I have never seen a politician more directly copy this speech in my life
— Micah (@rincewind.run) March 1, 2026 at 5:13 PM
Seems like the emerging policy is: you people out there are responsible for setting up your own governments, but if the US doesn’t like who ends up in charge we’ll just assassinate or kidnap them and then the ball is back in your court.
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw.bsky.social) March 1, 2026 at 10:48 AM
…But also we’re not going to bother with actually defeating the repressive forces of the authoritarian regimes or securing their most advanced weaponry against misuse. That’d be too much like work. It’s decapitation attacks all the way down.
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw.bsky.social) March 1, 2026 at 10:51 AM
again, there is no strategy or coherent theory of victory here, it is literally bomb stuff — ??? — regime change
WH: DO STUFF IN IRAN
OSD: BOSS WANTS STUFF DONE IN IRAN, ALSO NO TROOPS
CENTCOM: I mean, we can absolutely bomb stuff, hell we'd bomb Iran for free. Jimbo you got them target decks?— Mike Black (@mikeblack114.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 3:02 PM
Caine: got that Iran stuff planned just like ya asked boss, although I'm not su–
WH: yeah sure cool whatever, make sure there's lots of sizzle reel footage for the poasts, okay nap time
This is a 100% accurate description of what went down here— Mike Black (@mikeblack114.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 3:02 PM
@slyngstad.bsky.social
Punctuation matters 😒— Xela Hart (@xelahart.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 10:37 AM
On Iran, Ted Cruz tells CBS/FTN: “I don't have present day intelligence on what progress they had made towards rebuilding nuclear weapons since we bombed their facilities. I have no indication that that they were anywhere close to getting nuclear weapons because our bombing was devastating.”
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) March 1, 2026 at 7:31 PM
the reason they haven't shared a justification or a strategy is because there *is* no justification or strategy, but i guess it's kind of noteworthy that even an outlet like politico is starting to be like, "you really can't give us *anything* to run with here?"
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) March 1, 2026 at 4:37 PM
when i say “the american public”, this includes every republican member of congress, many of whom have to run for re-election this year
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) March 1, 2026 at 7:40 PM
not a misfire, American officials are apparently known to stay here
— the abbot of unreason (an archaeologist) (@merovingians.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Warmongers always talk about cutting off the head of a snake, but an authoritarian regime is a snake PIT, not a snake. There’s probably dozens of would-be ayatollahs who are ecstatic today and plotting their rise.
— Eric Flynt (@eflynt.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 5:29 PM
The Supreme Leader insisted on not taking special security measures even though he knew the attacks were about to start and was killed in his home. He wanted to die this way.
The concept of martyrdom is an extremely potent, galvanizing force in Shia and Iranian culture.— Ali Ahmadi (@aliahmadi.bsky.social) March 1, 2026 at 5:42 AM
literally just this fucking tweet from 2011
— violentlycar (@violentlycar.bsky.social) March 1, 2026 at 5:56 PM
👆🏽👆🏽👆🏽
— GenXer-71 (@genxer-71.bsky.social) March 1, 2026 at 12:12 PM
I don’t think this registers as hypocritical to them. “War” is something that the libs and neocons do with soldiers who die because they aren’t as cruel as they are. War’s for suckers who don’t have the stomach to rain death until the enemy surrenders. This isn’t war to them, it’s projecting force.
— Cooper Lund (@cooperlund.online) February 28, 2026 at 8:39 AM
Medium Cool – Classics!
Socolofi
To paraphrase,
”The chaos is the point.”
or from another great movie:
”Plan? There ain’t no plan!”
This is just beating up Iran because Trump and co, after the last tussle where they shot down nearly all of Iran’s drones, have decided Iran is a paper tiger and needs to be put in their place as a lesson to the others.
Iran seems to be hitting back harder this time but from what I can tell it’s still pretty one sided here.
Victory declared in a few days, Iran can pick up the pieces.
Matt McIrvin
those redacted bits of the Epstein files must be pretty bad
dmsilev
It’s going to be ‘fun’ watching him try to justify this. Especially once the spike in oil futures pricing show up at the local gas pump. Gee, if only a non-moron President had backed policies reducing gas usage.
Another Scott
Let me see how this Conspiracy Hat fits for a moment.
(Of course, the IDF closed the Rafah crossing into Gaza again…)
True, false, incomplete, category error? Dunno. No idea, really.
I do think, though, that it will be a good day when we know longer have to seriously consider whether the US President is running things to enrich himself…
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Martin
Undergraduate lecture from 2 years ago walking us through this moment.
There’s a bunch of 19 year olds that can walk through this better than our national leaders.
Scout211
I watched the video of Trump’s speech on Aaron Rupar’s bluesky embed above. I’m blown away and truly sickened by just how awful it sounded. He has no ability to sound concerned, sincere or even as though he understands the words that were written for him. If he’s not ranting and raving in a speech full of lies, he is completely lost and can’t even pretend to care about the troops who have died, and those troops who might die. Grrrr!
ETA: his tells: when he talks as though his mouth is too big for his face and when he sways and twists back and forth like a nervous child. This is not a speech he wanted to give
They Call Me Noni
I want McConnell and Trump to be locked in the same cinder block cell with no furniture or toilet and fed rancid food and sewer water. No sunlight, one bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. No one checks on them for several months until they’re just greasy spots on the concrete floor.
Matt McIrvin
@Scout211: We know the thing he loathes and avoids above all other of the standard presidential actions is to show up in the presence of a flag-draped casket.
Can’t contaminate his beautiful self by the presence of those losers he ordered to their deaths.
different-church-lady
We might be leaving sociopath behind and moving into psychopath.Retracted: I guess I didn’t really know the difference until I double-checked just now…
coin operated
@Another Scott: I think that hat is slightly adjustable but fits just fine!
Bill Arnold
@They Call Me Noni:
An oubliette.
Amy!
But, guys, OPSEC IS CLEAN!
DOW 50,000!
Hey, while we’re there (are we there, though, really?), can we take their oil? Like we did in Venezuala, and didn’t do in Iraq! Umm. So, right, no boots. Okay, what if we use the big bombs and drop them on the wells, so, like the oil bounces out?
USA! USA!
Who’s got the record player? Put that one on that I like, you know, about big strong guys, with tears in their eyes, working out.
different-church-lady
Israel now bombing Lebanon.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Bill Arnold:
ETA, re. Trump and McConnell. If only we could. Sigh
Jay
Israel, at least, has started bombing the Police Stations today.
Suzanne
@different-church-lady: None of this makes any sense at all.
I’m sure someone will come along to tell me that bombing Iran is in fact good and Israel bombing Lebanon is in fact good.
kindness
This just started Friday late night. There is a portion of America that doesn’t even know this is happening yet and won’t find out till tomorrow when their co-workers tell them. Those Americans don’t care about anything outside their worlds so if it’s just a TV war, they won’t care. If prices go up or stuff becomes scarce then they care. If Iran sinks an aircraft carrier then they might care.
And for those of us who do care, well, we aren’t in power right now. Our job is to get into power (quiet part – and save the Republic). Elect more Democrats at every level.
prostratedragon
@different-church-lady:
Chetan R Murthy
@Martin: thank you for this, Martin. I’m halfway thru, and …. the Prof, he’s assuming a level of thought and care and thoroughness on the part of Trump and his minions that is -entirely- unwarranted. He’s basically assuming that Trump II will be like Dubya.
What I mean to say is, the reality is so much worse, sooo much worse, than his posited scenario, that it just -screams-! I don’t mean this as a ….. dismissal of this professor’s lecture, quite to the contrary! The gap between his scenario and our reality makes our reality look so much worse. So. Much. Worse.
mappy!
A run for the Noble War Prize?
Fair Economist
I am wondering about that Dubai skyscraper strike in this age of AI. That appeared to take out 10 floors or so and should be major intermational news capable of leaking through even the Republican controlled MSM news blackout on bad consequences of Trump’s war.
Jay
@Fair Economist:
According to OSINT Technical, on close analysis, the drone was taken out by A/D just before impact, but the debris started a facia fire.
The targeted floor is where Witcoff, Jared and their teams stay when they are “conducting Diplomacy” despite not being Diplomats, just DJTidiot’s BagMen.
Martin
@Chetan R Murthy: The thing to keep in mind is that this is an undergraduate level lecture. This is not some uniquely gifted observation. This is well and widely understood. This is the sort of thing that we should expect anyone running for federal office to understand.
Martin
@Fair Economist: Apparently the strike wasn’t an attempt to hit the Burj – that hotel is widely known to be where US contractors, etc. stay.
prostratedragon
Chetan R Murthy
@Martin: He adduces the example of the war in Ukraine, but interestingly, he thinks that it’s Ukraine that has made the mistake, instead of Putin. Which ….. is an interesting way of thinking.
Gloria DryGarden
“Sadly some people will die”
response, “oh, did you have anyone particular in mind?”
coin operated
@Martin: Damn…that tracks
Geminid
And in the silver lining department, from Turkish account “Lt. Colonel Temmuz”:
Temmuz also reposted this report from the Turkish site “Conflict”:
TS
@prostratedragon:
No idea why they do it – trump will turn on them in a second. Does Starmer really think trump will come to the aid of Britain – in his dream.
Same in Australia – the PM announced support for trump, most of the country could not believe what they heard.
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: I’ve read that the AWS data center was hit by debris from an intercepted missile, which started a fire, & was not specifically targeted by Iran. But, Iran could choose to target the data centers, especially the ones being built as part of Project Stargate, at any time.
Chetan R Murthy
@Martin: Mmm ….. I started watching the next lecture (Putin & Russia) and ….. I have to say, I was dismayed.
That said, his analysis of the US and the possibility that they’re looking at a quagmire in Iran was pretty reasonable.
YY_Sima Qian
@prostratedragon:
@TS:
The narrow justification is that Iran escalated disproportionally by attacking not just the US bases in the Gulf Coast Council states, but civilian infrastructure (& potentially oil infrastructure). The UK is now assisting its security partners in the GCC to fend off such attacks. Perfectly justifiable, but also misses the forest for the trees (par for the course for Starmer & apparently Merz, Macron & Albanese).
Significantly degrading Iranian capabilities in SRBMs & drones is a monumental task even for the US & Israel, the UK would not bring much capability here. OTOH, signing up for this open ended task ties the UK to the reckless ride that Bibi & Trump have kicked off, w/ no ability (& not much intent) to influence the events, & only serves to legitimize & encourage Bibi & Trump to continue to be reckless in the future.
Who is going to suffer the most from spiking oil prices at the result of the ill considered & patently illegal war on Iran? Why, Europe (& Japan, South Korea, Taiwan), of course! The US is energy independent through shale oil & gas, though high oil prices will do the economy no favors. Rising oil prices helps Russian finances. The PRC has built up substantial reserves, can access Russian supply, & when push comes to shove there are plentiful of electrified public alternatives to passenger transportation, which in any case are electrifying rapidly (even light & heavy duty trucks).
Martin
@Chetan R Murthy: IIRC, he said that Ukraine initially pushed and overextended its own forces relative to what Russia had already massed, and then Ukraine was able to organize a counteroffensive. He wasn’t saying that Ukraine made a moral mistake, he was arguing that Ukraine should have stretched Russias lines by giving land helping them to even up the manpower mismatch. What hadn’t happened yet was the rise of FPV drones which has balanced the war. Russia lost most of their troops after this was recorded, and the drones were the catalyst there, as I understand it.
YY_Sima Qian
When you’ve lost John f*cking Bolton on the subject of attacking Iran & toppling the Islamist regime:
It’s an upside down world we live in…
Chetan R Murthy
@Martin: Sadly, it got worse the longer he went on.
(1) as you say, he believes that Ukraine should have yielded territory to stretch RU supply lines, then encircled to cut them. But this assumes that maneuver warfare works, and the evidence from even early in the invasion is that it didn’t
(2) but he also argued that RU was able to build fortifications in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, and that UA’s counteroffensive shattered on those fortifications — he’s pretty derisive towards that counteroffensive
(3) In May 2024 he argues that NATO will join the war on UA’s side. Which …. well, 2yr later and we can see the evidence of that
(4) Again in May 2024, his arguments about the average age of UA soldiers …. ignores that UA specifically exempted younger men b/c they wanted to preserve their youngest generation. Which, sure, is slowly changing, but that age was not evidence that UA was running out of manpower. Yes, UA has manpower problems, even so.
(5) He argues that Putin has -won- the war in Ukraine. And in his next lecture about Putin&Russia, he makes the same point.
(6) In his next lecture, he talks about RU attacking Moldova and the Baltics next. What he seems to be missing (or obtusely avoiding) is that RU wants to regain all its territories (and Putin has been clear about this).
(7) In his next lecture, he wants to argue that Putin wants to use the war to reshape RU society, and his metaphor is that if you’re fat and you want to get trim, you need to work out, and Putin wants to make RU society trim by sending it to war. Which …. my mind boggled that somebody who purports to understand international relations can say such a thing. I mean …. insane.
Ah well. It’s OK, he’s just a guy.
YY_Sima Qian
Maybe the Middle East is being roiled because Jared Kushner & Steve Witkoff are too ignorant & in way over their heads negotiating w/ Iran:
&/or Trump is to easily manipulated by Bibi.
TL;DR:
Timill
@YY_Sima Qian:
See also “land war in Asia”.
Jay
@TS:
British Airbase on Cyprus was struck earlier today, and there were multiple drones targeting the airbase and shipping around Cyprus.
So, this is in response to that.
In addition, the UK and Bahrain have a Security Agreement, so UK Typhoon’s are flying CAP over Bahrain and have downed some Iranian drones and missiles.
Like with Diego Garcia, the RAF is not taking part in the strikes, but just allowing the US to use their bases.
Kinda like how Belarus “allowed” ruZZia to invade Ukraine through Belarus.
YY_Sima Qian
Well, Reza Pahlavi knows how to talk to Trump (game recognizes game, I guess), but also disqualifying for a prospective leader of Iran:
prostratedragon
@YY_Sima Qian: Queue Grace Jones.
They Call Me Noni
@Bill Arnold: Fabulous. Even better.
YY_Sima Qian
It seems the Trump team failed to consider the most predictable factors before kicking off this reckless adventure, issues widely discussed in media & think tanks since the 12 Days War:
YY_Sima Qian
This reporting seems to clash with/ the claims that MBS had lobbied Trump to go ahead w/ attacks on Iran in the prior weeks:
Of course, MBS & MBZ are duplicitous actors. Maybe they are pushing this narrative now in hopes of limiting Iranian attacks on the civilian infrastructure of the GCC states, or this is to prepare a GCC effort to push Trump to end the war.
cain
@YY_Sima Qian: Hegseth is madly prompting chatgpt on what to do next.
Jay
@cain:
So far, SnapChatGPT is responding with two replies:
YY_Sima Qian
@cain: I don’t now whether to laugh or cry:
Paul in KY
@Another Scott: That would be any day that ends in ‘y’.