“The first casualty, when war comes, is truth.” -California Republican Senator Hiram Johnson (1917)

No U.S. president has the authority to take America to war with another nation without a Declaration of War from Congress. That means Trump’s war with Iran is exactly that: It is Donald Trump’s war—illegally using the U.S. military for his own purposes—or should I say, for Israel’s purposes.

The man who promised the American people that he would stop America’s “stupid” (Trump’s word) perpetual regime-change wars lied to us. He knew he was lying when he said it, because he knew that his entire presidential campaign was sponsored by the Epstein/Zionist/Billionaire class epitomized by Mossad asset Miriam Adelson.

Most U.S. presidents, just as most of the U.S. Congress, are overly influenced and manipulated by the State of Israel, thanks to the Zionist billionaire donors using the Israeli lobby group AIPAC (and scores of groups just like it) as a conduit of unlimited cash with which to bribe these criminals—called politicians.

But, without a doubt, Donald Trump is far and away the most beholden and most controlled U.S. president EVER. Donald Trump is owned lock, stock and barrel by Benjamin Netanyahu and the antichrist Zionists in Tel Aviv. And Trump’s unwarranted, unprovoked and unconstitutional attack against Iran proves it.

Iran posed ZERO threat to the security of the United States.

The American people need to awaken to the reality that our politicians in Washington do NOT represent us, the American people. They represent the Zionist government in Israel. Now, American blood is being shed, and American lives are being lost NOT for the defense of America, but for the fanatical Greater Israel ambitions of the atheistic Ashkenazi Zionists in Palestine.

This war was never about Iran’s nuclear program. Our own intelligence agencies—including the testimony (under oath) of National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard—have repeatedly reported for over 20 years that Iran had no nuclear weapons and had no plans on building them. Former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei held deep religious convictions that nuclear weapons violated the Shia faith, and, therefore, he blocked their development in Iran. Looking back, that was doubtless a huge mistake on his part.

Think about it: Under the rubric of keeping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, Donald Trump murdered the one man in Iran that was preventing the country from obtaining nuclear weapons. It is most likely that now a younger more aggressive leader (the Ayatollah’s own son?) will emerge as Iran’s Supreme Leader with all bets off the table—especially given the last two surreptitious U.S./Israeli attacks against Iran while pretending to be participating in peace negotiations.

Donald Trump has opened Pandora’s Box.

Trump has turned on the light bulb in the minds of leaders all over the world that the only way to not be attacked by the U.S. or Israel is to possess nuclear weapons. After all, the United States doesn’t dare threaten North Korea with attack.

Donald Trump has ignited the greatest nuclear arms race in the atomic age.

Besides, Donald Trump brazenly told us last June that he had “totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Everyone with half a brain knows that this war is not about nuclear weapons; it is about taking orders from Benjamin Netanyahu and his fellow Zionist extremists whose goal is to conquer the entire Middle East—just as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee acknowledged just two weeks ago.

This war will not end well. Not for the United States, not for Israel, not for the global economy and not for the prospect of peace. In fact, RIGHT NOW the war is not going well.

The U.S. media and federal government are hiding the true cost of this war. International independent reports are suggesting that hundreds of U.S. troops have already been killed in this illegal war. Fighter aircraft have been shot down. And perhaps even U.S. ships have been sunk.

As Republican U.S. Senator from California Hiram Johnson said in 1917, “The first casualty, when war comes, is truth.”

The American people will not be made aware of the extent of U.S. losses in both military hardware and human life until after this is all over—and maybe not even then.

Plus, the United States government has been married to Israel for so long now, that it is fighting wars the way the criminal Zionist regime does. Example: Military targets were not the only targets of U.S. missiles in Iran. Two elementary girls’ schools were incinerated along with over 150 little grade school girls and their teachers. This means our military campaign is not designed with precision strikes in mind; they are designed to destroy civilian targets as a means of sowing panic and horror among the population with the hope of forcing the populace to insurrect against their government, just as Israel and the U.S. have done in Gaza.

It didn’t work in Gaza, and it won’t work in Iran!

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it did not fracture the American population; it galvanized it. February 28, 2026, was Iran’s Pearl Harbor. Now, their political differences are set aside, and the Iranians see only two enemies: Israel and the United States—oh, yes, and the Gulf Arab monarchies that are in bed with the Zionist/Epstein class.

Trump lit a war fever that will not soon dissipate. This has already turned into a war of attrition, and it is a war the United States and Israel can no more win than the United States and NATO could win in a war of attrition against Russia in Ukraine.

Iran has hundreds of thousands of state-of-the-art, highly sophisticated missiles—many of them hypersonic. Iran can fight this war for months—and perhaps longer—if it had to.

This is the end of Trump’s presidency. He will go down in history as one of the most failed presidents (along with Joe Biden) to ever sit in the Oval Office.

The longer this war lasts, the weaker Israel and the U.S. become and the stronger Iran becomes. Just one day into the war, Trump begged Iran (via emissaries in Italy) to return to the negotiating table, and they told the con man where to go. Iran has every intention of finishing the war. After all, its very survival depends on it.

And as uncomfortable as what I am about to say is, I must say it: All of Trump’s insanity could not have happened and would not have happened without the rabid, cult-like support of evangelical Christian Zionists.

And here the story becomes surreal. What I’m about to report reveals the level of lunacy and fanaticism stored deep in the hearts of Christian Zionists.

US commanders from every arm of the military have told their units that the war on Iran is “anointed by Jesus” and would bring about his return to Earth as part of the “Armageddon”, resulting in scores of complaints from serving members of the military.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), an organisation dedicated to ensuring that all members of the US military are guaranteed religious freedom, told Middle East Eye on Tuesday that it had received more than 200 similar complaints from personnel serving in the army, navy, air force, marine corps, and space force.

The complaints received by the MRFF, first reported by journalist Jonathan Larsen, have come from more than 40 units and span at least 30 military installations.

According to MRFF, one combat unit commander told non-commissioned officers (NCOs) at a briefing on Monday that the Israeli-US attacks on Iran are part of God’s “plan” and that US President Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth”.

A US NCO who wrote to the MRFF said their commander had told them the war with Iran was “all part of God’s divine plan”. The commander referred repeatedly to the Bible’s Book of Revelation and to Armageddon, the story about the battle between good and evil, in which Jesus triumphs and establishes a lasting peace on Earth.

The commander is quoted by the NCO as saying: “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”

(Source)

Now, the real fanaticism of Scofield’s false doctrines of premillennial dispensationalism, aka Christian Zionism, has come to the surface. To think that a group of human beings or a single U.S. president or a military force could actually determine the timetable in Heaven of Christ’s return is not only the most idiotic thinking imaginable; it is the most arrogant.

So, since Pete Hegseth has brought it up, let’s give the full picture.

According to prophetic dispensationalists, Armageddon cannot occur until the following events transpire:

1. The “rapture” takes place. This means the born-again Christians go to Heaven, while everyone else is left behind to fall victim to what follows.

2. The antichrist rises to a position of global dictatorship, ushers in a temporary 3½ years of peace, and then uses his absolute power to attack Israel, resulting in two-thirds of the Jewish people being murdered by him during the next 3½ years.

3. Afterward, Jesus will come, and the Battle of Armageddon will take place in which He, Christ, will usher in a thousand-year earthly millennial reign.

I’ll leave the rest of the dispensationalist prophetic narrative at that point.

So, let’s apply this to what Hegseth and the rest of these deluded Scofield futurists are saying about Trump and Iran.

1. They all have been given divine revelation to know that Donald Trump is the man who is chosen by God to—on his own—bring about prophetic events leading to the return of Christ by attacking Iran. They have been given divine revelation that the war in Iran is “anointed by Jesus” and that the war is “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”

So, let’s get this straight. Who exactly did God reveal all of this to? John Hagee? Robert Jeffress? Franklin Graham? Or maybe Pete Hegseth himself? Or did God send an angel to appear to all of the dispensationalist pastors with this revelation at once? Can any of these evangelicals tell us who the angel was? What did he look like? Exactly how did the angel appear to them?

I mean, all of us mere mortals out here would really like to hear about this. We have to go back to the Apostle John or the Apostle Paul or even back to Moses to hear of anything close to what we are being told.

Oh, I’m confident these prophecy-obsessed evangelicals can find Bible verses to confirm their delusions. You know, the same Bible verses that dispensationalists have been using since Scofield himself said the sinking of the Titanic was a sign of the “rapture” and return of Christ back in 1912.

2. So, Donald Trump is the man anointed by God to ignore God’s spiritual laws to not kill and not steal and not bear false witness in order to bring about Christ’s return. Not to mention, God gave Donald Trump divine authority to defy the Natural laws of our Creator enshrined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights to ignore the law that says our president must receive authorization from Congress before he is legally allowed to wage war, that he is given divine authority to lie not only to the Iranian people but to the people of America, that he has been given divine authority to send America’s sons and daughters to their deaths on no word but that of Donald Trump. Is that what we are being told? So, now, we don’t have a president; we have a divine Caesar? Is that what we’re being told?

3. So, at what point during this war with Iran will the “rapture” take place? Egad! What should happen if the war ends and the “rapture” doesn’t happen? But let’s set aside that last question.

4. So, during the Iran war, the “rapture” will happen. It MUST happen! All of these dispensationalist evangelicals have had a divine revelation that it will happen. So, that means Donald Trump is the trigger man for what? The coming of the antichrist. That’s what’s next, according to Christian Zionists.

So, who is the antichrist? Well, if Trump is anointed by God to defeat Iran, he might be anointed by God to defeat the rest of the Arab world, you know, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, etc. Yes? Amen! And it would be almost a certainty that in order to conquer the entire Middle East, Trump will need to defeat Russia, China, North Korea, India, etc. If Trump accomplishes all of that, he becomes (Egad!) a global dictator.

So, I guess Donald Trump must be the antichrist. No, wait a minute! Now I’m confused. How can a man anointed by God be the antichrist? Because, if he were the antichrist, he would eventually go to war with Israel and destroy two-thirds of the Jews in the world’s largest holocaust. But that destroys Trump’s anointed, god-like image. Of course, the Christian Zionists won’t be here, so they don’t have to worry about being outed as being full of it the whole time.

Oh! I forgot. Donald Trump is a saved, born-again Christian-—the BEST Christian to ever live, better than the Apostle Paul or Peter or John. So, is JD Vance the antichrist? I’m getting more confused.

Now, we are back to Hegseth and Company explaining this revelation about Trump’s anointing to us. Because, I’ve been seriously studying the Scriptures for 55 years, and all of this sounds absurd to me.

It sounds absurd, because it is absurd!

The lifelong blasphemer, the lifelong liar, the lifelong cheat, the lifelong philanderer, the lifelong gangster, the lifelong bully, the lifelong sexual predator Donald Trump is as much anointed by God as the llamas on my neighbor’s ranch.

Donald Trump is a war criminal. If there is any justice left in the United States, he will be impeached, convicted and sent to prison. And I believe that that is a distinct possibility.

If the Democrats have the votes after the midterm elections in November, that will definitely happen. Not only will he be impeached for being a war criminal and violating the constitutional requirement that he seek approval from Congress to wage war, but don’t forget about the Epstein files. If the Democrats have the votes following the November elections, they will unseal the Epstein files, meaning Donald Trump and Pam Bondi go to prison and a bunch of the Epstein class follow close behind.

I personally believe that that is why Prince Andrew was allowed to be arrested and why Bill Clinton testified regarding the Epstein files. I’m convinced both of these men (and many others by now) have privately “spilled their guts” to prosecutors in exchange for clemency. I believe they have provided authorities with names, places, events, times, etc., in great detail—evidence that will be used against Trump and others that Trump is covering for.

When the curtain falls on Trump—and it will fall, by whatever means, who knows? When that curtain falls, it will also shine the spotlight of shame on the Christian Zionist evangelicals in this country. These blind leaders of the blind in evangelical pulpits will share the disdain and derision of public opinion both here and around the world for decades to come. Trying to claim that Trump is God’s anointed to wage an illegal, immoral, unconstitutional war against Iran is the proverbial straw that will break the camel’s back.

And, politically, Trump’s war of aggression against Iran will be the straw that breaks the con man’s back. The only question that remains is, will the Republican Party let Trump take them all down with him? At this point, it looks like they will.

Trump’s demise is as certain as George H.W. Bush’s re-election defeat in 1992. Bush went into that campaign as a shoo-in for a second term, largely based on the enthusiastic national acceptance of Bush’s promise: “Read my lips: No new taxes.” But you know what happened after that. Bush crammed new taxes down the throats of the American people, and he lost the White House.

Trump has done the same thing. He won a landslide election on his promise: “Read my lips. No new wars.” Now, he’s started the mother of all wars in the Middle East, and both he and the Republican Party are going to pay the price for it.

P.S. Today, I am announcing that my latest Prophecy Message DVD is now available.

This is Prophecy Message Twenty-Seven entitled The Second Coming Of Christ—Part Three—The Great White Throne And The Second Death.

To view the message on our YouTube channel, go here.

To purchase the message DVD, go here.

Article posted with permission from Chuck Baldwin

The post Donald Trump’s Flagrant War Of Aggression Against Iran Is An Impeachable Offense appeared first on The Washington Standard.

More Troops on the Way

The Wall Street Journal reports More U.S. Troops on Way to Back Iran Mission

Question of the day: Are we sure what the mission is?

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. was adding forces in the Middle East to support its operation in Iran, as the conflict widened across the region.

In a press conference with Caine, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the goal isn’t nation-building, adding that Tehran wasn’t interested in engaging in efforts to make “a peaceful and sensible deal.”

Earlier, three U.S. jet fighters were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses, while the U.S. and Israel continued to hit Iran. Tehran launched fresh attacks on Israel and other military and industrial targets in Gulf countries following the killing of its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

Hegseth Doesn’t Rule Out U.S. Troops on the Ground in Iran

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said there were no U.S. forces on the ground in Iran but didn’t rule out the possibility there could be in the future, saying he wouldn’t divulge what the U.S. may or may not do.

“President Trump ensures that our enemies understand we’ll go as far as we need to go to advance American interests,” Hegseth told reporters during a news conference.

“But we’re not dumb about it. You don’t have to roll 200,000 people in there and stay for 20 years.”

Hegseth Translated

We may be incredibly stupid about this. But it’s not really up to us.

We will do whatever Netanyahu asks.

More Lies of the Day

Trump was not and is not interested in a peaceful deal. Trump listed a set of unnegotiable demands that no nation would accept. Take-It-or-War, it is not negotiation. It’s a set of demands.

Those demands were set by Israel. Trump embraced them.

Iran agreed to no nuclear weapons.

And Trump called “fake news” any reports that denied total destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

It was Trump, with cheerleading from Netanyahu, who did not want a deal.

And with Trump cheering for regime change, telling Iranians to revolt and the US would back them, what the hell is the true mission but regime change?

So now, Iran doesn’t want to negotiate. Why negotiate with a liar?

Iran Updates

• Four U.S. troops have been killed so far, with President Trump warning more casualties are likely.
• Iran’s security chief said Tehran “will not negotiate” with the U.S.
• More than 500 Iranians have been killed by U.S. and Israeli strikes, according to the Red Crescent. Lebanon said 31 people were killed by Israeli strikes, and several deaths were reported from Iranian attacks in the region, including Israel and the U.A.E.
• Qatar said it halted LNG production after intercepting two Iranian drones targeting a key energy facility.
• Oil and European natural-gas prices jumped, U.S. stocks dropped and gold futures rose over 2%, as Wall Street braced for the economic fallout.
• Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways and Dubai-based Emirates are restarting a handful of flights out of the U.A.E.

Strikes Damage Tehran’s Emergency Services Headquarters, Medical Facilities

Strikes damaged Tehran’s provincial emergency services headquarters and hit medical facilities overnight, Iranian state media said, as Iran’s capital entered its third day of war under mounting civilian strain. The emergency building on Iranshahr Street sustained “very serious damage,” according to the spokesperson for Tehran Emergency Services, who said adjacent structures were also struck. Several emergency personnel were injured, though most were reported to be in stable condition.

Iranian state-affiliated media outlets shared images that they said showed the aftermath of a strike on Gandhi Hospital in Tehran. The footage depicted medical staff transferring newborn infants from the facility, along with visible damage to the hospital building. State media also reported strikes in other Tehran neighborhoods, publishing photographs showing damage to residential buildings.

If blowing up hospitals is not peace seeking, what is it?

Stepping Back to Obama

Reader Jon accurately comments, “Let’s never forget that the Obama administration created a treaty with Iran that ended their creation of bomb creating materials for 30 years. The international body responsible for ensuring compliance was given full access to their facilities and found the Iranians in full compliance. Let’s never forget that Iran has never attacked the United States outside of the Middle East, and only after the United States murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, Syrians, and Afghanis. Let’s never forget that the murders of these innocents, along with the murder of innocent Iranians have the full support of the death-thirsty evangelical Christian community.”

Correct.

I have discussed this many times, and that is an excellent summary by Jon.

The Obama Doctrine; An Astonishingly Good Deal? “Only Rand Paul Could Do Worse” Says Senator Graham

Flashback April 5, 2015: The Obama Doctrine; An Astonishingly Good Deal? “Only Rand Paul Could Do Worse” Says Senator Graham

An Astonishingly Good Deal

My position is the same as that of Vox writer Max Fisher who says This is an Astonishingly Good Iran Deal.

• Iran will give up about 14,000 of its 20,000 centrifuges
• Iran will give up all but its most rudimentary, outdated centrifuges: its first-generation IR-1s, knockoffs of 1970s European models, are all it gets to keep. It will not be allowed to build or develop newer models.
• Iran will give up 97 percent of its enriched uranium; it will hold on to only 300 kilograms of its 10,000-kilogram stockpile in its current form.
• Iran will destroy or export the core of its plutonium plant at Arak, and replace it with a new core that cannot produce weapons-grade plutonium. It will ship out all spent nuclear fuel.
• Inspectors will have access to all parts of Iran’s nuclear supply chain, including its uranium mines and the mills where it processes uranium ore. Inspectors will also not just monitor but be required to pre-approve all sales to Iran of nuclear-related equipment. This provision also applies to something called ‘dual-use’ materials, which means any equipment that could be used toward a nuclear program.

Deal Fact Sheet

The deal is even better than described above. Here is the Fact Sheet of the agreement.

Iran nearly walked out because the US would not agree to end all sanctions.

Only Rand Paul Could Do Worse Says Senator Graham

Bloomberg reports Only Rand Paul Could Do Worse Says Senator Graham.

“The best deal, I think, comes with a new president. Hillary Clinton would do better. I think everybody on our side, except maybe Rand Paul, could do better,” Graham said on CBS’ Face The Nation.

Obama’s Nuclear Deal With Iran

July 17, 2015: Obama’s Nuclear Deal With Iran: Rare Victory for Peace or Foolish Compromise?

Historic Deal

On Tuesday, President Obama, World Powers, and Iran agreed on a Historic Nuclear Pact phasing out economic sanctions in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.

Republicans Blast Deal

The Bustle reports Republicans Respond To The Iran Deal With Every Bit As Much Vitriol As You’d Expect — And Then Some.

Democrats Lukewarm

Not even the Democrats seemed pleased with the announcement. The Hill reports Dems Hold Judgment on Iran Deal.

Is Anyone Else Happy?

Yes, Me.

So is David Stockman, libertarians in general, and anyone, regardless of political party, who can think clearly.

I have not thought about it this way before, but if no one in Washington is happy, I probably am.

War Mongering Fools

It’s high time both parties party rid themselves of warmongering fools like Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham, and Bob Menendez.

Rubio and Walker are particularly troubling. In the past I have praised Walker for taking on the public unions in Wisconsin, but I cannot support anyone with warmongering views as extreme as his.

They claim among other things “The US cannot trust Iran”.

If they had an ounce of common sense, they might ask the question: “Why the hell should Iran trust the US?”

Lesson for Hypocrites

US hypocrites have some nerve bitching we cannot trust Iran, when Iran has every right not to trust the US!

War in Iraq

In 2003 Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz said “the war could be done on the cheap and that it would largely pay for itself.”

Here we are trillions of dollars later and counting. And ISIS is a direct result of that stupid war with Iraq.

Rare Victory for Peace

Due to political divisiveness, political leaders are never willing to say the other side did anything right.

That’s why I will never be a political leader. I bash Obama often enough, and for many things. But I equally bash the warmongers who have been wrong every which way, and virtually every time!

This was a rare victory for peace.

I am proud of the fact that I stood against the Vietnam War, I was against the War in Iraq, and I have been on the right side of the Iran debate from the beginning.

I echo Ronald Reagan’s former budget director David Stockman who says All Praise To Barack Obama For Stiffing The War Party—- Peace Is Finally Being Given A Chance.

Trump’s Top General Says Iran Honoring Nuke Deal

Flashback, September 26, 2017: ForeignPolicy reports Trump’s Top General Says Iran Honoring Nuke Deal

“The briefings I have received indicate that Iran is adhering to its JCPOA obligations,” Gen. Joseph Dunford wrote in answers to questions in advance of his hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, using an acronym for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday joined other members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet in confirming that Iran is complying with the 2015 nuclear deal that has put a temporary halt to its nuclear weapons program.

IAEA Says Iran Abiding by Nuclear Deal

April 19, 2019: IAEA Says Iran Abiding by Nuclear Deal

“Iran is implementing its nuclear commitments,” said Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The agency has had access to “all the sites and locations in Iran which it needed to visit.”

Iran Honoring the Deal?

1. US State Department: Iran honoring the terms.
2. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Iran honoring the terms.
3. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): Iran honoring the terms.
4. Arms Control Association: Iran honoring the terms.
5. All US European allies: Iran honoring the terms.
6. Every other signee of the accord: Iran honoring the terms.

Had Trump made the same deal with Iran, most of his supporters would have cheered it. But Trump always thinks he can negotiate a better deal.

Now We Have War

Q: Why?
A: Because Trump scrapped a deal that even Trump’s top general said Iran was honoring.

Q: Why did Trump scrap the deal?
A: He said he could make a better deal.

Q: What was the result?
A: After scrapping the Obama deal, Iran restarted enrichment.

Q: Then what?
A: War silly. It’s where we are now.

Q: Will it take troops on the ground?
A: Hegseth says it might.

Q: But what’s the mission?
A: No one even seems to know.

Q: Isn’t this inflationary?
A: Yes.

Q: What will this cost?
A: Hegseth says “But we’re not dumb about it. You don’t have to roll 200,000 people in there and stay for 20 years.”

I guess anything less than 200,000 people for 20 years will be a success. No matter what it costs.

According to Plan

This all went according to plan. How to Start an Unnecessary War in Three Easy Steps, 12 Important Corollaries

Meanwhile, what is the mission?

Allegedly it’s peace. Trump Says “War Will Continue as Long as Necessary” to Achieve Peace

Can I say I told you so?

Article posted with permission from Mish Shedlock

The post Hegseth Says the Goal in Iran Isn’t Nation Building, It’s a Peaceful Deal appeared first on The Washington Standard.

War Will Continue as Long as Necessary

The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Spent Years Denouncing U.S. Intervention. Now He’s Toppling Foreign Leaders.

In front of a packed chamber of Arab leaders last May, President Trump declared that the era of American-led regime change was over.

“In the end, the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built,” he said in Riyadh, deriding the “Western interventionalists giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs.”

Nine months later, he launched the largest U.S. military operation the region had seen in two decades and urged Iranians to “take over” their government, backed by U.S. force. The military said Sunday that three American troops were killed in the operation, and five others seriously wounded.

It marked a jarring reversal for a man whose political rise was fueled in part by American fatigue with large-scale military interventions. For years, Trump denounced Washington’s “forever wars” and warned against toppling foreign regimes by force, a message that formed the foundation of the “America First” movement that won him the presidency twice.

It’s a risky gambit. In Venezuela, the U.S. captured Maduro but didn’t call on the country to take over the government, instead working with government insiders and promising an eventual transition. In Iran, the killing of Khamenei and many in his inner circle risks triggering a wider regional conflict that could destabilize the country and mire the U.S. in another war in the Middle East.

It’s also one constrained by hard logistics. ​The U.S. military ​is burning through scarce air-defense interceptors faster than it can replace them, raising ​concerns about how long it can sustain this tempo while continuing to protect U.S. forces and partners from retaliation.

John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, spent years trying to push the president toward regime change in Iran. But Trump ousted Bolton amid disagreements over foreign policy, and later dismissed him as a war hawk. “[I]f I listened to him,” Trump wrote on social media in 2020, “we would be in World War Six by now.”

Bolton said Saturday’s strikes left him stunned. “I’m as surprised as anybody,” he said.

The operation to decapitate the government of a country of roughly 92 million people is unlikely to give Trump the “one and done kind of approach” he prefers, Bolton said. Trump wants to say “it’s been a success, total victory, and now I leave it up to the opposition to finish the overthrow of the government,” he said.

Trump’s most dramatic foreign intervention yet also comes as polls show that voters are souring on his focus on foreign policy months before the 2026 midterm elections. In a recent Wall Street Journal poll, voters disapprove of Trump’s priorities by an 11-point margin, with 53% saying that he is choosing to engage in unnecessary foreign affairs instead of the economy, compared with 42% who say he is dealing with urgent national security threats.

After the operation that took out Maduro, he basked in the praise of conservative media and prominent allies who hailed him as a “liberator,” according to people involved in White House discussions. He took it as proof that force, used decisively, could succeed where decades of diplomacy had failed.

Upon announcing the death of Khamenei, Trump left an open time frame on “heavy and pinpoint bombing” that he said will continue “as long as necessary” to achieve peace in the Middle East.

The military operation in Iran could take several weeks, U.S. officials said.

Freed from the constraints of a re-election campaign and more familiar with the levers of military power, Trump has been more willing to deploy force in his second term, counting on his base to stand by him as long as he avoids committing U.S. boots to a ground war, according to current and former officials.

In his second term, Trump has cast himself as the “president of peace”—a new identity that aides say he has come to see as central to his legacy. He has framed the Iran operation as the culmination of that mission, saying it would eradicate a murderous regime that has “soaked the earth with blood and guts” across the region and threatened Americans for decades.

Some of Trump’s own top advisers have previously said they had no clear answer for what would come next.

“No one knows who would take over,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in January when asked who would fill the void, describing power in Iran as fractured among Khamenei, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and quasi-elected officials who are ultimately subordinate to the supreme leader.

Rubio said at the time that if Khamenei were to fall, the best Washington could hope for was that someone within the existing system would work with the U.S. toward a transition—a process he warned would be “far more complex” than Venezuela.

Trump has warned that Americans will be killed as a result of this operation. “Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends,” he said on Sunday, after U.S. Central Command announced that three servicemembers had died. “That’s the way it is.”

“The current strategy of toppling regimes with no plan for what to do the day after only produces power vacuums that are filled simply by terrorists,” he said at a rally in Philadelphia two months before the 2016 election. “We will abandon the policy of reckless regime change favored by my opponent.”

So, what’s the plan?

Sorry, he announced it. Continue war long enough to achieve peace.

Pres Trump told me tonight the US had identified possible candidates to take over Iran, but they were killed in the initial attack. “The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates,” Trump told me. “It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead.”

Related Posts

February 28, 2026: US and Israel Attack Iran as Trump Urges Iranians to Seize Power

Trump cites need to eliminate ‘imminent threats. Threats? What Threats?

February 28, 2026: The Pro-Peace Team Attacks Iran in Regime Change War to Benefit Israel

Glen Greenwald does a great job explaining what the war is about.

February 28, 2026: Trump Does a Complete 180 on Wars, MAGA Cheered Then and Now. Why?

Does anyone find it strange how Trump did a full 180 but didn’t even try to convince you why?

March 1, 2026: How to Start an Unnecessary War in Three Easy Steps, 12 Important Corollaries

Step-by-Step Instructions

Article posted with permission from Mish Shedlock

The post Trump Says “War Will Continue as Long as Necessary” to Achieve Peace appeared first on The Washington Standard.

Reflections on a Full 180 Turn

Reflections on Fake News

MAGA Influencers

Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan a voice of reason.

Where’s Tulsi?

Another Flashback

The Fix

War Briefing

No Leaks Part 1

No Leaks Part 2

The Pro-Peace Ticket

The Peace President in Practice

Final Thought

Trump ran on exposing the pedophiles and stopping wars. Trump is now protecting the pedophiles and starting wars.

The Lead Question

Q: Why did MAGA oppose this war when Trump was against it and support it now?
A: It’s a religious cult. The threat is less now. And Trump even said so.

Related Posts

US and Israel Attack Iran as Trump Urges Iranians to Seize Power

Trump cites need to eliminate ‘imminent threats. Threats? What Threats?

The Pro-Peace Team Attacks Iran in Regime Change War to Benefit Israel

Glen Greenwald does a great job explaining what the war is about.

Article posted with permission from Mish Shedlock

The post Trump Does a Complete 180 on Wars, MAGA Cheered Then and Now. Why? appeared first on The Washington Standard.

Precious Metals, Inflation, the National Debt, and Biden: A Recap of Current Events and the Inevitable Outcome

Georgieva said that the problem is recognized by the current United States administration.  However, it doesn’t appear that much, if anything is being done about it.

The U.S. national debt will surge to 140% of GDP within five years, the IMF has warned, urging Washington to cut its fiscal deficit in order to get a handle on its outsized trade and current account gaps.

The IMF’s latest Article IV review projects US public debt will reach 140% of GDP by 2031 under current policies, while rising short‑term debt and a climbing debt‑to‑GDP ratio pose growing risks to both US and global stability. The fund said Washington needs a clear fiscal consolidation plan to put debt on a sustainable downward path.  –RT

The IMF also urged the US to work constructively with its partners “to address concerns over unfair trade practices and agree on a coordinated reduction in trade restrictions and industrial policy distortions that have negative cross-border effects.”

“Where trade and investment measures (including tariffs and export controls) are put in place for national security reasons, such policies should be applied narrowly,” the IMF said.

Possible Budget Deal Will Add $2 Trillion To The National Debt

The IMF is also asking the U.S. ruling class to work constructively with its partners “to address concerns over unfair trade practices and agree on a coordinated reduction in trade restrictions and industrial policy distortions that have negative cross-border effects.”

China Asks The U.S. To Remove ALL Tariffs

U.S. economic growth will remain resilient at 2.4% in 2026, while inflation will not return to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target until early 2027 amid uncertainty over the inflation and growth outlook, data shows.

Article posted with permission from Mac Slavo

The post IMF Warns The U.S. Over It’s National Debt appeared first on The Washington Standard.

I interrupt this war with a word from the pro-peace ticket.

2011 video of Trump is going viral after Iran attack:

"Our president will start a war with Iran because he has no ability to negotiate. He's weak and he's ineffective."pic.twitter.com/QR9v3h0hdo

— Joe Rogan Podcast News (@joeroganhq) February 28, 2026

“Our president will start a war with Iran because he has no ability to negotiate. He’s weak and he’s ineffective.”

Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2012

Trump Starts a Major Regime-Change War with Iran, Serving Neoconservatism and Israel

Glen Greenwald comments Trump Starts a Major Regime-Change War with Iran, Serving Neoconservatism and Israel

For decades, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and American neoconservatives have dreamed of only one foreign policy goal: having the United States fight a regime-change war against Iran. With the Oval Office occupied by Donald Trump — who campaigned for a full decade on a vow to end regime-change wars and vanquish neoconservatism — their goal has finally been realized.

Early Saturday morning, the United States and Israel began a massive bombing campaign of Tehran and other Iranian cities. President Trump posted an eight-minute speech to social media purporting to justify his new war, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury.” Trump’ war cry was filled with the same slogans and clichés about Iran that Americans have heard from the carousel of bipartisan neocons dominating U.S. foreign policy for decades: Iran is a state sponsor of “terror”; it is pursuing nuclear weapons; it took American hostages forty-seven years ago (in 1979); it repressed and kills its dissidents, etc.

As if to underscore how fully he was embracing the very foreign policy dogma he vowed to reject, Trump invoked the Marvel-like “Axis of Evil” formulation that White House speechwriter David Frum wrote for George W. Bush at the start of the War on Terror. Iran’s government, President Trump proclaimed, is one determined to “practice evil.” This is how Bush — speaking of Iraq, Iran and North Korea — put it in his 2002 State of the Union address: “States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil.”

Trump left no doubt about the scope and ambition of his new war. This will not be a quick or targeted bombing run against a few nuclear sites, as Trump ordered last June as part of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran. There is nothing remotely constrained or targeted about any of this. Instead, this new war is what Trump called a “massive and ongoing” mission of destruction and regime-change, launched in the heart of the Middle East, against a country of 93 million people: almost four times the size of Iraq’s population when the U.S. launched that regime change war back in 2003.

In lieu of outlining any clear mission statement for this new war, let alone a cogent exit strategy, Trump offered a laundry list of flamboyantly violent vows. The U.S. will “totally obliterate” Iran’s ballistic missile program (which Iran could not use to reach the American homeland but which Trump admitted last June caused Israel “to get hit very hard” in retaliation). Trump also promised that the U.S. would “annihilate” Iran’s navy. And he told Iranians: “the hour of your freedom is at hand….bombs will be dropping everywhere.”

Trump also attempted to prepare the nation for caskets and body bags of American soldiers returning to the U.S. “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost; we may have casualties,” the President said. But, said the man who did everything to avoid military service including during the Vietnam War, mass death of American soldiers “often happens in war.”

In sum, Trump just launched the exact war that most of his MAGA movement professed to oppose. That included one of Trump’s most influential supporters, the late Charlie Kirk, who repeatedly maligned the neocons’ drive for war with Iran as “pathologically insane,” and warned that grave disaster of historic proportions would be the result.

The false claims behind this new war with Iran are ones we have extensively documented. In Trump’s war announcement this morning, he claimed — as he did at Tuesday’s State of the Union address — that Iran refuses to promise that it will not obtain nuclear weapons. The exact opposite is true: Iran has stated this clearly, unequivocally and repeatedly, and did so as recently as this week. “Iran will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon,” proclaimed Iran’s foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi.

The consequences of this new Trump/Netanyahu war of choice cannot be predicted with any degree of certainty. Already, Iran has launched numerous retaliatory ballistic missiles at Israel, as expected, and has also attacked U.S. military bases in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

But the lack of predictable outcomes is, of course, precisely the point. If the U.S. and Israel succeed in their stated goals of widespread “annihilation” and regime change, then they will create, at the very least, a huge power vacuum in the middle of the world’s most volatile region that will require U.S. resources and a sizable military presence for years if not decades to come. One of the world leaders most responsible for the Iraq War, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, admitted that it was the invasion of Iraq that gave rise to ISIS.

It is hard to overstate what a massive fraud Donald Trump, his campaign and his political movement are. For more than a decade, Trump has ranted and raved against the evils of regime-change wars and neoconservative dogma, only to launch a new war that most perfectly encapsulates and aggressively advances both. He spent years falsely warning that former President Obama would start a war with Iran because of how weak and inept Obama supposedly was at negotiation and diplomacy, only to now do that himself (rather than start a new war with Iran, as Trump predicted, Obama entered a diplomatic agreement with them which major nuclear bodies attested was effective in monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities: a deal which Trump, at Israel’s insistence, tore up in 2018).

Throughout the 2016 campaign, Trump mercilessly mocked Marco Rubio for receiving millions in donations from Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, money that Trump said would “mold [Rubio] into [their] perfect little puppet,” only for himself to become not only the largest beneficiary of Adelson funding in history, but to become the ultimate puppet of the Adelsons’ agenda, one which Trump has clearly acknowledged — when speaking in Israel last year — is an agenda that puts the interests of Israel atop everything, including Americans’ interests:

“I get her in trouble with this, but I actually asked [Miriam] once… ‘What do you love more? The United States or Israel?’ She refused to answer. That might mean Israel,” Trump says, smiling, while looking at the dual Israeli-American national.

And it is not an exaggeration to say — in fact, basic honestly requires one to say — that the 2024 Trump/Vance campaign is one of the most fraudulent political campaigns in American history.

Just one week before the 2024 election, Tulsi Gabbard proclaimed that “a vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for Dick Cheney and a vote for war, war and more war.” Conversely, Gabbard said, “a vote for Donald Trump is a vote to end wars, not start them.” Other than immigration, this “no-new-wars” theme was the most central to Trump’s political appeal and his political promises since he emerged on the political scene a decade ago.

In his novel 1984, George Orwell highlighted the dangerous insanity of war propaganda with this leading example: “WAR IR PEACE.” Yet that is precisely the rationale invoked by various Trump supporters to somehow depict this new war as aligned with Trump’s vows of peace (starting massive new wars is merely “peace through strength”).

This is, obviously, the war that Israel and Trump’s largest Israel-loyal donors most wanted and have long been pressuring him to start. Pro-Israel billionaires like Bill Ackman, long-time pro-Israel warmongers like Lindsey Graham, and Israel First activists like Mark Levin are of course already boisterously celebrating this new war against Israel’s primary adversary.

But this is ultimately an American war, one that Trump unilaterally started and for which Trump is responsible. Notably, of course, it is not Trump or his family, but instead everyone else in the world, who will bear the costs and burdens of the war. This was the point Trump famously emphasized shortly before the 2024 election — on November 1 — when explaining why Washington is full of sociopathic warmongers such as Dick and Liz Cheney who constantly start wars in which other people’s families, but never their own, must go fight and die.

As Trump’s senior White House advisor Stephen Miller said about those comments, “warmongering neocons love sending your kids to die for wars they would never fight themselves.” Indeed they do, Stephen Miller.

This new war against Iran is as pure a continuation of the bipartisan DC posture of endless war that has, more than any single cause, destroyed American prosperity, standing, and future over the last six decades at least. The only question how is how many people will die, for how long the damage will endure, and what new unforeseen evils will be created in its wake.

Charlie Kirk Flashback

The Neocons Get Their Wish

The new leader of the neocons is the peace candidate, Donald Trump.

You don’t get anymore 1984ish than this.

Also see US and Israel Attack Iran as Trump Urges Iranians to Seize Power

Short and perhaps mid-term, oil prices jump.
More inflation.
Rare earths not an issue in this.
Without troops on the ground no real regime change.
Troops on the ground would be idiotic. But Trump is an idiot.
Still I doubt that.

— Mike "Mish" Shedlock (@MishGEA) February 28, 2026

Regime Change? How? When?

WSJ: Ali Vaez, an Iran analyst at International Crisis Group, said the idea that American and Israeli bombing would trigger a popular uprising in Iran is wishful thinking.

“There is no modern precedent for regime change achieved through air power alone. Bombs can degrade infrastructure. They can weaken capabilities. But they do not manufacture organized political alternatives,” he said.

“History shows external attack tends to consolidate regimes, not topple them. Nationalism kicks in. Dissent gets branded as treason. Space for opposition shrinks,” he said.

Article posted with permission from Mish Shedlock

The post The Pro-Peace Team Attacks Iran in Regime Change War to Benefit Israel appeared first on The Washington Standard.

And she made history by being convicted of corruption charges and being sent to prison, but on the way out, passed a resolution that changed July from a commemoration of the American Revolution to a commemoration of the African country she illegally came to America from.

Now she’s about to make history one more time as she’s about to be reunited with her murdering husband, who was sent away to prison for life without parole, but is now being set loose on Boston for a ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ moment. (If Bonnie were a Muslim illegal alien.)

It’s a real Valentine’s Day miracle.

Tanzerious Anderson robbed and killed a small business owner in Brighton back in 2000.

Anderson’s girlfriend had been used to lure the victim into a trap. Then Anderson and his partners had robbed him, getting away with $46 and the life of a human being.

Anderson had told the victim, who owned a landscaping company, to keep his hands up and warned him not to look back, but the man had reached for the doorknob and the ex-councilwoman’s husband thought that he said, “Police, police.” So he shot him in the back of the head.

“I got my body for the summer,” Tanzerious Anderson later bragged.

The killer was sentenced to life in prison without parole. And that should have been it.

After marrying Anderson (and becoming Councilwoman Tania Fernandes Anderson), the future convicted politician launched a campaign to free her previously convicted husband. Advocates for the killers falsely claimed that Anderson was innocent and the real killers had been three white kids. At his parole hearing, Anderson admitted he did it, making the entire campaign that had preceded it a lie that should have led to consequences for those responsible for it.

In 2022, Judge Robert Ullman, who had been nominated by Obama crony Gov. Deval Patrick despite having botched the Whitey Bulger case, ruled that Anderson and his fellow killer were entitled to new sentencing hearings because the adult men had been reclassified as “emerging adults”.

“Emerging adults” are murderers between the ages of 18 and 20. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that sentencing adult killers to life is now “cruel and unusual punishment”.

Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden, whose site claims that his mission is “keeping communities safe and vibrant”, hailed the move putting the two killers on a path to freedom because “the practice of putting a person behind bars forever, without paying attention to decision-making ability based on age and the science of brain development, should end.”

The DA’s woke rant has to do with the discredited myth that adult killers have to be treated like their children because their brain hasn’t fully developed and so they can’t not murder someone.

Hayden then “thanked his predecessor, U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins, for her ‘early leadership on this issue.’” Rollins’ leadership included listing crimes that she would not prosecute, ranging from shoplifting, to stealing anything under $250, malicious destruction of property, threats, and drug possession with intent to distribute. She had defended BLM rioters, claiming that “buildings can be fixed” and resigned in disgrace after multiple investigations at every possible level

“It is never easy to retread the past, but it is vital that we do so to correct past wrongs and ensure that they are never repeated,” DA Hayden claimed.

The “wrong” in question, according to the woke DA, wasn’t the murder of a man, it was that his adult killers were locked up for too long afterward. Releasing them from prison is the best way to ensure more murders happen. But at least the area will be all the more “vibrant” for it.

Over the summer, Tanzerious Anderson appeared before the parole board. The brother of the victim rightly walked out because he did not believe he would get a fair hearing. The victim’s parents had not been told what was happening because “it would break their hearts.”

“He wasn’t 13 or 14 years old at the time when he killed my brother, and he knew what he did,” the victim’s brother said in a statement. “I was told after the conviction that he will never come out of prison… he chose to be evil and he killed my beloved brother for $40. He wasn’t happy that it was only $40, and that was enough for him to take my brother’s life.”

In January 2026, the parole board granted parole to the killer.

Now in a Valentine’s Day miracle, a murderer can finally be united with his criminal wife.

The board falsely claimed that Anderson, who is married to a recently convicted criminal, can “remain at liberty without violating the law.” He’s a criminal going off to life with another criminal.

And if he shoots and kills someone else, the Massachusetts Supreme Court, DA Hayden and the entire pro-crime political establishment that runs Massachusetts will no doubt find that middle aged men lack sufficient brain development to be held accountable for their crimes.

Former Councilwoman Tania Fernandes Anderson had pocketed $7,000. Her husband killed a man for $40. As they begin their happy life together on the outside, she’ll have much to teach him about life, love and crime. And maybe before long, he can become the first murderer married to a Muslim illegal alien convicted of corruption to become a Boston city councilman.

Just think of how wonderfully ‘historic’ that will be.

Article posted with permission from Daniel Greenfield

The post Murdering Husband of Illegal Alien Muslim Councilwoman Freed appeared first on The Washington Standard.

One filing submitted by Jessica Swanson, PPSE’s former Director of Education, alleges she was fired by the new interim CEO, Mairo Akposé, in retaliation for voicing concerns about Akposé.

Before being suddenly promoted to CEO, Akposé was the Human Resources Director. Swanson alleges that she first complained about Akposé in her HR role when Akposé failed to refer to the current CEO as “they/them” in a meeting.

Swanson alleges she complained again when Akposé used the birth name of a recently fired transgender employee, “out[ing] them as transgender without their consent.”

Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue, states, “Planned Parenthood has spent exorbitant amounts of money to push transgender ideology down America’s throat. But their own leadership doesn’t even buy it. And, now, the very same ideology it tried to force Americans to follow is tearing apart this affiliate.”

“Threat From Within”

Mairo Akposé took over as interim CEO in July 2024, after CEO Carol McDonald — the affiliate’s first “non-binary” CEO — abruptly resigned. McDonald was the CEO for less than eight months, and there has been little reported as to the reason for her resignation. However, her Instagram account currently lists her as a part of the Board of Directors for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

According to former and current PPSE employees, Akposé was considered a disconcerting choice from the start. She reportedly had little to no experience in the abortion industry and — maybe even more alarming to the abortion radicals working at Planned Parenthood — she maintains a social media presence as “The Working Wife,” stating she is “a Wife and Mother who happens to work.” It seems serving on the Board of Trustees for Berry College — a school Mother Jones described as “one of the country’s most conservative” — was another strike against her.

In the months following her promotion, Akposé apparently proceeded to clean house, firing and hiring employees, including the hire of a new Executive Director — a previous Georgia City Council Woman named Karen Rene who, just years before, had the audacity to call herself pro-life and pro-choice in the same sentence.

This was too much for the PPSE employees. By October of 2025, former and current employees created a campaign called “Save PPSE” which alleged that both Akposé and Rene were a “dangerous threat from within” and did not align with Planned Parenthood’s pro-abortion and pro-LGBTQ agenda.

PPSE higher-ups responded to the criticisms with an independent investigation that did not seem to take very long. By November 2025, a press release from the Board of Directors stated the outside firm found “no merit” to the allegations. The Board also stated Akposé would remain in her role as interim CEO.

Employees were not satisfied. The “Save PPSE” campaign gave a public statement “unequivocally reject[ing] the findings” and deemed the conclusion “false, deeply irresponsible, and…predictable.”

NDA’s Required 

One month later, however, TN Repro News suddenly published an article stating that inside sources confirmed Akposé had resigned, and that Karen Rene and Claire Moon (Akposé’s Chief of Staff) “no longer appeared on staff org charts,” meaning their positions were now vacant.

Not all the changes in staffing were reportedly made public. Instead, a source told TN Repro News that all staff were asked to sign an Employee Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement by Monday, January 5. Aside from forcing employees to remain silent on protected information, “whether true or false,” the NDA also “extends confidentiality obligations indefinitely beyond employment.”

Since that time, all evidence of the “Save PPSE” campaign has been scrubbed from the internet. All posts from its Instagram account have been removed and a petition the campaign circulated on Google Docs is no longer accessible.

“Planned Parenthood’s first line of defense is always to silence the voices that could expose any truth about its abuses, whether it be its own employees, injured women, or family members of the mothers it has killed,” says Newman. “It operates exactly like the mafia — you keep quiet or Planned Parenthood will destroy you.”

However, the six former employees bringing charges of discrimination were fired months before this round of NDA’s. These reportedly include: Former PPSE Georgia State Director Kaylah Oates-Marable; Former Vice President of Communications and Marketing Jaylen Black; Former Director of Education Jessica Swanson; Former Mississippi Outreach Coordinator LaTerria Shelby; Former Public Policy and Organizing Manager Hannah Davis; Former Community Organizer Kim Luong.

A More Radical Affiliate?

In the meantime, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles unexpectedly announced in early February that it will partner with PPSE in an “interim leadership capacity.”

PPSE is a shrinking affiliate with few locations. In Alabama, there is now only one PPSE location — and it cannot perform abortions. In Mississippi, there are none. Georgia, where PPSE is headquartered, remains the only state where the affiliate can profit from abortion, and only at four locations.

Newman states, “This affiliate is losing ground, employees are bringing charges, and their leadership dynamic is a trainwreck — the same things we have seen in several other affiliates that are falling apart.”

Last year, Planned Parenthood was forced to shut down its Gulf Coast affiliate. Planned Parenthood of Greater New York (PPGNY) — located in one of the most pro-abortion states in America — has also been rife with conflict. In the last few years, employees have called it out for everything from systemic racism to financial malfeasance. In 2025, PPGNY was even forced to shut down Planned Parenthood’s main flagship clinic, the Margaret Sanger Center in Manhattan.

Lost Medicaid funding and strong pro-life protections in at least 13 states have also forced Planned Parenthood to combine separate affiliates into one. When Planned Parenthood of Gulf Coast shut down, for example, its remaining clinics were rolled into Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas. In Florida, two affiliates were combined last year to create one singular affiliate, Planned Parenthood of Florida.

It is also not unheard of for Planned Parenthood to combine affiliates across a wide range of states not geographically close to one another. The affiliate Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky (PPGNHAIK) can attest to that.

“It would not surprise me if Planned Parenthood Los Angeles acquired PPSE, rolling its funding and clinics into the region and using it as a stronghold to expand abortion in the South,” says Newman.

In fact, in PPSE’s November press release, the Board of Directors also stated Planned Parenthood Action Fund — the main political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America — would take a “more active role in leading advocacy and political work in Georgia.”

Georgia is bordered by two states that are abortion-free (AL, TN), two states with six-week bans (FL, SC), and one state with a 12-week ban (NC). It is essentially a central hub where Planned Parenthood might believe it can make its stand to retarget preborn babies in the South.

“Abortion radicals failed to pass an abortion amendment in Florida,” Newman adds, “and South Carolina has made it clear that Planned Parenthood will not receive their taxpayer money. Georgia is the battleground that makes the most sense. And with PPSE falling apart, why wouldn’t Planned Parenthood’s radicals in California try to swoop in and take over? When everyone in your organization is dedicated to the violent destruction of human life, what’s one more hostile takeover?”

This article was originally published by Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life, Christian activist organization dedicated to exposing abortion abuses, demanding enforcement, saving innocent lives, and building an abortion-free America. The author, Sarah Neely, is Chief Operating Officer for Operation Rescue.

The post SPECIAL REPORT: Planned Parenthood Employees Bring Charges Against Another Sinking Affiliate appeared first on The Washington Standard.

Yes, we can all breathe easier, now that the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC)/Office of the United Nations Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, working closely with (who else?) the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), is planning what it calls “a high-level event” with the lofty title of “Addressing Islamophobia and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief – the Nexus to Human Rights.”

The post UN to Convene ‘Islamophobia’ Summit as Muslim Persecution of Christians Increases appeared first on The Washington Standard.

What the SCOTUS Tariff Decision Means

The CATO Institute discusses What the SCOTUS Tariff Decision Means for Fiscal Policy in Four Charts

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) struck down President Donald Trump’s so-called “reciprocal tariffs” enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The tariffs modestly increased revenue but did not meaningfully improve the government’s long-term budget outlook. They reduced economic growth, shrank other sources of tax revenue, and offset a substantial share of the administration’s signature tax reforms.

High Tariff Revenues Miss Administration Claims

The federal government collected $264 billion in total tariff revenue in the 2025 calendar year. That amount is more than triple the $85.6 billion collected by the Biden administration over the same period in 2021 and far exceeds the comparable $35.2 billion from Trump’s first term.

Even at over a quarter-trillion dollars, 2025’s tariff revenue falls well short of the administration’s claims. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent projected that tariffs could raise as much as $500 billion per year, implying collections roughly twice those reported in official data. Even those figures overstate the budgetary benefit, because tariffs partially offset themselves: higher input costs reduce business profits and worker pay, shrinking the corporate and individual income tax base, while broader economic effects of slower investment and hiring can further depress other revenue sources.

Deficits Continue to Grow With or Without IEEPA Tariffs

The United States’ budget is on an unsustainable path, driven by automatic spending that’s projected to increase faster than the economy, inflation, and the population. As spending rises and revenues remain flat, the deficit increases. The Treasury estimates that more than 95 percent of the government’s long-term funding shortfall is driven by growth in just two programs: Medicare and Social Security. Additional revenue, from any source, cannot fix these spending-based drivers of the long-term fiscal imbalance.

Historically, Tariffs Have Not Been a Significant Revenue Source

History underscores the difficulty of using tariffs to fix the federal budget. Tariffs have never financed a government remotely as large as today’s. In the 19th century, when tariffs accounted for most federal revenue, the federal government itself spent less than 3 percent of GDP. Today, federal spending is 23 percent of GDP.

Tariffs Offset the Benefits of Trump Tax Cuts

One way to understand the effects of the administration’s trade actions is by comparing them with the tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Tariffs raise the domestic price of imported consumer goods and manufacturing inputs, which functions as a tax on US consumers and producers. Estimates from the Tax Policy Center show that this amounts to a roughly $ 2,600-per-household tax increase in 2026 (for all announced tariffs from January 20, 2025, through December 4, 2025).

Those tariff costs offset a majority of the average $3,736 tax cut Americans are projected to receive in 2026 from the OBBBA. Considering both policies together, Figure 4 [Lead Chart] shows that the bottom two income groups face a net tax increase, decreasing their after-tax income by between 1.2 percent and 0.3 percent. Middle- and higher-income Americans see small net tax cuts of between 0.3 and 0.6 percent of after-tax income. Overturning the IEEPA tariffs will allow more Americans to fully benefit from the 2025 tax cuts.

The same tension appears in the macroeconomic effects. The OBBBA is projected to raise long-run GDP by about 1.2 percent, but Trump’s tariffs are expected to reduce GDP by roughly 0.8 percent. Taken together, the net effect is a muted 0.4 percent increase in output, with tariffs significantly eroding the growth benefits of the underlying tax reform.

Conclusion

The Court’s decision will have wide-ranging economic and political implications for trade policy and executive power. But it also brings important fiscal consequences. The administration has repeatedly overstated the budgetary impact of the tariffs, yet the effects are not trivial. Tariffs are, after all, an economically costly, revenue-raising tax on American consumers. Relief from the IEEPA tariffs will benefit American consumers, but risks remain that the administration will pursue similar levies through other statutory authorities.

I disagreed at the time where the benefits of the OBBBA would go. The primary beneficiaries were the very wealthy in high tax states.

They received huge deductions for State and Local Income Taxes (SALT).

Since the OBBBA raised deficits, the rest of the country is effectively subsidizing the wealthy in high tax (Blue) states.

Tariffs are a tax on consumers and since the lower income groups spend every penny, they are a very regressive tax.

To encourage more people to work, I would have much rather had a very high limit below which no Federal income taxes were taken.

To pay for my proposals, I would end all of the deductions across the board.

Trump went the other way. We now have no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, deductions for interest on autos, etc.

The tax code should be simple. Instead, Trump took thousands of pages of tax code and added hundreds if not thousands more.

What Should We Do to Get Government Spending Under Control?

For my 12 idea proposal, please see What Should We Do to Get Government Spending Under Control?

That’s the question I was asked today. 12 Ideas.

Article posted with permission from Mish Shedlock

The post Tariffs Offset Most of the One Big Beautiful Act Tax Cuts appeared first on The Washington Standard.