Alexander Ward et al.: Trump Knew the Risk of Iran Blocking the Strait of Hormuz: He Still Went to War

I mean...this story doesn't strike me as terribly unreasonable...but doesn't it seem a bit...panicky? WSJ's news coverage leans left, of course...so one has to try to correct for that. Some of the concerns described (expressed?) in the story seem legit... But, as Chris Brey notes in a previous post, everybody knew Iran was likely to try to "close" the strait of Hormuz... That's just a cost of conflict with Iran. So what's with the apparently suggestion in the headline that Trump somehow just ignored the threat...or, rather, the obvious consequence of war? Everybody knew this would be one of the things that would happen...so it's peculiar grounds for panic...

   Also...what happened to Iran's announcement that it was opening the strait back up to everybody but the U.S. and Israel (and we don't really need it, apparently)? Why no mention of that? Because, you see, that seems huge to me. That's basically giving up on that front, so far as I can tell.

   And the stock market is tanking? Tanking?? Since when? Nobody tells me anything...

   Anyway.

   Look, I'm concerned about this war. Very, very concerned.

   But the overall tone of the news coverage is perfectly predictable: ominous suggestions that everything will go to hell...because Trump. Everything Trump does is bad and wrong. A tone of dread and disapproval is cast over every one of his actions and policies.

    And everything sure as hell might go to hell... I tend to think that's the most likely outcome of most wars...

   But I'm not going to let the MSM's TDS be the thing that sends me into panic mode.

   But what the hell do I know?

   Almost nothing, that's what.

Trump Saves the World?

Big if true.

OK, so the Abraham Accords. Taking down the Venezuelan cartel/dictatorship. Finally a response in the Iran War, the mullahs thought we were stupid and weak, they were right. Now Cuba.

You do get he's basically walking on water. Making every elected hack, bureaucrat and diplomat… https://t.co/iMOyB7xwA0

— Northern Barbarian (@xnoesbueno) March 15, 2026

Cuba?!?!

Either an anti-communist uprising prompted by blackouts / an oil shortage 

or

Protests over blackouts exacerbated by the U.S. oil embargo...

y'know, depending.

Another situation I know literally nothing about.

Leftist Shuts Down Event Meant to Showcase Civil Disagreement

The left in yet another nutshell.

The second leftist--the woman--is, perhaps, an even better representation of the left. She pretends that shouting down the other side is "questioning who is at that table"...

Really, honestly, this is one of the best snapshots of the contemporary American left I've ever seen:

Contra the talking head at the beginning: this doesn't show how "toxic" (<-- stupid word) "political discourse" has become...it shows how insane and totalitarian the left has become.

Judson Berger: The Iran Fog of War

Agreed.

Foggy, protean justifications and ever-shifting conditions of victory.

I recognize that there are plausible reasons for this thing...but it's extremely disturbing that the administration hasn't been able to state its case.

Alicia Nieves: How Pro-Immigrant Activism Turned Dangerous

link

Alicia Nieves: The Moment Mass Migration Started

Astonishing and rage-inducing.

   It does offer some support for a view I started pushing during the election of 2020: Biden wasn't really the one to fear--but, rather, the lunatic progressive staffers that would inevitably permeate his administration.

   Some on the right are now afraid that Trump is going to knuckle under to the left and stop even trying to deport (and scare away) all the illegals. Some things he's said ominously suggest that he may shift focus entirely to criminals.

   It could just be talk--he could be trying to defang leftist propaganda.

   Hard to say.

   But if we don't figure out how to win this fight, we're done for. The U.S. won't survive--at least not in a recognizable form...i.e. in a form worth commitment and defense.

   Of all the left's ideas that threaten the nation, this may be the most dangerous one.

Behold, the Left: "We've Got to Get the Orcs Out of the Shire" Edition

This disagreement has two aspects.

First: dispassionate argumentation about borders and the enforcement of immigration law. The left loses there. They are ostentatiously nuts.

But the other relevant aspect is more visual or behavioral. It involves observation of these representatives--representations--of the left. Even if we didn't know which side was which, nor even what the disagreement was about, the grotesquerie of the left would be informative. There is just something wrong with these people. Yes, they're ignorant/misinformed. But that can be excusable (though perhaps not if you're out there demonstrating and impeding law enforcement. In that case, you probably have an obligation to inform yourself... But it goes deeper than that. Sane people don't do such things and don't say such things. One of their tactics is to say things to their enemies that no normal, sane person would ever say. Grotesquerie is an ideal to them. They want to be repulsive--visually and otherwise. They like the psycho "black bloc" look. It does have practical functions--making it more difficult to apprehend and prosecute them for their criminal actions, and so on. But it's also a kind of visual representation of totalitarianism. The umbrellas, the facemasks...the whole thing is supposed to look insane and inhuman. Again: those are goals of the extremist left. To gesture at just at something obvious: "queer theory" is one of the many expressions of these ideas on the left promoting such madness. It doesn't have all that much specifically to do with homosexuality. Rather, the point of "queerness" in queer theory is the destruction of normality (and sanity). The point is to destroy the West--by undermining reason. Madness and chaos are teloi of the left:

Z0MG PETE HEGSETH FEEDS THE TROOPZ0MG!!!1111one

There's plenty to fret about right now without making shit up to fret about.

4 of 6 KC-135 Crew Confirmed Deceased

link

KC-135 Goes Down During Iran Operations

shit

Terrorist Attack at ODU: 1 Dead, 2 Injured

link
The shooter is also dead--but nobody gives a shit about that.

Apparently some students subdued him...and now he's dead.

Oh well.

Shit happens.

Sorry to hear, though, that an actual person was also killed.

Noah Rothman: What's Gone Right in the Iran War?

link

John Masko: UT Austin Strikes a Blow to Critical Theory

Good.

I'd rather get rid of such programs completely--or form new sub-disciplines specifically designed to explain and criticize/counter them. But this is a step in the right direction.

Walter Russell Mead: How the Iran War Ends

I dunno.

Seems reasonable, I guess.

I'm just holdin' on for Spring Break at this point, man.

Anyway, I absolutely do not understand enough about all this to deserve much of an opinion.

I've really got little beyond: we seem to have had no good options--and we may have chosen the worse one. Or maybe not.

But the die is cast--no sense shoring up the side of the moonbats and the Mullahs by moping and puling.

Lefties Rejoice! Apparently We ARE Responsible for Bombing the Iranian Girls' School

Moonbats will be ecstatic.

This is what they've fervently been hoping for.

Riley: Trump Should Reconsider His "Failing" Strategy re: Deportations and Explaining the War

Look, the shootings of Love and Pretti were a godsend to the left. Even without them, the left's propaganda was working (or so it seems). Both shootings were easily avoidable, even if one or both turn out to have been defensible.

   The left is just better at propaganda, and it generally has and is willing to exploit the feelz angle. Those are huge advantages. Add to that: shooting a dopey, middle-aged woman who has been duped into thinking that she's fighting the Nazis in the face...well...we're in trouble.

   Sidebar: some on the right are concerned that Trump is going soft on the illegal invasion. He's said things that sound like he's shifting the focus completely onto criminals. If the left can pull that off, it really is Adios, America...

   And as for explanations/justifications for the war...I honestly have little idea what they're even saying.

   Almost makes me long for the buildup to Iraq. The reasons were bullshit...but at least we knew what they were...

   I rather wish Trump had focused on the homefront and left Iran to one of his successors to deal with...even though I think that might well be even worse. The extremist left is wrecking the country; it's a bigger threat than Iran, IMO. Take it out first. Then try to remake the ME later, if you've got the political capital...

More Medicare Fraud: Hospices (esp. in Los Angeles)

link

Two Pennsylvania Teens Just Enjoying a Spring Day in NYC...But Soon They Would Be Swept Up in a Web of Device-Hurling...

“The story itself was solid. But the tweet was outrageous.”

The tweet in question ***was also the lede of the story*** before the article was stealth edited. https://t.co/Ci7nNy30rq

— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) March 10, 2026

VA's GA Dumbass Democrats Pass Assault Weapons Ban

Dems in the General Assembly passed this idiotic bullshit, and the Spanberger will almost certainly sign it. 

But she's a moderate!

Then we'll have to wait until the Supremes nuke it.

As I've said before: the Dems are basically working their way through the Bill of Rights. They hate the First Amendment. They hate the Second Amendment. I keep waiting for them to come out in favor of quartering soldiers in our houses in peacetime...

I sincerely wish I'd started voting against these jackasses long before I actually did.

I'm going to send a big contribution to WinRed.

The Republicans may not be the greatest...but at least they aren't actively trying to destroy the country...

Therese Shaheen: The Realist Case for the Iran War

Tend to agree, but no settled view yet.

Bogus Pix of "Anti-U.S. Demonstration" By Iranians

I saw this the other day, experienced a second or two of concern, then said (out loud) "probably bullshit," and moved on.

Greenwald kinda starts slippin' whenever Israel and/or the U.S. Military are part of the story:

 

Step 1: Glenn Greenwald posts footage from 2020.

Step 2: Cenk Uygur doubles down and reposts it.

Step 3: These two tell you not to trust the media and only them because they’re the only who will tell you the truth. pic.twitter.com/w2c8EcPjvU

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) March 9, 2026

Funny how good some people can be on some kinds of stories, and how bad on others. Greenwald has been pretty good on the woke nonsense. But I don't even expect him to be that good on this story.

  Which is not to say that I'm discounting criticism. Hell, I'm certainly not sure what we ought to be doing....though it does seem pretty clear that military action against Iran is a reasonable--though perhaps not optimal--course of action. 

Gerard Baker: In a War of Words, Trump Always Defeats Himself

Exactly

Trump is often a good doer--but not a good talker.

Unfortunately, he can't accept the latter.

I wish he'd just say "Over to you, Marco..." and then sit down.

But he just can't keep his big mouth shut--to the detriment of the part and the nation.

McCarthy: Demanding Unconditional Surrender is Dumb; But it Doesn't Sanction Rape

I agree with McCarthy on all points--even the legal ones I don't understand.

Tucker Carlson hit some kind of sweet spot there for about a year. He was saying reasonable and sometimes even interesting things.

Then he went off the rails...I don't know when.

Maybe about the time of the UFOs...maybe sooner.

Seems to me this is a pretty common thing. Not that many people stay sane and interesting past a certain window--if then.

Anyway, now Carlson just seems to have lost it.

Misleading WSJ Story: "Americans are Now a [sic] Target in Trump's Immigration Crackdown

[1] Remember, WSJ's news coverage is just about as left-biased as that of NYT.

[2] All these cases should be investigated and wrongdoing by federal agents should be prosecuted--and ended.

However:

[3] I've watched a lot of this kind of footage, and the aggression and interference comes from the rioters/"protestors" far more frequently. 

   Which is not to deny that the LEOs have done some--perhaps many--things wrong. I have no interest in ignoring their wrongdoing. However there's just no doubt about it, the leftist mobs are out of control, and pushing things right up to and over the line along many dimensions. I'm not saying that this is the only factor in play, but I'd bet money it's a large part of it: currently, the agents don't seem to have the means to effectively deal with the raving mobs of crazies interfering with them at every point--shrieking, getting in the way, blowing whistles and car horns, screeching at them through megaphones, trying to pull arrestees out of their grip... So agents look for some way to push back...and sometimes undoubtedly get it wrong.

   Again: I'm not interested in defending outright wrongdoing.

   But the left is crazy. These people devote their lives to this. It's their religion. They have massive communication networks, funding, and teams of lawyers. The law is filled with spaces that are supposed to be governed by reason and good judgment...neither of which the leftist mob cares about. They will at one second be blowing whistles and shrieking the most heinous personal insults in the faces of LEOs...and then if so much as touched or pushed away, they'll flop to the ground shrieking bloody murder while ten other ones shriek and videorecord the "abuse"... Antifa tactics--in which these people are training.

   Well, you know my opinion of the open-borders crazies...

   Give ICE et al. the legal tools to fight back against the moonbats...but hold them accountable for their actions as any other LEOs would be.

   One last thing: note the (undoubtedly) intentionally misleading title of the piece. It means to suggest that ICE is going after American citizens to deport. They've been trying to get that idea into people's heads since the beginning.

Kate B. Odell: It's High Time to Restock U.S. Munitions

Way past time.

I was talking to an old CIA guy at a conference last month, and he wouldn't shut up about this.

But everybody knows it.

"Magazine depth," in the lingo.

I was watching a video of an Arleigh Burke firing cruise missiles the other day--Tomahawk after Tomahawk after Tomahawk...thinking $3 million...$3 million...$3 million...  And we can't just snap our fingers and replace them. Maybe we're ok with cruise missiles--I don't know--but it's much harder--and costlier--to replace Patriot and THAAD missiles...

Anyway, if China decided to go for Taiwan in about six weeks, I reckon we might be SOL...