Not spring as 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 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 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? 

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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 all deny having spoken with him at all recently. (Might Trump actually have made up that story?)

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

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. 

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 now. 

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Although I consider myself an opponent both of abortion and the death penalty, it's 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 and King was executed by lethal injection this evening. Would that penalty cause a would-be killer to hesitate before carrying out such a crime in the future?  Unfortunately, probably not, as often these crimes are impulsive, not premeditated, and the perpetrator doesn't think that far ahead.