It seems that Fetterman proved himself to be the newest iteration of Senator Manchinema. What a disappointment!

"Usually, the Iranians only respond [to] power . . ." Fetterman told "Hannity."'
https://www.foxnews.com/media/fetterman-breaks-democrats-says-trumps-military-strikes-iran-made-world-safer

An honorable mention goes to the House Democrats for theatrics, reinforcing that their GOP colleagues are spineless lackeys to the Stable Genius:
'During a House pro forma on Thursday, Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) tried to interrupt the proceedings to demand the House vote on a War Powers Resolution. It didn’t work: Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) ignored him and banged the gavel.

Still, Democrats made a spectacle of the proceedings, with a half dozen lawmakers attending the session and then speaking to reporters on the House steps afterward.'
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/house-democrats-iran-war-congress_n_69d7d07fe4b048dba44bc8ea?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Those definitely are not the only losses we have sustained, although (obviously) reports vary.

* Approximately 300-500 military personnel have been wounded (many permanently) in the fighting.

* Approximately two dozen MQ-9 Reaper drones, eight shot down in early April, with estimated financial loss to date for the fleet totaling a loss of $700 million.

* A $1.1 billion AN/FPS-132 Early Warning Radar in Qatar was hit and damaged, and four THAAD radar systems ($300 to $500 million each) reported inoperable due to Iranian strikes.

* Hundreds of millions in damage from retaliatory strikes at three major air bases in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

The United States is expending approximately $1 billion to $2 billion per day.

The Pentagon (to date) has requested over $200 billion in supplemental funding to replenish depleted stockpiles and replace lost systems.

... while we rained destruction down on any part of Iran we targeted.

True... including the deaths of hundreds of children, and the reported physical damage to Americans and costs for the loss of hardware are far greater than the Trump administration is reporting.

However, that's simply the tangible damage, and you've done a great job covering many of the intangibles.

Trump has committed war crimes by simply making the threat:

Article 51 - Protection of the civilian population

1. The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations. To give effect to this protection, the following rules, which are additional to other applicable rules of international law, shall be observed in all circumstances.

2. The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.

~ Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977

Question: So what would it be if Trump was indicted for his war crimes and then another country (or maybe multiple countries) took it upon themselves to invade America and arrest him and put him on trial?

That wouldn't be declaring war on a country (according to Trump) because it would be simply serving a warrant on Trump for his demonstrable written war crimes. For the sake of brevity, it would be Trump being "Maduroed."

Answer: That would be irony.

wow that's some Vietnam era hypocrisy. he wants you off the voter rolls and on the draft list.

Yes, sir, and Trump's own draft-age son is currently either:

(A) Registered for the draft as required by federal law

or

(B) A felon in violation of 50 U.S.C. App. 451 et seq. also known as the Military Selective Service Act.

He's factually one or the other, and if forced to make a bet on his current status (operative word there being current), I believe it would be safe to wager that Barron is a chip off the old perp and is currently a felon.

hey even Donald is right sometimes.

not to get too lost in the weeds, but I had to point out that the following passage doesn't entirely make sense:

Israel insisted that its war with Hezbollah was not covered by the ceasefire, and the U.S. backed him up in this stance.

since the county is not a person, I'm going to presume it was Bibi who did the insisting.

I am very bullish on election night '26. I'm absolutely convinced we're going to grow the House majority.

~ Moses Mike Johnson, Squeaker of the House

Mike is very bullish and thinks the Big Ugly Bill will be like "jet fuel" (his words).

I think Mike is very full of bullshit, and the price of gas and jet fuel will be like jet fuel.

I think the Trump administration's policy to automatically register Americans for the draft while being against automatic registration for Americans to vote tells you everything you need to know about their priorities.

Wouldn't it be nice if all the MAGA morons could at least "clue in" to the fact that Trump is obviously not the master of 3-D chess they keep claiming!?

I cannot stop laughing at the sheer ignorance.

Unverified and completely new allegations? Oh boy, I guess I should be like Chris Weigant and soil myself as I lie underneath my bed, sucking my thumb!

Good. As long as we reserve landslide for November.

Unilaterally and unconstitutionally and therefore totally illegally, and the book titles regarding "Operation Epic Fury" almost write themselves:

* Operation Epic Fail
* Operation Epstein Fury
* Totally EF'd
* EF Off

Trump is a con artist bullshitter and is "in it" up to his eyeballs. And while the low-info MAGA morons buy into his repetitive gaslighting and bullying garbage, anyone with two functioning brain cells can see that Trump reeks with the stench of desperation and is flailing; our generals can see it as well as our allies and enemies.

You don't think Trump threatening Iran in an American Pravda post that "a whole civilization will die tonight" will hurt his chances for a Nobel Prize, do you!? /s

Seriously, though, there is generally no statute of limitations on genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity so Trump's "prize" could come in such a manner as that should he follow through on his stated course of illegal action versus his usual TACO.

On #5, "It is technically illegal to deface money", I don't think that applies to the idea of using a Sharpie to black out the president's signature on a dollar bill.

Correct! 18 U.S.C. Section 333 forbids defacing United States currency, but small markings/redactions are generally ignored. The law applies to the intent to render the currency unfit for use.

Also, good luck proving that I and/or _________ <---[insert name here] defaced it.

The stupid goes all the way down to the bone.

here's another thought on the DHS funding:
congressional Republicans have forgotten what a compromise is, perhaps because it's been literally decades since Democrats have actually forced them to make one.

JL

As one FB poster put it, "It is legal to make a thick black mark through that signature. Making marks is allowed as long as it doesn’t deface the serial number or otherwise make it so it can’t circulate."

The law is about making the money unusable. A blacked-out signature does not have that effect.

I'm hoping, myself, that within a year of this new bill's circulation, 70-80% of them will have the president's name black out - redacted, if you will, just as his name is redacted in the Epstein files. If you get my drift.

Exactly! If you don't test for COVID, there won't be any... like pregnancy testing: No testing... no pregnancies! /s

He's going to either become increasingly petulant on the subject or he's just going to start lying through his teeth about how wonderfully low gas prices now are.

It'll be that "price of gas in Iowa" gaslighting BS. Interestingly, Trump was actually live fact-checked on that lie. At a rally at the Machine Shed in Clive, Iowa on January 27, 2026, Trump stated that he saw gas as low as $1.85 per gallon, and a rally attendee interrupted his claim and shouted: "No, $2.63!"

At some point, the crowd grows weary of the perpetual pathological lies and calls it out; if only their representatives in Congress would take a hint and grow some spinal columns.

Reminds me of his magical thinking and endless prattling regarding COVID:

You know, a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat — as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April.

~ Donald Trump, February 10, 2020

*

It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear. And from our shores, we — you know, it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens.

~ Donald Trump, February 27, 2020

*

You know, we need a little a separation until such time as this goes away. It’s going to go away. It’s going to go away.

~ Donald Trump, March 12, 2020

*

It’s going to go. It’s going to leave. It’s going to be gone. It’s going to be eradicated.

~ Donald Trump, April 29, 2020

*

I’ll be right eventually. I will be right eventually. You know I said, ‘It’s going to disappear.’ I’ll say it again. It’s going to disappear, and I’ll be right.

~ Donald Trump, July 19, 2020

*

This thing’s going away. It will go away like things go away…

~Donald Trump, August 5, 2020

The disease is obviously still here... and so is COVID.

Like nobody has ever seen before; if by "nobody" you mean everybody. I think I saw drooling; same spit, different day.

he will of course also claim endless grievance and blame everything on Democrats.

Yep. Repeating myself from an earlier thread: Trump keeps whining about all the "dumb presidents" before now who did "nothing" (his claim) about Iran... forgetting that he's also one of those presidents. Duh. Connecting the dots is not his strong suit. Obviously, Trump didn't do "nothing" because he proactively and unilaterally trashed an agreement of the Obama administration and now wants to make an agreement... which reminds me of the USMCA circa 2020 that was basically a rebranded version of NAFTA with a few minor tweaks. At the time Trump signed his USMCA (rebranded NAFTA), he held a White House celebratory function to brag about how no one "has seen anything like it before" and how great it is. Fast forward to Trump 2.0 and he criticized profusely and asked who is the idiot that negotiated it, to which thousands replied: You're the idiot!

What do you wanna bet that any agreement the Trump administration might make with Iran will also be another basic rebrand of something wherein Trump claims he fixed everything "like nobody has ever seen before"? Rhetorical question.

At what point do the right-wingnut morons finally "clue in" that Trump isn't playing "3-D chess" and is demonstrably 50 cards short of a full deck and two of those cards are jokers? Also rhetorical.

“He will throw the incompetent women under the bus a lot faster than the incompetent men.”
-Jasmine Crockett

The Pentagon's experts are being fired/replaced by the moronic Fox News weekend host currently playing the role of SECDEF. Hegseth is a showman who is decimating the military... during wartime, no less.

Just my opinion, but I think the totally unqualified Kegsbreath's days are numbered. He can soon return to being the fake news instead of criticizing his news coverage (and photographs), and he can obviously go back to the raping and the committing adultery on his current wife with his future wife and getting drunk in public. Good riddance.

it's a great place to sit when one has gas, given that the average price of gas has hit the 4 dollar mark.

Heh.

Trump keeps whining about all the "dumb presidents" before now who did "nothing" (his claim) about Iran... forgetting that he's also one of those presidents before now. Connecting the dots is not their strong suit. Obviously, Trump didn't do "nothing," he unilaterally trashed an agreement of the Obama administration and wants to make an agreement... which reminds me of the USMCA circa 2020 that was basically a rebranded version of NAFTA with minor tweaks. At the time Trump signed his USMCA/rebranded NAFTA, he held a White House function and bragged about how great it was. Fast forward to Trump 2.0 and he asked who the idiot was who negotiated that crap, to which thousands replied: You're the idiot! What do you wanna bet that any agreement he makes with Iran is also another basic rebrand? Rhetorical question.

Of course somebody knows, and they'll be outed sooner or later just like Banksy (admittedly more famous at the present time) now identified by a Reuters investigation.

Long story short, the artist/stencilist was arrested in New York City decades ago, signed a confession, provided an address that was subsequently tracked to a local hotel wherein he stayed around that time and where artists painted rooms in exchange for free accommodations. He signed for his room circa that time as "Robin Banks," a play on "robbing banks" and shortened to "Banksy."

All the myriad of facts piece together to definitively identify the artist as one Robin Gunningham of Bristol, England, who changed his name to "David Jones" when he had been identified by The Mail on Sunday in 2008 via several photographs provided to them by a Jamaican man who had outed him already; although it was definitely Reuters that nailed it down with facts... case closed:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/global-art-banksy/

But I digress.

As for those brilliant artists trolling Trump and their latest golden creation: The loo fits. :)

@kick,
the comic absurdity of their lies doesn't make them any less dangerous.

Yes, sir, and arguably makes them more dangerous with the ever-present false equivalency BS and right-wingnut race to the bottom conspiracy theory garbage that used to be considered right-wingnut fringe now being your standard operational mainstream right-wing idiocracy. #MoronsAreGoverningAmerica

But it gets even worse. I noticed in 2024 Bernie's wealth tax helped get a lot of billionaires to contribute to Trump's campaign and assorted super PACs. A lot more 50 millionaires than billionaires...It also give the right wing punditry class a solid issue entering in to the midterms when they are desperately looking for one.

I think Elizabeth Warren is past her best buy date and needs to retire with all the other ancient democrats...

The shoe definitely fits him... despite the notable girth of the ginormous bilateral bloated cankles, almost as pathetic as his pathological perpetual neediness of praise and prizes stemming from his inherent insecurity requiring constant validation by whatever means necessary. #Lyin'King

Or maybe something along the lines of "Dicktocracy," as in: Dick Tater is a wannabe Dictator... the initials fit. #WannabeKing

Jon Stewart famously named it "bullshitocracy," the "premeditated, institutional bullshit designed to obscure and distract," large-scale systems designed to keep the public distracted and confused.

But the good news is this: Bullshitters have gotten pretty lazy, and their work is easily detected, and looking for it is kind of a pleasant way to pass the time, like an I spy of bullshit. So I say to you tonight, friends, the best defense against bullshit is vigilance. So, if you smell something, say something.

~ Jon Stewart

#NoKings

Get out and protest... and then sit back and behold the hysterical hypocritical low-info false equivalency right-wingnut weapon worshiping Second Amendment ammosexuals attack your First Amendment right to protest because it opposes their cult of Hair Dick Tater.

How about "What could we have if Trump's bombing campaign hadn't happened?"

And if Democrats were smart, they'd rush out a "calculator":
insert "education" and the "free college education" - or "x thousand teachers for a year" or "free lunches for every student for x years" pops up;
insert "healthcare" and "Obamacare subsidies for every American for x years" or "free healthcare for every American child for x years" pops up;
etc

So you're asking if we believe the toxic narcissistic pathologically lying sociopathic prize-seeking fame whore who cannot stop himself from hysterically bragging about passing multiple tests cognitive tests designed to assess those exhibiting mental decline, screen for dementia and identify early indicators of Alzheimer's?

Heh. :)

There's Hell in Michigan too!? Very interesting.

I've actually been to Hell (twice), but it was Grand Cayman:

https://www.hell.ky/

#GoToHell :)

Democrats allowing ICE and CBP to continue brutalizing the American public and telling bald-faced lies about it, without doing absolutely everything in their power to change it, would be unacceptable. if republicans do something like kill the filibuster or abuse the reconciliation process, that's on them. but Democrats would be complicit in the indiscriminate violence against the public if they didn't stand up and be counted. Schumer has already offered to fully fund every other agency in the department. unless the failure of DHS agents to behave like real police is addressed legislatively, there's no further compromise that wouldn't be seen as capitulation.

1- Trump has Prefrontal Dementia (on top of a lifetime of habitually lying) and

2- Trump inspired Wall Street to invent TACO and he’s in the chicken and waffle phase. Once again.

1. Fat Donny lies all the time about everything.
2. He has attacked Iran twice during negotiations.
3. He has withdrawn from multiple agreements including the nuke agreement with Iran.

It seems likelier than not that the Iranians are unwilling to talk about anything.

It's hard to believe that the Iranians would let him do that.

that's in michigan

https://www.gotohellmi.com/

He won that award while definitely deceased; perhaps Jeffrey Epstein delivered the news to him.

[Since he is deceased, no contact information is possible for César Chávez.]

Seventh Circle of Hell.

'Fetterman, the senior US senator from Pennsylvania, has in recent months broken with the party several times to support Republican proposals, and has routinely expressed staunch support for Israel. He cast the decisive committee vote on Thursday to advance Mullin’s nomination to succeed Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary.'
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/20/fetterman-markwayne-mullin

She is widely seen as the favorite to succeed Sen. Dick Durbin in the blue state and would become the sixth Black woman to have ever served in the upper chamber.'
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/17/juliana-stratton-wins-illinois-senate-democrat-primary-00833523

they've been skirting the establishment of religion issue for many years when it comes to military operations, so i guess I'm a bit numb to it. you're right of course; it's probably a bit of an indictment of my own political fatigue with the proverbial flooded zone, that it didn't even occur to me to gripe about that particular aspect.

JL

It’sa good thing for the Chinese economy that you aren’t running China.

Three quarters of China’s energy and food inputs come through the Strait of Malacca. Just parking a destroyer or a submarine there cuts China off at the knees, end of war.

it may seem like a minor gripe, but the openly partisan tone of official government websites makes my skin crawl.

I know, right!? Fox News propaganda goes to Washington. Literally.

And I would wager you have an additional "minor gripe" with your government telling you how to pray and to whom:

May almighty God continue to bless our troops in this fight, and again to the American people, please pray for them every day on bended knee with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.

~ Pete Hegseth, news conference March 19, 2026

It's like they're total idiots regarding the founders views on religion, the United States Constitution and text on religion, and don't even get me started on the so-called Holy Trinity and Kegsbreath being totally oblivious that the God to whom Jews, Christians and Muslims pray is one and the same entity.

I won't elaborate further because I know you know.

Definitely reminds me of that time in Spring 2018 when the Trump administration dismantled the National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense also known as the "NSC Pandemic Unit." Who needs that?

Fast forward to Trump being asked about the elimination of the directorate, and he called the questioners "nasty" and claimed to know nothing about it, but he also said:

I'm a business person — I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don't need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly.

~ Donald Trump, defending his administration's dismantling of the NSC Pandemic Unit

Trump, however, did put together a team quickly headed by Vice President Mike Pence, the "smoking doesn't kill" science denier.

Problem solved.

- seat-of-the-pants *check*
- personal whims *check*
- gut feelings *check*

What? No love for Fat Donny's "feel it in my bones" war ending? People are saying he's conferring with his cankles.

Did the Pentagon also lose its analysts and experts in war planning, who would have foreseen the closing of the Straits as an immediate consequence of the bombing campaign? And who would have pointed out that re-opening or otherwise pushing back would need more time for deployments than was allowed for by the impulsive order to "bomb away"?

"Half and half"? Seriously?

G'way outta that! It's an Irish pub; either go "all in" properly or not at all. ;)

That is one hell of a remarkable self-own on Trump's part. This is an example of what we refer to as the inability to connect the dots and what Republicans refer to as "3-D chess." *laughs*

Who'd have thought that starting a global tariff war with the world's countries (including your allies and aquatic wildlife) might have some kind of negative repercussions? Anybody with two brain cells to rub together.

It's like the schoolyard bully who routinely steals everybody's lunch money yet whines because no one will come to his aid in his time of need... except he claims to have no need. *laughs*

Donald Trump is the perpetual victim and always has conducted himself that way, even when he is the obvious ________ <--- felon, fraud, cheater, aggressor... you name it. I cannot fathom why the MAGA cult minions see this whiny little prick as a strong leader playing "3-D chess" *laughs* when he's never been anything but a total toxic narcissist and money grifting fame-seeking whore with a middle school vocabulary and stuck firmly at the mental age of a 13-year-old child, the age at which age his parents sent him away to a military school because he was a bully with behavioral issues and they apparently accepted cadets with bone spurs.

“JOB 2” is ethnically cleansing this Republican wing of the Democrats. Otherwise we’re effed.

You wouldn't happen to have one of those "Mass Deportation Now" signs as featured at the Republican National Convention, would you? Rhetorical question.

Generally, you win by addition and not by subtraction, and when you repeatedly call for stupid stuff like ethnic cleansing, I'm not entirely sure you're aware that it's you who sounds like the "Republican wing."

Tells you everything you need to know about this inveterate ate-up cranial loopback.

Dear Pete Kegsbreath: In order for the press photographers to take a picture of your "good side," you obviously first have to possess one. Maybe get you some better makeup artists and ask The Dotard for his special shade of orange and go with that. Don't forget to wear those shoes he gave you that are two sizes too big; they'll match nicely with your suit that is two sizes too small. One fish, two fish, red fish rots from the head.

irrespective of donald's reasons (which you've quite correctly identified) and bibi's reasons (equally small and self-serving), 82% of the Israeli public still support this war. keep in mind, Israel is only 72% Jewish.

I would wager that a large percentage of the Syrian Arab Republic would generally support the invasion of Israel by Syria and Rossiyskaya Federatsiya since they obviously strongly oppose Israel having nuclear weapons. Putin could naturally explain it to the citizens of Russia via a plethora of lies about feeling it in his bones, etc.

I'm not going to dignify those comparisons with a response, because they're not remotely similar.

Unfair to claim they're "not remotely similar" when on their face they are definitely similar.

Iran just got done murdering over ten thousand, perhaps even thirty thousand of their own, and has spent the past 47 years funding and arming proxy terrorist groups.

Please tell me you are not falling for that Orwellian "we've been at war with Iran for 47 years" and are not starting it but stopping it gaslighting. No, I'm not accusing you, I'm genuinely hoping you're not falling for it.

As for funding terrorist groups for "47 years," it appears the GOP has conveniently forgotten some things: The "Enterprise" off-the-books operation of Reagan and his administration during that timeline means the GOP is admitting to literally arming the enemy... the very definition of treason.

I may have mentioned this a time or two, but the Righties are not particularly known for their ability to connect the dots.

I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority here regarding the Iran attack. irrespective of whatever cockamamie reasons Donald might come up with, I'm not convinced it was a bad idea.

I won't go into further detail, but it was definitely a "bad idea," although "bad" (as you know) is a relative term depending on one's perspective.

From the perspective of the United States Constitution and various assorted international laws, can you at least be convinced it was illegal?

am I the only one who read "if they rise, they rise" and thought of Ivan Drago from Rocky 4?

Heh. No, you are not!

"I must break you," also came to mind. :)

An excellent hook for this entertaining column. Thanks!

“JOB 1” is preserving our Constitutional Republic.

“JOB 2” is ethnically cleansing this Republican wing of the Democrats. Otherwise we’re effed.

The fucking Democrats LOST TO IT!

I’ve no doubt that both Hillary and Kamala (especially) faced misogyny and racism headwinds.

But never forget that Democrats lost to douche-bag Trump TWICE. I repeat, Trump. Because the Democrat’s Donor Class wouldn’t offer anything besides more of the same “I can’t think of a thing I’d change…”

'Democrats have flipped 28 Republican-held seats in state legislatures across the country over the past 14 months, a sign that the GOP is indeed at risk of losing control of the House, and maybe even the Senate, in the midterms.
...
The latest came Tuesday night, when Bobbi Boudman beat Republican Rep. Dale Fincher in a New Hampshire Senate seat that Trump won by 9 points.'
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/12/dems-flip-28-state-legislature-seats-in-trump-2-0-00827125

To convey this further, I'd add something that gets at actual cost. Drive to work, filling up you're [vehicle] cost this much more this week.

Needs work, but adds a "this is added to your weekly budget" dimension.

irrespective of donald's reasons (which you've quite correctly identified) and bibi's reasons (equally small and self-serving), 82% of the Israeli public still support this war. keep in mind, Israel is only 72% Jewish.

JL

A lot stronger? Honestly, Cornyn's position is still fairly weak. A 4-term Senator who cannot garner 50% of the voters in a Texas primary, having secured a "commanding lead" of about 1% over his "greatest" opponent is about as weak as it gets heading into a runoff in Texas... where incumbents go to die, generally speaking, of course.

Be that as it may and still, there is time and millions and millions of dollars to spend. It appears Cornyn will attempt to paint Paxton as a wife-cheating felonious fraud... in other words: Totally Trumpian.