Trump's War

When you start a fight by kicking a hornet's nest, the deciding vote on when the fight is over belongs to the hornets.

(search: us military bases hit in middle east)

As of late March 2026, Iranian missile and drone strikes have severely damaged multiple U.S. military bases across the Middle East, rendering 13 locations "all but uninhabitable". Major, confirmed strikes occurred in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, forcing personnel to relocate to temporary sites. 

Key Details of Strikes (March 2026):

• Destruction Level: Reports indicate nearly 13 bases have been heavily impacted, with satellite imagery showing massive craters and destroyed buildings at several locations.

Impacted Bases:

• Kuwait: Port Shuaiba (destroyed tactical center), Ali Al Salem Air Base, and Camp Buehring suffered significant damage, with India Today reporting six U.S. service members killed at Port Shuaiba.

• Qatar: Al Udeid Air Base (largest in the region) had critical early-warning radar systems damaged.

• Bahrain: BBC reports the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet headquarters saw a drone strike damage communication radomes.

• Saudi Arabia: Prince Sultan Air Base sustained damage to aircraft-related facilities and equipment.

• Jordan: A critical BBC reports the AN/TPY-2 radar system was targeted.

Operational Impact:

The strikes, estimated at $800 million in damage, have forced a shift to "remote" operations, with personnel relocating to hotels and non-traditional facilities. 

These attacks are part of a direct, intense retaliation from Iran following U.S.-Israeli strikes in late February 2026

Iranian strikes on bases used by US caused $800m in damage, new analysis shows
7 days ago

Iranian strikes on military bases used by the US in the Middle East caused about $800m (£600m) in damage in the first two weeks of the war, a new analysis shows.

Much of the damage was caused in initial retaliatory strikes by Iran in the week after the US and Israel launched the war, according to a report by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) and an analysis by the BBC.

The full extent of the damage caused by Iranian strikes on US assets in the region is not clear.

But the $800m in estimated damage to US military infrastructure - a figure that's higher than has been previously reported - offers a picture of the steep costs to the US as the conflict drags on.

"The damage to US bases in the region has been underreported," said Mark Cancian, a CSIS senior adviser and co-author of the think tank study. "Although that appears to be extensive, the full amount won't be known until more information is available."

In response to a request for comment, the US Department of Defense referred the BBC to US Central Command, which is leading the war. Officials there declined to comment.

Iran's retaliatory strikes targeted US air-defence and satellite-communication systems, among other assets, in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and other countries across the Middle East.

A significant portion of damage was caused by a strike on a US radar for a Thaad missile defence system at an air base in Jordan.

The AN/TPY-2 radar system costs approximately $485m according to a CSIS review of defence department budget documents. The air-defence systems are used for the long-range interception of ballistic missiles.

Strikes by Iran caused an additional $310m in estimated damage to buildings, facilities and other infrastructure on US bases and military bases used by American forces in the region.

Iran also has struck at least three air bases more than once, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by BBC Verify. The repeat strikes underscore Iran's efforts to target specific US assets. Russia has reportedly shared intelligence with Tehran on American military forces in the region.

Satellite imagery shows the three air bases - Ali Al-Salim base in Kuwait, Al-Udeid in Qatar and Prince Sultan in Saudi Arabia - with fresh damage appearing during different phases of the conflict.

The US has also lost 13 military service members since President Donald Trump joined Israel in launching the attacks on Iran on 28 February.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana) estimates the overall death toll has reached nearly 3,200, including 1,400 civilians.

Trump has said the US is on track to achieve his goals of destroying Iran's nuclear program, degrading its conventional military power, and ending the regime's support for proxy groups in the region.

"We're doing extremely well in Iran," Trump said at a White House event on Friday.

But the war has rattled the global economy with the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and uncertainty over the duration of the conflict and whether Trump will deploy ground troops.

Analysis of satellite imagery has been hampered by restrictions imposed by major US-based providers on the release of the imagery.

But it is possible to discern certain patterns in Iran's retaliatory action against US military interests in the region.

Radar and satellite systems have been a focus from the start, when Iranian strikes hit a US naval base in Bahrain. They function as the eyes and ears of modern military operations.

Satellite imagery most notably showed the destruction of two radomes - protective enclosures for such sensitive equipment. It is highly probable the systems themselves were damaged, although it is not possible to gauge the extent.

Radar sites were hit at Camp Arifjan, a US military facility in Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base, where US aircraft are located. Imagery of the latter shows smoke rising from a radar component for a Thaad air-defence system.

More extensive damage to Thaad systems is evident at US bases in the UAE and Jordan. It's unclear what the cost of that damage was. The degradation of these systems reportedly led the US to redeploy Thaad components from South Korea to the Middle East.

The damage from Iran's retaliatory strikes account for a fraction of the overall costs to the US for the war.

Defense department officials reportedly briefed members of Congress that the first six days of the war had cost $11.3bn. The first 12 days cost 16.5bn, according to CSIS.

The Pentagon is asking for another $200bn in funding for the war. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that the figure "could move."

"It takes money to kill bad guys," Hegseth said.

Lighten Up, Stephen

If Trump decides he needs to soften the approach, which is unlikely, or least it's not likely that he'll allow the perception that he's "going soft" on anything, then the question (as always with politicians) will be how many MAGA rubes will flip-flop with him on this one too, versus how many will break with him.

Normal people would just come out and say, "OK, so that didn't work quite the way we wanted it to work, so we're going to try something a little different."

Normal people would do that, because that's just good business. But Trump is not normal, and he's not good at business, so I'm not going to start expecting him to behave like a good business guy - or as a normal guy either for that matter.

In the meantime -

REMEMBER THE EPSTEIN FILES

Trump Throws Stephen Miller Under the Bus in Surprise Show of Panic

On the surface, Trump wants less attention paid to mass deportations. Meanwhile, Miller is taking new and hidden steps to wreak havoc in the lives of undocumented children and their families.

Has Donald Trump finally figured out that Stephen Miller’s fascist cruelties have become a niggling political liability for him? Well, maybe. A striking report in The Wall Street Journal suggests Trump may be moving to marginalize Miller’s influence. But Trump appears to think the difficulty can be cured by a few optical tweaks, when the real culprit is a deeper ideological one.

Trump wants to “lower the profile of his mass deportation effort,” the Journal reveals. He wants voters to think the targets of these deportations are “bad guys,” not noncriminal undocumented residents. He wants less visibility for ICE raids in cities, fewer public confrontations with local officials, and less public talk about “mass deportations,” which, he now grasps, are hideously unpopular.

Tellingly, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles now sees deportations as a liability for the midterms, per the report. That Trump is siding with her on the politics here is a sign of political panic and a rebuke to Miller, who apparently delights in flaunting the administration’s vicious sadism and overt white nationalism—and seems certain that latent majorities are quietly cheering along.

To be clear, this report deserves serious skepticism. It very much bears watching whether ICE will actually end up deprioritizing the removal of noncriminal immigrants. Trump mostly wants the appearance of a pivot: According to the Journal, he wants a focus on “criminals” in GOP “messaging.”

But recalibrating the “messaging” won’t address the public’s broad rejection of Trumpism’s deeper anti-immigrant project. And all signs are that this project is fully forging ahead.

Case in point: Miller just met with Texas state legislators and floated a truly extreme proposal. The New York Times reports that Miller discussed the idea of ending state public funding for the education of undocumented children, and asked the lawmakers why they hadn’t passed a bill limiting funding for education so it only goes to kids who are citizens or are lawfully present in the United States.

This idea—denying public school to undocumented children—has mostly passed under the radar, but it’s a long-held dream of the anti-immigrant right. The basic aim is to destabilize the lives of undocumented families as another way to encourage them to self-deport. But there’s an even more pernicious ideological aim at work here.

Getting a red state to attempt this would run afoul of a 1982 Supreme Court decision, which blocked states from denying public education to young people based on immigration status. Plyler v. Doe is not as well known as the other big civil rights rulings, but it’s momentous: It held that restricting public education this way would violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s enshrinement of equal protection before the law.

Miller and his allies are gunning for Plyler. If a state did restrict education to migrant kids, it would likely provoke another court battle—possibly providing an opening for the right-wing court to overturn Plyler.

That would be seismic. The basic principle at issue is whether these kids are to be regarded as equal persons despite being undocumented. The Burger court found that denying them education would relegate them to an unacceptable subclass status. As immigration law scholar Hiroshi Motomura explains, the ruling embodied the idea that “the emergence of a permanent subcaste is intolerable within a national constitutional culture based on equality.”

Miller really wants to end that “constitutional culture based on equality.” It’s hard to know whether Texas lawmakers will do his bidding—or how the high court would rule if they did. But if it worked, other red states with many immigrant families in them could follow.

This would immeasurably impoverish our nation, but the effort advances Miller’s ideological project in still another sense. Trump wants the Supreme Court to rule in favor of his 2025 executive order ending birthright citizenship. That of course also involves the Fourteenth Amendment—its guarantee that all persons born in the United States are automatic citizens.

Here again, Trump and Miller are aiming at something very profound, if maliciously so. As legal scholar Akhil Reed Amar writes, the “big idea” animating the Fourteenth Amendment’s citizenship clause, its “moral north star,” is that birthright citizenship enshrines a guarantee that all persons are born free and equal—their status is not dictated by blood. The goal of undoing this, Amar notes, is to make the constitutional order more “hereditary” and “caste-like.”

That’s precisely what Trump and Miller want. You can hear echoes of this in JD Vance’s now-infamous suggestions that heritage, not adherence to creedal ideals, makes one American. As Jamelle Bouie explains, Vance’s vision is of “tiered citizenship” based not on equality of birth but on one’s “connection to the soil and to the dead.” Ned Resnikoff hears hints of this in Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Western-civilizational-supremacist rhetoric, as well.

Miller’s apparent push to end the guarantee of public education involves undocumented kids, not American-born citizens. But it, too, would create a permanent subclass by denying those kids equality before the law. “Miller’s true goal is to use immigration as a tool to chisel away at the Fourteenth Amendment,” Chris Newman, counsel at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, told me. “Until he’s ejected from the White House, all our rights are in danger.”

The true essence of Miller’s project resides here. It is to treat immigrants—not just undocumented ones but lawfully present ones, and even their American-born children—as fundamentally unfit to become American, as a civilizational threat of existential proportions. That threat must be arrested via mass forced removals—hence the Department of Homeland Security’s rhapsodizing about 100 million deportations—and via an end to treating immigrants and their kids as equals.

Overturning Plyler and ending birthright citizenship are aimed at that goal—and both initiatives are alive and well. So are Miller’s efforts to snuff out every legal pathway for migrants to come here for humanitarian reasons. So too is his construction of massive prison camps to facilitate all those expulsions. So is his effort to deport as many people as possible regardless of their deep ties to communities here: In 2025, only 14 percent of those arrested by ICE had violent criminal records.

Trump can dress this up with spin about targeting “criminals” all he likes. But until all the ethnonationalist, civilizational-emergency-mongering nonsense is exorcised, the deeper problem will fester. Trump believes all those ideas himself, but the depth of his commitment to them has never been all that clear. One doubts he’ll be so inclined, but should he ever want to stop this madness, only one move on his part—a big personnel move—can truly put an end to it.

If Only

Bill Jubran

Everything Trump touches turns to shit.

Has And Has Not

Trump has:

• Cause the US to be put on a Human Rights Watch List for the first time ever
• Driven up inflation
• Driven down employment
• Reduced GDP growth
• Cut taxes for rich people by stealing trillions of dollars from working families
• $300B in SNAP benefits
• $1T in Medicaid
• Fired more than 200,000 federal public service professionals
• Eliminated our ability to gauge the economy by firing the statistics pros
• Degraded US soft power by eliminating USAID
• Hamstrung our ability to respond to national emergencies and natural disasters
• FEMA
• CDC
• NWS
• Committed at least 8 evidence-backed impeachable offenses

Trump has not:

• Ended 7 wars - or 8 or 10 - or whatever he says at any given moment
• Brought peace to the Middle East
• Saved "tens of millions" of lives
• Made $20T in trade deals
• Brought in $20T in foreign investment
• Lowered prescription prices by 100%, or 500%, or 1200%
• Lowered the cost of living
• Gas remains above seasonal averages
• Groceries are up by 8% - 12% - 25%
• Rent is steady or rising

Donald Trump is a fuckup and a loser. He knows it - even though he spends an awful lot of time and effort denying it - and he knows we know it - and he knows the MAGA rubes are finally starting to catch on.

Ladies And Germs - The President

EXCLUSIVE: Donald Trump Left Royal Family 'Disgusted' With State of His Room at Windsor Castle — 'There Was Takeout Boxes, Fake Tan and Hair Spray Everywhere'

Dirty Donald Trump shocked staff and left members of the royal household appalled after his overnight stay at Windsor Castle during his second state visit to the UK ended with his suite in a state of "total filth," RadarOnline.com can reveal.

Royal Family Disgusted by Filthy Suite

The 79-year-old U.S. president and his wife Melania, 55, were recently feted with all the pomp of a full state welcome in Britain, including a carriage procession with the King and Queen and a glittering white-tie banquet. But behind the scenes, insiders say the royal family were "disgusted" by the condition of Trump's rooms once he departed.

A palace source told us: "It was takeout boxes, tanning sprays and hair products everywhere. The bathroom was littered with bottles, the sinks stained, and his bed sheets had been left completely orange from whatever he uses. People were horrified. This was Windsor Castle, not a roadside motel."

Another insider added: "No one could say no to him. If Trump wanted fast food at 2am, the Secret Service would fetch it. The room smelled of fries and fried chicken by morning. For staff who are used to military precision and spotless suites, it was beyond the pale."

Pomp and Ceremony Masked Chaos

Trump's state visit to the U.K. – the second of his presidency – began on September 16 and lasted three days.

He was greeted on arrival by the Prince and Princess of Wales, joined the King in inspecting a Guard of Honour and dined beneath chandeliers with senior politicians including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The highlight was a carriage ride through the Windsor estate, accompanied by the Household Cavalry and military bands.

The formalities, however, masked growing unease among those tasked with hosting him.

"The president loves the pomp and ceremony," one official noted before the visit. "But staff quickly saw the chaos that came with it."

Palace Aides Stunned by the Mess

Palace aides said the extent of the mess was unprecedented.

One recalled: "He had sprays and tubs of hair gel scattered across the bathroom. Tan wipes were in the bin, the towels were ruined, and the housekeeping team had to replace nearly everything. It was like a bomb had gone off in Selfridges' cosmetics hall."

Trump has long prided himself on his appearance, once admitting to spending considerable time on his "distinctive" hair.

"But no one expected the trail it would leave," said a source close to his royal visit.

Public Duties Continued Smoothly

Despite the private dismay, the public program proceeded smoothly.

After paying respects at St George's Chapel to the late Queen Elizabeth II, Trump watched a Beating Retreat ceremony on the East Lawn, followed by a flypast from the Red Arrows and US F-35 jets.

That evening he toasted the King at a banquet before retiring to his suite.

The following morning, Trump departed Windsor for Chequers to meet Starmer, inspect the Churchill archives and hold a joint press conference. Behind the polished schedule, staff were still grappling with the aftermath of his stay.

"Everyone has hosted difficult guests," said one insider. "But nothing like this. For many, it was simply revolting."

About That "Speech"

Trump was allotted 15 minutes - he took almost an hour.

A senior foreign UN official stationed in NYC tweeted:

"This man is stark raving mad. Do Americans not see how embarrassing this is?"

So here's a summary of Trump's remarks:

• Your countries all suck
• None of you knows what you're doing
• The US is better at everything, and it's all because of me
• I'm right about everything
• You should listen me and do what I tell you to do
• You should be giving me all the awards and prizes for everything

He's not getting better - he's getting worse - because mental illness does not improve over time.

Trump Is Killing Us

He allowed DOGE to cut all funding to and through USAID. As a result, 12-15 million people will die.

His Big Bamboozle Bill cut a trillion dollars from healthcare, and hundreds of billions from research - cancer, diabetes, heart disease, birth anomalies, environmental risks, food and drug safety, perinatal care, Alzheimer's, and and and.

The ignorant pricks in Trump's White House, and the gutless fucks on Capitol Hill stand by doing nothing while childhood diseases are given a chance to kill kids - and adults - because of BKjr's unbelievably stupid conspiracy fantasies.

This shit hits home for all of us in one way or another. We're all no more than a couple of degrees separated from someone who has, or will have, some kind of cancer. Biden committed us to a moon-shot-level effort to find a cure for cancer, and Trump gutted it - because (IMO) it was Biden's thing.

This is going to get worse for quite a while, and the time we spend letting it get worse, will be orders of magnitude less than the time we'll have to spend trying to get back to where we were a lousy six months ago.

Trump's legacy is Cruelty, Immiseration, and Death.

Takeaways from fired CDC director’s Senate testimony

Susan Monarez told the Senate health committee that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pressured her to back changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.

Susan Monarez, who was fired last month as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told senators Wednesday that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pressured her to support changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, subverting the agency’s scientific expertise and endangering public health.

The former CDC chief who served in the position for only 29 days, told the Senate’s health committee that Kennedy told her that “he spoke to the president every day about changing the childhood vaccine schedule” and that she “needed to be on board” with coming changes in September. The recommendations from the CDC call for administering multiple vaccines at key milestones, and potential changes to the schedule have alarmed major medical associations who worry the nation’s vaccine infrastructure may crack.

Monarez’s testimony on Capitol Hill marks her first public appearance since the White House fired her in late August. She told the panel she was fired for “holding the line on scientific integrity,” citing concerns about her ability to continue leading the agency while “preserving evidence-based decision-making.”

Throughout the hearing, some senators critical of Kennedy, who has an extensive history of anti-vaccine advocacy, sought to highlight what they believe is at stake: the potential for infectious diseases to reemerge and erosion of trust in public health. Some Republican senators allied with Kennedy pressed Monarez on the details of her meetings with Kennedy, casting her as out of step with the Trump administration and suggesting she was not trustworthy.

Monarez and her lawyers have accused Kennedy of pressuring her to rubber-stamp his vaccine policies and fire vaccine scientists. In a Senate hearing earlier this month, Kennedy told lawmakers he asked Monarez to resign because she admitted she was not “trustworthy,” while conceding that he asked her to fire senior staff.

Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesman, pushed back against Monarez’s testimony, alleging her remarks have “factual inaccuracies” and “leave out important details.” On X, the official HHS account highlighted testimony from Republican senators who were critical of Monarez during the hearing

“Here’s the reality: Susan Monarez was tasked with returning the CDC to its core mission after decades of bureaucratic inertia, politicized science and mission creep corroded its purpose and squandered public trust,” Nixon said in a statement. “Instead, she acted maliciously to undermine the President’s agenda and was fired as a result.”

Here are takeaways from the hearing:

Monarez alleged political interference
Monarez told senators that Kennedy demanded on Aug. 25 that she commit in advance to approving every recommendation from an influential vaccine advisory panel.

Kennedy recently purged the panel and replaced it with his handpicked members, many of whom have criticized coronavirus vaccine policy. Kennedy also directed her to dismiss career officials responsible for vaccine policy, she said, and to work with political appointees he had put in place at CDC instead of career scientists.

“I had refused to commit to approving vaccine recommendations without evidence, fire career officials without cause, or resign — and I had shared my concerns with this committee,” Monarez said. “I told the secretary that if he believed he could not trust me, he could fire me.”

Monarez also alleged that Kennedy said that agency employees were “killing children, and they don’t care.”

Before Monarez’s ouster, a top aide to Kennedy had informed her that all major CDC policy decisions needed prior political approval.

“I wanted to elevate the absolute need for political review of major policy decisions at CDC,” HHS Chief of Staff Matthew Buckham wrote in an Aug. 19 email, which was obtained and first reported by The Washington Post and highlighted by senators in the hearing. He added that Kennedy’s office and CDC political leadership should “have eyes on the decisions for approval/changes before they go into effect.”

Nixon, the HHS spokesman, said the process Buckham described “is nothing new.”

“As with all federal agencies, major policy and staffing decisions must go through established clearance channels,” he said in a statement. “Susan Monarez bypassed this established process, which is unacceptable.”

Childhood vaccine schedule in the spotlight
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), the health committee’s chair, asked Monarez whether Kennedy ever discussed the childhood vaccine schedule.

During her testimony, Monarez said that Kennedy told her the schedule would be changing as of September — and that she “needed to be on board with it.” An influential vaccine advisory panel is set to meet Thursday and Friday to potentially vote on recommendations for hepatitis B administered to infants after birth and coronavirus vaccines.

Monarez also said Kennedy asked her speak to Aaron Siri, a lawyer for a top anti-vaccine organization and an ally to Kennedy. Siri previously petitioned the government to reconsider its approval of one of the polio vaccines.

In his confirmation hearings, Kennedy told senators “I support the childhood schedule,” but since he assumed the top health post, he has taken steps to revisit it. Public health experts have credited that schedule for reducing the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases and saving lives, while Kennedy and his allies have countered that it imposes too many shots on young children.

RFK Jr.'s showdown with the Senate
The health and human services secretary is facing fire from both sides of the aisle. Plus, red and blue states are splintering on vaccine policy.

Some of Kennedy’s allies on the panel, such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), pressed Monarez on whether children receive too many shots. She said she was open to discussing the science but also defended the evidence around the schedule.

“The data associated with those recommendations has been validated and vetted, and that is the current schedule,” Monarez said in a response to questioning from Marshall.

Nixon, the HHS spokesman, said the agency will not restrict access to vaccines.

“We are simply restoring the doctor-patient relationship,” Nixon said. “Anyone can get a vaccine in consultation with their healthcare provider.”

The White House defended the administration’s vaccine plans, citing its recent MAHA Strategy Report that called for developing “the best” childhood vaccine recommendations in the world.

“No one, including Secretary Kennedy and President Trump, is calling to throw out the entire childhood vaccine schedule or eliminate access to lifesaving vaccines,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. “Anyone suggesting that such actions are even on the table does not know what they are talking about.”

Ahead of a key vaccine meeting, hepatitis B vaccine gets airtime
Senators of both parties repeatedly brought up the hepatitis B vaccine ahead of a Thursday meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to reconsider the long-standing recommendation to provide the vaccine at birth. Such a move would mark the first major shift on a routine childhood immunization under Kennedy.

Democrats and Cassidy blasted the effort, arguing it could reverse progress to curtail a serious liver infection.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) pressed Monarez on why newborns receive the shot — skepticism that Kennedy and his allies have echoed, arguing most children are not at risk.

“I was open to the science,” Monarez responded. “I just would not pre-commit to approving all the ACIP recommendations without the science.”

Cassidy, a gastroenterologist and liver specialist, gave a forceful defense of the hepatitis B vaccine in his closing remarks. He said the number of babies who get infected with hepatitis B has been substantially reduced since they began receiving the shot.

“That is an accomplishment to make America healthy again,” Cassidy said in reference to Kennedy’s MAHA movement to address chronic disease and childhood illness. “And we should stand up and salute the people that made that decision, because there’s people who would otherwise be dead if those mothers were not given that option to have their child vaccinated.”

Former top CDC career scientist said Kennedy bypassed scientific process
Earlier this year, Kennedy directed the CDC to no longer recommend the coronavirus vaccine for healthy pregnant women and healthy children. Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer who resigned after Monarez’s ouster, said she learned of this from Kennedy’s X post announcing the move.

“After the tweet came out, we asked for a written memo from HHS because I couldn’t implement guidance off of a tweet,” Houry said.

Cassidy frames approach as ‘radical transparency’
Cassidy, who openly wrestled with whether to support Kennedy’s confirmation before voting for the nominee, said he invited Monarez to testify as a “direct response” to President Donald Trump’s call for “radical transparency” into how the government functions. Monarez said she was instructed not to speak directly to senators.

Cassidy is up for reelection next year and has had to weigh flexing his oversight power against a desire to remain in Trump’s good graces. He said he was inviting HHS officials, including Kennedy, to speak with the panel to rebutany remarks at Wednesday’s hearing.

“I don’t prejudge. I don’t know if you’re telling the truth or not. And when Secretary Kennedy comes, I’m keeping an open mind. Let me just say that,” Cassidy said in his closing remarks.

Republican senators allied with Kennedy rushed to his defense.

“Ma’am, all we’re looking for is you to be honest. And you haven’t been,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) said. GOP senators also focused on Monarez’s decision to retain legal counsel, including an extended exchange with Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Florida) when Monarez balked at naming her lawyers Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell. Zaid is a critic of Trump, while Lowell has counted members of Trump’s orbit such as Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump among his high-profile Washington clients.

It's Getting Worse

• DOJ assigned a thousand FBI people to scour the Epstein Files, and flag Trump's name
• Then they briefed him on it, telling him he's definitely in the files
• Then PammyJo announced they were closing the investigation, and let's just move on

Trumplefucks have been yipping and yapping and refusing to "move on" for a dozen years when it comes to "the vast conspiracy of elites victimizing children". Trump has stoked this shit for them every chance he's had.

And now, there's nothing to see here?

1. The coverup is always worse than crime
2. Trump always makes it worse for Trump

Also - there may be something brewing behind the scenes, as JD Vance just got back from some kind of powwow with Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch in Montana.

Cooler Heads?

There's nothing that says Iran provoked the US directly. Yes, they're duking it out with our good buddy Israel, but Bibi's not exactly teetering, unless there's big pushback domestically (which I don't know about, and I haven't spent much time looking into).

What I'm pretty sure about is that there's been plenty of pressure from Tel Aviv, and from Mike Huckabee at our embassy in Jerusalem.

And most of the regular people in the world would agree that we need to prevent Iran from getting the bomb.

But the deal was in place for Iran to forego their nuclear ambitions - or at least to postpone or redirect their program - and that's what Trump scuttled in his first term.

So now we have Trump making us look like asshole bullies, giving Tehran the chance to look smarter and cooler by going proportional.

Everything Trump touches turns to shit.

Iran says missile attack matched number of US bombs, signaling likely desire to de-escalate

Iran said its missile attack on Al Udeid air base in Qatar matched the number of bombs dropped by the United States on Iranian nuclear sites this weekend, signaling Iran’s likely desire to deescalate, AP reports.

Iran made the announcement on Monday night in a statement from its Supreme National Security Council after the attack, which Qatar said caused no injuries.

Iran also said it targeted the base because it was outside of populated areas.

Iran gave advanced warning of attack to Qatar - reports

Iran coordinated its strikes on US bases in Qatar with Qatari officials in advance in a bid to minimize casualties, the New York Times is reporting, citing three Iranian officials.

Reuters is also reporting that Iran gave advanced warning to Qatar, prompting air space closure earlier, citing a source familiar with the matter.

In his statement in my last post, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari confirmed there had been no casualties and said: “The base had been evacuated earlier, following established security and precautionary measures, given the tensions in the region.”

Qatar condemns Iranian attack on US base and says no casualties reported

Here’s more on that Qatari response.

Qatar has condemned Iran’s attack on the Al Udeid air base and said that “Qatar reserves the right to respond directly in a manner equivalent with the nature and scale of this brazen aggression, in line with international law”.

In a post on X the Qatari foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari added that “Qatar’s air defenses successfully thwarted the attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles” and there had been no casualties.

He said Qatar had warned of the dangers of Israeli escalation in the region and called for “the immediate cessation of all military actions and for a serious return to the negotiating table and dialogue”.

Here's a novel idea:

Everybody stop fucking

with each other

Let's just try that for a while - see how it goes.