In a stemwinder of a speech in Nebraska, our mentally ill president joked around that if Iran took out Los Angeles and San Diego, it would be a small price to pay for keeping the rest of the country safe. Or at least that is what he appeared to say. What his slurred free association means is often anyone’s guess. The corporate media report on his speeches as if they are in any way coherent to stay on his good side, since he threatens people who disagree with him.
Angelenos and San Diegans reacted with outrage at their president’s blithe willingness to throw them under the bus. Ironically, San Diego is a major port for the US Navy, the sailors of which Trump is abusing by keeping them near the Strait of Hormuz for months at a time without a secure base for resupply or rest and recreation.
Trump is campaigning on how great an idea his abrupt war of aggression on Iran was. Although the president kept saying in summer 2025 that he had destroyed Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, he has made the now-crippled program his pretext for his war, which was instead transparently an effort to seize control of Iran’s gas and petroleum, as he had that of Venezuela.
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Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:
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P. O. Box 4218,
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(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)
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US intelligence agencies have repeatedly assessed over the past 25 years that Iran does not have a military nuclear weapons program. The country was enriching uranium for civilian purposes and for deterrence. Tehran hoped that having a stockpile of highly enriched uranium would give enemies pause about assaulting it. It was a miscalculation, since Netanyahu-Trump attacked anyway.
Iran does not have an intercontinental ballistic missile and cannot strike at Los Angeles and San Diego.
As I reported, a poll in July found that 75% of Americans say that the Iran War is not worth it, and 61% blamed Trump’s policies for the high cost of gasoline and diesel. Americans finally have Trump’s number, and know what he has done to them. His old tricks of blaming the Democrats for everything and gaslighting his MAGA base about what is going on are failing before the sticker shock when people fill up at the pump.
Trump also says he is winning the war on Iran and that it will be over quite soon. Reality, as is usually the case with the addled DJT, says something else.
White House photo by Molly Riley. Public Domain. Via Picryl.
TradeWinds reports that Iran has struck 11 ships in the Strait of Hormuz in the past week, potentially a sign of increased belligerence. Or it could just be there are more targets, since Kpler has seen a rise in the number of ships transiting the Strait in the past week or two.
The rise in strikes coincides with more fiery rhetoric from Tehran and with further US withdrawals. Having left the naval base in Manama, Bahrain, the former HQ of the Fifth Fleet, and having completely withdrawn from Iraq and Syria, the US has now even withdrawn bombers from a UK base after rumors of an Iranian terrorist plot against them. “Debasing” and forcing the US out of the region has become a key strategic goal for Tehran after the February 28, 2026, joint Netanyahu-Trump war of aggression on Iran.
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The chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Major-General Ali Abdollahi, warned recently that further attacks on Iran are in the offing, and the consequent conflagration will touch everyone in the Middle East.
Gee, I think Maj.-Gen. Abdollahi should challenge Whiskey Pete Hegseth to a bombast competition. Whoever loses has to withdraw from the war.
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