The Basic Cable TV Thriller Presidency, brought to you by FX.

Right after Trump says he "doesn't get bored" when it comes to Iran, he starts talking about the decor in the White House. This is not a joke.

It has become too easy and risk-free, which is why my proposal is an instant 5% income AND WEALTH tax whenever any President takes any action subject to the War Powers Act. Put it in a Constitutional amendment so Congress can't waive it.

Might not be the only conventional airstrike from Iran after all, though...

Couldn't have happened to a better group of folks.

I've been trying to figure out who Pete Hegseth reminds me of, in terms of his try-hard mannerisms and obvious lack of suitability for his role. I figured it out:

There is an unbroken line of fighting and air strikes in every country from Afghanistan in the east to Cyprus in the west, and all the while, the War in Ukraine continues. The post-War order is dead. Hell, the post-Cold War order is dead.

I think a lot of people in US defense circles see this coming and are worried about it--but they aren't the people making the decisions, unfortunately.

America and Russia--not so different after all!

No "stupid rules of engagement." Glad to see the Secretary of Defense admitting his crimes on international television. What an absolute disaster.

WHO WROTE THIS FUCKING SPEECH? CHAT-GPT?

Meanwhile, in Iraq someone (US? Iraqi government?) someone is drone striking PMF elements. So far, Iraq seems to be pretty stable, but this is a development to keep an eye on.

Disrespectful to shitshows, to be honest.

A war run by absolute fucking clowns.

Sunday night soundtrack:

I get tired of American voters being pure innocents who can never be judged for their shitty, shitty choices.

None of this had to happen. None of the deaths--theirs, ours, people who had nothing to do with it--none of the wounded, none of the destruction. None of it.

Not for the first time, but I really wish Rudaw maintained a real presence on this app. (Judging by the music, I'd say this is video of a Rudaw news clip, as they always seem to score their footage of destruction like this.)

I can think of no worse way to sell this to the American people than "Trump helped Netanyahu do something he's been trying to make happen for 40 years." And for that, I thank you, Bibi.

A) Charlie Kirk? WTF? B) Who approved the graphic design for this project? Joseph Goebbels?

This is murder, plain and simple.

One of the reasons you don't eliminate enemy heads of state is so that you have someone to deliver threats like this to. Alas, the person who is in charge and with whom we could negotiate... we just killed.

The enemy gets a vote--every time.

OFFS. When Iran tried to interefere in 2020, researchers caught them and called them out. Then the Benz-Weiss-Taibbi-Musk-Jordan-Trump axis labeled those researchers "censors" ... and set about defunding them and dismantling their organizations.

Whatever happens to the US because of this war, let nobody say we didn't deserve it.

I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to

It would be cool to have a legislature that acted to defend its own constitutional prerogatives and, maybe as a treat, the interests of the people it represents too.

hey gen z welcome to republican governance

I cannot express the depths of my anger. Or my despair.

about to get way more antisemitic AND way more islamophobic simultaneously. very cool

Remember when Bridge Colby cut off military aid to Ukraine because our expenditure there supposedly endangered our ability to deter China? Good times. Man, fuck everything.

I'm furious at every single person who put this man back in office.

Personal opinion as always, there is no compelling reason to attack Iran, no sign we have a clear strategic goal and plan for the aftermath, the President failed to lay out a case to the American public, there is no legal authorization from the U.S. Congress and no international law justification

Or out of munitions.

Fuck everything.

Fuck.

Evening soundtrack:

Jesus, this is ghoulish, even for him.

The President thinks the "Supreme" in the Supreme Court is akin to the "Final" in the Final Fantasy series, apparently.

I shall take this to.... THE SUPREMER COURT!

As someone old enough to well remember the first round of 9/11 conspiracy stupidity, I now too old to live through a second round of it. I will simply walk into the sea instead of arguing with a new crop of idiots.

I hope they chisel this on Malcolm Gladwell's tombstone.

And the more coup-proof your military is, the worse they are at actually fighting foreign opponents, because the leadership is selected for non-threatening political loyalty rather than honest competence, two traits which are rarely coincidental.

Folks need to stop using "Department of War". It should neither be validated nor normalized.

The GREENS won, and the lesson you take is that Labour should have been pro-fracking?

As a delegate from said unnamed country: we agree, but only in exchange for at least a year-long moritorium on the "why don't they just call for a vote of no confidence and hold new elections" talk from your side of the Atlantic.