Just as GOP President Bush bombed Iraq, another country that had not attacked America.
Now that we're in it, here are my thoughts...
I hope and pray, as I would for any US President, that Trump and his team know what they are doing. And I hope all the nay sayers, are wrong and this may be one small step towards peace in the Middle East.
Well, without Congress, unlawfully WeThePeople are at war. He could have gone through process and been just fine but here we are.
FOTUS claims absolute victory after one salvo. Sit down to negotiate he says. Nobel prize, here I come I can hear him think.
Echoes of hubris on steroids and Bush's Victory Achieved press conference.
By the way, I am not certain our stable genius did all this without first securing US commercial shipping assets. Where is DOGE when you need them (heaviest of snarks in the snark kingdom)
Apparently Israel and the US have been planning this for weeks, soooo why wasn't the necessary processes followed?
Everything that horrible human has said was a lie. He ran and ran and ran about staying out of the Middle East. He hounded former President Obama for his handling of the Middle East. Trump owns this but SCOTUS gave him permission so again, here we are.
I was correct. Abusive narcissist had to act out and WeThePeople pay the price. Have you met the Iranians as a people? We hit a wasps nest and we have their chemical scent all over us. This isn't over.
Iraq didn't have weapons of mas destruction and we went to war with them too.
The FOTUS and the Zionist Butcher Netanyahu may very well be responsible for a much greater war in the ME. What they both want.
The self proclaimed Peace President is really looking for his glory days. Once a liar always a liar.
He wants Greenland. He wants Canada. He's stirring up even more hate for America in the ME. Thus increasing the likelihood of increased terrorism in the US.
We are rapidly accepting full blown nationalism and facism under the authoritarian boots of the Insurrectionist Felon prez, donald tRump.
I question how actions such as the those of the Zionist Butcher Netanyahu, GWB, and the FOTUS leads to peace.
Hate and violence begats more hate and violence. And the Butcher and the FOTUS are filled with hate.
As this nation is lulled into accepting nationalism and fascism by an ignorant spiteful malignant narcissist it becomes the very thing it professes to be against.
Christian Nationalism, ignorance, and greed for power and total control will ultimately be the undoing of this nation.
America's day in the sun is fading.
The hope it once gave the world shrinking.
It's influence waning.
It's greatness slipping.
America is actually in decline. Ethically, morally, and intellectually.
1. The president currently has the authority to use military force anywhere to combat terrorism, as they themselves define it, in the world under the still in force AUMF from 2001. We may not like it but it is in force. 2. Presidents can seek retroactive approval for use of the US military by simply notifying Congress afterwards. Then absent a formal authorization, they have to remove those troops within 60 days.
President Bush, Obama, Biden and Trump have authorized the use of military force under these conditions. So last nights strikes are essentially nothing new and essentially within the realm of accepted US Presidential power.
3. US Presidents have been drawing red lines in the sand for years regarding Iran, their continued state sponsorship of terrorism and their nuclear ambitions. Isn't it reasonable for the US at some time to say enough, and deal with what we have long claimed has been a real thorn in our sides?
4. As for the Obama deal that Trump abrogated in his first term, even Ben Rhodes, who was in the Obama Admin when it was negotiated, says that deal was flawed and all it really did was push the can down the road. At best he says, it slowed Iranian development of a nuclear bomb, but only if they allowed inspectors in. They had already blocked multiple inspections and could delay ANY inspection for up to 3 weeks, giving them plenty of time to clean up the place.
5. Is it possible the admin looked at the situation and decided there was an opportunity to deal with a country that has long been at odds with US interests in the Middle East and has in fact been behind the deaths of many Americans?
6. Is it possible that if the strikes were successful, still a big if, that US troops in the region, along with US allies, will be safer and less vulnerable to nuclear attack?
Now of course, all this could inflame the whole region. I don't trust Bibi one bit and I'm dang skeptical of Trump and his judgement. But it is also possible that like someone shooting in the dark, sometimes you do actually hit the target.
Libs, progressives and Dems do themselves, and all of us, a disservice if they are reflexively anti everything coming from a GOP or Trump White House.
Most recent presidents have authorized attacks on foreign countries without being attacked. Obama: Pakistan, Yemen, Bush Iraq, Clinton: Kosovo and an aspirin factory, Biden: Yemen and his pullout of Afghanistan resulting in hundreds of deaths.
Trump is in a class by himself making the decision not because of a threat but because of a feeling. When is the country going to realize that Israel is only an ally to themselves. Why would we interfere in a cultural conflict against a country who only threatens to wipe out the US without aggression. Now I wouldn't go anywhere there is a crowd because there will be retaliation and they have plenty of martyrs to accomplish this.
Individualism is actually an illusion. But it works to create and keep division and separation percolatinn̈g so it's easier for the in charge class of billionaires and corporate CEO's to keep us in the stables they built for us all.
Joe... you seem to not be a fan of individualism. It's interesting. The whole of Christianity turns on community, and the "Our father", not individualism. The trinity is itself a collective. We are called to be our brother's keeper.
There should be no individualism in the lives of anyone who claims to follow Christ or who lives their life based on the Hebrew scriptures.
At least according to most theologians and rabbis.
For many the interconnectedness and unity of all in the cosmos has been realized for millennium. It is the ego, that erroneous sense of a stable unchanging self that drives the fierce individualism of the West. And Christisan Nationalist seem to adhere to the lull of the ego self.
Les... the only true individualists I'm aware of were the ancient ascetics and the modern day allergy severe sufferers who have decided to live off the grid in the desert southwest.
This individualism people seem to crave is, exactly as you've described, an illusion.
Right, Joe. But that only applies to the little people, not the filthy rich, power mad greedheads of Trump World.
We all know their "One Rule". It's OK if you're a Republican.
Lies, hate, demonization, racism, bigotry, scapegoating, insurrection, voter suppression, theocracy, etc. are all acceptable means to wealth and power for them.
Corollary: Democrats must be flawless while Republicans can be lawless.
This myth of individualism is a relatively modern invention, the term "rugged individualism" even more so.
To really understand this individualism with which America seems to be enamored, three names from the mid 1800s should be on your reading list.
1. John Darby, the father of dispensational theology. 2. Dwight Moody, founder of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. 3. Henry Parsons Crowell, founder of Quaker Oats.
Those three men, more than any others are responsible for this movement from a more collective and connected style of life, to our current individualistic fascination.
Darby centered the religious/theological understanding with his end times dispensational view of life. Moody, using marketing ideas from Crowell and a newly invented theological understanding, from Darby, of a "personal relationship with Jesus", moved from the "family faith" model prevalent at the US founding, to one of individual choice. Primarily because, according to their writings, they believed it would be easier to bring order and gain more new converts by mixing Darby's individualistic theology with Crowell's marketing savvy.
Then during the Hoover administration, the president coined the term "rugged individualism" as a moniker for essentially get 'er done Americanism. And it stuck. Because the church had already paved the way and laid the foundations for acceptance.
MLK Jr., however saw the problem with this "rugged individualism". Shortly before his assassination in 1968 he stated in a speech that "This country has socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor."
He saw it as a term used to slight without the means to take advantage of the wealth of America and to slight or blame poor people for their poorness.
And so, here we are.
Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were right. It does take a village, or community to raise a child and in fact, that is how America was founded. And if you are starting a business in the 21st century, you in fact do not start that business from scratch without help from the government, no matter how much you think it is so.
Because the roads you use to transport your supplies and product, the phone lines you use, the power grid you use and more, were all built with government money from your neighbors, your state and yes, your federal taxes, levies and fees.
We really are in this together, whether we want to believe it or not.
And we're not just in it with our American brethren. We're connected around the globe too, in ways that can never be undone.
The ancients seemed to have understood much better than modern Westerners the interconnectedness of everything existence. They seem to have understood much better that we do that the individual form does not mean the individual is seperate from the whole. Science today is beginning to understand the wisdom of the ancients through quantum mechanics and quantum physics.
I believe the planet will see an increase in interest in Hinduism and Buddhism. These spiritual paths, with their ancient wisdoms, align with much quantum mechanics is seeing.
The days of the controling monotheistic religions and their influences are waning. A good thing.
23 comments:
Just as GOP President Bush bombed Iraq, another country that had not attacked America.
Now that we're in it, here are my thoughts...
I hope and pray, as I would for any US President, that Trump and his team know what they are doing. And I hope all the nay sayers, are wrong and this may be one small step towards peace in the Middle East.
Well, without Congress, unlawfully WeThePeople are at war. He could have gone through process and been just fine but here we are.
FOTUS claims absolute victory after one salvo. Sit down to negotiate he says. Nobel prize, here I come I can hear him think.
Echoes of hubris on steroids and Bush's Victory Achieved press conference.
By the way, I am not certain our stable genius did all this without first securing US commercial shipping assets. Where is DOGE when you need them (heaviest of snarks in the snark kingdom)
Apparently Israel and the US have been planning this for weeks, soooo why wasn't the necessary processes followed?
Everything that horrible human has said was a lie. He ran and ran and ran about staying out of the Middle East. He hounded former President Obama for his handling of the Middle East. Trump owns this but SCOTUS gave him permission so again, here we are.
I was correct. Abusive narcissist had to act out and WeThePeople pay the price. Have you met the Iranians as a people? We hit a wasps nest and we have their chemical scent all over us. This isn't over.
Iraq didn't have weapons of mas destruction and we went to war with them too.
The FOTUS and the Zionist Butcher Netanyahu may very well be responsible for a much greater war in the ME. What they both want.
The self proclaimed Peace President is really looking for his glory days. Once a liar always a liar.
He wants Greenland. He wants Canada. He's stirring up even more hate for America in the ME. Thus increasing the likelihood of increased terrorism in the US.
We are rapidly accepting full blown nationalism and facism under the authoritarian boots of the Insurrectionist Felon prez, donald tRump.
I question how actions such as the those of the Zionist Butcher Netanyahu, GWB, and the FOTUS leads to peace.
Hate and violence begats more hate and violence. And the Butcher and the FOTUS are filled with hate.
As this nation is lulled into accepting nationalism and fascism by an ignorant spiteful malignant narcissist it becomes the very thing it professes to be against.
Christian Nationalism, ignorance, and greed for power and total control will ultimately be the undoing of this nation.
America's day in the sun is fading.
The hope it once gave the world shrinking.
It's influence waning.
It's greatness slipping.
America is actually in decline. Ethically, morally, and intellectually.
Once again Trump claims to put out a fire HE started.
HE killed Obama's multi-nation deal that limited Iran's uranium enrichment. So they expanded their program.
George Conway observes:
Much as I would not dare to predict the consequences of this war, I do think we can summarize it thusly so far:
A smart and evil man manipulated a stupid and evil man into a war against a fanatical and evil regime.
And it's a Row row row your boat gently down the stream.
Merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream.
And continuing to repeat the mistakes of the past over and over again while expecting different results is the very definition of insanity.
Lots to unpack here, but I'll try.
1. The president currently has the authority to use military force anywhere to combat terrorism, as they themselves define it, in the world under the still in force AUMF from 2001. We may not like it but it is in force.
2. Presidents can seek retroactive approval for use of the US military by simply notifying Congress afterwards. Then absent a formal authorization, they have to remove those troops within 60 days.
President Bush, Obama, Biden and Trump have authorized the use of military force under these conditions. So last nights strikes are essentially nothing new and essentially within the realm of accepted US Presidential power.
3. US Presidents have been drawing red lines in the sand for years regarding Iran, their continued state sponsorship of terrorism and their nuclear ambitions. Isn't it reasonable for the US at some time to say enough, and deal with what we have long claimed has been a real thorn in our sides?
4. As for the Obama deal that Trump abrogated in his first term, even Ben Rhodes, who was in the Obama Admin when it was negotiated, says that deal was flawed and all it really did was push the can down the road. At best he says, it slowed Iranian development of a nuclear bomb, but only if they allowed inspectors in. They had already blocked multiple inspections and could delay ANY inspection for up to 3 weeks, giving them plenty of time to clean up the place.
5. Is it possible the admin looked at the situation and decided there was an opportunity to deal with a country that has long been at odds with US interests in the Middle East and has in fact been behind the deaths of many Americans?
6. Is it possible that if the strikes were successful, still a big if, that US troops in the region, along with US allies, will be safer and less vulnerable to nuclear attack?
Now of course, all this could inflame the whole region. I don't trust Bibi one bit and I'm dang skeptical of Trump and his judgement. But it is also possible that like someone shooting in the dark, sometimes you do actually hit the target.
Libs, progressives and Dems do themselves, and all of us, a disservice if they are reflexively anti everything coming from a GOP or Trump White House.
Anything to get on and dominate the news channels. Kid in a toy shop breaking everything. Corporal Bonespurs leading from the rear.
Most recent presidents have authorized attacks on foreign countries without being attacked.
Obama: Pakistan, Yemen, Bush Iraq, Clinton: Kosovo and an aspirin factory, Biden: Yemen and his pullout of Afghanistan resulting in hundreds of deaths.
Trump is in a class by himself making the decision not because of a threat but because of a feeling. When is the country going to realize that Israel is only an ally to themselves. Why would we interfere in a cultural conflict against a country who only threatens to wipe out the US without aggression.
Now I wouldn't go anywhere there is a crowd because there will be retaliation and they have plenty of martyrs to accomplish this.
WWIII! Nice job MAGAts.
Well, this should revive and inspire the Islamists to "persevere"...
The Great Satan of Individualism must perish so that the Ummah can be saved.
Individualism is actually an illusion. But it works to create and keep division and separation percolatinn̈g so it's easier for the in charge class of billionaires and corporate CEO's to keep us in the stables they built for us all.
When you are right you are right skud. Your take on this is spot on.
The Zionist Butcher Netanyahu and the FOTUS are like two peas in a pod. Both are dangerous and neither one is too bright.
America will suffer in many ways from our arrogance and our over blown sense of righteous and superiority.
Skud asked... "When is the country going to realize that Israel is only an ally to themselves."
Fair question.
But aren;t we all? Isn't that the basis of MAGA? Isn't self preservation the number one goal of every country?
Joe... you seem to not be a fan of individualism. It's interesting. The whole of Christianity turns on community, and the "Our father", not individualism. The trinity is itself a collective. We are called to be our brother's keeper.
There should be no individualism in the lives of anyone who claims to follow Christ or who lives their life based on the Hebrew scriptures.
At least according to most theologians and rabbis.
For many the interconnectedness and unity of all in the cosmos has been realized for millennium. It is the ego, that erroneous sense of a stable unchanging self that drives the fierce individualism of the West. And Christisan Nationalist seem to adhere to the lull of the ego self.
There is an ordo amoris, and my brother isn't in Mexico.
Meden agan!
Les... the only true individualists I'm aware of were the ancient ascetics and the modern day allergy severe sufferers who have decided to live off the grid in the desert southwest.
This individualism people seem to crave is, exactly as you've described, an illusion.
"Meden agan!"
Right, Joe. But that only applies to the little people, not the filthy rich, power mad greedheads of Trump World.
We all know their "One Rule". It's OK if you're a Republican.
Lies, hate, demonization, racism, bigotry, scapegoating, insurrection, voter suppression, theocracy, etc. are all acceptable means to wealth and power for them.
Corollary: Democrats must be flawless while Republicans can be lawless.
This myth of individualism is a relatively modern invention, the term "rugged individualism" even more so.
To really understand this individualism with which America seems to be enamored, three names from the mid 1800s should be on your reading list.
1. John Darby, the father of dispensational theology.
2. Dwight Moody, founder of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.
3. Henry Parsons Crowell, founder of Quaker Oats.
Those three men, more than any others are responsible for this movement from a more collective and connected style of life, to our current individualistic fascination.
Darby centered the religious/theological understanding with his end times dispensational view of life. Moody, using marketing ideas from Crowell and a newly invented theological understanding, from Darby, of a "personal relationship with Jesus", moved from the "family faith" model prevalent at the US founding, to one of individual choice. Primarily because, according to their writings, they believed it would be easier to bring order and gain more new converts by mixing Darby's individualistic theology with Crowell's marketing savvy.
Then during the Hoover administration, the president coined the term "rugged individualism" as a moniker for essentially get 'er done Americanism. And it stuck. Because the church had already paved the way and laid the foundations for acceptance.
MLK Jr., however saw the problem with this "rugged individualism". Shortly before his assassination in 1968 he stated in a speech that "This country has socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor."
He saw it as a term used to slight without the means to take advantage of the wealth of America and to slight or blame poor people for their poorness.
And so, here we are.
Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were right. It does take a village, or community to raise a child and in fact, that is how America was founded. And if you are starting a business in the 21st century, you in fact do not start that business from scratch without help from the government, no matter how much you think it is so.
Because the roads you use to transport your supplies and product, the phone lines you use, the power grid you use and more, were all built with government money from your neighbors, your state and yes, your federal taxes, levies and fees.
We really are in this together, whether we want to believe it or not.
And we're not just in it with our American brethren. We're connected around the globe too, in ways that can never be undone.
The ancients seemed to have understood much better than modern Westerners the interconnectedness of everything existence. They seem to have understood much better that we do that the individual form does not mean the individual is seperate from the whole. Science today is beginning to understand the wisdom of the ancients through quantum mechanics and quantum physics.
I believe the planet will see an increase in interest in Hinduism and Buddhism. These spiritual paths, with their ancient wisdoms, align with much quantum mechanics is seeing.
The days of the controling monotheistic religions and their influences are waning. A good thing.
Nice summary, Dave. I'm still meden agan.
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