Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Class Warfare!

I've had a lot of interviews with national media. No one's ever asked me about the cost of housing. No one's asked me about the cost of prescription drugs. The only thing the media wants to ask me about are trans athletes.

The only minority destroying this country is the billionaires. Trans people are 1% of the population. Undocumented people are 1% of the population. We are all focused on the wrong 1%.

Trans people aren't taking away our healthcare. Undocumented people aren't defunding our schools. It's the billionaires and their puppet politicians
Except everybody is punching down.

Birds Of A Feather…

... flock together.

I never thought of “nuclear missiles” as “conventional.”
Rand Paul: "As far as the reasons for the war, there have been many different reasons floated, but none of them I think have been very convincing ... we were told their nuclear weapons were obliterated, and now we're told their nuclear weapons are just moments away from being a bomb. I don't think the arguments are valid."
The judges would also accept “The arguments are incoherent double speak and bafflegab.” And are still waiting for someone to say “we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.” Which would finally put the tail securely in the snake’s mouth. Close; but not a cigar. But this is not going to “become[] a long, protracted engagement”? 🤔 Maybe stupidity is contagious, after all.

So It’s Vietnam All Over Again?

Except McNamara wasn’t a dry drunk religious nut.* Other than that, it's like watching 60 year old re-runs. Quelle surprise.

*can I admit I want to slap those words out of his mouth? Because I do….

Somehow Lost In The Two Appearances He Made Yesterday

Let us know when he actually does something about oil prices. Or just about the Straits of Hormuz:
Clusters containing dozens of vessels each appear to signal positions in and around the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that electronic interference and GPS jamming have soared at the critical oil chokepoint that’s effectively blocked for tanker traffic for more than a week now.

At least a dozen such clusters, some of which numbering more than 200 ships in unnaturally perfect shapes, appear on vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, pointing to intensified interference with positioning signals as the war in the Middle East continues.

The GPS jamming is the latest in a series of concerns for shippers and vessel owners who have been unable to have ships cross either side of the Strait of Hormuz for more than a week, choking global oil and gas supplies and sending energy commodity prices soaring.

“Any vessel navigating the area clearly can’t rely on GPS,” Mark Douglas, a maritime-domain analyst at Starboard Maritime Intelligence, told Bloomberg.

Analysts say that both Iran and the U.S. could be using Global Navigation Satellite System or GPS jamming tools in the region.

“Due to operations security we are not going to comment on the status of specific capabilities in the region,” the U.S. Department of War told the BBC, approached to comment on the GPS jamming.

Does That Include….

...Iranians and Lebanese and the 175 schoolchildren, as well as victims of Iranian bombings in countries in the region with U.S. military bases?

Or is he declaring Israel the 51st state?

There is a madness here that is absolutely antithetical to American interests, and absolutely the product of a standing military force and the military-industrial complex. And then there’s saying it as loudly and bluntly as possible. Which seems to be the consequence of old men in power.

The Song Remains The Same

A/k/a “blunt denial of reality." And then there’s Lindsay, who seems to imagine he’s God Emperor of America. See? And apparently he’s married to Israel? 

In my childhood we called it “megalomania.” The terms have changed, but the meaning remains the same.

Monday, March 09, 2026

The Clueless President

1) take over the country!
2) eliminate the government?
3) destroy their military capacity?
4) Pick the government leader?
5) break up Iran into smaller countries?
6) lower gas prices?
6) make the world safe for democracy?
Probably four. Who knows? Didn’t he say this about the bomb run last year?
Trump on Iran’s Leadership: We want to be involved. We don't want another president who wouldn't be willing to do what I'm willing to do for the good of our world and nation to be stuck with this situation 5 or 10 years from now. We think they should put a president in ahead of the country that's going to be able to do something peacefully for a change.
Says the guy who then said this: The mere presence of battle shutdown the Straits. It scared the insurance underwriters. Maybe if you left Iran alone…. Uh-huh. He doesn’t understand how the global oil market works, does he? Not the first clue. Told you. A missile wearing a disguise. Didn’t he just say he’s taken out the government leaders three times? That’s about 20 days of Texas oil production. Annual production in the Permian Basin alone is about 2 billion barrels annually. And that’s only 45% of American oil production. 

100 million barrels is literally a drop in the bucket.

Literally no clue at all.

Who’s Gonna Tell Lindsay?

I thought you were going to decide that.

“Short term,” but “we will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated”? Does this idiot have any idea what he’s saying? 
"Unconditional surrender.” He’s working on his victory speech. “We did,” no, wait, not past tense! Not yet! Yeah, Dover. Why is that, d’ya think? Almost there.... ...almost. A campaign ad. Our man on their side.  Here’s another one: I'm almost looking forward to November. All the countries with U.S. military bases. What a coincidence!

Why Am I Not Surprised?

"Take over” the Straits of Hormuz? Sure. That’ll happen.

He’s doing this because the price of oil nearly doubled overnight.
And why do I think this has something to do with it? Not our miserly attitude towards Ukraine; the fact that we used up over 800 in…a week? Is Iran running out of  missiles? Or are we?
It definitely has more to do with us than with Iran. DOD apparently didn’t get the memo.

Lindsay Graham, Chicken Hawk

Be careful what you wish for.
Our allies in Israel have shown amazing capability when it comes to collapsing the murderous regime in Iran. America is most appreciative.

However, there will be a day soon that the Iranian people will be in charge of their own fate, not the murderous ayatollah’s regime.

In that regard, please be cautious about what targets you select. Our goal is to liberate the Iranian people in a fashion that does not cripple their chance to start a new and better life when this regime collapses. The oil economy of Iran will be essential to that endeavor.

There’s A Lot Of Boomers…

... who could say: “I told you so.”

We lived through civil rights struggles (race, gender, sexual orientation), and had to wait 50 years for the first Black President.

So, you know, this is like Déjà vu.

Tell It To The Insurance Underwriters

Idiot.

Art Of The Oil Deal

Remember when Trump “got” Venezuela’s oil? Sure, that’ll work. Then comes the follow on:

Just A Quick Follow Up👇

Even Lindsay Graham recognizes reality once in a while:
Our allies in Israel have shown amazing capability when it comes to collapsing the murderous regime in Iran. America is most appreciative.

However, there will be a day soon that the Iranian people will be in charge of their own fate, not the murderous ayatollah’s regime.

In that regard, please be cautious about what targets you select. Our goal is to liberate the Iranian people in a fashion that does not cripple their chance to start a new and better life when this regime collapses. The oil economy of Iran will be essential to that endeavor.
The toxic rain caused by Israel bombing refineries in Tehran (but Israel doesn’t target civilians! It’s just unfortunate they hadn’t fled the city….) was too over the top, I guess.

It Occurred To Me…

... to connect this… ... with this. Well, and this: Iran’s best response was to merely threaten the Straits of Hormuz; the insurance companies did the rest. Nothing can protect the tankers except the end of belligerence. The economic pressure is going to be immediate and intense; and Russian oil will hardly make up the difference.

Public pressure will follow, but the price of oil affects the price of everything, not just gasoline. Which means it will drive inflation, and the Fed can’t fix that by lowering interest rates. 

So what’s the connection? I suspect Trump is being pushed closer to declaring victory and scampering off. “Short term oil prices … will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over”? What the hell does that mean? An empty phrase that Trump thinks sounds like a plan? Could be. Very likely, really. But he announced the “obliteration” of Iran’s “nuclear threat” last summer. After a bomb run. And now Hegseth tells “60 Minutes” that we are switching to conventional bombs. The stockpile of “smart bombs” is probably; almost certainly) diminishing, and it’s time for less discriminate destruction. Why not claim some bombs somewhere did the job? And declare Iran’s nuclear capability “obliterated” again? Before the stockpile is further diminished? (He doesn’t care about the death and destruction, except to revel in it before he gets bored again.)

BTW: Trump says he won’t sign any laws until the SAVE act moves to his desk. Has anyone told him about the Presentment clause?
If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.
Art. I, sec. 7, cl. 2

All Trump did was threaten to hold his breath until his face turned blue if he didn’t get a pony.

Sunday, March 08, 2026

Yeah, I’m Havin’ Flashbacks, Man!

And I never even went to ‘Nam, man!

I was honestly just remembering the government reports that told us how successful we were being in Vietnam. And I don’t mean just the body counts. The rosy accounts of how supreme we were went on for decades. They not only sold it to us, they believed it themselves. The dismissive phrase “little brown men in black pajamas” came from the government. It was who they thought they were up against, and why the government, for decades (again), thought our military superiority would carry the day.  We dropped about 7.5 million tons of bombs in that war. By comparison, we dropped 2.15 tons of bombs in WWII. Bombing didn’t win that war (although we thought it would). It certainly didn’t win the war in Vietnam.

The real legacy of the Vietnam war is that truth really is its first casualty. And that affects the people, and their government.

That’s what we learned from Vietnam. Small wonder few of us are relying on the word of the Liar in Chief and the dry drunk SecDef. Two men with no military experience, and half a brain between them.
Sure it will. Again, we were assured Iran’s nuclear capability had already been destroyed. About 8 months ago. And only fools would complain about the price of gasoline.

It’s Déjà vu all over again, man!

O Brave New World

BREAKING: Yesterday I wrote that ships in the Persian Gulf were changing their transponders to broadcast “Chinese Owner” and “All Chinese Crew” to avoid Iranian attack. The ocean’s rules had changed. The new rules were written in Mandarin.

There is now a 30,000 ton Chinese intelligence vessel sitting in the Gulf of Oman confirming exactly what those transponder signals already told you.

The Liaowang-1 is a next generation signals intelligence and space tracking ship commissioned in 2025. It displaces 30,000 tons. It carries at least five radar domes and high gain antennas capable of tracking 1,200 air and missile targets simultaneously with over 95 percent identification accuracy using deep neural network algorithms. Its sensor range reaches approximately 6,000 kilometers. It is escorted by Type 055 and Type 052D destroyers.

It is parked in international waters near Oman, watching the war.

China officially describes these vessels as satellite tracking and rocket telemetry ships. That is true. They track space launches and missile tests. The plausible deniability is built into the design. The same sensors that track a Chinese satellite can track an American carrier. The same algorithms that identify a ballistic reentry vehicle can identify an F-35 launching from the USS Gerald Ford.

Defense analysts across multiple publications assess that Liaowang-1 is collecting real time electromagnetic intelligence on US and Israeli naval and aerial operations. Whether that intelligence is being shared with Iran is unconfirmed. No official Chinese or Iranian statement acknowledges data transfer. But the ship’s position, its timing, and its capabilities create an inference that every analyst in Washington is already drawing.

Consider the operational picture from Tehran’s perspective. Iranian air defenses are 80 percent destroyed according to the IDF. Iranian radar coverage is degraded. Iranian satellite imagery is limited. But a Chinese vessel with a 6,000 kilometer sensor range sitting in the Gulf of Oman can see every carrier movement, every aerial refueling track, every missile launch corridor, and every submarine surfacing event in the theater. If even a fraction of that data reaches Iranian commanders through any channel, the value to Iran’s remaining defense is incalculable.

China has not fired a weapon. It has not violated international law. It has not entered Iranian territorial waters. It has deployed a surveillance platform in international waters where any nation has the right to operate. And it has done so at the precise moment when the information that platform collects has maximum strategic value to the country the United States is bombing.

The Cold War had a name for this: intelligence support to a belligerent without direct combat involvement. The Soviets did it for decades with AGI ships shadowing American carriers. China is doing it with a vessel whose neural network processing exceeds anything the Soviets imagined.

The ships are spoofing Chinese identity to survive. The Chinese intelligence vessel is watching to ensure it knows everything that happens next. The new maritime order is not approaching. It has arrived. And it is 30,000 tons of radar domes and neural networks, anchored in the Gulf of Oman, seeing everything.
A Chinese ship not concerned with seeking a port(insurance, again), but also not interested in taking a random missile.

“Nothing Less Than World Domination!”

Like this:
BARTIROMO: Trump had an interesting exchange about troops on the ground. Moms are worried we're gonna have a draft and see their kids get involved in this. What do you want to say about the president's plan for troops on the ground?

LEAVITT: President Trump wisely does not remove options from the table
Trump is not the sovereign monarch. He doesn’t have the authority to declare a draft by EO.  Congress still won’t approve a military draft, and the Administration has proven itself incompetent to organize a two car funeral procession. Re-establishing selective service and a draft lottery, and then administering it, all for a war already underway, speaks of a commitment to this war effort that is shocking.

And also moronic. This is not worth worrying about, except as another example of the incompetence of this administration. A military draft is as likely to happen as Trump is likely to become as eloquent a speaker as Barack Obama.
Great minds thinking alike.

And speaking of world domination:
"I wish I had better news: the world is now a little more than a week into the largest oil disruption ever in history,” McNally said, appearing on CNN Sunday. “The 20 million barrels a day that have stopped flowing from [Strait of] Hormuz to the world is twice the amount of the biggest last disruption, which is all the way back in the 1950s, the Suez Crisis.”

...
“This is an authentic crisis, it needs to stop soon. We need to get freedom of navigation going and that flow through Hormuz restarted,” McNally continued.

“Before this started, people didn't think it was possible, no one thought that an adversary could shut down the Strait of Hormuz, that didn't happen even in the 1980s during the tanker war. Now everyone's asking how long can it last. Can't take another few weeks of this, I think we're going to see galloping further increases in oil prices, and it's going to start to hurt equities as well.”
So, sure, let’s drag this out until we need a draft 

Did I mention the world is very different from what it was in the ‘50’s, at least as regards oil consumption? And from what I understand, the canal is shut down because insurance companies won’t cover the damages possible. Which is probably what’s changed since the ‘80’s. Missile technology, in brief.
I think Trump has pretty much taught that lesson to everyone likely to learn it.

Why I Enjoy Derek Guy’s Twitter Feed

I'm surprised anyone disagrees with this. The growth of my social media account and root of my legitimacy is purely in the fact that I know how the ruling classes in Britain, Italy, and the United States dressed during the 20th century.

When Vivek Ramaswamy and Pete Hegseth wear tan shoes with navy suits, I can say "this looks like shit to most people because it's not how King Charles and Gianni Agenlli would have dressed." When Kash Patel puts contrast buttonholes on his suits, I can say it's wrong because the ruling classes across these countries during that period would have never chosen such a thing.

You read this as legitimate purely because you accept the legitimacy of these classes in forming our sense of aesthetics. Someone who has no interest in these classes — such as Paul Harden and Yohji Yamamoto — rightly disregards all of these notions and makes tailoring according to different rules.

The polo shirt is no different. The spread of the polo shirt is a story about how a pullover garment migrated from the polo fields played by British imperialists to tennis legends in France and eventually to the golfing middle classes in the United States. This is entirely a story about race, class, and gender. Football jerseys and basketball shorts don't enjoy such history, and thus they are not seen as legitimate business clothes.

The difference between me and other menswear writers is that: 1) I make this history and dynamic transparent and 2) I don't think the white upper class are the sole source for cultural legitimacy. There are many legitimate aesthetics that have nothing to do with this class, such as biker gear, workwear, punk and rap aesthetics, etc.

I just think it's weird to shit on contemporary women's athleisure while wearing a polo shirt, one of the original pieces of athleisure, albeit primarily worn by upper class white men.
Until Ralph Lauren came along, I never knew they were polo shirts. 👕 I called them “Izods.” If I understand correctly, the precursor to the soft collar polo shirt was the button down collar, so they wouldn’t flap in the player’s face.

I only have a couple of polo shirts now, but almost all of my regular shirt have button down collars. I suppose I’m still a slave to the “upper” classes. What can I say? I learned to dress when the Preppie Handbook came out. That and my boss wor button down dress shirts, and I greatly admired him.
I can’t think of a better reason to put this phone down and pick up that Kierkegaard biography I’ve been trying to finish.

Or maybe just try to revive my long neglected piano skills. 

It’s much more likely I’m gonna read the biography….

It Was An Iranian Missile Dressed Up To LOOK Like A Tomahawk!

You know! The way antifa wears MAGA caps in riots! Stephen Miller wants them deported, too. No room in America for people who disagree with Stephen Miller. Even Meghan McCain has seen enough. And although the messenger is nuts, there’s no improving the message.

What You Didn’t Have On Your Bingo Disaster Card

 Corpus Christi, Texas running out of water next year. For real:

The imminent depletion of water supplies in Corpus Christi threatens to cut off the flow of jet fuel to Texas airports and other oil exports from one of the nation’s largest petroleum ports, triggering potential shockwaves through energy markets in Texas and beyond.

Without significant rainfall, Corpus Christi is headed for a “water emergency” within months and total depletion of the system next year, according to the city’s website. “The impacts are going to be felt tremendously through the state, if not internationally,” said Sean Strawbridge, former CEO of the Port of Corpus Christi Authority, the nation’s top port for crude oil exports, in a 40-minute interview Thursday. “This should be no surprise to anybody. We were talking about this over a decade ago.”

Other current and former officials, alarmed at what they call a lack of preparations, have suggested the potential for an economic crisis involving mass layoffs, disruption of fuel supplies and billions of dollars in emergency spending to avoid an evacuation of the city.
It's like this:
The region’s largest industrial users, which collectively consume the majority of the region’s water, remain exempt from emergency curtailment. These multi-billion-dollar refineries, petrochemical plants and liquified natural gas facilities are built to run at a steady rate and can’t simply throttle down production in accordance with water availability. They consume large volumes of water primarily in cooling towers to prevent excessive heating and explosions.
Which probably means:
Depletion of this region’s reservoirs would lead to “controlled depression” for the local economy, “mass unemployment” and “industrial total shutdown,” according to a two-page report by Don Roach, former assistant general manager of the San Patricio Municipal Water District, which supplies many of the region’s large industrial water users.

That includes refineries operated by Flint Hills Resources, Valero and Citgo that provide jet fuel to Texas airports and meet much of the state’s daily demand for gasoline.

“This waiting disaster is under the radar for the rest of the state,” said Roach, who worked 20 years at the water district and retired in 2014. “We hear nothing from the Texas politicians about the seriousness of the situation or any state plan to mitigate it.”

He no longer had access to current water data and contracts, he stressed, but produced the report based on his own knowledge. It said the costs of trucking in emergency water “would bankrupt many local small businesses and low-income households” while state emergency managers would need billions of dollars to “build emergency temporary pipelines or subsidize desalination barge rentals to prevent a total evacuation of the city.” Strawbridge, a former director of the Port of Long Beach, said Roach’s assessment was “spot on.”
And what does the region need?
The last hope to avert disaster, the official said, was a 20- to 30-inch rainfall.

“It would basically have to be a hurricane,” he said.
To put that in perspective, Houston go 50+ inches of rain during Harvey. And since then we’ve had to restrict water usage from time to time, because of drought. If a hurricane is your last hope, you’re really screwed. Especially when a hurricane would just be a stop gap measure.

Nothin’ but good times ahead!

“We Have Always Been At War With….”

1979?
This is Teheran this morning - Yes, this morning.

Thick black clouds are covering the city - oil and ashes are raining down on the streets.

War is hell.

A PH test of the water in Teheran also shows that the water has become acidic- resulting from the oil and ashes leaking into the fresh water supply of the city. The corrosion of the cities water and sewage pipes will become a problem for the city; a problem for the generations to come.
When are they going to welcome us as liberators? But Israel did that: At least until Hegseth says we did it, and we’re damned proud of it.
TAPPER: Is targeting Iran's oil industry going to be a continuing strategy for the US and Israel?

CHRIS WRIGHT: No. There are no plans to target Iran's energy industry. If these are Israeli strikes, these are local fuel depots.

TAPPER: Where are the health impacts of strikes on fuel sites?

WRIGHT: I would focus on the thousands of American soldiers that the Iranian regime has killed
Wait, what? There’s been more than 6? Lindsay unleashed. Your regular reminder Fort Sumter was in South Carolina. And they shot first. I’m guessing he’s too old for sex, and this is his substitute.

The Only Possible Good Thing About DST

But I Was Assured He Was Going To Use China To Suppress The Vote

Of course the SAVE ACT would be struck down before the ink had dried on his signature. Has nobody in the White House read Shelby County v Holder? Roberts pretty much gutted the authority of the Feds over elections in his reasoning gutting Section 2 of the VRA. SAVE is just VRA for white people, with the same level of interference in state affairs Roberts rejected before. And with even less due process. States could challenge determinations made under Section 2. What do states who use mail in ballots beyond the proposed limits of SAVE do? Bend the knee?

Didn’t Alito just turn abortion law back to the states in a strongly anti-federalist decision? Seems to me that covers “mutilization” of children (which is only happening in Iran, at the receiving end of U.S. bombs), something no one is doing now for transgender surgery, since it’s unethical. A concept inconceivable to Trump. 

And “men in women’s sports” is as much a state issue as men in women’s bathrooms (where did that one go, by the way?).

I’m gonna go back to worrying about China in the conservatory with the candlestick. That’s a much more realistic concern than Trump blackmailing the Senate into revoking the filibuster.

🤦‍♂️

We held elections during WWII. We held elections during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, after 9/11. I think the only time we didn’t have national elections was during the Civil War.

Trump may (emphasis on “may”) imagine he’ll suspend the election. He’ll find out, again, the limits of his power.

National security is not a reason to suspend elections. National security is a reason we have elections.

And by the way, there is no provision in Article. I, sec. 4, cl. 1, that gives the POTUS the power to suspend Congressional elections. Period.

Or it could be China in 2020; in the study, with the lead pipe:
The premise that this “will unlock extraordinary presidential power over voting” is total bullshit.

As we used to say: “The stupid, it burns.”

Saturday, March 07, 2026

Bonfire Of The Vanities

He can’t. He can’t risk his combover flapping in the wind like a rabid bat.

Deja Vu All Over Again

Suddenly I’m in high school again, reading the “radical” anti-war essays.

The more things change….

Schlachthof Funf

Because the Iranians haven’t welcomed us as liberators. I guess. That’ll teach ‘em not to pour into the streets and welcome…our missiles.
America is run by psychopaths and quislings.

Because Sometimes God Needs A Helping Hand….

What was that, Sen. Kennedy? Any fair minded person has to conclude that Trump will allow any idiocy that he thinks helps him in the immediate moment.

Trump doesn’t even believe that end times shit. But he’ll take it if it gets him what he wants. He’s an entire interstate highway system past normal.

He Doesn’t Know What It Looks Like Now

Idiot-In-Chief

Trump: The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East.

That's OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don't need them any longer — But we will remember. We don't need people that join Wars after we've already won!
Based on what he’s seen, he’s never lost an election, and the economy is the best it’s ever been.
Hegseth does not confirm what the president is saying, and many major news organizations say their analysis shows this was likely a U.S. military error.

U.S. military investigators are also telling members of Congress that they believe — but have not confirmed for sure — that it was a U.S. military error.
Well, that’s reassuring. Fuck sovereignty, amirite? We got the bombs, you get the short end. It’s the American way! 🇺🇸
Reporter: What are the circumstances where you would send in ground troops?

Trump: I don’t think that’s an appropriate question. Could there be? Possibly. If we ever did that, they would be so decimated that they wouldn’t be able to fight.

Reporter: Don’t you need ground troops to secure the enriched uranium?

Trump: We haven’t talked about it. It was a total obliteration. Maybe we will.
None of your business whether we send in troops. Trump answers to no one.

And there was no risk of nuclear weapons. Or there was. It depends on who you ask, and when.

Trump answers to no one. 
The “tough” kid on the playground who’s scared of the bully. He’s proud of that. He’s also a sociopath. At least. How much longer do we tolerate this?

Vocabulary (and behavior) of a five year old. OMFG. Was he on his way to the golf course?

A Flying Circus

When they lose, would you refund them? I know it’s Souza’s “Liberty Bell” march, but it’ll always be the “Monty Python” theme to me.

Very appropriately, in this case.

Everything They Know…

... they learned from Venezuela. Or it’s just that only white lives matter.

And, I was told those are precision munitions. Not the stuff we dumped pell-mell from bombers in WWII.
Fetterman is the 16th: Fetterman is also why I think it would take a complete wiping of the Senate slate to remove Trump before the end of his term. Or from bad movies. Really, Kegsbreth? Really, asshole? Slip a piece of paper between them. I dare you.