There is so much going on in the world today…where to start? We’ve got gladiators on the White House lawn, crowds burning school buses in New York City because they WON a championship, visitors from all over the world FIFA-traipsing across American and going gaga at what they find, a big wait-and-see moment in the Middle East with apparently no one happy with it, the markets continuing their yo-yo reactions to every day’s news tease, mid-term election drama rumbling in the background of every political thing (and that includes just about EVERYthing), historically-significant SCOTUS decisions ready to drop at any moment, a US economy just itching to break out of its doldrums, and of course…education, education, education.
Due
to the wealth of good links below, I will limit my brief commentary on this
piece to the Middle East. Like so many
of you, I am conflicted about how to view the pending settlement of this
conflict. It must be terribly frustrating
to deal with the leadership of Iran, which has no credibility whatsoever. Making it even more difficult is the fact
that the leadership is broken up into various factions who do not agree on
Iran’s future path, and you can never be sure exactly which faction you are
dealing with. On top of all that is the
overriding limitation that the American public will simply not accept the
insertion of US ground troops into Iran.
Ratcheting
up the pressure on this dynamic is the impact it might have on the approaching
mid-term elections, the impact on the US economy, the relationships between
America and its NATO allies, the adversarial matrix of Iran tied in with
China/Russia/North Korea, and the ever-suffocating influence of a media that
demands minute-by-minute coverage regarding every piece of information
available. And then, in lieu of that…they
have no hesitation to irresponsibly opine on what might happen or is likely
to happen.
To
me, the bottom line is this: At the end of the day, America will be leaving the
Middle East with a much reduced military presence remaining. We will not be occupying Iran. Iran’s future will ultimately be in the hands
of the existing government…such as it is…and its citizenry. The neighbors of Iran must live with it as a regional
partner.
Israel has every right to defend itself
against any threat that might come its way and that privilege can never be
denied. While the nexus between
Iran/Lebanon/Israel is clearly a central element in all things Middle East, America
has no right to tell Israel how it must defend itself against wanton
aggression. America does not negotiate for
Israel; they do that for themselves.
If we cannot occupy and control
Iran, then we must arrive at an end game alternative to that scenario. That end game has apparently now been
determined and we shall see how it turns out.
If American and Iranian leaders do not know the answer to that question,
then certainly the armies of political pundits do not know either.
President
Trump has taken bold military action to destroy the ability of Iran to threaten
America and the world. Could we have hit
them harder and hit them again…and again?
Of course we could…but where do
you draw the line? Do we want to
destroy the ability of Iran to ever rebuild and have a reasonable standard of
living for its people? I think not. They have been weakened to what must be
considered near maximum extent, given the exclusion of ground troops. When it comes to fighting, a large portion of
the success determinant is in knowing when to walk away. Most of us allow our emotions to rule during times
like this and we either fail to step up or fail to step back at the right time.
As our President…Trump stepped up at the
right time. Is this the right time to step
away?
At
some point, the reality is that we…the USA…must leave, go back home, accept
that we have done all we could within the existing limitations, and put the
future of Iran into others’ hands. The time of that departure has apparently
arrived. The terms…and consequences…of
that departure are yet to be determined.
The only way to predict the future of Iran with any degree of certainty
is to OWN Iran. America will never own
Iran.
- - - - - - -
https://reason.com/2026/06/15/the-iran-war-is-over-for-now/
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/06/memo-to-file.php#google_vignette
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22597/no-good-deal-with-iran
https://jewishworldreview.com/0626/york061026.php
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/trump-pallets-cash-iran
https://freebeacon.com/israel/the-case-for-israel/
https://claritywithmichaeloren.substack.com/p/israel-has-no-choice-left-but-to
Once
this Middle East conflict is tamped down and somewhat settled, much attention will
return to the US economy. In the days
before the COVID epidemic hit America, the US economy was simply roaring. The cost of living was acceptable, there were
plenty of jobs for those willing to work, and for those workers with ambition…there
was plentiful upward mobility. COVID and
the Joe Biden Administration put an end to all of that.
I
personally believe that if the Iran conflict can be reasonably and responsibly
ended, our economy will once again return to that pre-COVID state of high
performance and opportunity. But a huge
part of that potential depends on our government…specifically the Executive and
Legislative branches…gaining some semblance of fiscal sanity. Our government must refrain from their
arrogant approach of micro-managing all things economic and simply put the
pieces in place to allow the awesome gears and machinery of capitalism and the
free market to work.
A precursor to this discussion from
five years ago shows how little things have actually changed:
https://centerlineright.blogspot.com/2021/08/fiscal-reality-check.html
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/can-the-normal-democratic-process-lead-to-deficit-reduction/
https://americanmind.org/memo/tariffs-built-to-last/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cpi-report-today-may-2026-inflation-iran-war-trump/
https://www.nationalreview.com/2026/06/social-security-insolvency-creeps-further-up/
I
have long railed against the autocratic tendencies of our government, its
unquenchable desire for power and authority, the far too many rascals that
inhabit it, and the shameful way that we as citizens empower it to steal our
constitutional rights and privileges. I
cannot repeat it too many times: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts
absolutely.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fisa-section-702-expiring-congress-what-that-means/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-vote-extension-fisa-702-spy-power-bill-pulte-uproar-trump/
https://amgreatness.com/2026/06/10/the-potemkin-ballot/
Government overreach is not simply
an American concern: https://jonathanturley.org/2026/06/10/merkel-receives-the-first-european-order-of-merit-and-repeats-call-for-crackdown-on-free-speech/
Our
Constitution is the blueprint that should rule our three branches of government. The last firewall between domestic anti-Americanism
and the terms of that document is the Supreme Court of the United States
(SCOTUS). There are those among us who
would tear apart our Constitution and rebuild it, rather than work within its
confines to help it evolve properly. Our
nation and its people must hold dear the Constitution and SCOTUS, for if we
lose either or both…our country will cease to exist as we know it. By their very design, the Executive and
Legislative branches of our government will continue to be political
circuses. We cannot afford, as a nation,
to permit our Constitution and SCOTUS to be dragged into that arena.
https://americanmind.org/salvo/our-revolutionary-constitution/
Just
as the Democrat Party is wrestling with its factional demons, so is the
Republican Party doing likewise. As I
have previously noted, the big difference between the two is the power and
influence of the radical elements within each.
The Republican far right (neo-cons) is simply one of the many groups in
the party that hold some…but not massive …influence. In the Democrat Party, the far left (liberal
progressives) is actually controlling the party’s leadership and dictating its
agenda.
This
nation needs a strong and vital two-party system that features coexistence with
statesmanlike disagreements on policy.
They need to be civil in discussion; reasonable in debate; and they need
to share a common love and respect for this country. That is not the current environment. I fervently hope for the Democrat Party to
pare down its radical elements and return to its Blue Dog roots. This would be good for their Party and a good
thing for our nation.
https://amgreatness.com/2026/06/12/a-conservative-audit-of-the-lefts-ruling-assumptions/
Here is one of the liberal
progressive’s poster children: https://freebeacon.com/media/lesley-stahl-says-journalists-getting-fired-is-worse-than-child-trafficking-nazi-torture-dungeons/
https://americanmind.org/memo/dei-by-default/
https://reason.com/2026/06/12/graham-platner-signals-a-problem-for-democrats-and-the-rest-of-us/
President
Donald John Trump is…if nothing else…an unconventional president. His character and moral behavior has been, at
times, undeniably reprehensible. While living
a life of privilege, he has been without a doubt quite accomplished in a
material sense. Unfortunately…his
arrogant personality and his undisciplined rhetoric at times diminish the
obvious wisdom and practicality of his many policy initiatives.
As
he approaches the midway point of his second term, one can reasonably question
whether or not his policy assets will continue to outweigh his personal
affronts. While he was clearly essential
to ending the idiotic and incompetent policies of the Obama/Biden Administrations,
his continuing inability to subjugate his personality to presidential
leadership concerns brings his chief executive performance into doubt. One thing is for certain: He ain’t gonna
change. Love him or hate him…Trump is
gonna be Trump.
His unconventional approach is at
times refreshing and exciting: https://reason.com/2026/06/14/the-white-house-ufc-fight-is-the-perfect-event-for-the-present-not-the-past/
But the reality of father time is
quite sobering: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/80-year-olds-should-not-be-president/
