Laura from Normal Island, thanks for continuing to inject humor into the ghastliest of evernts, as the drumbeat for war against Iran is being sounded, not only by the Monster-in-Chief, but also, by supposedly leftist papers like The Guardian.... and worse:
.
For the last month, during which the CIA, the Mossad and MI6 have been conducting their insidious False Flag operation with Iran, attempting to foment an insurrection by reportedly burning down hundreds of Mosques and Fire Stations and Ambulances, and assassinating over a thousand police officers {shades of exploding pagers?}, Democracy Now, and Amy Goodman – who claim to be progressives – to my everlasting horror, have insisted on reporting these events by repeating the Empire’s propaganda that it is the State of Iran that is propagating the violence against their own people, rather than the Empire that is assaulting Iran and its people.
.
The U.S. assaulted Iran, first by economic sanctions that provoked what were indeed initially peaceful portests (that the State of Iran allowed to proceed peacefully), then by infiltrating the peaceful protests with agent provovateurs, with guns bombs to assassinate Iranian police officers and Iranian citizens, and destroy the mosques, fire stations and ambulances; and now by bring waring to their doorstep.
Well, four things, Richard, about your aspiration “to get rid of” these Western Leaders:
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(1) By “get rid of”, I’m going to assume you mean “fire their asses”, right?
.
(2) As to who gets to fire these so-called “leaders”, that would be “we, the people” who are supposed to hire and fire them.
.
(3) In fact, however, it is “The Money” who actually get to hire and fire these people.
.
(a) First, “The Money” – that, the Oligarchs, the Corporatists and the Plutocrats – “hire them”; that is to say – it is the amount of money the Pols raise that determines who can run for office.
.
In theory anyone can put them name on the ballot, but only money gets you access to the voting populace.
.
(b) Then – second – the voters vote on whoever The Money has already voted for. We get to choose among the candidates The Money has already selected.
.
A book was published a while back, I believe, on analysis of statistical data regarding the relationship between the frequence a political candidate wins at the polls, and how much money they raised for their election campaign.
9 times of 10 – that, 90% percent of the time – the candidate with the most money in their campaign coffers wins.
.
I witnessed this up close myself, BTW, when I supported the congressional campaign of a candidate who refused to take PAC money or corporate money for his campaign.
.
We ran a strong grass roots campaign for our candidate and whenever we spoke with voters, we garnered tremendous support.
.
When we reached the polls, however, we only got 34% of the vote, while the opponent who was anointed by the party (the Dems, BTW), and backed by corporate money – including weapons manufacturers and gun lobbyists – won hands down at 66% of the vote.
.
Our opponent, BTW, after just one public appearance facing off against our candidate, would not thereafter show up for any of the debates. He just sat back and let the money speak for him. It did.
.
(4) If you think about it for moment, would you not agree that these so-called "leaders" are not actually "leaders." Rather, they are "followers." Truly, I mean that: they do NOT lead. They follow.
.
The problem is, however, who or what they follow. In fact, they are supposed to enact "the will of the people," but they don't, do they?
.
They should follow us, but they don't. They follow the money. They follow the will of The Money. That is why the people are outraged.
.
(5) Yannis Varoufakis – former Finance Minister for Greece – has some ideas on the matter. They’re worth hearing out.
What Marx would call the internal contradictions of the Capitalist system –right?
.
The Capitalists cannot help themselves, of course – they are drawn to Corruption the way a fly moves towards the smell of what it most appreciates, because that is where the Capitalist system drives the Capitalist.
You're familiar with the logic, right: "If I don't do it, somebody else will."
.
It's the same logic that the Ethnosupremacist Colonial Settlers from the U.S. and Europe -- to this very day -- employ when they violently expel Palestinians from their lands and homes in the West Bank and in Gaza, and steal their property from them.
.
They say – which you will see in recordings on social media – "If I don't steal your home from you, someone else will. It might as well be me".
.
In the case of the humble house fly, by the way, thy are just kindly recycling their own favorite source of food – excrement:
Basically, they are turning shit into something useful for other members of the animal community.
.
The problem with the Capitalist system, on the other hand, is that it takes what is good – the richness of the natural world & the richness of the human creative spirit – and it turns all of that good stuff into shit.
.
With an arrangement like that, what could possibly go wrong.?.
Of course it produces a Donald Trump! What else is it going to do?
I cannot understand how these lies are being dutifully repeated ad nauseam by almost every media outlet. It’s just incredible. Do they think we are complete idiots?!
As Caitlin Johnstone so eloquently puts it,
It is not okay to be a grown adult in the year 2026 and still believe US regime change interventionism in the middle east will lead to positive outcomes.
Well, at this point, Nadia, the Empire's system of Manufacturing Consent is breaking down to some extent. To a considerable extent, I would say. It may not, however, be at breaking point just yet.
.
Enen thought that moment (like "the objects that appear in your car mirror) may well be "a lot closer" than the Oligarchs and Plutorats imagine.
Perfect again!! However, I think it would be hilarious if say, the ginormous Abe Lincoln carrier would drop to the ocean floor like an after-Thanksgiving turd in an all-male boarding house.
Although I prefer peace, the best outcome would be a kerplunk right into the Straits of Hormuz with the bow sticking above the surface like the erect penis of the empire, the ass end of it like a threatening shit bomb conveniently blocking the straits in the Iranian interest. A what-goes-around-comes-around moment.
And, if Trump indeed launches the strike on Iran that he is threatening, this war will be unlike any other that the U.S. has engaged in for the last eighty years.
.
As Deaglan O'Mulroonery pointed out in a related article recently, Iran has been preparing for decades to resist this long anticipated assault by the United States. The damage that Iran will ready to inflict on American military bases in West Asia will be instant and catastrophic.
.
Of all the wars that the U.S. exported to the world in the last eight decades – Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Ukraine, and all the rest – none of them entailed a consequence like this.
.
What presently remains of America’s capacity to project power onto the world is concentrated most forcefully within the many military bases it has sequestered through the dictatorial regimes it either controls or influences or intimidates within that region which Israel fantasizes about as the object of its Greater Israel expansion project -- what the West has long referred to as the Middle East.
.
The moment that Trump initiates a miliary strike on Iran from his assembled fleet in the Gulf region, Iran will launch its promised retaliation against all those regional U.S. military bases, and against the dictatorial regimes so beloved by the American Empire.
.
And the U.S. will not be able to intercept those strikes. The distance between target and launch is simply too close, and the Iranian missiles will be moving too fast. They won't be able to stop all of them. I think it is even highly likely that they won't succeed in stopping very many of them.
.
The same surely holds true for the U.S. fleet. If Trump imagines that his fleet will be impervious to strikes by Iranian missiles, he is dreaming. There will be strikes on the fleet. Those strikes will be effective and will cause profound damage.
.
I don’t perceive any outcome from such a misguided decision as an assault on Iran, in which the projection of American power into West Asia will not be shattered overnight.
.
Trump is almost certainly just attempting to consolidate fascistic power home by launching a war abroad, but he is just as likely to bring the walls of the Empire crumbling down around him.
.
And if the projection of American power into West Asia collapses under Iranian assault, that will be the end of the U.S. pet dictatorships in the region. And Israel may no longer be call on their favorite “Uncle” to bail them out from the consequences that will ensue.
Well, Trump needs some excuse for following Netanyahu's orders, however crazy they may be...So Iran, which has never done anything to America, is the enemy because they don't have nukes, but want them some day to defend against Israel...Unfortunately, Iran does have hypersonic missiles and control of the Strait of Hormuz.....
And to think Dr Strangelove was just a movie satire. Imagine Don astride a nuke plummeting towards Tehran in imitation of "Kong" in Kubrick's masterpiece.
So I guess to complete the imagined analogy, it'd be a drunken Hegseth, subbing for Slim Pickens as the pilot of the B-52 that gets through the flak to nuke the Russkies as Iran's ally? Gotta smoke 'em all while we can.
Bootlicker Starmer and the vassal state UK have jumped in preemptively to ban the IGRC as a terrorist organization. From now on, anyone who defends what Iran does militarily will, presumably, face the same fate as those who held signs supporting Palestine Action. Starmer is trying to out-race Trump to all out fascism and, so far, seems to be winning.
Thanks, Laura. Regrettably, the billionaires, and so-called elites have discovered that U.S government funding for war and weapons is endless. And it's easy money!
Thus they greedily embrace war.
Runaway military spending is driving America into non-stop foreign wars. You must have war to justify all this armaments expenditure.
Can't afford healthcare, medications, housing, or infrastructure. They truth is that these wars of our own creation are bankrupting the nation at home.
I'm being blocked from seeing some content requiring age verification, yet.Substack say subscribers who pay by card (which I am) are already verified. What gives?
.
Laura from Normal Island, thanks for continuing to inject humor into the ghastliest of evernts, as the drumbeat for war against Iran is being sounded, not only by the Monster-in-Chief, but also, by supposedly leftist papers like The Guardian.... and worse:
.
For the last month, during which the CIA, the Mossad and MI6 have been conducting their insidious False Flag operation with Iran, attempting to foment an insurrection by reportedly burning down hundreds of Mosques and Fire Stations and Ambulances, and assassinating over a thousand police officers {shades of exploding pagers?}, Democracy Now, and Amy Goodman – who claim to be progressives – to my everlasting horror, have insisted on reporting these events by repeating the Empire’s propaganda that it is the State of Iran that is propagating the violence against their own people, rather than the Empire that is assaulting Iran and its people.
.
The U.S. assaulted Iran, first by economic sanctions that provoked what were indeed initially peaceful portests (that the State of Iran allowed to proceed peacefully), then by infiltrating the peaceful protests with agent provovateurs, with guns bombs to assassinate Iranian police officers and Iranian citizens, and destroy the mosques, fire stations and ambulances; and now by bring waring to their doorstep.
.
So true! But don’t forget that the US has been assaulting Iran for over half a century, overthrowing their government twice and stealing their oil.
And saying that anything is a False Flag identifies you as a “conspiracy theorist” which should frighten you into silence, you flat-earther, you! 😉🩷
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Indeed, Rebel Nu, nothing there to disagree with. More than fiifty years of assault on Iran by the U.S. Empire. Just so.
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From one flat earther to another. :)
.
I’ve been trying to find a way to the top side.
.
LOL.
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I had to think about that for a moment.
.
Can't someone just get rid of all the so-called western leaders especially Trump, Starmer,Von deLuyen and Kallas. The earth would be a better place .
.
Well, four things, Richard, about your aspiration “to get rid of” these Western Leaders:
.
(1) By “get rid of”, I’m going to assume you mean “fire their asses”, right?
.
(2) As to who gets to fire these so-called “leaders”, that would be “we, the people” who are supposed to hire and fire them.
.
(3) In fact, however, it is “The Money” who actually get to hire and fire these people.
.
(a) First, “The Money” – that, the Oligarchs, the Corporatists and the Plutocrats – “hire them”; that is to say – it is the amount of money the Pols raise that determines who can run for office.
.
In theory anyone can put them name on the ballot, but only money gets you access to the voting populace.
.
(b) Then – second – the voters vote on whoever The Money has already voted for. We get to choose among the candidates The Money has already selected.
.
A book was published a while back, I believe, on analysis of statistical data regarding the relationship between the frequence a political candidate wins at the polls, and how much money they raised for their election campaign.
9 times of 10 – that, 90% percent of the time – the candidate with the most money in their campaign coffers wins.
.
I witnessed this up close myself, BTW, when I supported the congressional campaign of a candidate who refused to take PAC money or corporate money for his campaign.
.
We ran a strong grass roots campaign for our candidate and whenever we spoke with voters, we garnered tremendous support.
.
When we reached the polls, however, we only got 34% of the vote, while the opponent who was anointed by the party (the Dems, BTW), and backed by corporate money – including weapons manufacturers and gun lobbyists – won hands down at 66% of the vote.
.
Our opponent, BTW, after just one public appearance facing off against our candidate, would not thereafter show up for any of the debates. He just sat back and let the money speak for him. It did.
.
(4) If you think about it for moment, would you not agree that these so-called "leaders" are not actually "leaders." Rather, they are "followers." Truly, I mean that: they do NOT lead. They follow.
.
The problem is, however, who or what they follow. In fact, they are supposed to enact "the will of the people," but they don't, do they?
.
They should follow us, but they don't. They follow the money. They follow the will of The Money. That is why the people are outraged.
.
(5) Yannis Varoufakis – former Finance Minister for Greece – has some ideas on the matter. They’re worth hearing out.
.
Democracy cannot exist under Capitalism.
.
Democracy under Capitalism?
What Marx would call the internal contradictions of the Capitalist system –right?
.
The Capitalists cannot help themselves, of course – they are drawn to Corruption the way a fly moves towards the smell of what it most appreciates, because that is where the Capitalist system drives the Capitalist.
You're familiar with the logic, right: "If I don't do it, somebody else will."
.
It's the same logic that the Ethnosupremacist Colonial Settlers from the U.S. and Europe -- to this very day -- employ when they violently expel Palestinians from their lands and homes in the West Bank and in Gaza, and steal their property from them.
.
They say – which you will see in recordings on social media – "If I don't steal your home from you, someone else will. It might as well be me".
.
In the case of the humble house fly, by the way, thy are just kindly recycling their own favorite source of food – excrement:
Basically, they are turning shit into something useful for other members of the animal community.
.
The problem with the Capitalist system, on the other hand, is that it takes what is good – the richness of the natural world & the richness of the human creative spirit – and it turns all of that good stuff into shit.
.
With an arrangement like that, what could possibly go wrong.?.
Of course it produces a Donald Trump! What else is it going to do?
.
I cannot understand how these lies are being dutifully repeated ad nauseam by almost every media outlet. It’s just incredible. Do they think we are complete idiots?!
As Caitlin Johnstone so eloquently puts it,
It is not okay to be a grown adult in the year 2026 and still believe US regime change interventionism in the middle east will lead to positive outcomes.
.
Well, at this point, Nadia, the Empire's system of Manufacturing Consent is breaking down to some extent. To a considerable extent, I would say. It may not, however, be at breaking point just yet.
.
Enen thought that moment (like "the objects that appear in your car mirror) may well be "a lot closer" than the Oligarchs and Plutorats imagine.
.
Perfect again!! However, I think it would be hilarious if say, the ginormous Abe Lincoln carrier would drop to the ocean floor like an after-Thanksgiving turd in an all-male boarding house.
Although I prefer peace, the best outcome would be a kerplunk right into the Straits of Hormuz with the bow sticking above the surface like the erect penis of the empire, the ass end of it like a threatening shit bomb conveniently blocking the straits in the Iranian interest. A what-goes-around-comes-around moment.
I'm digging the vibe!!
Great simile!!!
.
And, if Trump indeed launches the strike on Iran that he is threatening, this war will be unlike any other that the U.S. has engaged in for the last eighty years.
.
As Deaglan O'Mulroonery pointed out in a related article recently, Iran has been preparing for decades to resist this long anticipated assault by the United States. The damage that Iran will ready to inflict on American military bases in West Asia will be instant and catastrophic.
.
Of all the wars that the U.S. exported to the world in the last eight decades – Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Ukraine, and all the rest – none of them entailed a consequence like this.
.
What presently remains of America’s capacity to project power onto the world is concentrated most forcefully within the many military bases it has sequestered through the dictatorial regimes it either controls or influences or intimidates within that region which Israel fantasizes about as the object of its Greater Israel expansion project -- what the West has long referred to as the Middle East.
.
The moment that Trump initiates a miliary strike on Iran from his assembled fleet in the Gulf region, Iran will launch its promised retaliation against all those regional U.S. military bases, and against the dictatorial regimes so beloved by the American Empire.
.
And the U.S. will not be able to intercept those strikes. The distance between target and launch is simply too close, and the Iranian missiles will be moving too fast. They won't be able to stop all of them. I think it is even highly likely that they won't succeed in stopping very many of them.
.
The same surely holds true for the U.S. fleet. If Trump imagines that his fleet will be impervious to strikes by Iranian missiles, he is dreaming. There will be strikes on the fleet. Those strikes will be effective and will cause profound damage.
.
I don’t perceive any outcome from such a misguided decision as an assault on Iran, in which the projection of American power into West Asia will not be shattered overnight.
.
Trump is almost certainly just attempting to consolidate fascistic power home by launching a war abroad, but he is just as likely to bring the walls of the Empire crumbling down around him.
.
And if the projection of American power into West Asia collapses under Iranian assault, that will be the end of the U.S. pet dictatorships in the region. And Israel may no longer be call on their favorite “Uncle” to bail them out from the consequences that will ensue.
.
🤞🤞🤞 E^10 !!!
Well, Trump needs some excuse for following Netanyahu's orders, however crazy they may be...So Iran, which has never done anything to America, is the enemy because they don't have nukes, but want them some day to defend against Israel...Unfortunately, Iran does have hypersonic missiles and control of the Strait of Hormuz.....
And to think Dr Strangelove was just a movie satire. Imagine Don astride a nuke plummeting towards Tehran in imitation of "Kong" in Kubrick's masterpiece.
So I guess to complete the imagined analogy, it'd be a drunken Hegseth, subbing for Slim Pickens as the pilot of the B-52 that gets through the flak to nuke the Russkies as Iran's ally? Gotta smoke 'em all while we can.
Bootlicker Starmer and the vassal state UK have jumped in preemptively to ban the IGRC as a terrorist organization. From now on, anyone who defends what Iran does militarily will, presumably, face the same fate as those who held signs supporting Palestine Action. Starmer is trying to out-race Trump to all out fascism and, so far, seems to be winning.
A bit slow. Australia already did that months ago. Once a vassal, always a vassal.
Iran has the brass bloody nerve to sit on top of one of America's biggest oil reserves! Sheer impertinence!
Really! It's "our oil" like the oil in Venezuela is "our oil" and the oil in Greenland is "our oil" and...
Q: why does Trump take Xanax?
A: for Hispanic attacks.
Trump to Melania who's donning a 12" anaconda black strap-on dildo:
"If Ayatollah you once, Ayatollah you a thousand times - when I dress up like a girl, I want to be fucked like one."
George Orwell and Franz Kafka would certainly understand this logic.
Love you Laura
You are utterly brilliant and thank you for all the light and clarity you radiate 🙏🥰
This should be interesting...i'm not sure the american military have gone up against someone who can shoot back before...
I hope they have their combined i.q. of 17 working on it...
But they have their average weight of 275 pounds (including the women)!
Isn’t circular reasoning & western colonialist exceptionalism a beautiful thing? Bravo Laura!
Elementary, my dear Laura.
Thanks, Laura. Regrettably, the billionaires, and so-called elites have discovered that U.S government funding for war and weapons is endless. And it's easy money!
Thus they greedily embrace war.
Runaway military spending is driving America into non-stop foreign wars. You must have war to justify all this armaments expenditure.
Can't afford healthcare, medications, housing, or infrastructure. They truth is that these wars of our own creation are bankrupting the nation at home.
It's not actual money. It's debt piled upon debt, piled upon debt...
The billionaires sucking on the US government teats are taking real money though. We are left with the debt.
China's Holdings: Around $750-$800 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds and notes as of late 2024/early 2025.
But the total U.S. Debt = over $38 trillion (as of early 2026).
Top Holder = Japan. Go figure.
I'm being blocked from seeing some content requiring age verification, yet.Substack say subscribers who pay by card (which I am) are already verified. What gives?