by liberal japonicus
The title quotes John McCain, (and I am in no way endorsing the sentiment), and novakant just noted the attack. The BBC has live reporting, while France24 reports Iran firing missles at Israel.
One striking thing to me is the paucity of coverage. It is not unexpected, but I don’t see a lot out there. Anyway, a thread for discussing this.
My immediate reaction to Trump’s “invitation” was… Wait. Did you just invite China to bring their aircraft carrier in, and give them a chance to fly planes around measuring US carriers’ premier radar signals, and getting a chance to bounce radar off F-35s? The US very carefully did not deploy F-35s over much of Syria while the Russians were there, because they didn’t want the Russians to know what the returns were like.
Assumes facts definitely not in evidence.
wj: I did consider putting the word experts in quotes, but rather thought it wasn’t necessary!
We are the corpses unless we decide not to be. But it’s got to be soon. Time is short. Their only chance to survive, their final gambit, is savage, murderous violence against us.
And don’t tell me they don’t have the fascist, subhuman will to do it:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Vga2stK5bBo
If you can get beyond the paywall, this Fintan O’Toole piece describes the coming worldwide freakshow authored by the Christian Republican Conservative movement.
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/02/12/whose-hemisphere-venezuela-fintan-otoole/
It will be nuclear.
I agree with him. We should settle by other means, as armed conservatives have recommended since I was knee-high to a Goebbels.
The Republican Party is Timothy McVeigh. Too bad fertilizer prices are stuck between a Hormuz Strait and 80 milllion vermin running the country.
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-muses-on-midterms-when-you-think-of-it-we-shouldnt-even-have-an-election
Bring it on.
Suddenly it becomes clear why he has started a war with Iran. Expect him to say, at some point, that what actually happened is that Iran declared war on us. Because, after all, he is always the victim. No matter how totally history has to be
rewrittenfalsified to get there.At the moment the official GOP talking point is that the US and Iran are already at war for 47 years*, i.e. since 1979, so His Orangeness did not start a ‘new’ war and thus did not break his campaign promise.
*the talking point clearly points to that number given this ridiculous fumble:
—
The toolbox has disappeared, so I had to go for [ ] for formatting. Hope it works.
@Hartmut, I took the liberty of editing your comment to provide the blockquote formatting. I’m seing all the tools in the comment box on the site. Is your’s still missing? If so, you might try a forced refresh.
It’s back now. This morning it was absent in that thread, not in the others.
The FCC boss now threatens the licences of broadcasters that are not sufficiently enthusiastic about the ‘but do not call it war’ in Iran. And His Orangeness is enthusiastic about that, adding his usual ‘dissent is treason’ refrain.
But I assume their only sharp tool is to threaten media mergers with vetos, if lines are not toed (Be a good toad, will ye!).
Oops, I imagine this is going to go down like a lead balloon with the Trump administration (especially the judgement on Kushner and Witkoff), and only add to their anger at the UK:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/17/uk-security-adviser-attended-us-iran-talks-and-judged-deal-was-within-reach
Between those revelations and the resignation of Joe Kent (a right-wing loon, mind you), the Bumbler in Chief is having a not-good day.
Tweeted by Andrew Neil, eminent and respected (but indubitably pretty right wing) political interviewer (BoJo was too scared of him to be interviewed before his last election as PM) whose interview with Ben Shapiro I still treasure. BS had never heard of Neil, had done no research on him but was so outraged by his questions he called him left wing. Andrew Neil just laughed and carried on with the interview:
You want the NATO allies to join you in a war you started without ever consulting these allies about the war or explaining your war aims. We’re meant just to meekly fall in line.
You recently supported a US invasion of a NATO ally (Denmark/Greenland) but now you want these same allies to join your war.
Your president disparaged and misrepresented the role of NATO allies in Afghanistan. But now you want them to join with you again in a war of your making.
You went to war with Iran without a thought of how to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and without involving your allies in the matter. But now you want the NATO allies to bail you out, even though there’s still no plan for Hormuz.
You want the NATO allies to join you in a war in which you still cannot articulate the endgame. Or what victory would look like.
You went to war thinking the Iranian regime would quickly topple, that Tehran would not attack the Gulf States or close Hormuz. Why would we align with such Epic Stupidity?
You and other know-nothing blowhards started this war all on your own. You can finish it on your own. If you’re able to …
Sir Richard Dearlove (retired head of MI6 – not called M but C) interviewed by Times Radio:
“Trump blows hot and cold. He shoots his mouth off. It’s a problem in the short term.”
But he added that “one needs to be mature about these things and not worry too much about the medium to long-term impact”.
“Trump has said some pretty odd things. He’s clearly not a historian and he should perhaps be reminded that the US arrived rather late in World War One and World War Two”
GftNC:
That seems classic British understatement along the lines of Alec Guinness in Smiley’s People.
Yes. I was particularly keen on “he’s clearly not a historian”.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-pete-branded-completely-clueless-during-intel-briefings/
Maybe the Democratic rep in that first link will be murdered by yet another billionaire conservative Republican libertarian Christian murderous thug in this second link:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/billionaire-behind-new-ice-mega-jail-stephan-cretier-allegedly-threatened-to-kill-his-own-executives/
“Interesting” that gummint haters and killers of federal employees are staffing their “small”, “efficient” gummint with assassins, terrorists, and hitmen and hitwomen who are paid bonuses for scalps that the hundreds of thousands of decent, competent, innocent human beings fired from the civil service never were offered for serving America.
Reichstag fires one after the other and across the board to justify stealing my vote or canceling all elections in America in perpetuity.
What is coming will be bloodthirsty.
Their thirst and our blood.
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1315062157331238&id=100064823975543&http_ref=eyJ0cyI6MTc3Mzg0Nzc5NTAwMCwiciI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tXC9UaGVMb25kb25FY29ub21pY1wvcG9zdHNcL3RoaXMtaXMtdGhlLXBsYXF1ZS10aGF0LW5vdy1zaXRzLXVuZGVyLW9iYW1hcy1wcmVzaWRlbnRpYWwtcG9ydHJhaXQtaW4tdGhlLXdoaXRlXC8xMzE1MDYyMTU3MzMxMjM4XC8ifQ%3D%3D
I’m puzzled by the politically correct WOKE snowflake language of this Obama tribute. I mean, why would these conservative Republican white Christian slaveholders and fascist vermin demolishing America omit the N” word, and perhaps a photo of a noose thrown over the limb of some confederate tree species, to describe President Barack Obama?
They didn’t even have the guts to accuse Obama of being gay. I suppose they didn’t want to lump him in with the well-known Trump catamites
Especially when the vermin fascist Hitler youth and podcasters in their ranks around the country so frequently use the “N” word , when they aren’t threatening to burn Jews, murder all Muslims and Hispanics, while deporting 100 million Americans (as seen on the Department of Homeland Security website among their goals). And when the “N” word has been uttered more times in this White House since probably the Woodrow Wilson admin and perhaps going back to Andrew Johnson’s deconstruction catastrophe.
Maybe they are being delicate for fear of alienating Byron Donalds and Clarence Thomas and suchlike among the house “servants”.
Time to dial it back a notch, Nooneithinkisinmytree. Or maybe two.
What needs dialing back a notch or two is any sense of complacency in the face of a fascism whose LEAST objectionable characteristic is incivility.
–TP
I’ve said something like this before: referring to black politicians or judges as “house servants” is not acceptable to me. It doesn’t make a difference if you put something in quotes, unless it’s an actual quotation..
I am anti-fascist.
Yes, by all means, I’ll try to dig deep down to my inner woke Christ in my dealings with this murderous, perverted freak show.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/manosphere-influencer-justin-waller-brags-about-dining-with-barron-trump-at-mar-a-lago-in-netflix-documentary/
I’m sure if I abide by the turning of the cheek ethic, they will respond in kind with various fake wrestling holds on my pressure points and with Second Amendment “solutions”.
No one is dealing with the administration, the GOP, or their associates by commenting here. We’re dealing with each other while discussing the administration, the GOP, and their associates (among other things).
Well, what you are describing, hairshirthedonist (still the greatest handle in the blog world) seems, if this is the right word, a kind of solipsism.
But nevermind, I’ll return to lurking for another good while.
But I’ll leave you with this, which seems somehow relevant to the discussion. I’d like to know the origin of these bets regarding where a warhead is going to land. Probably the White House and their relatives. In fact, I believe members of our military and our enemies’ militaries are placing the bets minutes before they launch death to certain coordinates. In Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, Tyrone Slothrop, otherwise minding his own business (it’s nothing to do with him), experiences erections as the whine of the V2 rockets (coated in Imipolex G) triggers Pavlovian conditioning imposed on Slothrup as a child by Laszlo Jamf, which linked the material to his sexual erections.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/03/emanuel-fabian-threats-polymarket/686454/
See you in the not-so-funny-anymore papers. Be well.
Sorry, one more mention. We might not be dealing directly with the corrupt powers that be, but they surely are tracking what is written here:
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/18/fbi-buying-data-track-people-patel-00834080?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Tom Cotton sez the data would help locate depraved child molestors. I can provide him with the addresses of two houses the “Senator” visits from time to time where a child molestor is domiciled at taxpayer expense.
Bye.
My point was more about what could be described as extreme rhetorical choices than content. I don’t think anyone here is bothered by how critical your are of the current swath of evil people (some diabolical and some dangerously stupid) running the country, whether through government or large corporate interests.
I do think people here – the ones you’re actually communicating with – are bothered by your rhetorical style. I don’t personally find it offensive because I know it’s a schtick of sorts. It’s just more tiresome to read at times, for me, than it has to be to get the point across.
That’s my last word on the subject.
hsh pretty much nails it. It was the stlye I asked to have dialed back. No problem at all with your views on these scumbags. Sorry not to have been clear.
…, hairshirthedonist (still the greatest handle in the blog world)
🙂
Hair-Shirt Hedonist: Pleasure Through Pain
Pistol Pete lies about conversations with families of fallen service members to create content for war cheerleading. Classy guy. Lots of integrity. Very competent.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/20/iran-war-military-father-pete-hegseth