This morning I saw that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been arrested “on suspicion of misconduct in public office,” with the consent of his brother, King Charles. And a former prime minister and acting president of South Korea was sentenced to 23 years in prison for attempting an insurrection. If other countries can do that, why can’t we? Our bad boys with money and connections get one pass after another.
I’m also reading that considerable U.S. military assets have been assembled in the Middle East and are poised to attack Iran. This attack could happen as soon as Saturday, but Trump hasn’t yet made his final decision about it. No, Congress has not been briefed, never mind consulted. I suspect most Americans haven’t noticed the news stories about it. Trump may very well decide to not go through with it. But if he thinks being a War President will pull up his sagging poll numbers, IMO he’s in for a disappointment.
Trump’s stupid Board of Peace is holding its first meeting today, or perhaps it’s done meeting already. I’m not sure. As of the most recent report I could find the countries that have expressed interest in joining are Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bulgaria, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Mongolia, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Whether any of them have coughed up the $1 billion to be permanent members has not been revealed. I understand a number of other countries sent representatives as “observers,” not as members. So Trump probably did have a big group to meet with.
Anyway, among other things Trump announced the U.S. might attack Iran in the next ten days or so if it won’t make a deal to get rid of its nuclear weapons program. And he announced the U.S. has pledged $10 billion to the Board of Peace for reconstructing Gaza. Where this money is coming from is, um, not clear. Among Trump’s plans for Gaza is a 5,000-person military base, The Guardian reports. Other nations also pledged money for Gaza, but who is collecting this money and what precisely it will be used for is not clear. If Trump follows his usual pattern a lot of it will find its way into Trump family pockets.
And my larger point is that this is all so outside the norm that one would think news media would be expressing some alarm about it. But no.
Elsewhere — I’ve never been a big follower of Thomas Friedman at the New York Times, but he has an excellent column out now headlined Netanyahu Plays Trump and American Jews for Fools — Again. In brief, he’s admitting that Netanyahu’s policies are destroying Israel, not saving it, and that knee-jerk support for Israel does the U.S. no good, either. And what he writes has been blazingly obvious for a long time. But I haven’t seen it expressed any more clearly.
We elected fools and so we are getting played for fools. We will see if Bibi decides we must pull the trigger and attack Iran, which could be Putin's decision (who knows really). The Board of Peace could be code for The Bored of Peace for all one can tell from the current regime. We do know all parties are trying anything they can to stay in power. We also know we are being lied to, and hidden agendas are probably in play.
Friedman did not hold back at all in his analysis of the present situation and what it forbodes. He sees the train wreck coming, as do others. Let's hope people heed their warnings.
That's quite a finish.
I think Thomas Friedman is making an assumption that may not be warranted: If there is a war with Iran, the country of Israel, as currently constituted, will still exist.
The 12 Day War last summer demonstrated that Israel was very vulnerable.
This time Iran has declared open season on anyone assisting in an attack on it. Israel is about the size of New Jersey which I understand is a fairly small US state. That’s a pretty concentrated target for an annoyed enemy which has already proven it can defeat Israeli defences.
My assumption is that the fact that the US bases did not get pummeled was due to Iranian restraint. This time ….
That's actually a very minor point in the context of the column, but if it amuses you, have fun with it.
Ah, no. No Israel makes the column meaningless.
I doubt that Israel will survive a war with Iran. At least not in anything like a functioning Jewish state.
For heavens sake, the Taliban has expressed support for Ir an!
I disagree, especially if the U.S. ends up doing most of the fighting. But put that aside and read the column again. You’re missing the point.
If a Palestinian-American college student had written that Friedman essay they would have been expelled and deported.
Why no arrests? Simple. Pam Bondi is in charge. In case you still don't understand, check out the Trump banner hanging at the DOJ building entrace. It's Big Brother and 1984.
The more authoritarian they go, the more pushback they're gonna get. The more un-subtle they are, the more the public is getting what these people are about.
The Epstein scandal is fissuring and close to breaking open. The New Mexico legislature unanimously created a Truth Commission to find out what happened at Zorro Ranch. Unanimously – Rs and Ds voted together. The UN is starting to see this as crimes against humanity, investigations will eventually start.
Back to hanging Big Brother banners and being unsubtle. The people closest to Trump believe he has signed pardons for them, and so they will continue to act with impunity, even as the ship is going down, never trimming their sails to accomodate public outrage – expect this. Congressional Republicans, on the other hand, don't share that belief and are starting to revolt. Expect them to save themselves instead of going down with the ship. It's only a trickle now but it's going to turn into a torrent.
It's not impossible that evidence exists outside the borders of the U.S. that the DoJ can't keep from the public. And then the guilty will have no where to hide.
From what I've seen: there's a mountain of evidence outside the US. There's no way the DOJ can sit on this forever. We live within a fortress of stupid (both the somnolent media and the corrupt DOJ), but the worldwide scope of this scandal is staggering.
Rep Melanie Stansbury is on it. No one in the English monarchy has been arrested since 1647 – since the British Civil War. With our allies taking action and powerful people falling, the cover up at home is becoming more and more obvious and condemning. Iran and all the other military adventures are just a distraction.
"Let’s not pretend that Andrew’s activities are separate from his royal status. The whole concept of royalty is based on undeserved privilege, lack of accountability, luxury and hedonism, and the idea that others are beneath you, and can be used."
– Paul Bernal
Of course he has benefited from Royal privilege, et cetera. But he may have broken the unwritten law. One does not betray government secrets to a foreigner.
Also Royalty ain’t what it used to be. Even the King has limited power. The Royal Family mostly exists as tourist attractions. They have roles to play. If they start misbehaving, the British pubic might decide they aren’t worth the trouble. And no more Royal Family. They’d have to all go get jobs.
quote of the day:
"when your party is all dominance-minded megalomaniacs who spent months gassing each other up about the vast implications of a 1 point victory, the mere fact that americans refuse to go along with their own subjugation feels like a grievous offense"
– Microplastics Sommelier, bluesky
From the Friedman article: “Gangs of armed settlers persecute, harm, wound and even kill Palestinians living there. The rampages include burning olive groves, houses and cars; breaking into homes; and physically assaulting people.”
That is happening now but it has been happening for decades, even before Bibi. It is certainly far worse now but the state of Israel has sanctioned these actions from "settlers" for a long time now, it is who the Israelis and many American Jews are. They treat Palestinians as subhuman in Israel and fund ads in this country railing against "Jewish hate". It is really something and unfortunately most democratic politicians either look the other way or are onboard with it.
I've been reading that an Epstein victim, a girl of 13 or so, was introduced to Trump by Epstein. She was supposed to perform oral on DJT but he got nipped and struck the girl. (There should be a Nobel Prize for her.) If the news is true, she was interviewed four times, and evidence exists of the interviews in discovery that Epstein got for his first arrest. These FBI reports were not released.
Got it? She exists and can testify. The reports exist and are documented. At the supposed conclusion of the release, they are missing. Couple that to the Epstein victims who Bondi never interviewed and you have a cover-up for pedophilia that starts from the Oval Office.
It’s all going to come out eventually. And if the midterms are as big a disaster for Republicans as it appears they will be, someday might be next year some time.
I’m pretty sure the 13-year-old stuff was out there in 2016, the media never really amplified it because Stump got the victim to recant her version. So, I don't see why she would testify now.
I’m talking about a lot more than the testimony of one person.
The French newspaper Le Monde reports that a French magistrate team has been assembled to officially investigate the Epstein files – two investigations, one on human trafficking and the other regarding financial offenses like money laundering. Hopefully, there will be leaks regarding the roles of the US on such matters.