First Vance and Now Rubio

Our Vice-president Mr. Vance stated recently that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon” even though the U.S. has neither responsibility nor authorization to enforce the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty signed by both Iran and the U.S.

Now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that Israel’s determination to attack Iran and the certainty that U.S. troops would be targeted in response forced the Trump administration to take pre-emptive strikes.

So, now we are letting other country’s determine our foreign policy? WTF?

Apparently exerting diplomatic pressure on our “ally” Israel to not do such a foolish thing didn’t sound like enough of a “deal” to the Ayatollah Covfefe.

These clowns need to start wearing honest clown costumes so we can tell that they are not being serious.

VP Vance and the U.S. on Iran

Vice-president J.D. Vance recently told reporters. “What we’re focused on right now is the fact that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.”

Hello? Who put us in charge of who gets and who doesn’t get access to nuclear weapons? There is a treaty, sensibly called the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty which Iran signed and ratified in 1968.

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NNT) does not contain a specific, self-executing penal code for violations. Instead, its enforcement mechanisms rely on a combination of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards to verify compliance, with enforcement actions ultimately carried out by the UN Security Council. Nowhere does it say that the U.S., with or without its partner in mayhem, Israel, is to enforce this treaty.

Key Details Regarding Iran and the NPT:
• Original Commitment: Iran signed and ratified the NPT, legally committing to nuclear non-proliferation.
• Safeguards Agreement: In 1974, Iran signed a Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), allowing for inspections.
• Compliance Concerns: Despite being a signatory, Iran has been investigated by the IAEA regarding undeclared nuclear materials and has been censured for lack of transparency.
• Threats of Withdrawal: Due to ongoing geopolitical tensions and sanctions, Iranian officials have periodically threatened to withdraw from the NPT. (Source: Al Jazeera)

Iran continues to maintain that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, citing its rights under Article IV of the NPT

Postscript Going to U.S. sources of information on this issue only leads to propaganda, leaving us to seek good information from sources like Al Jazeera. WTF are we doing to ourselves?

Effing Swear Words

Oxford Languages defines swear words as “a word of a kind used to express anger or other strong emotion and regarded as coarse, blasphemous, or otherwise unacceptable in polite or formal speech.” Coarse speech is stated as being “lacking in refinement; crude or vulgar” (accompanied by the sound of pearls being clutched) … Oh, my! “Blasphemous speech” is “speech against God or sacred things” which we cannot have here in the U.S., a secular country. Of course, religious minorities have their own rules, but they do not apply in general. And “Unacceptable” … to whom is it so?

In other words, swear words are, as George Carlin indicated … “Bad Words.” Mr. Carlin became famous because of a routine he called “The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” In that diatribe he stated his opinion, that there were no bad words.

In the Anglo-American language traditions, we are still suffering from the Norman conquest of England in 1066. When the Normans took over, the “rulers” spoke French (Normandy being in western France as we know it today) and the conquered peoples spoke English (… and Welsh, and … Gaelic, etc.). To address the court one necessarily spoke in French or hired someone who could because speaking English to the ruling class was just so vulgar. This is, by the way, we have the still stupid legal doublets like “cease and desist,” and “null and void,” and “aid and abet,” “last will and testament,” etc. when the two terms mean the same damned thing. The legal system had to serve to two populations, the rulers and the ruled, so doublespeak became popular.

Swear words are often referred to as “profanity,” which harkens back to “the sacred and the profane” and the definition (Source: Oxford Languages: relating or devoted to that which is not sacred or biblical; secular rather than religious) tells us that profanity is something to be striven for … in a secular country.

What prompted this post was a comment from a sincere follower of this blog that I had seemed to be using more profanity than I had in the past. S’truth, I have. Profanities like “Fuck Trump, Our War Mongering President” seem to just flow out of me.

Since I do not wish to be discourteous, I will examine whether my use of language is necessary to make my point. If the chosen swear words do not seem to be needed, I will pare them out.

More Legal Doublets (for you fans of such)
Cease and desist: Stop an action and do not resume it.
Null and void: Having no legal force; invalid.
Aid and abet: To assist in committing a crime.
Terms and conditions: Provisions of a contract.
Fit and proper: Suitable for a position.
Give and bequeath: Transfer property via a will.
Force and effect: Valid and binding.
Mind and memory: Mental capacity.
Breaking and entering: Illegal entry into a premises.
Assault and battery: Physical threat and unlawful physical contact.
Will and testament: A document declaring a person’s wishes for their property after death.
Each and every: All individual parts.
Free and clear: Without encumbrances (e.g., in real estate).
Heirs and successors: Those who inherit or take over a position.
Wear and tear: Depreciation from normal use.
Order and direct: A directive from a court or authority.
Indemnify and hold harmless: To secure against loss.

Postscript Most of Carlin’s seven words are of Anglo-Saxon origin, which tells us something about prejudice.

Why Would Gods Create Moralities?

In the free will debate, many religious apologists/excusigists claim that their god gave us free will so we could freely choose to worship it. And since we have free will we can also choose to do wrong things, even patently evil things. (Bad humans, bad!)

So, then, according to this religious narrative, their god then gave us rules of behavior to guide our actions. WTF? This equates to “these rules are really really important and you must follow them, except you don’t have to.”

As I often encourage, let’s take a step back. If the creator god were to create human beings who did not want to do bad or evil things (I have known a great many of these folk in my life, they already exist), then there would be no need of moral rules or laws, no? If this were the case, could human beings choose to worship that god or not? I think so. There is no threat involved either way, so they are free to choose. This is not “free will” per se because some choices are off the table, but those choices aren’t on the table when the question is “Do you believe in this god and will you worship it?”

Only theists would think that not beleiving in their god is evil. Muslims who stop beleiving in Allah are to be killed. In Christian history, anyone who declared they didn’t believe in Jesus could be killed. (Christians have been Christians longer than Muslims have been Muslims and some lessons come only over time. It is no longer the practice of Christian religions to burn atheists at the stake. Hey, they had a near 600 year head start in weeding out the barbarities.)

If one doesn’t subscribe to the rules of a religion, not worshipping their god is an open decision, not a sin or grievous error.

It is easily seen why religions co-opt local moralities (usually via force or violence). So, the claim is “do not follow your rules, follow our rules.” This is part of the forced conversion game plan. In Islam, you either convert or agree to be a slave to Muslims, paying tribute as it were. Once you have converted, then the rules of their religion do apply to you and they will enforce them on you as that enforcement is part of the foundation of the religion. Without the threat of that violence people just wander away. European and Middle Eastern history is riddled with massive forced conversion campaigns, just ask any Jew. Enforcing moral rules puts the church hierarchies in a position of power. They can go around secular authorities and enforce their rules with impunity. (Sharia law anyone? It was the same in European Christianity when roving bands of “knights” had license to slaughter any villagers they found to be suspect, and any villagers who had just harvested a crop or brought in a flock of sheep or goats from a high pasture were automatically suspect because, well, the knights were hungry. Hunh, ICE agents before there was ICE.)

A Fool and His Money are Soon Parted

It has been reported that Meta (Facebook’s avatar) spent $72 billion (that’s with a B, not an M) on developing their AI software … in 2025 alone. Then, one of AI’s most respected scientists slammed the door on Meta. Yann LeCun, the co-inventor of deep learning and a key figure in modern AI, has resigned after 12 years. But that isn’t the news. As he exited he announced that Meta’s latest and greatest AI, Llama, had been “tweaked” for each AI test it was submitted to, resulting in higher scores than it warranted. And that the version of the AI distributed to the public was not any of those tweaked versions.

One wag characterized this as “It’s like a car manufacturer announcing 5 liters per 100 km after testing the vehicle on a downward slope with the engine off.” (NovTech)

Remember when Volkswagen “tweaked” its smog reports for a number of their vehicles? Volkswagen paid over $4.3 billion in combined criminal and civil penalties to the U.S. government, alongside billions more in consumer buybacks and environmental penalties, following its “Dieselgate” emissions cheating scandal. Key penalties included a $2.8 billion criminal fine, $1.5 billion in civil/customs penalties, and $2.7 billion for environmental mitigation. Total costs, including vehicle buybacks which possibly reached over $25 billion globally. And then there was the damage done to the Volkswagen brand. I wonder what that cost is.

So, is Meta likely to suffer a similar treatment? Is this why Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and chairman of Meta, and the controlling shareholder, keeps making donations to President McGrifter’s vanity projects? President Cheatolini admires cheaters but not those who get caught so much, but still, does Zuck have a pardon in his pocket?

Can you spell shareholder revolt, boys and girls?

Oh, and the tech prophets claiming an AI bubble is about to burst and possibly wreck the economy … worldwide … do you hear them now?

I Hadn’t Heard of Charlie Kirk …

… until his assassination made the news … and I knew little of him, but since some time has passed and a number of year-end reviews have mentioned him and his wife, I now have any opinion of his character. Anyone who would marry Erika Kirk has no judgment, nor any idea of what meaningful relationships are. The behavior of his widow tells me everything I need to know about the man’s character. I will not say “may he rest in peace” as the dead need no rest, nor can they experience the same. The phrase when I was a child was “good riddance to bad rubbish.”

Please note that I do not advocate for violence of any kind, I’ll let our president do that. (Has anybody counted how many people, beside Jimmy Kimmel, that our Schmuck à l’Orange has suggest be killed?)

Yeah, I Wonder, Too

How is it possible that “conservatives” used to be zealots for laissez-faire capitalism, even though capitalism was supposed to be a liberal innovation, and yet under Donald Trump’s banner, conservatives defend a Chinese-style command economy in the US, in which the government picks winners and losers, which was supposed to be the great socialist sin? (Benjamin Cain)

Trump has had the guvmint by shares in corporations, like Intel, which is socialist if there ever was socialism. And all the GOP ass lickers are fine with this?

Cain makes the point that conservatism is just a yearning for a medieval world, where there are the rich, a few anyway (and, of course, white men) and the poor and almost nothing in between (just enough technocrats to keep the machinery of business running). Other than being anti-liberal there is no coherent conservative philosophy other than a rich man’s wet dream.

Liberals address us all, conservatives address the few who are rich. The rest is smoke and mirrors. The lies are preposterous at this point, with the GOP claiming that Democrats want to provide health care for illegal immigrants when this is currently outlawed. Their lies used to have a ring of truth, now they just have the aroma of fear.

Cain continues to say:

“The mystery of why an authoritarian/conservative would approve of free-market capitalism is solved when we distinguish between what capitalism was supposed to do and what it does in practice.

“Luckily, conservatives have something else to latch onto, namely, how capitalism works in practice. As it turns out, the early-modern defense of capitalism was naïve. Capitalist societies become neofeudal, stagnating, and degenerating into plutocracies or command economies. This, of course, is precisely what conservatives can admire in capitalism — not the liberty of the poor to elevate their social station and earn a fortune, muddying the master-slave relationship, but the disappointing reality that capitalism turns out to be illiberal.

“Specifically, if the government stays out of the economic competition, monopolies form that can corrupt the government, overtaking or subverting its regulatory functions, and making a mockery of democracy and even the scientific ethos. Capitalism becomes the cuckoo bird in the nest of modernity, and that’s just what conservatives admire about this supposed rival to feudalism.”

I very much enjoy Benjamin Cain’s posts and recommend them to you (on Substack and medium.com).

Gold v Platinum … Rules, That Is

The Golden Rule
“Treat others as you would like to be treated.”

This rule is the gold standard of ethics (Sorry!) at least that is what we are told. Why? Well, Jesus told us so … and this has been a rule in many cultures around the world uninherited from Jesus, so it is popular, under the “If It Didn’t Exist We Would Have to Invent It” rule.

But, really how good is this rule when what the “others” desires or wants is not at all taken into account? Some suggest a slight edit, making “the Platinum Rule.”

The Platinum Rule
“Treat others as they would like to be treated.”

The Golden Rule is deceptively simple, and its moral allure is powerful. Yet, beneath its surface lies a subtle danger: the presumption that you can know and act upon the needs and desires of others simply by referencing your own. Ethical action requires more than projection — it requires attention, understanding, and humility.

Blindly following the Golden Rule is not ethical; it is presumptuous. True morality begins when we acknowledge that our desires are not universal, and we strive to understand those of others. (Source: Jorge Guerra Pires, PhD on Medium.com)

I guess the current GOP assault on empathy has deep roots.

ICE Adverts Now

Here in Chicago, a TV advert is running that begins with addressing local police, stating they took an oath to protect and defend, so they should join ICE in ridding the community of the “worst of the worst: drug traffickers, gang members & predators.” Then ICE squads show up at Home Depot parking lot to arrest and deport day laborers, graduation ceremonies to arrest those who are abusing the generosity of our governments, and court hearings where immigrants are seeking legal protections.

The “worst of the worst” my ass. Their description of the “worst of the worst” is “brown skin, brown eyes, dark hair.”

The fucking ad offers a $50,000 bonus to join ICE so you, too, can kidnap people and disappear them, even citizens. And you also get college debt forgiveness, and insurance, and don’t even need the college courses needed for positions as civilian police officers.

Hey, how come Trump can forgive college debts but Biden couldn’t? Will SCOTUS please explain.

Israel is Breaking Their Covenant with Its God

Well, It is Sunday again, and you know what that means! Steve

* * *

I have written recently about how the Ten Commandments are part of a covenant with Israel made by their god Yahweh and that those commandments apply only to Yahweh’s chosen people and no one else. In the Hebrew Bible it is stated over and over that if the Israelites do not follow god’s commandments, they will be punished, sent into slavery, etc. And scripture documents a great many instances of these punishments.

While you can probably add to this argument, I offer enough to show you how Israel has rejected Yahweh’s covenant. I refer specifically to these commandments (Revised Standard Bible Version):

13  You shall not murder.
15  You shall not steal.
16  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17  You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israeli government has violated these repeatedly.

Clearly they are murdering Gazans almost randomly as if for target practice. They have set up food relief stations and then gunned down Palestinians racing to get some food to feed their families. They have shot and killed their own hostages. They have bombed refugee stations that they previously directed people to go to.

As to “you shalt not steal,” they are looking to steal all of Gaza and the West Bank and they say so out in the open. “From the river to the sea” is not a slogan of Gaza, it is from Israeli property developers, along with U.S. President Trump, looking at what they might do when they clean the land of those pesky Palestinians and their bombed out buildings. The “settlers” stealing land in the West Bank are doing it openly with government support and calling them “settlers” is an abomination. The West Bank was already settled. They are actually invaders, land thieves, not settlers. They know that the U.S. cannot complain as that is what we did to the Native Americans … repeatedly.

And “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” is a laugher. Israeli officials have claimed that children, toddlers, were Hamas agents and deserved to die when they were killed. They say things like “they should have chosen better parents.” They bomb refugee camps, claiming that there were enough Hamas agents there to warrant killing thousands of innocent civilians. Israeli prelates state openly that gentiles are only fit to be slaves of Jews. Palestinians, being mostly Muslim, are therefore “gentiles” as they are not Yahweh worshippers and you know how the Bible treats slaves and now how modern Israelis want to treat them.

When it comes to “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” The entire country is coveted, both Gaza and the West Bank. Early on Netanyahu spoke before the United Nations showing a map of “Greater Israel” which included both of those territories, and parts of Syria, Jordan, and the Arabian Peninsula. They are not being secretive about this, it is part of their plans for their future.

Their future, though, will be as a god-less nation, because they have rejected Yahweh’s covenant, the testament that made them Yahweh’s chosen people. What this means is that any religious arguments they proffer in the future to justify their actions need to be met with cries of “Blasphemy” and the renting of clothes. That is if any serious Yahweh worshippers are left by then. And us gentiles can recognize blasphemy when we see it, so Netanyahu and all the other Israeli higher-ups need to heckled with continuously shouts of “Blasphemer!” wherever they go.