Y'know, I'm not a big fan of snake oil hawkers, grifters, and tent revival holy rollers. I view all those folks with a jaundiced eye and a healthy measure of total disbelief in anything and everything they say. Their idea of truth is largely their idea only, and their sole intent it to separate fools from their money. And if President Felon's earning statement for 2024 is any indication, he had a very lucrative year. And now that his company is starting a new mobile phone service the sky's the limit. Of course, claims that the phone is totally American made are absurd. Currently, the only phone assembled in the US is the $1,999 Liberty phone by Purism...and even that has parts from China and India. It is not $499 like the Sons of Swindle have promised. I cannot imagine the FCC going along with this...oh wait. Maybe I can,
What it comes down to is yet another scam, another pile of streaming bullhockey issuing forth from President Felon's Fraud Central Factory. There is nothing that comes outta his mouth, outta the mouths of his henchfolk, or outta the mouths of his family members that can be trusted. Nothing can ever be fully vetted with these people. His hyperbole aside, he just plain lies about everything...from the size of his winkie to the size of the parade crowd. Art Of The Deal ...my ass; more that the Art of The Scam.
Which should make you wonder about the ceasefire he claims Israel and Iran have signed onto. ...especially when Iran is continuing to lob missiles at Israel as of a few minutes ago.
He posted this on Truth Social. And you know what we all say about believing everything you see on the internet....
But then, again, he posted something similar about India and Pakistan on May 10th:
The ceasefire also does not address any of the underlying grievances in the bilateral relationship. In a social media post, Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that both sides have agreed to ‘start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site’. Talks between both countries’ military personnel took place on 12 May, but it remains to be seen if this paves the way for meaningful political dialogue.
India has stated that talks can only discuss the issues of terrorism and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while Pakistan will want to focus on the resumption of the IWT and the status of Indian-administered Kashmir. The last time both countries engaged in substantive peace talks was the Composite Dialogue process that came to a halt following the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008.
In the absence of political dialogue, it is not a question of if but when hostilities resume. New Delhi has stated that it will consider another attack like Pahalgam an act of war, while Islamabad has said the same with respect to any violation of the IWT.
The phrase that pays here is: In the absence of political dialogue. The highlight is mine. Sending tweets about ceasefires you think you've secured is a lovely thought, but In the absence of political dialogue, it's not a real ceasefire. It's wishful thinking.
Back to Israel and Iran. AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME: I have yet to see any news bulletin from either Israel or Iran stating they have accepted a ceasefire agreement from President Felon. That statement may be forthcoming, but right now, at this moment, it sounds like a con. He’s hoping he can bully them into some kind of discussion via social media.
I just checked again. As of 8:58 PM E.T., no confirmation has been received from either government.
Never mind the congressional or constitutional issues here. I already heard one Democrat congressman say that the US sortie into Iran was the fault of AIPC....loosely translated: it's the Jews' fault. Like a said a few episodes ago, all he is doing is putting a bigger target on our backs as he pretends to be our friend. And he is still vying for the Nobel Peace Prize. President Felon is nothing more than an oversized playground bully compensating for his lack of...well, you know...playground equipment by manipulating the games, the systems, and ultimately the players. Enough about this troll of a human...for the moment anyway.
Meanwhile, whilst doing my research about the attacks and reprisals, I kept hearing the phrase surgical strike. It reminded me of a similar line my favorite movie, THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT. After an incident with Libya that requires a military response, President Shepard says:
Someday someone's going to have to explain to me the virtue of a proportional response.
That line reminded me of surgical strike, so I looked it up and found it's actually from a piece of satire by Richard Barnet, published in HARPER'S Magazine back in November of 1971 which happens to be during the Vietnam War. Lo and behold, Niall Ferguson and I clearly operate on the same check-it-out school of writing, because he wrote about that phrase just today in a piece for Free Press called What Comes After Trump's 'Surgical Strikes'?
Ironically, as Richard Nixon’s former speechwriter William Safire pointed out nearly 40 years ago, the term surgical strike originated as left-wing satire. The first use of the phrase, according to Safire, was in an article by Richard Barnet in Harper’sMagazine in November 1971. “Even [in] the language of the bureaucracy,” Barnet wrote, “the ‘surgical strike’ for chasing and mowing down peasants from the air by spraying them with 8,000 bullets a minute—takes the mystery, awe, and pain out of violence.”
Safire
You can read the whole article from the NY Times here: Safire on Language: Surgical Strike. I think it's worth reading. BTW, Safire's On Language was one of my favorite columns in the Times, and one I almost always talked about with my dad. I loved their love of language; it was simply grand.
Meanwhile, back on the tundra....
This assassin Vance Boelter guy was really prepared for the apocalypse, The cops picked up his wife with the kids, a sack of cash, passports, and other accouterments for blowing this pop stand. They called him a prepper: he was preparing for this for a long time. According to Minnesota Public Radio, they found the following stuff on or near his Green Isle property:
4 dozen guns
5 body bags
Another Ford Explorer made to look like a police
vehicle
3 AK-47 rifles
Dozens of boxes of ammunition
$17,940 in cash
Lots of spent cartridges and casings
And just for good measure: Investigators recovered a Beretta
handgun from the backyard of a home on the west side of the golf course. In the
woods between an adjacent home and the Shingle Creek Regional Trail, police
found a partially-loaded magazine, the flesh-colored silicone mask that Boelter
was allegedly seen wearing in surveillance video, as well as a wig.
The feds are now running the show on the trial et al. I understand how that's gonna go down. But honestly, I am worried that if it's a federal conviction, President Felon will issue a pardon because Hortman and Hoffman are Democratic legislators. He's already called our governor vile names, and some of his cronies have intimated that Governor Walz set up the hit to "send a message." Really? . If you love conspiracies, you'll love this in the Minnesota Reformer.
Some weeks, I really have to scrape to find something to write about. This is not one of those weeks. As such, I must start with the assassination of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the attempted assassination of State Senator John Hoffman, his wife, and daughter, and the other Minnesota state legislators who did not answer the door when Vance Boelter knocked.
I'm not gonna write much about this assassin, but I will point you to a profile post on the Minnesota Public Radio website. One piece of that profile was worth posting here:
Friends told the AP that they knew Boelter was religious and conservative, but that he didn't talk about politics often and didn't seem extreme.
"He was right-leaning politically but never fanatical, from what I saw, just strong beliefs,” said Paul Schroeder, who has known Boelter for years.
Every time there was a serial killer, Ziggy maintained the same thing was said about each one:
He sure seemed like a nice guy. Always polite, always kept to himself.
This Boelter guy also served as a pastor while on a mission to Congo. Clearly, he was a man of deep rooted Christian faith who viewed it as some kind of mission to murder people. One might think that's the opposite of what Christians are supposed to do, but who am I to say what is and is not Christian values? I mean, if you listen to the MAGA right, adultery is also okay. Stiffing one's workers, jailing US citizens, and denying medical care to the poor and the marginalized (like women) is okay, too. Be that as it may, Boelter's actions are not all that strange; in fact, one might say that they are an offshoot of MAGA philosophy.
One might also suspect if the decision is made to charge him with federal crimes, President Felon will simply wave his magic winkie and pardon the guy. This concern is not unfounded. For the record, this is from an interview on Sunday with ABC News reporter Rachel Scott asking if he called Governor Walz after the assassination s, the MAGGot-in-Chief replied:
Well, it's a terrible thing. I think he's a terrible governor. I think he's a grossly incompetent person. But I may, I may call him, I may call other people too," the president told Scott.
And this is the leader of We, the People? I am disgusted to the max.
To his credit, Vice President Bedbug called our Governor.
So, here's the thing....I keep turning President Felon's statement over and over and I begin to wonder who on his staff knew this was in the works? The preparations Boelter made, the lists, the documentation, all point to a carefully constructed plan. Could he have done that without assistance? After he ran from the Hortman home, he texted his family, and then his wife around 6:20 a.m. According to the report on CBS News:
"Dad went to war last night ... I don't want to say more because I don't want to implicate anybody." He also allegedly sent a separate text to his wife: "Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation ... there's gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don't want you guys around."
She was apprehended with $10,000 in cash, passports, guns, ammo, and the kids. Did she know what was going down? Hard to tell from this.
Is there a conspiracy theory in there someplace? Ja, sure, you betcha! GOP Senator Mike Lee of Utah posted: “This is what happens When Marxists don’t get their way,”Really? How did someone that stupid get to be a Senator? [Don't answer that!]
If there are heroes in this story, it's Yvette Hoffman who shielded her daughter from the bullets with her own body, and the yet-unnamed police officer who decided to go to Hortmans' home.
Minnesotans are in shock. No one can grok the idea that it happened here. Not in our purple, mild-mannered state.
Remember all those Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland movies that basically said "Let's have a show in the barn!" and then it was like a Broadway production with sets, lights, and sparkly costumes. He claimed 250,000 people came, but them stands were awfully empty and there was lots of grassy space available for lawn chairs. Besides, everyone looked painfully bored.
What he imagined versus What he got
I would like to say I feel sorry for the guy, but I don't. Over the weekend, a financial disclosure for President Felon was released. In 2024, he reported over $600 million in income from his holdings, including the crypto sold prior to his taking office. You can read it in Reuter's report. I'm left wondering if he paid any tax on that income, or if it offset his usually monumental business losses. No matter how you look at it, the Grifter-in-Chief makes money off the presidency. When are the red states gonna understand their lives are burning while this asshole fiddles?
Despite a price tag upwards of $45 million, the crowd size, like the size of his winkie, could not compare with the estimated 5 million protesters who marched in over 2000 planned...and spontaneous NO KINGS demonstrations across the nation. Even the fake news about riots in LA could not dampen the significance of the day. As a matter of fact, there were NO riots. In a strange twist of reality, President Felon attended an understudy performance of Les Mis, and thought they were singing about him...in a good way.
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again
Maybe he'll rethink that after this weekend...but I highly doubt it. It would not be the narcissistic thing to do.
Meanwhile, back in the Middle East.....
I won't write about the American friends and family who are in Israel for the foreseeable future because Ben Gurion is closed....or the friends who are stranded in the US, Greece, and other less than exotic locales while trying to get home to Israel. This is all stuff you already know happens. Nor will I write about bomb shelters, direct hits in Bat Yam or Tel Aviv because you already know about that, too. and there is nothing I can add that can comfort anyone.
But I will write about what I think about Israel taking an active position on Iran. And as unpopular an opinion that it will be in some quarters....too bad.
I think Israel did the one thing the rest of the world was afraid to do: take out Iran's nuclear capabilities.
Here's the reality: Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea have a long history of proliferation. Russia's war with Ukraine is internationally viewed as illegal and without foundation. Iran, on the other hand, sits in its desert and utilized proxies to wage war against Israel. No one else. Just the Jews. Iran is the established income source for Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen. They serve as proxy armies for Iran's terror network.
In the past, Iran has continued munitions development despite their insistence that they are not building nuclear warheads. Are the others members of the so-called Axis of Resistance aiding them in their quest? Possibly. This is pretty scary stuff. If Iran can finally produce a deliverable nuclear warhead, are they crazy enough to deploy it in battle?
WASHINGTON — Today, in light of intensified terrorist activity in the Middle East, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an Advisory to assist financial institutions in detecting potentially illicit transactions related to Islamic Republic of Iran-backed terrorist organizations. The Advisory highlights the means by which certain terrorist organizations receive support from Iran and describes several typologies these terrorist organizations use to illicitly access or circumvent the international financial system to raise, move, and spend funds. It also provides red flags that may assist financial institutions in identifying related suspicious activity.
“Terrorist organizations and activity supported by and aligned with Iran should not benefit from access to the U.S. or international financial systems,” said FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki. “As we witness continuing instability and violence in the Middle East, we are issuing this Advisory to help financial institutions protect the financial system from abuse by terrorists and to encourage financial institutions to stay vigilant in identifying and reporting related suspicious activity.”
“Iran continues to explore new ways to fund its dangerous and destabilizing activities, including the proliferation of dangerous weapons, malicious cyber activities, and financing of terrorist proxies in the region,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “As the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence marks its twentieth anniversary, we reaffirm our commitment to constrain the ability of Iran and its terrorist proxies to exploit the international financial system.”
Recent events have underscored Iran’s involvement in and financing of terrorist activity in the region. Iran seeks, among other goals, to project power by exporting terrorism throughout the Middle East and beyond by financing a range of regional armed groups, some of which are U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations or Specially Designated Global Terrorist organizations. These terrorist organizations include Lebanese Hizballah, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Houthis, and several Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq and Syria.
While everyone is running about dealing with the Three H's, Iran has not been idle. They are stocking up enriched uranium. Fodow, one of their most important facilities, is buried about 300' beneath a mountain near Qom. Israel doesn't have a bomb heavy enough to destroy it, but the US has a "bunker buster" that should do the job. Will they give it to Israel? Hard to say.
President Felon claims he's been negotiating with the Iranians, but I am skeptical. According to ABC News, he attempted to reach out to the Supreme Leader through the Japanese Prime Minister:
This isn't the first time Trump has sent a message to Khamenei. In 2019, with the help of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, he sent a similar message, but the Iranian leader publicly rejected that offer to talk.
Khamenei reportedly said at the time, "I do not consider Trump as a person worth exchanging any message with."
I'm not certain anything has changed in anyone's perception of the felon's ability to negotiate a real deal on any level. If you really want to dig into understanding Iran's nuclear program, here's something you should read. IRAN WATCH: Tracking Iran's Unconventional Weapons Capabilities. If this doesn't scare you....
Obviously, I am not a Middle East expert, nor do I play one on TV. What I am is in need of a good education on Iran and its intentions...even beyond nuclear proliferation. I am long skeptical of Shi'ite Islam since the fall of the American Embassy and the taking of hostages. I don't trust anyone who says there is only one path to G-d and it's theirs. That included Hasids, Evangelicals, Christians of many stripes, Muslims, Hindus, or Pastafarians. Doesn't matter. No one gets to tell anyone else what to believe....or even how. Unless you're sacrificing children....that stops right away.
I am not making light of this. I am deadly serious when I say I need to understand in more depth what is happening, and I suspect most of us need to get away from the media bubble. I cannot stand listening to the half-baked opinions on CNN or MS-NBC. Near as I can tell, they know nothing of substance.
The FREE PRESS's reporter Tanya Lukuanov did an interesting video asking people in Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon what they think of Israel's bombing of Iran. I'm sure it's cherry-picked, but it it's even a bit true, maybe there is a sliver of hope. Unfortunately, the video has a pay wall, but you can see the beginning. Below is a sample of what was said.
In Gaza, where Iran’s terror proxy Hamas sparked the ongoing war with the October 7 attacks, the anger toward Tehran and its allies was visceral.
“Have you seen what has happened in Gaza?” one man asked bitterly. “All of it is because of Iran.”
Another put it simply: “I can’t feed my daughters. And why? Because of the Axis of Resistance.”
In Lebanon, still reeling from monthslong clashes between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, most residents we interviewed wanted nothing to do with further escalation. “At this point? No,” one man said, when asked if Hezbollah should reenter the war against Israel.
“We used to expect a much stronger response from them,” another man agreed. “Now, for sure, they’ve been weakened.”
The most forceful condemnation of Tehran, though, came from Syria, where Iran-backed forces helped prop up Bashar al-Assad and participated in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of civilians during more than a decade of a brutal civil war.
“Praise be to God, we hope this gangster regime ends and disappears completely,” one Syrian told us. “We have suffered deeply at their hands.”
“All of Syria’s suffering stems from Iran,” another man agreed. “The entire Syrian people are happy—and I’m celebrating with them. If Israel wants to bomb Iran for another 100 years—we’ll cheer.”
Their mouths to G-d's ear.
The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week
Not sure who/what to believe anymore?
Google can still be your best friend if you ignore AI reponses.
Last week was a disaster in the making. The short version begins when I had Bialy overnight, and on our first walk, she lunged and I didn't. Face plant thankfully in the grass. But once again, I bruised my torso and within 48 hours, I could not bend over which was a problem because Bialy was coming to stay for a week while Junior Son and family went on vacay. I could not pick up poop. So I did the least expected thing on the planet....I called Senior Son. Since he was already scheduled to come in for a gig at the end o'the week, I invited him to come here and work from my dining room. He was so shocked that The Iron Lady admitted she needed help, he came in on Friday and thank G-d he did. By Monday, I was felled by a good, old fashioned cold. I went down with a thud. Hence the 2-word blog. You're lucky you got that much
Bialy is old. About 98 in dog years. She's got arthritis. She's got kidney issues. She's skinny as a rail despite eating lots and lots of healthy, good things. She gets cold. She likes to snuggle up at night, preferably under a blanket glued to whomever is in the bed. And when she runs in her sleep, it's like have your own massage chair. Then, to add insult to injury, she dumped me for Senior Son. I suppose that was okay since he was the one walking her every hour. Over all, we had a good time. I am one lucky mam; that's a fer sure.
Now, if you were wondering about why I told you all to watch Iran last week, it wasn't because the US freed up some of the cash we're holding. Nah, I meant Hezbollah's increasing attacks on the northern border. Like Hamas, Hezbollah bows to its Iranian masters because they are the backers and the bankers. Iran supplies arms and cash to various Islamist groups. State sponsored terrorism at its finest.
Iran has been supporting a terrorist network for years. Hamas is only one group. Iran also actively supports Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Iran's relationship with Hamas continues to evolve, and it's hard to tell what the real end game is. That said, they also support Hezbollah in Lebanon, Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, the Houtis in Yemen. The AJC posted a pretty complete list back in January. Go take a look if you think Gaza is the only place these Islamic Jihadists have a toe-hold. The network is extensively scary.
The Alma Research and Education Center, an institute located two miles from the Lebanese border focused on the security challenges along Israel’s northern front has obtained a Hezbollah video in which the terrorist group laid out an almost identical plan to the one carried out on Oct. 7 by Hamas: a rocket barrage followed by a ground invasion into Israeli towns and villages.
“All we have to do is listen to their own words, what they’re saying in Arabic, and cross it with their capabilities,” Alma Center founder Lt. Col. (res.) Sarit Zehavi told JNS.
Last week, another network was in the news: ISIS. In this case, ISIS-K took credit for the Moscow theater bombing. NPR had a pretty good article about Moscow, ISIS-K, and where it falls in the terror networking scheme:
Despite military and territorial setbacks, ISIS-K has been expanding its ambitions and operations, experts told NPR.
"There have been reports of active and foiled ISIS-K plots in Europe," Mir said. "[The organization] really has a global mission of going after all entities that it considers as being opposed to its brand of Islamism."
"Most of its attacks until recently were largely confined to Afghanistan and Pakistan, but it carried out a major attack in Iran earlier this year that was incredibly devastating," Byman said.
Why Moscow? ISIS-K is still made about the Russian occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and then Putin's support of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Talk about holding a grudge. These guys hate everyone who doesn't align themselves with their version of world order. These are not guys without big dreams. Many believe in worldwide domination of Islam. The mission statements vary from group to group, but the reestablishment of an Islamic empire permeates them all. The violence will not end in the Middle East...Moscow illustrated that. So don't keep fooling yourself that this is about just Israel. Nor is it about Zionist or Zionism. It's about eradicating Jews from their homeland first, then the planet.
And I keep wondering how these guys are fundamentally different from the MAGA crowd...the ones who wanna curtail civil rights, make this is Christian country, convert all the non-Christians, and who just haven't taken up arms....yet.
Why do I say yet ? Because according to Feckless Loser, if he loses this election, there will be a bloodbath. Yup. He said it at a rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16th. Here's the quote:
“If you’re listening, President Xi — and you and I are friends — but he understands the way I deal. Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now … you’re going to not hire Americans and you’re going to sell the cars to us, no. We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected...Now if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s gonna be the least of it...It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars. They’re building massive factories.”
And if that was no bad enough, he added:
“If this election isn’t won, I’m not sure that you’ll ever have another election in this country.”
When you say stuff like that, people believe you. Just like they believed January 6th was a call to arms.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch....
No blog episode next week. I will be speaking on my favorite topic, THE POMEGRANATE in Connecticut on Monday night, so writing isn't gonna happen. If you happen to be in the vicinity of Hartford...specifically Manchester, I'll guest author, live and in person, for the Sandals Lecture at Beth Sholom B'nai Israel. It'll be a good time. I promise.
