THURSDAY - WE'RE ALMOST THERE

The World’s Two Leading War Criminals

The War of Trump’s Stoopidity is a fiasco at best and a defeat at worst. Undertaken without adequate planning by a president deaf to the advice of experts, there is no meaningful measure by which it can be categorized asthan a national disaster.

In his midweek update email, Dr. Phillips O’Brien said that the Trump-Netanyahu coalition have put themselves in a position where their two options are to quit and accept defeat, or to double down and escalate.Since we all know those two, it’s no surprise they took Door #2. Day 19 was the day this war stopped being mainly a campaign against Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure and became a direct assault on the economic plumbing of the region, and the world. Israel’s strike on Iran’s South Pars gas field - the world’s largest gas field - triggered Iranian retaliation against Gulf energy facilities, including Qatar’s Ras Laffan complex, the largest LNG hub on earth. That is not just escalation. It is a shift in the character of the war from attrition against Iran to attacks on the energy system that underwrites the global economy. Brent crude briefly above $119 a barrel before settling lower; European gas prices jumped sharply. Ras Laffan is not some peripheral site: damage there hits a hub tied to roughly 20% of global LNG supply. What makes Day 19 especially revealing is the political scramble around responsibility. Trump publicly said Israel struck South Pars “without” U.S. or Qatari involvement and warned Iran not to hit Qatar again, threatening overwhelming U.S. retaliation if it did. But press repots point to prior U.S. knowledge and support for the South Pars strike. That contradiction matters because it shows Washington trying to walk away from an escalation it appears to have helped green-light, after discovering that Iran would answer not only in Israel but across the Gulf energy map. Trump continues to fuck up.

In light of the above, why am I unsurprised that a D congressman who has been present at Pete Hegseth’s classified congressional briefings on the Iran war says the defense secretary can barely get past the script. James Walkinshaw, serves on the Military and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said he has seen Hegseth in classified sessions and comes away “embarrassed for him.” He said: “I see Pete Hegseth in classified briefings and I am embarrassed for him. He can do nothing beyond read the script that’s given him. He can’t answer detailed questions. He doesn’t understand the strategy, not that there is one, he doesn’t understand the tactical or operational questions. He is in way the hell over his head.” Hegseth’s “briefing” Thursday was classic SECDRUNK: limited to ad hominem attacks of the press for telling the truth and blathering bullshit about his wonderful “warriors,” with no mention of actual events. He’s the best explanation I’ve ever seen for why fragging exists. Which it’s too bad he wasn’t.

At that ‘briefing”, SECDRUNK chattered on about how US airpower is decisive and claimed that Iran’s air defenses have been “flattened.” Yesterday, an F-35 “Flying Swiss Army Knife” was shot up by Iranian AAA defenses badly enough that the wounded pilot had to make an emergency landing. Looks like the Israeli Luftwaffe. But the world’s best Luftwaffe has hit 7,000 targets, 40 minlaying vessels and 11 submarines. And now they nee3d only another $200 billion to finish off.

German Chancellor Friwedrich Merz is not only declining to answer Trump’s call for help in reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz, he gave a scathing view of Trump’s decision to wage war on Iran in the first place yesterday in a speech to the Reichstag: “To this day, there is no convincing plan for how this operation could succeed. Washington has not consulted us and did not say European assistance was necessary. … We would have advised against pursuing this course of action as it has been pursued.” International reticence about getting involved in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which began on Feb. 28, is not confined to Europe. Australia’s transport minister, Catherine King, has said that her nation “won’t be sending a ship to the Strait of Hormuz,” adding that it’s “not something we’ve been asked or we’re contributing to.”

Dilbert Dumbfuck continued to demonstrate what a dumbfuck he is: in a meeting this morning with the Japanese Prime Minister, Dilbert fired off... A Pearl Harbor “joke.” A reporter asked: “Mr. President, do you intend to lift sanctions on Iranian oil, and do you intend to potentially put U.S. troops or more troops in the region?” He replied: “No, I’m not putting troops anywhere,” Trump snapped. “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you. But I’m not putting troops. And we will do whatever is necessary to keep the price as well.” He then lied some more: “Everything was going great. The economy was great. Oil prices were very low. We had great everything. And I saw what was happening in Iran, and I said, I hate to make this excursion, but we’re going to have to do it. And I actually thought the numbers would be worse,” he added. “I thought that it would go up more than it did. But we’re doing this excursion. And when it’s completed, we’re going to have a much safer world.” The reporter then asked him why he didn’t inform any of our allies that he was planning to attack Iran. He replied: “One thing, you don’t want to signal too much when we go in. We went in very hard and we didn’t tell anyone about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?”

In a twist of political irony, Trump’s clashes with foreign officials have inadvertently given those leaders a new lease on political life, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. In a recent example, the Journal reported Wednesday that Trump’s push to annex Greenland may have helped Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and “probably saved her political life.” Frederiksen’s Social Democrats were facing their worst election result in over a century, polling at a dismal 21%. But when Trump reignited his Greenland annexation threats in January, that changed. The Danish PM immediately shot up 5 percentage points, transforming a political liability into a rallying cry for national unity. “She swiftly called an election, slated for next week, where she will seek a third term,” the Journal noted. The international darling who championed Ukraine aid and pushed NATO allies to strengthen their defenses suddenly became a homegrown hero. By standing firm against Trump’s bullying tactics, Frederiksen rebranded herself as a defender of Danish sovereignty rather than a struggling incumbent losing voter support. And she’s not alone. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pulled off a similar feat, securing a turnaround victory by running directly against Trump’s threats to Canadian sovereignty. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has also capitalized on anti-Trump sentiment, despite warnings of trade retaliation. “Riding the anti-Trump effect for domestic gain is becoming increasingly popular among Western leaders,” the report said. High-school teacher Sidsel Wiis said of the Danish PM: “We are a tiny country, but she is a strong leader. He can’t push her over, he can’t cut a deal with her.” Frederiksen echoed that sentiment at a town hall.

“Denmark and Greenland stood firm and refused to be blown over by the most powerful man in the world,” Frederiksen said. “We are going to need more of that in the future.”

On the Domestic Political Front:

Senate’s dumbest member “gets his”: Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) isn’t afraid of a fight, but on Wednesday his colleagues tasked with reviewing his nomination to lead tDHS didn’t pull any punches either, grilling the senator on everything from past comments about the “smell” of war to his clash with the panel’s chair. Nominees plucked from the senate often get a softer touch from their colleagues when they’re on the precipice of joining the administration, a dynamic on display when Widdle Marco was tapped for Secretary of State. Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Rand Paul quickly dispelled any doubts about whether he holds a grudge about Mullin calling him “snake” and saying he understood why Paul’s neighbor attacked him. Paul lit into Mullin almost as soon as he began speaking, and the first 15 minutes of the hearing was completely dominated by the beef between the two men. “You told the media that I was a ‘freaking snake’ and that you completely understood why I had been assaulted. I was shocked it would justify and celebrate this violent assault that caused me so much pain and my family so much pain,” Paul said in his opening remarks. “I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force. You have never had the courage to look me in the eye and tell me that the assault was justified, so today you’ll have your chance,” Paul said. He later threatened to cancel Thursday’s committee vote on the nomination if Mullin didn’t meet with senators behind closed doors. Mullin told reporters in exiting the hearing he was “excited about that part being done.” Paul, meanwhile, said he will not be backing Mullin’s nomination.

Rachel Bitecofer was right about the real reason Republicans are pushing the SAVE Act. Senator Thune - who’s now doing a good impression of a weathervane - said that Republicans will attack Democrats in the fall elections for failing to enact the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act if they don’t “get on board” with the voting reform bill. He said the legislation is a popular and straightforward safeguard against election fraud. “I think that’s a fairly simple position and one Democrats ought to eventually get on board with. But if we don’t obviously, it’s an issue we will be able to use, I think, in the fall elections,” Thune told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in an interview. Zero Democrats voted on a motion to proceed to the bill Tuesday, and one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowsk, voted against it. Mitch McConnell voted to proceed to the bill as a courtesy to Thune, but he has told colleagues privately he doesn’t support the legislation. Sen. Thom Tillis, who is retiring at the end of the year, has also expressed opposition to the measure and says provisions to restrict mail-in voting need more work. Thune’s trying hard to not get a midnight rageapost aimed at him.

The SAVE Act’s fate in the Senate is creating what one GOP Senator called “a circular firing squad”: Trump’s Senate allies are ramping up pressure on their GOP colleagues to use extraordinary tactics to pass the bill. They are saying that if Senate Republicans don’t pull out all the stops to pass the bill, they will face the wrath of MAGA voters. GOP senate critics still say the bill has no chance of passing and that threats to punish them will only crete grete harm for the [party heading into the midterms. Sen. Mike Lee’s post on X that GOP Senators who don’t support the bill be primaried has created more opposition to Lee. Trump vowed on Tuesday that he would withhold support from any Republican who opposes the bill. A GOP Senator questioned whether the Senate needs to debate the bill beyond next week when it’s highly unlikely any Democrats will vote for it and Senate Majority Leader John Thune has announced there aren’t enough GOP votes to force Democrats to wage a talking filibuster by actively holding the floor for days or weeks to oppose it.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe dodged questions about President Trump’s planning for the war with Iran and to what extent the president was briefed on the possible scenarios in the lead-up to the airstrikes against Tehran. She demonstrated how easy it is to tansfer from one cult (the one she was raised in that her father created) to another when she asserted the “only the president can determine what is of national importance”: when asked why she hadn’t flagged important items that he should have been aware of in inteligence briefings before the War of Trump’s Stoopidity. Several senators pressed both during the hearing on “Worldwide Threats” Wednesday on whether Iran posed an imminent “nuclear” threat to the U.S., one of the justifications the president referenced when asked why the decision was made to attack Iran. Sen. Jon Ossoff asked Gabbard if the assessment of the intelligence community was that there was an “imminent nuclear threat” posed by the Iranian regime. Gabbard said the assessment was that Iran “maintained the intention to rebuild and to continue to grow their nuclear enrichment capability.” When asked again, Gabbard said the only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat to the country is the president. “Here’s the problem. It is precisely your responsibility to determine what constitutes a threat to the United States,” Ossoff said.

Yesterday, Todd Blanche accused Sen. Ron Wyden of fabricating information about him blocking the release of an unclassified DEA report on Jeffrey Epstein. Wyden first flagged the report in February and sent a letter to DEA Administrator Terry Cole requesting an unredacted version, which has since been closed. The Oregon senator accused Blanche of intervening to block the DEA from releasing details about the “mysterious” Epstein investigation to the Senate Finance Committee in a Wednesday post on X. Blanche responded, writing, “HUGE: A sitting U.S. Senator has completely fabricated a story for clicks. No one is blocking anything. This DEA report is available to members of Congress unredacted in our reading room. Always has been. Of course, @RonWyden has never bothered to visit.” Wyden fired back: “Blanche and Bondi are hiding these files in a black box at the DOJ in violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. They’re not accessible to the public. DOJ is surveilling members of Congress who go to view them. This is not on the level.” He slammed Blanche for serving as Trump’s personal attorney and alleged that he helped transfer Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislane Maxwell, to a “cushy club Fed where she plays with puppies and gets special snacks. “We can’t trust him on anything related to Epstein.”

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday he would not step down as leader of the central bank until his successor is confirmed and would not leave the bank’s board of governors until Maladministration II concludes its criminal investigation. Powell confirmed he would stay on the Fed board as chair pro tempore until the Senate confirms Trump’s nominee to replace him. “I have no intention of leaving the Board until the investigation is well and truly over with transparency and finality,” Powell said Wednesday, shortly after the Fed kept rates steady.

We’re a lot closer to the Dark Age that follows Imperial Dissolution than I like to see: William Wolfe, a radical Christian pastor, gave a speech at Bethel Church in Petersburg, West Virginia, where he admitted that the aim of Christian nationalist movements is to impose their faith on everyone else, according to a report by Right Wing Watch. The outlet described Wolfe as a “fanatical anti-immigrant activist.” Wolfe previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon and as a Director of Legislative Affairs at the Department of State during the first Trump administration. Wolfe said during the speech that Christians “should not hesitate” to tell others to follow God’s laws. “And frankly, yes, we are going to impose it upon you. If you don’t like it, I’m sorry, but this is good and right and just if it lines up with God’s standards, and I am going to enforce my morality on you inasmuch as our morality is God’s morality. You should always check yourselves. Do I believe what God believes? Am I defending what God says is good? And if it is, then you should have the courage to say, ‘This is how we’re going to run our town, this is how we’re going to run our county, this is how we’re going to run our state, and this is how we should run the United States of America by legislating the morality that we can find in the Bible.’” Funny thing: these scum claim to be “Baptists”; until about 50 years ago, all Baptist churches opposed any attempt by government to take over religion. Idiots like Wolfe - going back to the Pilgrim Fathers” who were willing to run a hot poker through the tongue of anyone who opposed them - are why we have a 1st Amerndment that frees religion by creating freedom FROM religious fools like Wolfe.

“Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty, as we understand it.” - Abraham Lincoln

The ritual sacrifice/murder of the Washington Post is a stark reminder of the importance of independent journalism. No billionaires. No oligarchs. No corporate media. No dark money PACS. None of us can do it alone. You are not the crazy ones. These are truly the times that try men’s and women’s souls. This is the fight of our lifetimes, and the challenge of our generation. I realize times are getting harder, which is why some readers understandably didn’t renew their subscriptions. This past week, we lost $700 in renewals that were canceled by subscribers. There are free subscribers who read TAFM daily according to the site stats. If you folks happen to be in a position to help make up the gap, please consider joining the other paid subscribers here at That’s Another Fine Mess to keep things going. Across Substack, authors like me are losing to the Big Names who come here to say the same things they said in corporate media. We need your help! It’s only 21 cents a day. I am deeply thankful to those who have done so.

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