Trump’s war with Iran is an illegal war. It was executed without Congressional approval. Military personnel are required to resist illegal orders and follow the constitution. Up and down the chain of command, military personnel resisted following the US Constitution. Why are you not talking about the peril military personnel are in. They have all committed a war crime and a crime against the US Constitution. This should matter in our conversation. This should be talked about. Senators (Kelly, Slotkin & others) expressly warned about resisting illegal orders, about not following orders that are forbidden in our US Cobnstitution. Military personnel were warned, yet they attacked offensively a country our US Congress had not declared war on. This needs to be talked about. We either live by the rule of law or it’s all fake. Not talking about this says it’s all fake.
I think that is overstating it. The war is most likely Unconstitutional, but I don't think the orders soldiers down the line are getting are "illegal orders" in the sense that Kelly and the rest were talking about. Even for the generals, the orders are not illegal. It is an abdication of the powers of Congress to let this happen. I don't think it is up to the troops to disobey orders because the Congress refuses to do their proper duty.
If Caine and other generals did not carry out the attack plan, they would be fired. That might be the right thing for them to do, but in this case I can understand why they might not do that.
Here I am watching my investments tank in value while members of our military and innocent civilians are being killed in an immoral and illegal war. I am livid over my congressional representatives being loyal to Trump over protecting the people they were elected to serve. I called and gave them an earful. Why haven't we heard a peep from Congress? They ought to be throwing out this entire corrupt and inept administration.
Not a peep. I look on my stupid rep’s website frequently and she never, ever says anything in response to actual events. She is all bout photo ops with Girl Scouts or ribbon cuttings for local businesses (which I assume are owned by donors or she wouldn’t care). It’s intolerable.
This is what happens when they DO comment: "For far too long, Iran has held the world hostage with its nuclear threats and state-sponsored terrorism. As today’s strikes have exemplified, all diplomatic endeavors to secure peace with the Iranian dictatorship have been exhausted..." - Rep. Chris Smith (Traitor-NJ04). UGH.
Yes, but at least we can engage with that. We can ask:
Didn’t T**** just utterly destroy their nuclear capabilities a few weeks ago?
Why do they keep changing the justification for this attack?
Why weren’t the Iranians given the means to rise up? What exactly was the plan?
Isn’t this attack exactly what T**** said in 2016 creates a power vacuum and leads to more terrorists?
Will we be assassinating other leaders if T**** doesn’t like how they talk to him on the phone or whatever?
Iran is a sovereign nation as is Venezuela - however bad a leader is, do we really want a precedent of countries assassinating foreign leaders they dislike?
With silence, it is just maddening. If they respond at all, it is with unresponsive canned statements with no content. I asked my rep last week, “Do you believe in the Germ Theory of Disease?” I said I wanted a response, but haven’t received one. And if I do it will be a bunch of nonsense that is too stupid to even argue with.
Thanks, Simon! So much to think about and your conversation with Stuart was really inspirational.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen about ICE and the need to regularly discuss Trump's mental decline. His insane rantings yesterday about his curtains and his ballroom (along with complimenting children in the audience on their "good genes") was completely off the rails, crazy, inappropriate, and nuts. I'm writing postcards to Virginia voters about redistricting.
Trump's dad was a Nazi sympathizer. Trump grew up thinking that was okay. Why do people have a hard time believing Trump is a Nazi? Remember, Nazis didn't just go after the Jews; they went after everybody they didn't like or who didn't agree with them. Not only do we have to be clear-eyed about this, but we have to call it by name: EVIL. And we have to fight it with everything we've got.
My family on my father's side is German and lived under the Nazis. Just for fun, in 2021 we made a list of all the similarities between Trump and Hitler. We stopped somewhere between 70 and 80. The list would be much longer now.
PS And the few differences we thought of actually mostly favored Hitler (eg infrastructure week vs the autobahn, war hero vs draft dodger, burnt steaks vs vegetables, loved dogs vs hates all animals, etc), with one huge, obvious exception Trump seems increasingly determined to erase.
When it posts later, everyone should watch today’s Simon and Stuart session. Makes it abundantly clear that our corrupt, impulsive President has chosen to use the tremendous resources of our nation- its remarkable soldiers and commanders, its extraordinary intelligence infrastructure, its enormous array of military equipment on the sea and in the air- to fight the wrong war. We should be supporting the brilliant and brave Ukrainians to crush Putin’s imperial dreams and restore peace to Europe. Instead, Trump is using our military to achieve the Saudi’s dream of crushing Iran and unleashed death, destruction and chaos in the Middle East.
Actions today: I made calls to my elected officials, both national and local offices, about the war. I will make a donation to the audacious expansion fund. I'm writing postcards to NC voters. (I already voted so don't have to vote in today's NC primary elections.) And I'm preparing for the working group on homelessness class for my church that I lead on Wednesday nights.
Thanks for the fascinating conversation with Stuart Stevens this morning. My beloved grandfather was also from Ukraine. He was born in the shtetl of Fastov (now spelled Fastiv) in Kyiv oblast. What a journey he had.
I'm still gearing up. I have a lot of irons in the fire. I continue to call my members of Congress. I gave a donation today to the Winning the House campaign. I continue to liaison for Indivisible with WAWU-UAW, which is the local that represents Western Washington University students. We're trying to get a bill through the State legislature that would enable the union to bargain a contract for operational workers. My work on the Welcome Committee for Indivisible Bellingham has slowed, as I thought it would. If the past is any guide, we'll be gearing up again after No Kings on March 28. I have several other projects in the works, and I'll report on those if I get anywhere with them.
I haven't caught up with the videos yet, but I hope to over the coming days.
One final note. I recently found myself trying to explain our country to some Irish friends. One friend just could not understand how Republicans could stand up for Trump and applaud at the SOTU when they know he's implicated in the Epstein files. To others, I keep having to explain that the situation in the U.S. is both worse and better than they realize. It's worse in that the people in the White House are more dark, malevolent, and fanatical than they realize. But the opposition is stronger than they realize, and it's growing stronger every day.
My internet went wacko, so I missed much of your talk with Stuart Stevens. I'm sick today so I'm going to spend it watching Neuremberg in his honor. I posted this earlier, but there is a beautiful and poignant film about Ukraine called "Porcelain War." It was featured at Sundance, and I rented it on YouTube for $5. Donald Trump, Putin, and Netanyahu are evil men. Evil knows no boundaries nor is it limited to one ethnicity, gender, race, or religion. But confront it we must. What a stupid, and avoidable mess we have gotten ourselves into.
Malcom Nance was saying our troops can shoot down the Shaheed drones with machine guns but that they weren’t prepared and didn’t try. I know the Ukrainians were using multiple machine guns mounted on a frame and that works.
From your typing fingers to God's ear. Let's hope so. The people running our government are monsters AND imbeciles - rank amateurs who should never have power.
Hey peeps. Great talk between our good Heather C.R and Senator Andy Kim from NJ. THis is from yesterday morning. It's really good. Sobering but clear description of what is NOT happening (and should be) at a congressional level re: Iran. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIk8up0RjSg&t=61s.
Also Tom Friedman in the NY Times yesterday. Sane and overarching. But I don't think he's saying everything he thinks. He usually is very reticent to tell us he's worried. Both brilliant.
We all need to be ready: Trump began the war with Iran to use against our November elections. He will try to cancel them claiming a national emergency as his excuse.
ILLEGAL WAR, ICE, CONCENTRATION CAMPS, AND EPSTEIN FILES. Absolute insanity. Not sleeping well. Thanks everyone. Let's keep going!! Looking forward to listening to Stuart and Simon.
If that's a wound it would have to be from a fall. Trump looked pretty wobbly leaving the lectern after that semi-coherent speech you alluded to. If that were in the right position it could be shingles, but I have forgotten my anatomy so don't know.
Without any context or other views, my first thought was shingles. That area would be cranial nerve 11 - the Spinal Accessory nerve. But we'll never know because they are covering for him in all areas including his health.
They're blaming JD? Of *course* they are. And the Israelis: "They were going in whether we joined them or not. We just agreed to participate because we knew we were going to get shot at, no matter what." We all know Donald Trump has never made a mistake in his entire life. Quite the shift from bragging about killing all those leaders (which Israel actually did, of course, albeit with intelligence from us), regime change, Iranians of the world, rise up, immunity or death for the IRGC. Must be going really, really badly.
PS re: that Trump clip. Good God, Biden sounded a lot more coherent and looked a lot better in SC the other day..
Oops, now Trump is saying he actually forced Israel to join *us.* It appears trial balloons are getting shot down, faster and faster, in this conflagration, too. He's also justifying the attack and its aftermath on the grounds that the regime just killed 35,000 of its own people. Hmm, ok, so what should be done about a leader who kills more than a million of his own people, plus many millions more worldwide? And how credible is someone like that when he says he risked all this blood and treasure over 35K?
When rationales keep shifting like a spinning top, is there anything this resembles (or dissembles) more than a spouse caught in the act of cheating, trying to explain himself?
In such scenarios, I think it pays to ask what's the one rationale that's *not* being used, the "it's not what you think," "it's not what it looks like" explanation?
Trump’s war with Iran is an illegal war. It was executed without Congressional approval. Military personnel are required to resist illegal orders and follow the constitution. Up and down the chain of command, military personnel resisted following the US Constitution. Why are you not talking about the peril military personnel are in. They have all committed a war crime and a crime against the US Constitution. This should matter in our conversation. This should be talked about. Senators (Kelly, Slotkin & others) expressly warned about resisting illegal orders, about not following orders that are forbidden in our US Cobnstitution. Military personnel were warned, yet they attacked offensively a country our US Congress had not declared war on. This needs to be talked about. We either live by the rule of law or it’s all fake. Not talking about this says it’s all fake.
I think that is overstating it. The war is most likely Unconstitutional, but I don't think the orders soldiers down the line are getting are "illegal orders" in the sense that Kelly and the rest were talking about. Even for the generals, the orders are not illegal. It is an abdication of the powers of Congress to let this happen. I don't think it is up to the troops to disobey orders because the Congress refuses to do their proper duty.
If Caine and other generals did not carry out the attack plan, they would be fired. That might be the right thing for them to do, but in this case I can understand why they might not do that.
Here I am watching my investments tank in value while members of our military and innocent civilians are being killed in an immoral and illegal war. I am livid over my congressional representatives being loyal to Trump over protecting the people they were elected to serve. I called and gave them an earful. Why haven't we heard a peep from Congress? They ought to be throwing out this entire corrupt and inept administration.
Not a peep. I look on my stupid rep’s website frequently and she never, ever says anything in response to actual events. She is all bout photo ops with Girl Scouts or ribbon cuttings for local businesses (which I assume are owned by donors or she wouldn’t care). It’s intolerable.
This is what happens when they DO comment: "For far too long, Iran has held the world hostage with its nuclear threats and state-sponsored terrorism. As today’s strikes have exemplified, all diplomatic endeavors to secure peace with the Iranian dictatorship have been exhausted..." - Rep. Chris Smith (Traitor-NJ04). UGH.
Yes, but at least we can engage with that. We can ask:
Didn’t T**** just utterly destroy their nuclear capabilities a few weeks ago?
Why do they keep changing the justification for this attack?
Why weren’t the Iranians given the means to rise up? What exactly was the plan?
Isn’t this attack exactly what T**** said in 2016 creates a power vacuum and leads to more terrorists?
Will we be assassinating other leaders if T**** doesn’t like how they talk to him on the phone or whatever?
Iran is a sovereign nation as is Venezuela - however bad a leader is, do we really want a precedent of countries assassinating foreign leaders they dislike?
With silence, it is just maddening. If they respond at all, it is with unresponsive canned statements with no content. I asked my rep last week, “Do you believe in the Germ Theory of Disease?” I said I wanted a response, but haven’t received one. And if I do it will be a bunch of nonsense that is too stupid to even argue with.
Noem is an abomination of a human specimen.
If she is ever incarcerated, once the chemicals leach from her face, she will be unrecognizable.
I would love to see her brought up on murder charges.
I'm sorry but she is unfit to walk among humanity.
Well she confessed to puppy murder.
As I've written before, she can get a job with her local animal kill shelter. They'd be happy to have her since few people want such employment.
She can build an entirely new fiefdom.
But, please, God, remove her from our public life.
I’ve seen lots of studies showing that how you treat animals translates to how you treat humans.
Hmm. Well Trump *hates* animals, ergo...yup, that works.
Thanks, Simon! So much to think about and your conversation with Stuart was really inspirational.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen about ICE and the need to regularly discuss Trump's mental decline. His insane rantings yesterday about his curtains and his ballroom (along with complimenting children in the audience on their "good genes") was completely off the rails, crazy, inappropriate, and nuts. I'm writing postcards to Virginia voters about redistricting.
Trump's dad was a Nazi sympathizer. Trump grew up thinking that was okay. Why do people have a hard time believing Trump is a Nazi? Remember, Nazis didn't just go after the Jews; they went after everybody they didn't like or who didn't agree with them. Not only do we have to be clear-eyed about this, but we have to call it by name: EVIL. And we have to fight it with everything we've got.
My family on my father's side is German and lived under the Nazis. Just for fun, in 2021 we made a list of all the similarities between Trump and Hitler. We stopped somewhere between 70 and 80. The list would be much longer now.
PS And the few differences we thought of actually mostly favored Hitler (eg infrastructure week vs the autobahn, war hero vs draft dodger, burnt steaks vs vegetables, loved dogs vs hates all animals, etc), with one huge, obvious exception Trump seems increasingly determined to erase.
When it posts later, everyone should watch today’s Simon and Stuart session. Makes it abundantly clear that our corrupt, impulsive President has chosen to use the tremendous resources of our nation- its remarkable soldiers and commanders, its extraordinary intelligence infrastructure, its enormous array of military equipment on the sea and in the air- to fight the wrong war. We should be supporting the brilliant and brave Ukrainians to crush Putin’s imperial dreams and restore peace to Europe. Instead, Trump is using our military to achieve the Saudi’s dream of crushing Iran and unleashed death, destruction and chaos in the Middle East.
Actions today: I made calls to my elected officials, both national and local offices, about the war. I will make a donation to the audacious expansion fund. I'm writing postcards to NC voters. (I already voted so don't have to vote in today's NC primary elections.) And I'm preparing for the working group on homelessness class for my church that I lead on Wednesday nights.
Thanks for the fascinating conversation with Stuart Stevens this morning. My beloved grandfather was also from Ukraine. He was born in the shtetl of Fastov (now spelled Fastiv) in Kyiv oblast. What a journey he had.
I'm still gearing up. I have a lot of irons in the fire. I continue to call my members of Congress. I gave a donation today to the Winning the House campaign. I continue to liaison for Indivisible with WAWU-UAW, which is the local that represents Western Washington University students. We're trying to get a bill through the State legislature that would enable the union to bargain a contract for operational workers. My work on the Welcome Committee for Indivisible Bellingham has slowed, as I thought it would. If the past is any guide, we'll be gearing up again after No Kings on March 28. I have several other projects in the works, and I'll report on those if I get anywhere with them.
I haven't caught up with the videos yet, but I hope to over the coming days.
One final note. I recently found myself trying to explain our country to some Irish friends. One friend just could not understand how Republicans could stand up for Trump and applaud at the SOTU when they know he's implicated in the Epstein files. To others, I keep having to explain that the situation in the U.S. is both worse and better than they realize. It's worse in that the people in the White House are more dark, malevolent, and fanatical than they realize. But the opposition is stronger than they realize, and it's growing stronger every day.
My internet went wacko, so I missed much of your talk with Stuart Stevens. I'm sick today so I'm going to spend it watching Neuremberg in his honor. I posted this earlier, but there is a beautiful and poignant film about Ukraine called "Porcelain War." It was featured at Sundance, and I rented it on YouTube for $5. Donald Trump, Putin, and Netanyahu are evil men. Evil knows no boundaries nor is it limited to one ethnicity, gender, race, or religion. But confront it we must. What a stupid, and avoidable mess we have gotten ourselves into.
I hope you recover quickly.
Mailing a few postcards today.
Malcom Nance was saying our troops can shoot down the Shaheed drones with machine guns but that they weren’t prepared and didn’t try. I know the Ukrainians were using multiple machine guns mounted on a frame and that works.
Hallelujah! The stock market just crashed. The f*ckwit will now be motivated to end the killing! We should be out within days.
From your typing fingers to God's ear. Let's hope so. The people running our government are monsters AND imbeciles - rank amateurs who should never have power.
Hey peeps. Great talk between our good Heather C.R and Senator Andy Kim from NJ. THis is from yesterday morning. It's really good. Sobering but clear description of what is NOT happening (and should be) at a congressional level re: Iran. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIk8up0RjSg&t=61s.
Also Tom Friedman in the NY Times yesterday. Sane and overarching. But I don't think he's saying everything he thinks. He usually is very reticent to tell us he's worried. Both brilliant.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/opinion/trump-iran-war-future.html
yes, SO good!
We all need to be ready: Trump began the war with Iran to use against our November elections. He will try to cancel them claiming a national emergency as his excuse.
Calling senators AND writing.
ILLEGAL WAR, ICE, CONCENTRATION CAMPS, AND EPSTEIN FILES. Absolute insanity. Not sleeping well. Thanks everyone. Let's keep going!! Looking forward to listening to Stuart and Simon.
If that's a wound it would have to be from a fall. Trump looked pretty wobbly leaving the lectern after that semi-coherent speech you alluded to. If that were in the right position it could be shingles, but I have forgotten my anatomy so don't know.
Looks like skin cancer cream treatment
Without any context or other views, my first thought was shingles. That area would be cranial nerve 11 - the Spinal Accessory nerve. But we'll never know because they are covering for him in all areas including his health.
They're blaming JD? Of *course* they are. And the Israelis: "They were going in whether we joined them or not. We just agreed to participate because we knew we were going to get shot at, no matter what." We all know Donald Trump has never made a mistake in his entire life. Quite the shift from bragging about killing all those leaders (which Israel actually did, of course, albeit with intelligence from us), regime change, Iranians of the world, rise up, immunity or death for the IRGC. Must be going really, really badly.
PS re: that Trump clip. Good God, Biden sounded a lot more coherent and looked a lot better in SC the other day..
Oops, now Trump is saying he actually forced Israel to join *us.* It appears trial balloons are getting shot down, faster and faster, in this conflagration, too. He's also justifying the attack and its aftermath on the grounds that the regime just killed 35,000 of its own people. Hmm, ok, so what should be done about a leader who kills more than a million of his own people, plus many millions more worldwide? And how credible is someone like that when he says he risked all this blood and treasure over 35K?
When rationales keep shifting like a spinning top, is there anything this resembles (or dissembles) more than a spouse caught in the act of cheating, trying to explain himself?
In such scenarios, I think it pays to ask what's the one rationale that's *not* being used, the "it's not what you think," "it's not what it looks like" explanation?
Epstein. Epstein. Epstein. It's the Epstein War.
J.D. Vance shouldn’t be surprised that he will be thrown under the bus by Trump. Most of us remember chants of “hang Mike Pence.”