Soleimani

Trump really wants Iran to do something stupid before he leaves office, whether it’s a terrorist strike by proxies or something, something Revolutionary Guard attack. x If killing Iranian general Qassem Soleimani didn’t change Iran’s behaviors or its strategic policies and objectives, I doubt that killing it’s top nuclear scientists...

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  • November 27, 2020

Back at the beginning of the year, Trump assassinated Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and a close confidant of the Iranian ayatollah. Undoubtedly Soleimani was responsible for a lot of terror attacks and the deaths of Americans, but Trump didn’t kill him because of that. (Trump...

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  • September 14, 2020

Yesterday r/The_Donald group got banned by Reddit. Not so easy for the rest of us. x In 2017, we used subreddit algebra to dissect r/The_Donald and filter out commenters’ interest in politics. The results supported the theory that at least a subset of Trump’s supporters were motivated by racism. (*On...

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  • June 30, 2020

Rutherfraud B. Trump’s second term will doom any third Reconstruction, but before then, military ceremonies prop up his uses of the armed forces in political campaign stunts. Bringing cadets back to campus was only designed for another IMPOTUS* photo-op, and some self-congratulations: For the first time in 70 years, we established...

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  • June 13, 2020

I want to get some feedback on a topic I’m researching for my book on religion: the degree to which some Christian fundamentalists may be actively working to trigger the apocalypse. I’m not going to get into the weeds here (keep your sighs of relief to yourselves, thank you!), but,...

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  • February 16, 2020

Trump quotes Peter Baker quoting Emerson, as Trump golf trips are 250% of PBO’s at the same moment in their presidencies. x …..biggest test of his presidency emboldened, ready to claim exoneration, and take his case of grievance, persecution and resentment to the campaign trail.” Peter Baker @nytimes The Greatest Witch...

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  • February 15, 2020

What they do! They smilin' in your face All the time, they want to take your place The back stabbers Rudy Giuliani now calls John Bolton a “backstabber”. But McConnell thinks he’ll be able to “peel off” rebels by Friday to keep the Superbowl ball-spike acquittal on schedule. x Some Republican senators...

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  • January 29, 2020

Unapologetic democratic socialism will survive 2020, but if Trump wins, there could be no democracy by the 2024 election. Trumpists have been strangely obsessed with ignorant nonsense against a “radical left” Democratic party. x Omaha World-Herald: “Ben Sasse announces reelection campaign, says 2020 is 'choice between civics and socialism'“ https://t.co/SG1tkzyhlH —...

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  • January 27, 2020

There is a pattern of almost diseased behavior in the Trump White House that has become like a super virus; if this were China it would be surrounded by a corona.  From the beginning it has been denying the obvious: Inauguration crowd sizes: Lie when confronted: I do not know...

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  • January 27, 2020

Nov 20, 2019 'Everyone Was in the Loop' Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified that President Trump ordered a pressure campaign on Ukraine and that senior-most administration officials knew about it. “It doesn't matter whether you like him. It doesn't matter if you dislike him,” Adam Schiff said. “What matters is whether...

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  • January 27, 2020

I rise (reluctantly) to Bolton’s defense here, against the many comments accusing him of being self-serving and wanting to know why he hasn’t spoken up way earlier. Bolton was the national security advisor, and as such remains under lifelong restrictions as to what he can say publicly. Without a subpoena,...

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  • January 27, 2020

Right now, Texas is under siege, and there’s not too much our military can do about it. On Jan. 7, Gov. Greg Abbott told the Domestic Terrorism Task Force that the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) measured, over a 48-hour period, a colossal increase of cyberattacks from Iran on...

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  • January 18, 2020

The Washington Post has obtained audio of Donald Trump schmoozing his deep-pocketed donors at a Friday night Mar-a-Lago fundraiser, and he made one remark that’s sure to enrage rank-and-file Republicans and GOP lawmakers — if someone can manage to stick the transcript in an enchanted pneumatic tube system and send...

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  • January 18, 2020

During the William J. Clinton Impeachment trial in January of 1999, Republicans were fond of using the phrase, “ a man who would cheat on his wife would cheat on his country.”  Maybe Democrats should revise that derisive phrase; ‘a man who has cheated on his wife and country would...

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  • January 17, 2020

We are in the midst of investigations that may eventually lead to the ouster of a criminal President; one responsible for possible physical threats, to not only the country of Ukraine but to an American citizen, Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.  Mr. Trump has blatantly disregarded the powers of an equal...

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  • January 15, 2020

Facts and figures are second to innuendo and hollow announcements in the current political climate.  Three years past the Clinton/Trump presidential race the press is still biting and snarling while circling the floor and chasing its’ tail.  The former head of the FBI, James Comey, announced in the weeks prior...

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  • January 13, 2020

We now know the time range possible for imminent threats in Iran. Dog wagged, as the four US embassies claimed by Trump that were targeted have yet to be identified. In yet another qualification, IMPOTUS now claims “it doesn’t really matter” because Soleimani’s “horrible past” merited his assassination. The timing proves...

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  • January 13, 2020

This is the pick-me-up you need today: Jason Selvig and Davram Stiefler, a comedy duo known as The Good Liars, pasted that poster to the front of the Armed Forces Career Center in Brooklyn in the wake of Trump Sr.’s Iran saber-rattling. In an Instagram caption, the two wrote, “We put...

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  • January 13, 2020

Because “enemies of the people” like the press should roam free. And even the US Secretary of Defense knows nothing about the “four embassies” supposedly targeted by Soleimani. “The only problem is he doesn’t want them to roam free in the U.S., because he says to us a free press...

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  • January 13, 2020

The disinformation continues as a new week will bring perhaps that impeachment trial, even if some of us might want the GOP to sweat a bit more. x These continued violations of Iraq’s sovereignty by groups not loyal to the Iraqi government must end.— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 12, 2020...

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  • January 12, 2020

I really do not care anymore if Republican politicians ever apologize for their lies, insults, and harmful policies.  Yes, apologizing is the human thing to do because no one is perfect and we all make mistakes.  Saying “I’m sorry” is the first step in trying to correct a mistake or...

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  • January 12, 2020

Darn that Trump, he lied again. So much imminence, so little evidence for a targeted air strike that was meant to distract from an impeachment trial. President Trump said on Friday that a senior Iranian general killed by a U.S. drone strike had been planning attacks on four U.S. embassies, a...

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  • January 11, 2020

As Trump now claims there were four rather than one embassy under imminent attack, the Trump press disinformation operation continues. Hogan Gidley was perhaps bored with telling the press when Trump golf outings would happen and decided to advance the latest GOP talking point with a tweet. Because aren’t all...

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  • January 10, 2020

A front-page diary right now is detailing how SoS Pompeo’s explanations for killing Soleimani make no sense: Mike Pompeo keeps blowing up Donald Trump’s excuses for blowing up an Iranian general. Turns out there’s a very good reason why Pompeo has to keep coming up with new  excuses and fairy...

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  • January 10, 2020

The republic is in trouble as Trump did his first rally of 2020, demonstrating that there will be even less difference between official speeches and campaign rallies. Shtick abides. This time, Trump whines that he “saved” Ethiopia, but he didn’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for it. He repeated the...

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  • January 10, 2020

As part of the ongoing project to catalog every awful thing the Trump Administration has done as a reference for future political arguments and whatever few posterity survives to see 2020, here’s everything awful the Trump Administration has done this week. Dramatically escalated the threat of war with Iran by...

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  • January 10, 2020

x BREAKING: The House passed a war powers resolution that limits President Trump's ability to wage war in Iran. It blocks U.S. military force against Iran without Congress's approval or declaration of war. pic.twitter.com/sbAYDGEaz6 — AJ+ (@ajplus) January 9, 2020 WASHINGTON — The House adopted a war powers resolution Thursday...

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  • January 9, 2020

There has been a lot of flack from IMPOTUSies these past few days about how the Democrats “love terrorists” and “hate America.” Sen. Tammy Duckworth gave what in any normal universe would be an unanswerable response: ‘I left parts of my body in Iraq’: Duckworth rejects GOP claim that Democrats...

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  • January 9, 2020

From Steven Portnoy, a reporter with CBS Radio: x BREAKING: @CBSNews has learned US officials are now confident Iran shot down a Ukrainian jetliner with 176 people on board. Sources say US intelligence picked detected infrared blips of two missile launches, followed by the blip of an explosion.— Steven Portnoy...

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  • January 9, 2020

Trump’s attempt to rationalize the use of the 2002 AUMF to kill Qasem Soleimani has now failed and Congress is now ready to vote on War Powers resolution(s) and AUMF revisions that are specific to the current possibility of major warfare. Trump’s strategy has been maximum pressure, minimum results. Trump constantly...

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  • January 9, 2020

Do not question Dear Leader, you plebeian cur! x Fox News cut away from Republican Sen. Mike Lee as he excoriated the Trump admin’s Soleimani briefing as “probably the worst briefing at least on a military issue I’ve seen.” pic.twitter.com/736Qtd6bWZ — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 8, 2020 Constitution. War powers....

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  • January 9, 2020

Mike Lee (R-UT) doesn’t want to be told by the WH to “shut up and dribble” on discussing War Powers issues. As if no discussion by Congress was relevant to the question of the necessity and proportionality of assassinating Suleimani. “What I found so distressing is one of the messages was do...

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  • January 8, 2020

I have no idea why, but here it is: #PartyofFive is a mystery, too. It might just be a promoted hashtag, or it could have something to do with Trump’s preferred post-Adderall “executive time” activity, now that Melania doesn’t want to touch him. Of course, Trump was 30 minutes late for...

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  • January 8, 2020

Pompeo, Esper, Milley, and Haspel did the classified briefing to the House and are now making the same presentation to the Senate. Responses broke along party lines. Rep Gerry Connolly, a Democratic Foreign Affairs Committee member, says was utterly unpersuaded by the motive, reason and evidence of the killing of...

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  • January 8, 2020

Trump reiterated yet another lie about “the previous administration” funding last night’s missile strike. The JCPOA released Iran’s money held since 1980. Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement compelled Iran to leave its compliance and announce it would resume work on nuclear enrichment that could be used for weapons. Nukes and...

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  • January 8, 2020

Jesus Christ, this asshole. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1214739853025394693?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw I don’t know about you, but reassurances from the guy who lies as much as he breathes are not apt to soothe me. I don’t know. Call me crazy. The tone of Trump’s tweet sounds a bit like a guy whose grandma just caught him...

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  • January 8, 2020

Let us count the ways in which this tweet — from Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) — is bullshit. Oh, never mind. Journalist Judd Legum already did it for me: 1. This photo is fake (photoshopped) 2. The man on the left is Hassan Rouhani, who is still President of Iran...

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  • January 6, 2020

Threats against 52 Iranian “cultural sites” are more Trumpian gaslighting and a projection of hope that Iran will reciprocate by attacking the US in a way that galvanizes national support for military action like 9/11. President Trump doubles down on his threat to attack Iranian cultural sites if it should...

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  • January 6, 2020

Apparently, Trumpist-bots are trying to be angry about an online message that resembles a stock line in comedian George Lopez’s stage routine about performing a task for less compensation because he’s Latinx. The backdrop for this is the 30-round AR-15 magazine emblazoned with an imprisoned Hillary flaunted by Donald Trump Junior....

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  • January 6, 2020

There’s something seriously wrong with this kid. At least he was at “the range” and not firing from an armored Humvee at narcoleptic mountain gorillas or something. In a provocative stupid-as-shit Instagram post on Sunday, Donald Trump Jr. was shown posing with an AR-15 featuring a cartoon drawing of Hillary...

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  • January 6, 2020

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared on Meet The Press with Chuck Todd and blamed the Obama administration for the failure of Trump’s Iran policy. Mike Pompeo blames Obama for Trump’s Iran failure Chuck Todd displayed some smart pushback during parts of the interview with Pompeo. However, he allowed the Secretary of State...

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  • January 6, 2020

Chuck Todd asked the right questions today of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. I isolated the portion of whether Americans are safer because of its importance. Listen to the answer and decode. This is a political fraud that will get many killed. Chuck Todd drills Mike Pompeo Chuck Todd asked Mike...

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  • January 5, 2020

Over sixty hours of golf over the past two weeks. His ‘head’ is worth less than his federal golf expenses, but enough to buy a lottery ticket for everyone in Iran Trump now on the golf course; his 257th day at a Trump golf club and 338th at a Trump property...

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  • January 5, 2020

If Donald Trump worked at, say, a pest control company, his incompetence might be funny. You’d see him wobbling around your backyard with a beehive stuck on his head before falling down an uncapped well, and hilarity would naturally ensue. Because that’s just funny. How could it not be? But when...

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  • January 5, 2020

SoS Pompeo claimed on the Sunday shows this morning that the Iraqi people want our troops to stay and help them fight terrorism: Pompeo dismisses Iraqi leader’s call for all foreign troops to leave Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday dismissed calls by Iraq’s caretaker prime minister for a...

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  • January 5, 2020

It is clear to Professor Eddie Glaude and many that Donald Trump’s assassination of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani was narcissism and was not thought through. It now has all Americans in danger. Dr. Eddie Glaude: Assassination because of Trump’s narcissism When Americans travel, terrorists do not check whether they are Democrats...

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  • January 4, 2020

It seems Russia is not pleased that Trump took out Suleimani. Newsweek: Russia Says U.S. Soleimani Strike Will Damage Regional Stability, Impact Millions of People Russia's Foreign Ministry has condemned the U.S. assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qassem Soleimani, warning Thursday's strike would only escalate regional tensions and...

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  • January 4, 2020

An evangelical friend on Facebook shocked me. I posted a message about Trump’s latest disaster, Iran. Ultimately she said it was God’s will for him to be president and implied that it is in the Bible’s word. I woke up with that on my mind and recalled an interview I...

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  • January 4, 2020

IMPOTUS has just made a statement attempting to justify the killing of Qasem Soleimani, and like other presidential fantasies about moving Seoul or invading Venezuela, Trump made his decision without the gang of eight, likely because what will be Iranian asymmetric warfare responses might make Americans less safe and more likely to...

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  • January 3, 2020

I’ve seen a few headlines and analyses this morning asserting that Trump has “gambled” in his decision to assassinate Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani. This is almost certainly incorrect, for this reason: “Gambling,” while inherently reckless, still involves some sort of understanding of the rules of the game, the stakes, and the...

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  • January 3, 2020