Those were some of the reactions last night to the Israeli attacks on NBC journalists. I agree/or am sympathetic with all of them. Sixty percent of American adults now have an unfavorable view of Israel; 30% believe that Israel has committed genocide; Israel has nuclear weapons; $3.8B of U.S. taxpayer money goes, and has gone, to Israel every single year; For ten years Trump repeatedly has called on U.S. NATO allies, with whom we have a mutual defense treaty, to pay more for collective security; Israel Firsters in Congress, with Netanyahoo approval, have now included continued Israeli aid in the U.S. defense budget, rather than have it be specifically approved each year: this is a double standard; "Everyone hates Israel now, everyone hates you", "Israeli wouldn't exist if it wasn't for me" Trump has said in rare statements of truth about Israel and Netanyahoo; Trump has made the U.S. principal to all of his war partner's war crimes. 

"American Zionist" Israel Firster Alan Dershowitz told fellow Israel Firsters in New York "Our enemy now is Canada" (for pledging to arrest 'Witz' hero Benjamin Netanyahoo on his ICJ war crimes warrant should said Netanyahoo ever set foot agayne in the True North). 'Witz told Canadian daily National Post that he is “in favour of Trump putting tariffs on Canada for its statements regarding Israel and Netanyahu, and even sanctions perhaps.”

Netanyahoo has made New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani his enemy, graphically the most prominent of four international enemies, one of whom is the leader of a NATO allied nation.

The case for Israel as an "enemy" of the United States is by powers of ten stronger than that for Canada as an enemy. Yet, Trump has tariffed Canada 50% with an additional 50% due on January 1, 2027 and has repeatedly declared the U.S.-Canadian border "artificial", has repeatedly referred to Canada as "the 51st state", to Canadian Prime Ministers as "governors", and issued existential threat directly to current Prime Minister Mark Carney that "Canada only lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark."; and has renamed Lake Ontario "Lake America". By contrast, Trump's tariffs on Israel are a much lower 27%, he has never said that Israel's borders are "artificial" (when they are), and has never threatened Israel's existence.

Officially, China is a "strategic competitor", not an enemy, of the U.S. Russia is classified as a "major strategic adversary", not an enemy. "Enemy" apparently is a term reserved for a war-time adversary. Israel is not a "strategic" anything to the U.S. It exists, as Trump said, on sufferance of America. Israel is not an "enemy" of the U.S., but neither is 'Witz' Canada--by orders of magnitude. These are all double standards of the highest degree. 

This Israel is not in America's national interest; This Israel is not in America's national security interest. This Israel is counter to America's national interests and to American national security. America should disengage from Israel; should end all economic and military aid to Israel; should economically strangle Israeli citizens until they change leaders; America should never, EVER, permit Israel to be destroyed as a homeland for the Jewish people. Only in an existential threat should the United States come to Israel's defense.

Public Occurrences August 29, 2026

The Israel Poison

Palestinian woman and NBC News team attacked by masked Israeli settlers in West Bank

The woman and crew were treated for injuries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he condemned the violence committed “by a handful of rioters.”

NBC

4:22 pm:

Trump's evolving endgame for the Iran war, in 6 quotes

March 2:

"Our objectives are clear. First, we're destroying Iran's missile capabilities ... and their capacity to produce brand new ones. .... Second, we're annihilating their navy. ... Third, we're ensuring that the world's No. 1 sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon. .... And finally, we're ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund, and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.

April 7:

"We have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran." 

June 17;

"We reached an agreement with Iran that achieves everything we set out to accomplish. Everything and much more." 

July 8:

"I don't want to deal with them anymore. ... As far as I'm concerned, it's over." 

July 24:

"There's a military exit where we just keep going just the way we are ... or there's a smarter strategy and that's you make a deal."

Aug 19:

"I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale." 

The bottom line: Trump's four- to five-week war has become a half-year conflict whose path to an end keeps changing.

Axios

Russian strike near Kyiv kills 37, in one of the year's deadliest attacks

npr headline

11:58 am:

Trump Seizes Control of Venezuelan Oil for Toilet Nation

Flagellation

Put up yous dukes

 

Tottenham Notspur

This is a big, London, club. Got their own stadium, got money out the ass, spent big this summer after avoiding relegation on the last matchday of the 2025/26 season...

And have lost their first two matches this, stung 3-0 by the Bees at Brentford, 2-0 today at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to Saudi Sovereign Wealth. Shut out in both and outscored by five in tyoo matches. Bottom of the Premier League. 

But wait. Three players, three, want to be Notspurs. And manager Roberto De Zerbi said after the loss to the Saudis that they are free to go.

Gonna be sippin' Coca-Cola next season, these Notspurs are.

I need hard work. Without it I become an old man, not living in the present with purpose, not in the future with a goal, but, as old folks do, in the past with nostalgia. That is what study with Dr. Ana gives me.

Yet, I am old. When we worked with constancy four hours a day (a limit imposed on me and on she by me) five days a week, I was often, the words are mine whenever I thought of it and whenever I spoke of it to others, "bone tired." The feeling was literal. My very bones felt tired.

Yesterday, since we had not been working with constancy four hours a day, five days a week, I pushed Ana and myself, and set the goal at the old four hours. We didn't meet our goal, Ana could do no more after three hours twenty minutes. And today I slept until 11:42. I was bone tired.

Putting aside dollars and cents, the story of Mr. Trump’s war in its first six months can be told in five numbers: Sixty-three, 12, 1.10, 18 and 759. 

63: percent public opposition to Iran War.

...reminiscent of the darkest days of the Vietnam War.

12: ... the number of ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz each day...compared with 130 before the war. 

1.10: ...average price of gas increase since in the United States the start of fighting.

18: ...American military personnel killed so far in the war. 

759: ...the estimated number of Patriot interceptors left in U.S. arsenal, down from 2,330...

Peter Baker, New York Times

Since this is a joint U.S.-Israeli war, I would add another number:

62: Percentage of American adults who hold an unfavorable view of the Israeli government, up from 43% in 2022.

This was March 11. The Iran War was eleven (my favorite number) days old:

Now look at this. Look at the date.

Two days ago. Two days later, today, August 28, the Iran War was at six months and still going and going and going...

Now look at the composition

I believe that that is the work of Natalie Harp. Approved by Trump but I think Harp is the original artist. It's very similar to others. Does she know, does he know, that Dubya gave that "Mission Accomplished" speech aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, the same ship that is now headed to port in a mental health crisis? Are you kidding me? No. No way Harp-Trump know that. How about invoking the most embarrassing foreign policy boner of Dubya's presidency--when she knows, when Trumpie knows, that the Iran mission is NOT accomplished, was at post time two days shy of six months. Does she know, does Trumpie know, that Dubya's boner was over IRAQ, not Iran? I give that one 50-50 odds.

Did you hear that Trumpie plans on campaigning for the mid-terms on his record? "Pretend I'm on the ballot" he has said in speeches to MAGATs. "Affordability is a hoax" he has said repeatedly.

Now, there are a few reasonable explanations to consider here. I'll lead with my choice. Trump's default is to lie. It's just what he does. He has gotten away with it too. 47% (average) of Toilet Nation voters have voted for the con man three straight elections! You can full 47% of the people all of the time. I think that he is counting on his ability to fool voters in November.

To be sure, Trump has backups: redistricting, voter suppression, declaring a national emergency to get federal troops into local polling places, $500M in political lie advertisements. But he is going to go on lying: that the consumer is not hurting, that he "WON!" the Iran War, that the Toilet Nation is not a plate of hot shit but "the hottest nation" out there. His lies and his distractions have pushed the reality of 1) Trump-Epstein 2) the Israel poison 3) Iran 3a) running out of missiles 4) a Gaza Mediterranean resort 5) annexing Greenland 6) annexing Canada, 7) Russia's war on Ukraine 8) China's no-better-time-than-now! coming invasion of Taiwan--Have I forgotten anything? Probably.--he has pushed all of those out of peoples' consciousness.

But...he's not on the ballot in November; the Iran War is not over, Toilet Nation consumers know the prices of gas and eggs, and only 33% of them approve of his job performance. There are limits to lying and those are beyond lying's reach. 

Now, the alternatives: He doesn't care about the midterms. He doesn't care about elections unless he's on the ballot. Hmm, I don't know about that one. There are people who hold that and Trump himself said he didn't care about how Iran affected Grand Old Phascist phortunes in November. But he says contradictory shit all the time. Seventy percent of his mind share is on monuments to himself. He is looking at his legacy, not the short-term. I get it. I still don't think this is near sufficient explanation even if true.

He and the Human Poster are just dumb. 

That is HIM. That is not Harp, that is President iDJiT. Well, of course they are dumb. This is the question: are they dumber than Toilet Nation people? They are not. He doesn't care how stupid that air-headed "Mission Accomplished" post is any more than he cares about his spelling. What matters to Harp because it matters to Trump, is that he be seen as the "Guardian of the World (that was the other use of that same imagery).

He's going to lie. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! And he can't help it. Of course "Mission Accomplished" was dumb, but it was also a knowingly flagrant lie. Image is everything to them. What are you going to believe, that the Iran War is a shit puddle inside a quagmire wrapped in dezinformatsiya waged by an 80-year old who wears diapers, or that that manly He-man in that the graphic "WON!"?

It's Key Lime Friday

 

Ooh boy, Man City Routes Child Porn 4-1 in London

Erling Haaland started it and ended it, garlanding Rayan Cherki's two.

Public Occurrences August 28, 2026

Trump's ("four to six weeks") War of Choice Now at Six Months, Goals Unachieved, Iran Emboldened but Vulnerable, U.S. Weaker

Iran was on the ropes before the attack

In the runup to the war, the Islamic Republic appeared more vulnerable than at any point since Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded in 1980.

Iran’s currency had cratered, setting off some of the biggest anti-government protests in its history, which were brutally suppressed in January, with thousands killed. Israel and the U.S. had pounded its military and nuclear sites during a 12-day war the previous summer, and its militant allies had been throttled in the wars that followed Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of Gaza.

But the tide changed shortly after the initial U.S. and Israeli strikes, as Iran’s leaders were quickly replaced and its people — sheltering from the war — ignored exhortations from the attackers to rise up again.

Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz...

Iran is now determined to exert permanent control over the strait, to use it to ward off future attacks and secure other concessions, while giving no ground on its disputed nuclear program. It’s a risky gamble, especially as the U.S. tightens its blockade and vows new sanctions on Iran’s already battered economy.

“Tehran’s danger is confusing its ability to survive with victory and demanding more than its leverage can deliver"...

AP

How's your day going so far?

 

Eleven heat started, spewed her bodily essence on me twice during EWW Esse Em Elle Ee test.

I went to Publix tonight in my new Artssus black cat shirt. 

I wasn't in the store TYOO minutes before a woman came up from behind me and said, "I love your shirt, where did you get it?" It really is art. It's also so, so light. Artssus makes art.

Model Shoot on Rug

 

Public Occurrences August 27, 2026

Trump to Axios: I'm not worried Russia will attack NATO

"I am not concerned ... at all. There is no problem."

Speaking with reporters two hours later, Trump was asked again whether the U.S. delivered a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin about potential attacks on NATO countries.

Trump said he didn't want to comment, but added, "They are not going to attack NATO territory."

What "warning"? What could he threaten them with, marshmallow bombs?

US Patriot missile stocks in Europe are ‘beyond critical’ due to Iran war, officials say

In the event of a Russian ballistic missile assault on, for example, a military headquarters or power plant, NATO could be in a similar position to Patriot-starved Ukraine and be forced “to take punch after punch in the mouth,” the U.S. defense official said.

In Europe, the American military “definitely” does not have enough Patriots to stop any possible sustained ballistic missile attack and would have “very limited” capability to defend against a single ballistic missile strike or a stray Russian missile that goes off course, the U.S. official said.

AP

Trump's CIA guy went to Moscow this week unexpectedly, probably to plead with Poot-Poot not to attack.😂

###

OH, I WAS RIGHT! I was joking but...

CIA Chief’s Surprise Moscow Trip Was to Warn Russia Not to Attack NATO

Warning comes after new U.S. intelligence assessments indicated Russian president could launch a limited assault

Wally

###

Trumpie Says Poot-Poot Won't Attack

CIA Director John Ratcliffe went to Moscow this week to warn Russia not to attack, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Asked by reporters Thursday whether Ratcliffe delivered that message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump offered a roundabout response.

“I don’t want to comment on that, but they’re not going to attack,” Trump said.

AP above

WHEW! That's a load off, right? I wonder if Ratcliffe made it a two-stop tour and dropped by Xi Jinping's place to ask him PUHLEAZE don't invade Taiwan right now.😂

Trumpie could win the Nobel Peace Prize for Losing Wars. This could be a record year! Losing to Iran, Russia, and China! 

Meanwhile,

Since 70% of His Thoughts Are on Monuments 

😂

Trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario 'Lake America' amid Canada trade war

cnbc

EW ESSE EM ELLE EE TODAY*

PE-EW! I STUNK today. 15%, less than a random walk down Medicine Street. I knew it, too! As I was doing the test with Ana I knew I was bombing. I MISSED THE FIRST 16 IN A ROW! Embarrassing. BUT...Ana's is the only important score and she got 55%. 

*I was wrong. I ONLY GOT TEN PERCENT RIGHT!

Only Ukraine

Ukraine’s Ground Drones and "the future of war"

Ukraine marked its 35th Independence Day with a military display unlike any it had staged before: robots on the streets of Kyiv, naval drones on the Dnipro river and UAVs in the skies above the capital, showcasing technologies that have transformed the battlefield since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

euronews

And so, the comparative Lilliputians in Ukraine and Iran are doing with five- and six-figure weapons what Gullivers Russia and the Toilet Nation cannot do with eight-figure weapons, of which the Toilet Nation is running out.

Good morninga beautiful chickens.

Iran War Updates: Trump says U.S. "achieving a very big victory," war "will continue for as long as necessary"

CBS, today

Trump Admits

Jim Sciutto (https://x.com/jimsciutto)

@jimsciutto (https://x.com/jimsciutto)

New: In a phone call with me after U.S.-Canada trade negotiations collapsed, President Trump suggested the US had added conditions late during talks. 

“That sounds like me,” Trump responded, when asked about Canadian officials' assertion about US late-stage demands. 

It's common strategy for predator-businesspeople: 

1) Big Fish sets an artificial deadline for Little Fish to comply or be eaten; 

2) Little Fish negotiates feverishly in good faith, obeying Big Fish's artificial deadline; 

3) Big Fish announces "DEAL!" but for "details"; 

4) At 11th hour Big Fish makes new demands, betting that Little Fish will fall prey to momentum and bite off the new demands to not miss out on the whole feast; 

5) Little Fish is eaten by Big Fish.

The first four steps in this common predator strategy occurred in the Toilet Nation-True North trade negotiations. But at step five the Little Fish, recognizing the strategy, swam away, not without a bite out of his tail, and not without a nibble of his own out of bloated Big Fish. Now Big Fish has set a new artificial deadline, conveniently after (switching life form metaphors from fish to fowl) Big Fish, already a Lame Duck, could suffer a Quack Attack in November), with a bigger, much bigger, chomp out of Little Fish as punishment for further disobediance. To switch fowl metaphors, it is now a game of Chicken. Will Big Fish-Lame Duck become a TACO consumed by Little Fish?

My new Eleven shirt!

I'M SOO HAPPY!

 70% of his mind is on monuments to himself--Maggie Haberman

Before the Latin Cafe this morning:

Me, to friend, 7:17 am:

i know this is short notice. if you want to break your fast on my dime, i'm going to latin unless you choose roasters toasters.

Him:

Oh man wish I could just got out of the pool 

How about Thursday or Friday

Me: 

no prob buddy! so glad to hear you're swimming in morning. 

with my weirdo constitution i can't plan ahead, the expectation/obligation burden crushes me. i have to be spontaneous. another time when i have no food in the house.😂

Him: 

😂😂😂😂

Elevenish is an early riser, too. This was at 8:43 Friday morning. She wants an early round of "Get that Kitty" and she is ALL READY. 😄

I know I inundate you with photos of Eleven, but you have no idea how many I have on my camera roll that I never posted.

 I had breakfast at the Latin Cafe this morning.

There are only two sit-down restaurants on 41st Street, a major, major artery, on Miami Beach. There were more, a Chinese restaurant right across from me, and a delightful French cafe, but all but two have mostly been turned into BANKS. There are banks of every race, color and creed on 41st Street now.

The other extant restaurant is Roasters Toasters, formerly Arnie and Richies, a Jewish-style deli. Roasters Toasters certainly has the better food and I prefer it for a good, hearty meal, but it is more upscale (as upscale as a deli can be). The Latin is a People's restaurant. I took this photo this morning because early as it was there are always working class people there just before their shift. The far corner, where two police officers are seated, is usually the Otis Elevator peoples' table. There are usually four to six employees there. In the near table are three other employees of the City of Miami Beach, sanitation department as I recall. The Latin is inexpensive and I can get Cuban coffee there. I go there maybe once a week and have been going there for years and years.

Public Occurrences August 25, 2026

Dolly Parton Dies

Beloved by millions, Parton's singing career spanned 60 yrs and resulted in record sales of 100,000,000. She was 80 years old.

2:28 pm:

Canada Returns Fire

Mark Carney did not drop the E-Bomb. Theee tiered tariffs of 15%, 25% 50% targeted on U.S. goods in industries with businesses and workers hardest hit by the Toilet Nation's Aug. 23, 12:01 am tariffs. Significantly, 50% prophylactic taxes on American steel.

9:18 am:

Trump floats renaming Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’

AP

8:06 am:

A year after Israeli strikes killed journalists at a hospital, no one has been held accountable

AP

Of course not. It's Israel. 

I remember that well. First time I learned what the "double tap" was.

Gary residents turn to prayer as power outage stretches into third week

wfyi.com

Does anyone for one minute think that this would happen in a wealthy, white city? Not only is power not restored--in August!--but few of the rest of us even now. Or care.

Imagine if this was Minnesota, California, a blue state! Trump'd have the National Guard out!

Whoa Canada

This is what has changed, to me (maybe not in reality) in Prime Minister Carney's approach. This is what I meant in my initial reaction to Carney's walk-away from the talks, that it was a "human" reaction. To a gray banker, the other side's "attitude" should not matter. Do you know how many times in court I got insulted by the other lawyer, or I insulted the other lawyer? No, of course you don't know. The answer is "a lot". There are going to be personality conflicts. That should not influence you in whether the deal, or the plea offer, is objectively good, bad, acceptable. And Donald Trump is a serial winner of the Recent Assholes award. Seethe all you want about the 51st State, "artificial border", "Lake America", but don't let that influence you rationally. Do not condition a "return to the negotiating table" on Donald Fucking Trump or Howard Nutlick turning into Mr. Congeniality. Tain't gonna happen. If these assholes irritate you out of all rationality, can you not negotiate in writing? Why do negotiations have to be in person. Especially when the other side are All-Asshole. 

"Change in attitude" is not a rational strategy. It's no strategy at all.

Hours after Trump’s new auto and steel tariffs Monday, the prime minister said Canada would return to the negotiating table if there’s a change in attitude from the American side.

“There is a mutually beneficial deal possible here,” he said in Lévis, Quebec.

But a path to a mutually beneficial deal is now more challenging, according to former trade officials, and it could be months before both sides are willing to reopen negotiations.

“I think the U.S. may just not be able to get back to the deal that was on the table last Friday, and that’s just something that both sides are going to have to contend with,” said a trade lobbyist, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on record. “The president was still prepared to go forward with that deal, and then the Canadians rejected their best offer. I think that makes it really hard for the U.S. side.”

Politico

I am uneasy of Mark Carney's strategy

The consensus of econ. types is that the 50% tariffs of 12:01 Saturday will cost an estimated 90,000 Canadian jobs, mainly in the timber sector of the economy.

The consensus on the 50% automotive industry tariffs scheduled for Jan. 1 is that they will shut down the Canadian auto industry which will move to the U.S. where their factories and businesses can operate tariff free. The Toronto Star.

Carney, and others say that it was Trump's intent for the last year to "break" Canada in order to "own it," and that the New Year's tariffs were predictable. My judgment is that there is more truth in those statements than the other way around. However, if the 12:01 tariffs and the Jan. 1 tariffs were predicted then I would have expected a ready-made plan for the foreseen inevitable. I don't see that so far. 

I trust Mark Carney's judgment. But the judgment of even the most sober and erudite can be wrong. That I can see, only the Energy Bombs can flip the tables on the Americans. But Alberta's Premier has said no way Jose to that. Other than the Energy Bombs, I don't see an effective Canadian plan.

Stephen Marche wrote today:

For nearly a decade, I was a columnist at Esquire magazine. During that time, one of the greatest discrepancies I noticed between Canadians and Americans — and Canadian and American men in particular — was in their basic idea of what earned respect. For Americans, the capacity to project power, the ability to make things happen and to win are the primary virtues. For Canadians, the defining virtue is toughness, the capacity to endure.

I take Mr. Marche at his word, although it is difficult. Is that regardless of level of suffering? A-bombs? tariffs? alike, same response, "We will endure"? Marche's characterization and contrast is anecdotal, not scientific. I don't know to what degree Marche is accurate but if totally accurate endurance of pain is not a strategy to mitigate pain. It seems to me that a government, if possible, should work single-mindedly to reduce pain on its citizens. Maybe I'm wrong. But I still don't like "the capacity to endure" as a strategy for an advanced empathetic nation under attack by a hostile foreign government. Imo, Prime Minister Carney should look to avoid pain for Canadians at almost all costs and to ameliorate unavoidable pain. I see suffering. Marche does too: "But we will suffer." I'm not Canadian but I always thought I was close enough. I didn't realize, if it was to be realized, that "the capacity to endure" "suffering" is Canadians' "defining virtue." A virtue it may be, I'll shelve that for argument's save, it is not a strategy. Inflicting reciprocal pain on Americans at least brings company to misery. I strongly lean towards the Energy Bomb.

XIIM

Eight days after 11M. It's a phenomenon that has never occurred here before, not even close. It is redundant but polite and necessary to express thanks deeper than you can appreciated. If there is a God, and there is not, but I'm hedging my bets as an agnostic, by (S)he bless you for bringing this happiness to an aged Idiot blogger. I know almost none of you but I say sincerely, I love you.

Harping

 This is the photo of Natalie Harp running after Trump's golf cart in Aberdeen, Scotland.

"But we will suffer"

For Canada, the choice came down to either severe but temporary economic instability or binding itself to a pseudodemocratic fiscal basket case of a nation, whose only apparent foreign policy objective has become domination for the gratification of its president’s slapdash vanity."
...
The economic impacts of Mr. Trump’s tariff regime remain to be seen, especially given his history of reversing tariff policies on a whim. But we will suffer.

Mr. Carney has chosen suffering, but he did what Canadians elected him to do: stand up for Canada. It’s funny to wake up relieved that you’re about to take a beating.

Steven Marche in nytimes

Public Occurrences August 24, 2026

"Operation Economic Outcast" (no, not Canada): Trump's New Iran Plan

"Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone."--Treasury Secretary Bessent

Have sanctions ever forced capitulation?

Going solely on the freak-out reactions of the various Iranian factions, this one, it seems to me, might well do that.

5:15 pm:

Carney, Experts: Trump's Jan. 1 Auto Tariffs Will Devastate Canadian Auto Industry; Carney: That is Trump's Intent

10:51 am:

Doug Ford, Ontario Premier: Carney should drop Energy Bomb on Toilet People

“He underestimates Canada. We’re all in,” Ford said. “Up here, we’re at a fever pitch, everyone’s in for an economic war. They know they’re going to have to sacrifice.”


10:51 am:

Trump ups the Ante

The White House Felon says he is going to increase tariffs on cars, trucks and auto parts to 50% on January 1. 

Back to you, Prime Minister Carney.