"War, huh, good God, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" - Trump Thread #157

[Spandauer]

It ain't nothing but a heart-breaker
(War) Friend only to The Undertaker
(Edwin Starr 1970, written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong)

Unless, of course, your name ends in Trump, when it ain't nothing but an opportunity to grift, deflect and destroy.

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5496818-beware-the-ides-of-march-trump-thread-156

Also

Hegseth, discussing the deaths of four Americans, says "bad things can happen" in war.

Absolute joke.

CNN

"US will 'take as long as necessary' to investigate deadly school attack, Hegseth says

The investigation into strikes on an Iranian primary school that killed some 150 students will "take as long as necessary", Pete Hegseth has said.

Preliminary findings indicate that the US was likely responsible for the strike on 28 February, which had been carried out based on outdated intelligence, American media have reported this week.

Asked about this, the secretary of defence said the matter was "an issue of such seriousness we're not going to let reporting lead us or force our hand into indicating what happened in a particular situation"."

Always amazes me. They own the missiles, the ships and subs that launch them, they employ the people who pick the target, program the target, push the fire button, and give the order to fire.

And none of them appear to be able to make a phone call.

They were the ones bombing the area
The strikes were deliberate and it wasn’t schrapnel. They were identified and Tomahawk mussels and the school was part of a base more than 10 years ago.

A team from the NYT has checked and verified all the elements - I listened to a podcast on the daily.

The US army fucked up its intelligence and killed all those young girls, and Kegsbreath doesn’t even have the balls to own up to it

Kegsbreath can't differentiate between Call of Duty and actual honest-to-God war where people, you know, actually die. To him this is all one big video game. and he's trying to 'win' his way to the 'next level'.

I generally try to avoid it, but the last few days I've been paying closer attention to what Scrotus says. In the past you could 'parse' his words and see how he was using facts and twisting them or using only a tiny part of that fact until it suited his own purpose. There was always a teeny grain of that fact left so MAGAts had something to cling to. But now, what he says are just absolute fabrications which are so transparent that a 3 year old could see the lie. I'm not talking about his insults about other people. I'm talking about absolute 100% provable, even ridiculous, lies about the war and the economy. He's not even bothering to try and make his lies seem 'true' anymore. I can't decide if his ego makes him believe himself, he's got dementia, or if he just doesn't give a shit anymore.

And the MAGAts believe him and no surprise there. But that the GOP grabs on to these lies and promotes them and GOP legislators use them to defend their actions is simply astonishing to me.

So far I'm doing OK with the rising prices. But then I'm retired so I don't drive much (+Prius w/48mpg) and I don't eat much. A lot of people are really starting to feel the pinch to varying degrees. But of course MAGAts are convinced that 'it's necessary to win this war and then prices will drop'. What's that saying about a fool and his money?

MN, bring back the laughing emoji!

Kegsbreath can't differentiate between Call of Duty and actual honest-to-God war where people, you know, actually die. To him this is all one big video game. and he's trying to 'win' his way to the 'next level'.

The fact that the official ShiteWhite House site is posting videos of missile strikes cut with video game footage shows that this is the Government position

I can see the reason why certain emojis were removed as people were using them to insult posters or cause distress.

But I sure wish they'd have some sort of 'emoji option' where someone who starts a thread could activate/select those emojis and allow them to be used.

Heaven help us all in the UK when Farage and Kemi get into government with a coalition.

We had the laughing emoji for a couple of months and during that time I was actively insulted by someone who used in what was clearly deliberate mockery. Very unpleasant. I wasn't in the least sorry when the unsuccessful experiment was stopped.

I would be quite likely to avoid a thread whose OP decided to enable something so open to abuse.

The pain of this vanity war will be felt worldwide and the poor will suffer the most.

Even I, with absolutely no military/warmongering nouse whatsoever, could see this being the likely outcome.

and Kegsbreath is an idiot - is he going to last if US troops are deployed on the ground?

Cheerful stuff in the FT. Trump has started something that he cannot control. This is arguably far more significant for the world economy than the oil crises of the 1970s.

Has anyone caught TRIH series on the beginning of WW1 ?

The press and politicians in Germany were so full of how powerful Germany was and how it could never lose and how well the war was going that the shock of 1918 turbocharged the "stab in the back" myth.

I wonder what a mass of dim Americans who have been told how powerful the USA is and how it can never lose will react when they do ?

Confirmed, all six crew members confirmed dead after US plane crash in Iraq

It's a long clip from CNN sorry, but significant. Especially for Vance.

"Pope Leo suggests Christian leaders who start wars go to confession
By Christopher Lamb
Pope Leo XIV has suggested that Christian leaders who are responsible for wars should go to confession, with out naming any conflict or individual specifically.
“Do those Christians who bear serious responsibility in armed conflicts have the humility and courage to make a serious examination of conscience and to go to confession?” the first US-born pope said during a speech in the Vatican today.
Although the pope didn’t name anyone directly, he has repeatedly appealed for peace in Iran and the Middle East, describing the situation as “deeply disturbing.” In January, Leo lamented that “war is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading.”
The pope’s latest remarks come as US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth framed the US military intervention as supported by God, while some Christian leaders were recently seen praying over US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office during the Iran war. Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are Catholics.
Meanwhile, prominent figures in the US Catholic church have spoken out against the Iran war.
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago has described a video posted on the White House’s X account about the war as “sickening,” while Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington DC said the US-Israeli strikes are “not morally legitimate” as they don’t meet the criteria in Catholic teaching for a just war.
Leo’s speech was delivered to group of clergy and trainee priests who had gathered in Rome for a course on confession, known as the Sacrament of Reconciliation."

Vance is busy distancing himself from the war junkies.
www.politico.com/news/2026/03/13/jd-vance-skeptical-iran-operation-00826780

Pope Leo XIV has suggested that Christian leaders who are responsible for wars

But this isn't a war.

Vance is already trying to set himself up for 2028. And we know how well that worked for Pence, don't we?

Off they go.

Quelle surprise!

Mission creep ?

Did they say what the mission was, is, or will be ?

That makes is read like they are trying to find the legendary "Middle East".

Presumably the film rights have already been sold

(Hums "Indiana Jones" theme).

Operation Biglier than the Epstein Files.

Remember: Spain told Trump to fuck himself.

https://www.logisticsmanager.com/amazon-to-build-supply-chain-hub-in-aragon-spain/

Latest Sky news

Trump admits Putin could be helping Iran.
US navy to escort tankers through Hormuz
Iran's leaders are hiding like rats underground.