Not spring here yet, nor is the Iran war almost over

Yes, on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, right here in Berkeley Springs, instead of new spring flowers and bright green shamrocks, we again had snow, which our dog Willow explored by digging in with her nose.

That means that spring has not yet arrived. Nor is the Iran war that Donald Trump so thoughtlessly started over yet. How long might that war go on? 

Many ordinary Americans believe that any one of us could do a better job of running the country than Donald Trump is doing right now. Bibi Netanyahu, to get out of a personal legal jam, convinced a very gullible Donald Trump to start a war to deflect attention from himself and his myriad troubles.  

 Bombing Iran without provocation would not be part of our own game plan, if most ordinary citizens were actually in charge right now instead of a very suggestible and impulsive Donald Trump. As I've noted before, when not sleeping during a meeting, Trump also seems to have a serious case of senior attention deficit disorder.  

If Kamala had been elected--and she came close--we would not now be at war and our country would be so much better off. 

Top counterterrorism official Kent resigns over Trump's Iran war, says Iran posed no imminent threat

‘No, we didn’t’: DOGE staffer admits Elon Musk’s cost-cutting agency failed to reduce the federal deficit

Donald Trump accused of fundraising off dead soldiers: ‘Unfit to be Commander in Chief’

Trump wore a hat that he sells for $55 while attending the "dignified transfer" of the bodies of fallen soldiers killed in his Iran war. Normally, a president would remove his hat at such a ceremony.

(And usually a president doesn't run a commercial side gig selling hats while serving in office.}

Vice President JD Vance gave a not very convincing answer to a question about his former reluctance to support US foreign wars and his current support of Donald Trump on Iran. 

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Vance tried to explain that “one big difference” between now and then is that “we have a smart president, whereas in the past we’ve had dumb presidents.” Hmm, do you really think Vance believes what he just said? 

Yahoo News

President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that one of his predecessors told him that he wished he had been the one to bomb Iran. It appears that, in fact, Trump did not actually speak with any of the four former presidents--at least they deny having spoken with him at all recently. (Did Trump actually make up that story?)

NY Times, ‘This Is Not Our War’: Europe and U.K. Push Back Against Trump’s Demands

You broke it, so you need to fix it. 

From Washington Post,

Israel urges Iranians to revolt but privately assesses they’ll be ‘slaughtered’Israeli officials told U.S. counterparts they hope for an uprising even though it would lead to a massacre, according to a State Department cable reviewed by The Post.

Israel says it killed Iran’s top security official, along with paramilitary boss

Trump’s cancellation of licenses for immigrant truckers takes effect.

Trump and his advisers leave no stone unturned trying to make life difficult for immigrants, ignoring the fact that immigrants have founded this country. Like all of us, Trump is descended from immigrants, including some that arrived rather recently, including his mother. His wife also is an immigrant who had overstayed her visitor's visa. 

Trump says he can ‘take’ Cuba: ‘I can do anything I want with it’

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts said on Tuesday that hostility directed in personal terms at judges is "dangerous and it's got to stop," commenting just days after President Donald Trump's ‌latest social media broadside against judges who have ruled against him and his administration.

I first met John Roberts years ago, when the adoption agency where I was board president approved the adoptions of his 2 children. He was then a judge working in the DC area--I don't recall the details nor would I reveal them even if I remembered them. 

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Although I consider myself an opponent both of abortion and the death penalty, it would be hard to argue against the death penalty for a man who had committed the following crime. 

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man was scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, March 17,  for the rape and murder of a young mother who had frantically called 911 on her attacker's cellphone while she was tied up in his car. Michael Lee King, 54, was set to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of first-degree murder, sexual battery, and kidnapping in the January 2008 killing of 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee. Court records show the woman was outside her North Port home with her two sons — a toddler and an infant — when King drove by and spotted her, then abducted her while leaving the children alone in the home.

There was no last-minute repreive so King was then executed by lethal injection this evening. Would that penalty cause a future would-be killer to hesitate before carrying out such a crime? Unfortunately, probably not, as often these murders are impulsive, not premeditated, since the perpetrator doesn't think that far ahead or expect to ever be caught. 

Trying and failing to change the subject

For a while now, I've been trying to focus only on local concerns and events, still unsure what to do next to try to steer Trump & Co. in a different direction on Iran. My son, with whom I live now, prefers not to see me getting up on my soapbox to express my point of view, beyond just talking here with local neighbors and friends. He wouldn't want to see a headline like: "Elderly West Virginia resident rails against Trump Iran policy." I'm not sure I have the stamina anyway to go beyond our local circle, although I do have some ideas about how I might go about it. It would be risky in any case, as declarations critical of a sitting president would not be appreciated by him, especially when coming from an 88-year-old woman living in our small rural swing state. The whole effort might even get out-or-hand or maybe just fizzle out completely. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I still might do something more public, though my son wants me to scrap the whole idea of going viral with my concerns. He has urged me to bide my time at least until I go to my great-grandson's high school graduation in May. Maybe the Iran war will be over by then. 

My son advises me to pay more attention now to our own home and neighborhood, to our daily life out here in the West Virginia countryside: taking the dog out to a national park, visiting with local friends, deciding what to make for dinner. He prefers to keep our private life private, which is not so hard to do out here. We don't even know our nearest neighbors,  living right within walking distance, but with barking dogs always outside. "Mind your own business," my son advises. I do think the Iran war is my business! And the business of all Americans. 

However, it's OK with my son if I continue with this blog. since the readership is modest, something he'd like to see stay that way. I've already written to our representatives here and have had replies. Of course, they disagree with me. Still, I do have more agency here than back in DC, where representation was so very limited. Having two senators and a congressperson here in little West Virginia seems like a real luxury. 

Changong the suject now, as today thousands gathered in Washington, DC, my former 

home town, to celebrate National Tulip Day. I used to just walk over to that gathering.

                       

             St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow, Tuesday, March 17, a day to wear green. 

My older daughter, now living in Florida with her own daughter and grandson, just sent 

me a photo of when I was living in DC. I do plan to see them all quite soon, at my great-grandson's high school graduation in May.

How Congress became an afterthought in the war with Iran

Republicans resist calls for Iran war hearings, creating a new standoff with Democrats

‘I’m sick of stupid’: from excoriating Noem to breaking with Trump, Thom Tillis goes for fiery final act in Congress

As he exits the scene, Tillis (Republican NC) 
now feels free to frankly express what is actually on his mind. Whew!

The Hill, Trump says Cuba wants to make a deal with the US

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Although trying not to think about it, I know our country is still attacking Iran. We didn't need to start this fight. Time now to extend an olive branch to Iran. So let's stop the war and help Iran to recover, just as we did in Vietnam, also with former enemies in Germany, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Japan. Maybe it's not too soon to try a truce with Iran right now. Trump's pal Netanyahu is doubtless off-the-hook for the forseeable future. The Ayatolla is dead and probably his son as well, so everyone can start over with a clean slate.

Iran doesn't look quite ready to surrender yet, but a skilled politician might be able ton convince whoever is in Iran's leadership to try a temporary ceasefire. Distrust of the United States and its aims would need to be overcome, and Donald Trump is not the right guy to attempt that. Certainly Hegseth is not either. Who might be better? Secretary of 

State Marco Rubio? Vice President JD Vance? 

Iraninans are still mourning the Ayatolla, assassinated without provocation on Trump's orders, just at the urging of Benjamin Netanyahu. At least Netanyahu's trial has been postponed, though at the cost of so many lives, and resulting in world-wide condemnation of Israel and Netanyaha, not to mention of the United States and Donald Trump. 

After the US attacks, Iranians now seem more determined than ever to resist. 

Here were Iranians rallying against the USA. 

Max Boot, Washington Post

The U.S. military’s greatest weakness in Iran is one it can’t fix

Many issues can be resolved by smarter acquisitions decisions. Not so for incompetent leadership.

According to Boot: Incompenent leadership, especially at the very top, including by Trump and Hegseth, is a problem that the US cannot and will not fix. 

Wash. Post, Trump says U.S. struck Kharg Island, core of Iran’s oil economy

Wash. Post, U.S. intelligence says Iran’s regime is consolidating power

Despite withering airstrikes, officials predict a weakened but more hard-line government in Tehran, backed by the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps security forces

The Hill

Trump on ‘taking’ Cuba: ‘I can do anything I want with it’

Military Times-- President Donald Trump acknowledged to advisors that he made up a fake injury to avoid military service, because “I wasn’t going to Vietnam,” as his former lawyer told lawmakers during testimony. 

Trump claimed a draft deferment for "bone spurs," which can be treated and usually affect older people. 

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One of my correspondents, Jose Azel, has a blog, the Azel Perspective. He says anyone receiving his blog does so because we have once met him. Indeed, he and I did meet in Florida a few years ago, so I'm not sure if others can access his blog. But here below is part of a recent post about Bhutan. I still have several friends in Bhutan. I even had visitors from Bhutan staying with me when I lived back in DC, as reported at that time on the blog. A family I know there once wanted to emigrate to this country, but not any more. The daughter of another friend is studying nursing in India because Bhutan is too small to have a nursing school. Many, if not most, Bhutanese speak English in additon to their native lanuage. 

Here is a photo from Bhutan.

 

Below is an excerpt from Jose Azel's own recent blog posting.

What is meant by the Pursuit of Happiness?

Interestingly, in developed countries such as Switzerland, or France, with higher prosperity, comfort and security, about 25 persons per 100,000 commit suicide. In developing countries, suffering from poverty and instability, the suicide rate is about one person per 100,000. It appears that the timeless advice is true: money cannot make us happy.

So, what about the pursuit of happiness? A novel approach to our collective unhappiness comes from the tiny Kingdom of Bhutan. In the 1970s, the Fourth Dragon King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, made an extraordinary statement for a head of state: “We do not believe in Gross National Product. Gross National Happiness is more important.” Bhutan then pioneered the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) which was enacted in the Kingdom’s 2008 Constitution.

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This Texas father may be deported to Mexico and his family may decide to go with him..