech would be a big leap forward not only for re-industrialization, but also decentralization.”
At which point Steve proceeds to be a warmonger. The whole point is that you are engaging in a sunk cost fallacy in that you assert there’s nothing basically wrong with stealing money from citizens to create implements of destruction that the overwhelming majority of the populace does not want. It just needs to be more efficient. Pointing to Ukraine as an example boggles the mind….you do realize that without support from the West, Ukraine would have gone tits up years ago…..do try to gain a little historical context.
Actually, this relates to the support for the Israeli state as well. 69% of the populace opposes this Iran fiasco at this point….expect that number to climb as resources become scarce due to the actions of the PtB…..
If we all survive this, some of us will be saying I told you so….
Well, what’s your plan?
I’m assuming you are libertarian, not anarchist. Libertarians generally agree that there is a role for “national defense”. And if so, “we” have need of the ability to counter the threat of drones.
BTW, I know in the libertarian echo chamber, the majority don’t care about “national defense”. But that does not mean the majority of Americans don’t care whether someone sneaks weapons over the border and causes chaos. Pretty sure another 9/11 would put libertarianism back to less than 1% popularity.
I’m gonna have to call your assumption invalid. The overlap between libertarian and anarchist is fairly huge. Humans will always gather into groups, but the superior ones remain voluntary in a libertarian worldview.
As to your assertion that we need drone defense technology, yeah, but 1) the market can take care of that without interference from the hulking, violent, coercive state and 2) were the so called department of defense concerned with defense, we could cut its budget by 90% and be perfectly secure.
If you were truly “America First” as you claim to be, you might want t adopt a less combative interface to the rest of the world…..the problem with acting as a bully is that somebody bigger and stronger will always show up to put you down….that time is now for the U.S.
As an ideological anarchist, I agree. I’d love to have that work. As an ideological anarchist, I don’t even give a damn about America. I care about my God, my family and my community. Beyond that, not so much.
But I’m enough of an adult to realize that we live in a world with megastates. I don’t like it, but I accept reality as it exists, and adjust my real world policy preferences to map into reality, rather than pure ideology.
Does that make sense?
Hi Steve,
Well, let’s begin by remembering that the United States hasn’t fought an objectively defensive war since 1812. Everything else has been offensive; wars fought to expand the empire and for that, certainly, you need a standing professional army and a “defense” establishment. Also onerous taxation and an authoritarian government.
This libertarians supports the concept of a citizen militia as congruent with a free society. America is protected by oceans on either side and its vast territory. This idea that we’re threatened with invasion is a terror for (stupid) children. We have an estimated 5,000 nuclear weapons. A fraction of these would serve as a defensive deterrent. The “defense” budget could be cut by two thirds and the “homeland” would not be in danger. But the empire would be.
Yes, you’re right re another 911. Which is probably why the Israelis (and the “defense” industry) will stage another.
Cue the Lee Greenwood song.
“This idea that we’re threatened with invasion is a terror for (stupid) children.”
Even I thought that Tuesday morning, 9/11/2001.
Did the existence of our nukes deter that? USS Cole? Beirut barracks? Khobar towers? Heck, even holding embassy staff hostage in ’79?
The fact is everyone, and I mean everyone knows the US is not using nukes against a non-nuclear attack, and maybe not even then. That is, their deterrence is if not nada, at least grossly overestimated.
Oy vey, Steve –
It was not the Iranians who attacked the “homeland.” It was – allegedly – our great allies, the Saudis. Well, Saudi individuals. Supposedly.
Iran is a state. It is not a shady band of “terrorists.” No state – except the United States – has ever used nuclear weapons in war. It is entirely reasonable for the Iranians to want a deterrent. For the same reason that Israel has them. Right?
We hear the bleat constantly: Israel has the right to defend itself! Well, doesn’t Iran? Who attacked Iran, Steve?
PS: The whole “911” thing stinks. I lived in the DC area at the time. I grew up in that area. I drove past the Pentagon every week for years. Key Bridge, the Mall, etc. I worked downtown at The Washing Times for ten years. There were security cameras everywhere, even then. Also literally thousands if not tens of thousands of tourists with cameras, both still and video. Yet there are no pictures or videos of the 757 on its attack run, notwithstanding that everyone knew about what happened in NYC earlier that day and so people would have been paying attention to a low-flying jet. I watched local media coverage that was broadcast minutes after the Pentagon hit. It showed a small hole on the side of the building, with no damage on either side. Or above. Where’d the 757’s wings and vertical stabilizer go? How about the massive turbofan engines?
That coverage has disappeared.
I have a friend who flew combat in F4 Phantoms during the Vietnam war. This guy and his REO told me they didn’t buy it. That the supposed flight path of the “757” and that it was supposedly piloted by a guy who could barely fly are things so improbable as to be ridiculous. I’ll take the opinion of a combat Navy pilot over Bill Kristol’s and Ben Shapiro’s all week long.
Pretty sure if we had another 9/11 it would be coming from within our own intelligence services. Personally I’m all for strong national defense. Secure the borders, deport illegal aliens, imprison corrupt officials, end all foreign aid, Sit back, and use our god given advantage of being surrounded by ocean. The ‘fight them over there, so we don’t fight them over here’ doctrine is utter BS spun up to promote pure tyrannical lawlessness…
Hi Eric, et al,
Recall that the CEO of Chevron or Exxon told T-Rump that his company had no interest in Venezuelan oil at then current prices, for which T-Rump excoriated him in public. The problem for us as citizens is that when the dollar crashes hard, our assets in dollars become worth less and this is the leash on T-Rump and his masters in Tel Aviv. At some point, citizens here and in Europe are going to have to pull up their big boy and big girl pants and resist this perfidy or submit to total slavery. BTW, I love your expression “Israel’s spray-tanned Golem”. You do have a way with words lad. The white pill moment comes after these assholes fall from power, probably violently unlike the demise of the Soviet Union. What comes after can be modeled after what the Russians have done perhaps, but not other former members of the Warsaw Pact. We can all dream of many of the PtB having their Nicolae Ceaușescu moment in the end…..note I am not advocating this but it would certainly fit the crimes.
The dollar has already crashed measured in gold. Since the Fed was created in 1913 the USD has declined 99%, but at the current low level it would have a hard time crashing more because the US Government is 40 trillion in debt, and each week the US Treasury has to auction huge volumes of that debt to keep the USA solvent.
Uncle Sam can not sell it’s debt if they allow the dollar to crash. Here is the proof
https://www.macrotrends.net/3079/us-dollar-index
Hi Giuseppe,
Maybe I am becoming apathetic to all of this, but I no longer believe the doomsayers. Even when the US economy gets hit hard she seems to bounce back. October 1929, the mid 1980s, the dot.com bubble, the Great Recession, Convid, the Trump Tariffs, etc. Housing, investment portfolios, and the job market always recovers and goes higher. The US is the petrodollar and until that is replaced with something like the BRICS I don’t see the US economy cracking and staying down.
Yep. “There’s a great deal of ruin in a nation.”
The USA will never go totally broke. The government owns huge areas of land which can be sold to Chinese or Saudis in case of worst scenario.
You want to ask yourself, “What has the federal government done to warrant ownership of those land resources?” You also want to remember that private ownership of land in this “land of the free” is somewhat of a joke. Here’s a sobering thought….if all the gold the feral government is alleged to hold in Fort Knox were to be sold at current market value of gold it would almost pay one year’s interest on the feral debt…..I would not bet on the ferals were I you.
They won’t go broke or out of business. They will default. The question is who takes the haircut.
And default isn’t the end of the world anyway. Heck UK defaulted on its WWI debt and was still able to borrow money for WWII within five years.
There’s the present we can give our kids! Default on the debt, let the chips fall where they may, and let them start with a clean ledger. So what if they can’t borrow money? That’s what caused the problem in the first place.
Hi RG,
Thanks for the reasoned response….my parents were teenagers when the so-called Great Depression started so they got to have the whole experience, and it showed. Let me remind you of a few differences.
In 1929 there was no Social Security, Medicare, welfare, affirmative action etc. At the end of the 1929 fiscal year the federal debt was something like $17billion, most of that as a result of participation in WW1. In 1929, the U.S. was still on the gold standard. In 1929 the base price for a Model A was $435.
In 2026, thanks to FDR (who my parents loathed) not only do we have a >$200 trillion unfunded mandate for SS, Medicare etc., we have an approaching $40 trillion federal debt. In 1933, FDR (spit) made private ownership of gold illegal by fiat. In 1971 Nixon (spit) decoupled the value of the dollar from gold, thus allowing the uncontrolled expansion of M1.
I agree with you that the spirit of America is strong, but the federal government cannot be allowed to survive or we are all fucked, to put it bluntly. My hope is that like other colonialist empires in the past it will just fail and split apart and morph into something more local/regional with fewer destructive ambitions. The federal, and to a large degree the state and local governments, are a drain on the energy that made this country, not its government, great. We can achieve greatness again…Russia did after the brutal 90s. But I doubt it will be pretty and few of us will probably survive….
“the federal government cannot be allowed to survive…”
…in its current form. This is just Stein’s Law. There will be a lot of pissing and moaning about which activities and expenditures end up on the chopping block. I think the real answer is eventually “all of them”, but I do think that the locusts will show up to vote for people to take everything from the producers, and the producers will either roll with it, or not even bother to show up to be counted.
Well, you and I agree on that at least. But you want to ask yourself from whence do these locusts hail and from whose actions are they fleeing?
Here’s a good example….a lot has been exposed as fraud in the Somali community in Minnesota….whose government has contributed to the destruction of everyday life in Somalia?
The examples are numerous…..but you get the gist I think.
P.S. – thank you for exposing your children to Rothbard early…..did you by any chance ever use the Tuttle Twins in your homeschooling experience.
Somalia was a basket case before Clinton sent in people to help with aid distribution. In a better world, the US policy would have been to just let Africa be Africa. It always will be anyway. If not for American intervention, the African population would be about half what it is now, and not nearly the global problem it is.
My youngest was a senior when the first was published. Heard about them on The Tom Woods Show, IIRC. They did enjoy the Princess Navina series. John Paine? That’s not right, but I’m drawing a blank and a quick search for Navina is coming up blank.
Sorry. Not just American intervention. It was largely Western intervention, food, water, sanitation, medicine, etc., that grew the population to unsustainable levels.
Oh, and incidentally, a huge number of locusts were born here. If we can’t somehow turn them into producers, there is no hope of anything other than decline.
Genocide Steve — why don’t you Aliyah to Israel?
Aliyah?
‘President Trump put off plans to escalate the fighting in part because of dwindling stockpiles of interceptor missiles, American officials said.’ — NYT
https://tinyurl.com/2efycnks
Stupid fools: not only did they flush $95 billion (so far) down the toilet fighting little Shitrahell’s war, but also they left the US virtually defenseless.
Call it what is: high treason. Hang the perpetrators.
Maybe the psychopaths in charge have realized fedgov is way beyond bankrupt.
Nah. What was I thinking.
You know the Orange Oaf — and his master, little Shitrahell — are in bad trouble, when the mass murderer Netanyahu rushes to WARshington on short notice to
conferconspire, asheit is doing tomorrow.Death to the zionazis.
Email just sent to the Capitol Police:
[email protected]
Dear Madam or Sir:
Press reports indicate that Israeli prime minister Netanyahu will visit President Trump at the White House tomorrow, July 28.
An outstanding warrant from the ICC (International Criminal Court) dated 21 November 2024 charges Netanyahu with a war crime and crimes against humanity.
Please consider this message as both a crime tip, and a formal request that the Capitol Police arrest and extradite Netanyahu to The Hague to face arraignment on the grave charges leveled against him.
Thank you for your cooperation.
____________
Death to the IDF.
Israel delenda est.
Hi Jim,
Satanyahoo is supposedly coming for Miss Lindsey’s funeral, since he was such a treasonous supporter of Israhell over Amerca. Of course he will drop in on Trumpepstein, maybe along with Miriam Adelson, to offer the carrot and stick of $millions for him or release of the Epstein files if he doesn’t do as he’s told.
I hope Mandami will succeed in his pledge to arrest Satanyahoo if he shows up in NYC, that will make for an interesting standoff between local cops and the Feds.
Zelensky is also coming. As far as I know they are the ONLY two “world leaders” attending.
“World leaders jockey for meeting with Trump on sidelines of Graham’s funeral…At the invitation of President Trump, [Israeli] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will depart for Washington on Monday,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Friday, adding that a White House visit is scheduled for Tuesday.
The White House has not confirmed the meeting with Netanyahu will take place and did not respond to a request for comment on his announcement.
The White House separately confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday. Following the longtime South Carolina senator’s death, Zelenskyy eulogized Graham as “a staunch advocate for bipartisan and bicameral support for Ukraine.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/24/donald-trump-world-leaders-meeting-graham-01011331
If Iran and/or Russia have any precision weapons capable of hitting Lindsey Graham’s funeral directly they would be doing a service to both the US and the rest of the world.
An Iranian target package including that funeral would enhance the peace and prosperity of the entire world. Thats exactly why it wont happen. This war, as with WW1 and 2 is a Rothschild theatre production. All sides financed by the same jewish bankers.
Why wouldn’t Trump cooperate?
Seems to me that’s a golden opportunity to get rid of (at least) 2 problems at once.
And by extending reassurances & then springing the trap…well, such tactics ought to be familiar. The irony would be delicious.
Of course he won’t do it, though, he is neither a strategist nor bold.
Even Nutty-yahoo had to tell miss lindsey to ease up on the war making.
https://xcancel.com/RT_com/status/2081474530430586895
Perhaps someone should remind the President that the end goal of going to war is to WIN. Apparently the War Department has forgotten this also. With the amount of money spent on the Pentagram you would think they could figure this out on their own but apparently not.
At this point I suspect they will be hard pressed to pull off a TIE.
It’s still technically a win, but it’s hard to tell that from where we are sitting. From independent BDA sites, CENTCOM was having to start bombing things they had already bombed. Best case you can make is that maybe the Iranians brought drones to those sites and covered them with camo, on the assumption that you wouldn’t bomb ruins. But my guess is it’s more that Trump said, “Bomb them harder” and they just said, “Yes, sir, Mr. President.”
It will take a year or two, but once the new pipelines are up and going Iran loses all leverage over Hormuz.
“It will take a year or two, but once the new pipelines are up and going Iran loses all leverage over Hormuz”
Who blew up Nord stream one and two? See how easy that was and those were at least 50 ft underwater. Now think how easy it would be to blow up desert pipelines.
Once we pull out, who cares? Only those getting oil through those pipelines, right? So let them fix it. And worry about how to keep them from being blown up. And maybe eventually they will agree that crappy neighbors like Iran need to be put on a short leash.
During a phone call with a veteran last week, Hannity floated a trial balloon of introducing compulsory military service in the US, just like in Israel.
That’s new for Cutie Pie.
Of course,
That smarmy shill didn’t “serve” during the Gulf War, either – when he was of age to “serve.” Another war he was delighted to have others fight and die in.
Hi Roscoe,
I agree with compulsory military service – for every pundit, politician, etc. that supports this unconstitutional war, starting with Trump’s kids and his entire administration.
Faux Newz pundits are the lowest of the low pieces of shit, wanting to force other people’s children for a foreign country, but even in the case of a war that would be in actual defense of the US, NO ONE should ever be forced into military service against their will. That is a hard red line that should NEVER be crossed. CONSCRIPTION IS SLAVERY.
I rip on so-called “conservatives” a lot because that is the BS I was forced to listen to growing up, and one of the things that offended me most from even a fairly young age is the idea that “service” is something that should be forced, that war is patriotism, the whole “stand for the flag, kneel for the cross” (I despise those window sticker on vehicles I see around). The Limbaugh crowd back in the day screaming about Clinton being of a “draft dodger” instead of the corrupt grifter he was, and never pointing out that he was neck deep in Iran-Contra along with his actual buddy George H.W. Bush. Oh, and the pro-Israel (it’s BIBLICAL, don’tcha know) and “there are no such things as Palestinians” lies.
I could go on and on with this rant, I am so sick of this shit, the lies I was told, and the awful reality of what this country has become.
Well said! Well said.
Agreed. Though probably because you heard the one side so much, you didn’t hear the constant Democrap calls for instituting national service programs, no less slavery just because you are working for “green” causes. Or Rangell and his ilk who were always calling for reinstituting and expanding the military draft.
Though as I recall, the legislation he finally put forth would have only made women register for the draft, too.
rationing… carpooling… cutting down to the bone etc will come, if the predictions come true.
Not to defend Exxon, but Exxon doesn’t want this war. What happens when fuel becomes too expensive? People stop traveling. They start rationing it. Instead of two trips into town weekly they may make one every other week. People look at alternative and cheaper methods of getting from Point A to Point B. They start carpooling, taking the train, or even biking. There is a sweet spot for Brent Crude Oil and it isn’t $100 a barrel.
Hi RG. Maybe Exxon should buy more oil from Canada, Mexico and Venezuela. I’m sure there’s still pipelines from Mexico and Canada to supply it and the socialist presidents in those countries will be happy to sell it as they need the revenue to prop up their moribund economies and social programs.
The pipelines are full. The trains are running. How do you propose to get that oil from Alberta to Cincinnati? Good thing the environmentalists were able to convince the red man to oppose the Keystone XL, otherwise we might have a little more capacity in the system.
I wonder if Al Gore is still playing in the futures markets?
I guess I figured that the existing pipelines were sufficient to handle distribution from the import terminals. As for the XL pipeline apparently a lot of the pipe intended for it was sold off.
My understanding is it was reallocated. Canada still had to do something with the oil, and trains over the divide heading to the Pacific is not a good option. The TransMountain Expansion in particular was supposed to get resources that had been allocated to Keystone XL.
Gail Tverberg https://ourfiniteworld.com/ and Tim Morgan https://surplusenergyeconomics.wordpress.com/ have some very interesting things to say about this.
Iran war described as ‘biggest opportunity’ at US oil lobby’s DC summit…“
https://thegrayzone.com/2026/02/13/iran-war-opportunity-oil-lobbys/
6.18.26 “Exxon Plunges On U.S.-Iran Deal. Why It’s Still Worth A Look.”
7.24.26 “Exxon Mobil Holdings (XOM) Earnings Expected to Grow: What to Know Ahead of Next Week’s Release…This oil and natural gas company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $3.79 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +131.1%. Revenues are expected to be $95.8 billion, up 17.5% from the year-ago quarter. Estimate Revisions Trend: The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 14.72% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.”
I own a few shares of Exxon stock and I have been watching the company’s growth and dividend yields for decades now. Exxon’s stock is substantially up from a year ago, but it is not due to Trump’s bombing of Iran. It is from the complete annihilation that the Stock Market took last April when Trump introduced the tariffs.
I went in and bought shares when the Dow and Nasdaq dropped thousands of points those first two weeks of April 2025. At that time it was around $100/share. Its stock price increased by 50% during the next 9 months, but Exxon’s stock has been flat since the start of Trump’s Crusade at the end of February 2026. At the end of February it was around $152.60 and today it is around $154.50.
As I stated above my goal is not to defend the oil companies, but they have ships sitting in the Strait of Hormuz that are stuck. How much is this costing them in undeliverable loads? Also, these oil companies have supply contracts that they have to adhere to – they cannot just charge $100 a barrel if the client agreed to $75 or $87 a barrel when the contract was signed.
Oil companies do not want war. There may be a short term advantage if they are selling fuel to fill bombers, Abrams tanks, and fighter jets, but LT chaos and destabilization of the oil market will have them feeling the impact sooner rather than later especially when the consumer market stops spending.
“Oil companies do not want war.”
So much this. Oil companies have always been adept at managing disruptive countries. They do not like war that disrupts the carefully balanced contracts and complicated negotiations they made with foreign countries.
No company outside the MIC wants war….we should all have learned a lesson from the Covid hoax about how fragile and interconnected markets are. Steve, you are correct that using money works more efficiently than force in getting desired results….besides war is just so fucking inefficient
If war is so bad for the oil companies, why are Russia and Iran making billions due to the war?
(AI): “Russia has made an estimated €13.5 billion to €14 billion (€1,184 billion rubles) in total windfall energy gains, or over €30 billion in total fossil fuel revenues, since the conflict with Iran began in late February 2026. [$6 Bn in 1st 2 wks] Iran has sold approximately $18 billion worth of oil during the ongoing conflict and subsequent ceasefires, benefiting from higher global crude prices and daily exports averaging between 1.5 million and 1.75 million barrels despite blockades.”
Congress is proposing to tax the windfall profits (as has been done before): 7.16.26 “Oil companies are making billions. In the U.S., calls to tax their windfall are growing…Oil prices have surged in recent days amidst renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran. Higher oil prices have meant U.S. consumers are paying more for gasoline at the pump. And oil and gas companies are profiting.
“The world’s top 100 oil and gas firms made $30 million every hour in excess profits during the early days of the U.S-Israeli war with Iran. That’s according to an analysis by the environmental nonprofit Global Witness and the Guardian.
“That’s as a direct result of oil prices spiking globally,” says Dominic Eagleton, who researches fossil fuels at Global Witness.”
https://www.npr.org/2026/07/16/nx-s1-5845818/oil-prices-windfall-tax-iran-war
Russia did well for a while. I think probably in the last month or so they’ve lost more than all they made because of the war. Iran did well because Trump is a putz. Put Ukraine in charge of the Iran war and Iran would be in a much worse position.
Steve, US put sanctions back on Russian oil. But there are no sanctions on US oil though there may be a windfall profits tax — but fedgov is still going to leave half the profits to Exxon.
P.S. Ukraine isn’t in charge of anything. Ukraine is a proxy and it follows the orders of its proxy master. Ukraine would never fire into Russia murdering civilians and targeting Russian power and other infrastructure (like Wildberries) if President Trump were not an Epstein blackmailed pedophile puppet.
I was actually talking about how much Russian oil infrastructure got blown up in the last month.
What makes you think Ukraine is a proxy?
Trump said he would end the Ukraine War in ONE day. While Netanyahu is meeting with Trump at 6:00 pm. all 100 senators have been invited to meet with Zelensky.
In addition to the new sanctions bill that puts sanctions on countries who buy Russian oil, Zelensky is seeking Kiev Post 28 JUL 26 “Today Kyiv is increasingly seeking production licenses, technology transfers, joint manufacturing agreements and access to Western defense designs that can be produced at scale inside Ukraine. Every system Ukraine can manufacture itself reduces its dependence on political decisions over future Western deliveries….[CIVILIAN TARGETS] Its expanding campaign against Russian refineries, oil depots, ports and logistics infrastructure has begun imposing physical costs alongside Western financial restrictions. Repeated Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries had contributed to fuel shortages serious enough for Russia to prepare fuel imports by sea….The annual Russia Day concert around Red Square – another showcase used to project patriotism and normality from the heart of Moscow – was also canceled for the first time in more than two decades amid mounting security concerns… [What is the upshot?] That does not mean Ukraine suddenly holds every battlefield advantage. Ukrainian cities remain under devastating [BALLISTIC] missile and drone attack, and Kyiv still urgently needs Western air-defense ammunition. …Washington is prepared to combine Ukraine’s growing military leverage with sustained economic pressure strong enough to convince Moscow that continuing the war offers fewer rewards than ending it.”
Like Iran, Moscow has given their terms, the west refuses to accede to those terms and Ukraine is being devastated and depopulated. Russia is very angry because of these attacks on civilians; universities, parades, concerts, their amazon co. “wildberries.” Trump, Zelensky and Netanyahu are all financially corrupt war criminals.
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Link is to article about sanctions:
https://time.com/article/2026/07/14/russia-sanctions-bill-championed-by-graham-would-give-trump-new-tariff-powers/
Oh, that was you? I wondered who it was that believed he could end the war in a day. But that they have not surrendered means they are Trump’s proxy? How so?
Re: tech transfer agreements, yeah, not a big surprise there. T wants anti-drone and long-range drone tech and Z wants Patriots, but is willing to take a license to make them. Pretty obvious a guy who lives for making deals could see the potential there.
Both Russia and Ukraine are getting clobbered at the moment. Hard to say who’s getting the worst of it. Russia appears to be losing ground, based on geolocated BDAs, but not very fast. And Ukraine isn’t exactly winning. All they are getting back is rubble.
Hi Steve,
Perhaps the worst thing about the Russia-Ukraine thing is the supercilious pronunciation of “Keeeeeeeeeeeev.” How come we’re not hectored to pronounce Russia they way the Russians say it?
Hi Steve,
Ukraine is a proxy because without U.S. and NATO (same thing) support, there is no Keeeeeeeeev. This “state” is used as a NATO cudgel to badger the Russians.