The Last Step

According to the doctor, most of the victims were killed by live ammunition, and authorities are removing the deceased from the hospitals.

The BBC report assured that two other doctors reported critical situations in the Iranian capital, with hospitals going into crisis mode and not enough surgeons to cope with the influx of patients.

Now, such reports do not rise to the level of what U.S. and Israeli intelligence sources can provide, but I presume them reliable as described.  It is also worthy of note that Operations Midnight Hammer and Absolute Resolve happened under complete secrecy and were completely unknown until after they had happened.  So I am willing to give the president some room to maneuver here.  But if such reports continue to flow out of Iran he will soon be in a position to either refute the reports or act as promised.

The President’s first term was marked by a notable isolationist streak.  This first year of his second term has been anything but and because of that he has gone a long way to reestablish America’s dominant position on the world stage.  (A fact that is truly part of Making American Great Again.)  In fact, I think it fair to say that no one doubts our military capabilities anymore.  We are the most powerful military on the planet.  All that remains is to reestablish, firmly and forthrightly, our moral authority in the use of that military.  And a big part of that is being true to our word.

With these reports a clock has started ticking.  Now only time will tell if America is indeed as great as it once was or if we have fallen short of that mark.

The inevitable stack of leftovers – 

The wire services picked this up!?  Clearly a case of spreading a rumor while pretending to deny it.  It’s disgusting

Peak Stupid?  It is idiotic, but also too insidious to simply dismiss with a laugh.

When an op-ed is an ad.  But it also demonstrates that sometimes there is a better way than the way the EPA wants to lead us.

There is no problem California cannot solve with a regulation – human rights and responsibilities notwithstanding.  *SIGH*

Frankly, I cannot hear the alarms anymore – they go off too often.

Closing remark – I grew up in Indiana and my college and very young adult years there were dominated by Indiana University basketball in its glory days under Bob Knight and the last undefeated national champion in 1976.  Indiana was a basketball state, the basketball state – the high school tournament the stuff of legend.  (See the greatest sports movie ever – “Hoosiers.”)  That same Indiana University has put in two absolutely dominant performances in the college football playoffs to date, with only the championship game remaining.  After countless decades of dreary football it is a wonder to behold.  But the dreariness was always tolerable because basketball season was just around the corner.

Nowadays the high school basketball tournament is divided into classes and no longer the preeminent sporting event of the year.  And IU is dominant in football – FOOTBALL?!  Much as I am enjoying watching IU win in this fashion, it is bittersweet.  It marks the final step in a fundamental change in the culture of that state that began a couple of decades ago.  In the midst of fantastic wins something wonderful is being lost.  My joy in these victories is marked by a mourning for something that seems lost forever.  Something I loved.