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Jay Shackford

Nasty, delusional, hallucinatory 

That’s the best way to describe our bat-shit crazy President’s State of the Union address the other night. 

In short, Donald Trump said nothing of any significance about anything the American people really wanted to hear despite talking for a record of nearly two hours. Consider what Americans are worried about: 

• How to put the economy back on track, close the wealth gap, and contain inflation in food prices, rent, homeownership, utilities, education, health care, car prices, and other basics that are driving up the cost of living; 
• What’s really going on with Iran and the military build-up in the Mideast; are we about to go into another endless war without Congressional approval or a national debate? 
• When will his Administration fulfill the Congressional mandate to release all of the Epstein files (unedited) and what does he have to hide by refusing to release the remaining unedited files; and 
• How threatening is Artificial Intelligence to future job creation for young people (unemployment among recent college graduates is already 10% and rising) and what is Trump doing about it?   The list goes on and on.  

Donald Trump failed to address any of those issues. What he did say were mostly lies and distortions.  Then he went nasty and facist, going after women of color on the Democractic side of the Congress.  He's such a tough guy! He even jokingly suggested giving himself a Medal of Honor, making the first time that a "draft dodger" could claim such an honorl

Despite claiming the “economy is roaring,” the facts say otherwise.  

During Joe Biden’s four years, the GDP grew by 5.8% in 2021 (mainly due to a rebound from Covid and a very weak economy he inherited from Trump’s first term); 1.3% in 2022; 3.4% in 2023; and 2.4% in 2024.  In 2025, Trump’s first year in office, the nation’s economy (GDP) grew by 2.2%.  During the fourth quarter of 2025, the GDP grew by a measly 1.4%, which means we are getting closer to a recession with each passing month. 

Now let’s look at jobs.  Joe Biden created an average of 122,000 jobs per month during his four years in office.  Trump averaged 15,000 new jobs per month during his first year of his second term. 

On inflation, yes, Joe Biden did inherit an economy from Trump where inflation peaked at about 9% (due mainly to Covid and supply chain disruptions).  But the inflation rate fell to about 3% by the end of his term in January 2025.  By the end of Trump’s first year, the inflation rate was back up to close to 4%.  

Jack Mallory

What Jay said. And when I said I didn't want to hear the Felon's mouth befoul the Medal of Honor, this is how a fellow Vietnam Veteran Against the War more eloquently put it:

"A Nations Gratitude Should Be Measured in Respect - Not Stage Craft.
 
"By law and long-standing practice, the Medal of Honor is presented “in the name of Congress” by the President of the United States (or, in rare cases, by the Secretary of Defense acting on the President’s behalf). The physical act of placing the medal around the recipient’s neck is part of that presidential presentation. The Medal of Honor presentation is one of the most formal and carefully observed ceremonies we have. 
  
"As a veteran. I will always stand and salute those who are honored for their service and sacrifice. The men and women recognized last night deserved every bit of respect the nation can give them. They earned it through their sacrifice and bravery. 

"But the way it was presented matters.  
  
"Honoring service members—especially when it involves our nation’s highest military awards—is not entertainment. It is not game night on the Price is Right, as one writer expressed.  It’s not a backdrop. It’s not something to be wrapped in applause lines and stagecraft. The Medal of Honor presentation is one of the most formal and carefully observed ceremonies we have and is meant to be solemn, precise, and deeply respectful, because it represents sacrifice at the highest level.

"When that kind of recognition is folded into a political spectacle, it doesn’t elevate the moment—it diminishes it. It risks turning something sacred into something performative, which it did.
  
 "Treat their service with the gravity and dignity it deserves. Let their stories stand on their own, without being used as props in a larger show.
The service members honored deserved that dignity and the presentation should have matched their sacrifice. 
"I salute the heroes.  I reject the circus.

"Don Libby   
2/25/26"

Nora Skinker (Morton)

Hello! Checked the last few forum pages & pretty much decided to bite my lip & live by "if you can't say anything nice, say nothing at all", allowing my mom a heavenly smile or two. But, then I thought of a few 'nice' reactions to recent posts, I could indeed share, which may reinforce my apparently unique perspective. I found TSOTU address a refreshing mix of heart-felt patriotism, economic hope, illumination of tragic open-border results, as well as improving drug stats, rises in private sector jobs along with a slowing of bureaucratic government jobs, encouraging aggressive measures taken to eliminate Medicaid/Medicare fraudulence, the brave, new squeeze on Iran (which unfortunately has chosen to rebuild its nuclear enrichment program), encouraging the downward spiral of costs with a marked dip in gas prices, etal. Of course, the far-left screams from certain members added some levity as well as a measure of sadness that our country remains so staunchly divided. But hey, gotta take some bad with the good. Even mom would agree.
For now, am grateful to be spending this brutal winter as a snowbird & praying our country (& classmates!) continue to grow in spirit & prosperity. 

 

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Nori, I think what the situation is we see Trump from a different perspective. What you were saying were all positives of his Administration, to me were outright lies. He painted immigrants as killers and most of the immigrants are wonderful non violent folks helping our society and enriching it.....We all saw ICE in Minneapolis murder two Americans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti in cold blood. Trump made no mention of the victims of Epstein and Maxwells horrific sex crimes to the victims. and they were standing in the room. It was as if they didn't exist. He gave examples of a few horrible immigrants who murdered someone and made it sound like the majority are all killers coming into our country. Most violent crime is conducted by Americans. He made no mention of how even five year olds were being snatched up and families who worked hard in this country are being separted and thrown in horrible detention centers. Even a 17 year old child of a father detained in jail who begged to get to see her father as she was dying of cancer was turned down.Soon after she begged to see him, she died. Maybe you didn't see it but we saw with our own eyes. what happened in Minneapolis and other places. Its sad that for the most part, the wonderful non violent immigrants are so cruelly treated. They ran away from countries that treated them like this for the promise of America...Trump lied about the economy. He has done everything to pack his own pocket and those of his rich friends while the little guy is left out in the cold...He is not the defender of Medicare and Social Security. He has cut food stamps for hungry children and so much more. So, I just feel so differently from how you feel...Love, Joanie

https://www.newsbreak.com/oca-359268580/4512344452256-a-teen-who-went-public-begging-for-her-father-s-release-from-ice-custody-has-died-of-cancer-she-was-17-years-old-and-her-father-was-still-detained-when-she-died

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDaPdpwA4Iw   How about listening to the Boss, Bruce Springsteen singing about he heartache in Minneapolis. 

Jack Mallory

Euphemisms for war are one of my triggers. This goes right up near the top of the list: "the brave, new squeeze on Iran"

War is not a brave, new squeeze. Anyone in this country our age with their eyes and ears functioning knows this.

US combat deaths, Vietnam War to present--over 70,000 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1009819/total-us-military-fatalities-in-american-wars-1775-present/

Deaths of our "enemies": between one and two million https://news.mit.edu/2011/deaths-others-americas-wars

This, of course, does not address the horrors of non-lethal combat injuries: traumatic amputations, blinding, third degree burns, post traumatic stress casualties, disfiguring . . . And it omits any mention of veteran suicides.

Nor does it begin to inform us about innocent civilian casualties in our wars over the same period, which number in the millions: deaths and all of the life-altering injuries suffered by unarmed, non-combatant men, women, and children. 

But saying "brave, new squeeze" instead of WAR makes it so much easier to squeeze our eyes closed good and tight so we can, once again, blindly shell out the bucks, make vets or corpses out of our kids or grandkids, buy the napalm, invent the new Agent Orange, build the new Abu Graibs and Guantanamos, all to drive new great victories like those won in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the little countries and nameless places in between. 
 

Squeeze bravely away, Nori. Seems to have worked for you for decades.

I'll live with my eyes open, triggers and all. 

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Jack I agree with what you said. You told it like it is...there is such horror death and destruction in wars..they should only be a last resort rather then to force some political ideology or to be able to get rare gems like Trump would like to do, or to get Venezualan oil etc....You were spot on in your note and I quoted you below. 

"But saying "brave, new squeeze" instead of WAR makes it so much easier to squeeze our eyes closed good and tight so we can, once again, blindly shell out the bucks, make vets or corpses out of our kids or grandkids, buy the napalm, invent the new Agent Orange, build the new Abu Graibs and Guantanamos, all to drive more great victories like those won in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the little countries and nameless places in between". 

.Here is fact.check.org talking about Trumps speech...this organization gets the highest rating for its fact finding. Love, Joanie

https://www.factcheck.org/2026/02/factchecking-trumps-state-of-the-union-address/

Robert Hall

Jack Mallory

Nori is not alone in her obfuscation of the realities of war. ChatGPT provides an international accounting of terms used to elide what we should always think of as blowing people up and destroying things--or more graphically--eviscerating, decapitating, incinerating, atomizing, or traumatically amputating our fellow humans and their bodily parts.  

Governments from our own to Russia, Israel, Turkey, China and many others, while not using Nori's preferred "brave new squeeze" have their own euphemisms:

The US has used, among many other bland descriptors, "police action," "counterinsurgency," "stabilization," "regime change" (watch out for this soon in regards to Iran) "security operation," and "military assistance" to describe death and destruction.

Similar "don't look too close here" terms elsewhere in the world have been "kinetic military action" (WTF?), "limited military engagement," and "humanitarian intervention" (sounds pleasant, even fun! Something we'd all like to do!) 

If we don't say "WAR," we don't have to see what our soldiers are doing, we don't have to reflect on the fact that, in a democracy, we're responsible for what they're doing! 
 

In this Brave New World maybe we can get each other to fall for the Brave New Squeeze, even without the soma! With apologies to Aldous Huxley. 

Joan Ruggles (Young)

I think Nori and I are reading from a different forum. She talks about being capable of only saying something nice with the implication that those of us who post are saying something "not nice". What I see is a few of us posting what we see with our own eyes and which cause us to recoil in horror. Yes Nori, you're correct. What we see with our own eyes is NOT nice. What our president says every time he opens his mouth is NOT nice. What he presumably has done to at least one 13 year old girl is NOT nice.

What is nice is watching my new grandson try to eat sweet potatoes with his fists. But who the hell besides me, cares about my grandson? Who cares about the nice, perfectly cooked piece of salmon I had last night? What's not nice is what our country is becoming, thanks to an authoritarian president who can't stop plastering his name and likeness all over Washington. Do you really believe that it's appropriate for an American president to have his picture hanging on the Department of Justice? Don't you understand that what it means to him is that he's peed on that department of our government and made it beholden to him. Is that NICE? Man, have you been conned!

Oh and one little PS. Remember less than a year ago, how pleased some on this forum were that the US (at great expense) had OBLITERATED Iran's nuclear capabilities? Remember how we were told that anyone who said it wasn't destroyed FOREVER was fake news?  And remember how a bunch of the rest of us said - are you joking??? Give them a year and they'll be back on track. Nori finds that Iran "unfortunately has chosen to rebuild its nuclear enrichment program". Hey, we told you so!! A nuclear program requires knowledge that Iran already has. Blowing up mountains doesn't stop it. And neither will starting an illegal war without Congressional approval. 

Oh and BTW, those pummeling gas prices of $1.89 a gallon that this administration is touting? Here it's $5.20 a gallon. But no worries for me. I'm so damn WOKE that I drive electric!

Jack Mallory

How many will die in our newest euphemism? Who in the Forum is ready for their grandkids, their neighbors, their neighbors's kids to die in this brave squeeze? Nori?

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/nx-s1-5730158/israel-iran-strikes-trump-us

"Fascism demands a major foreign war to kill one’s own people and thereby generate a reservoir of meaning that could be used to justify indefinite rule and further oppression, to make the world seem like an endless struggles and submission to hierarchy as the only kind of life."

https://snyder.substack.com/p/fascist-failure

Feb. 28, 2026, 7:09 a.m. ET1 hour ago

Farnaz Fassihi

Reporting from New York City

Esfandiar, an engineer living in the Pasdaran area of Tehran where a large compound belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards forces is located, wrote in a text message: “My children are crying and scared. We are huddling in the bathroom. We don’t know what to do. This is terrifying. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02/28/world/iran-strikes-trump/b479c471-36ff-5ffc-8a2f-a1abc4402022?smid=url-share

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Jack, that was an excellent post...now the US is in a war with Iran...Trump is a disgrace as so many will die and the outcomes are never good...Iran leadership is horrendous,  beyound awful, but this will cause so much death and destruction. 

Here is something else I wanted to post about the dangers of AI when the private company can't regulate it...Usually I would say the government but in this case the government is planning a dangerous move. Love to all, Joanie

https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-pentagon-ai-hegseth-dario-amodei-b72d1894bc842d9acf026df3867bee8a

John Smeby

Cleaning out my home, especially my garage which has accumulated much "stuff" over the years. If anyone would like the following, let me know:

1. "Old Bethesda, Bethesda Not So Old", by Doree Germaine Holman and "Bethesda Not So Old" (Same paperback book), by Gerthrude D. Bradley published by the Board of Trustees of the Bethesda Public Library Association as a Public Service.

2. "Bethesda A Social History" by William (Bill) M. Offutt. A Social history of the area through World War Two copyright 1995. Copy 555 of the first edition.

3. "Bethesda The Way We Were", a Keepsake History Edition November/December 2009."

If interested, send me an email message: smeby@earthlink.net

No cost.  First come, first served! Thanks, John Smeby

Jack Mallory

More wise words from a Vietnam vet:

"The Sound Before the Silence

"History rarely whispers its warnings — but 
"Veterans recognize the sound that comes before war.

"It isn’t gunfire. It’s certainty — the belief that this time will be different. History has taught veterans to pause at that moment and ask the question certainty rarely welcomes: what makes this time different?

"Those who have worn the uniform have heard it before.

"We heard it when wars were promised to be short. When objectives were clear — until they weren’t. When Americans were told that action now would prevent greater loss later.

"Veterans understand something political debates often forget: war does not stay where it starts.

"After Vietnam, we promised never again without clear purpose. After Iraq and Afghanistan, we said we understood what endless war really looks like — not in headlines, but in funerals spaced far enough apart for the country to keep moving.

"Everything changes the moment an American dies.

"Language shifts. Missions expand. A limited action quietly becomes a long commitment measured not in weeks, but in years.

"The cost is never abstract. Every generation leaves behind names carved into stone — reminders that courage on the battlefield cannot replace clarity in purpose.

"War is not only fought by those who deploy. It is lived afterward — in memories, injuries seen and unseen, and families learning to rebuild around absence.

"We do not fear war because we lack courage.
We fear it because we remember.

"If loss comes in the months ahead, it will not begin with the moment a service member falls. It will begin here — when a nation convinces itself escalation can be controlled and that this time will be different.

"The hardest lesson veterans learn is this: strength is not proven by how quickly a nation goes to war, but by how carefully it decides when not to.

"Because long after the speeches fade, what remains is silence — a knock on a door, a folded flag, and a family changed forever.

"Tonight, somewhere under a foreign sky, a young service member stands watch while decisions made far away shape their future.

"Before certainty becomes silence, may we have the wisdom to pause.

"Don Libby
"2/28/26"

*********

Saying the same thing in fewer words. For the last 56 years, including here in Minneapolis this morning. 
 

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Those really are wise words from Don Libby Jack...thank you so much for sharing his words. Love, Joanie

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

This is an important article about the war against Iran by Robyn Wright. She is an expert in reporting on Iran.  Love, Joanie

https://www.armwoodopinion.com/2026/02/donald-trump-launches-war-of-epic-fury.html

Jack Mallory

"Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our convention understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us."

 No, not some evil, traitorous, lunatic, far left Federal judge, Congressional, or Senator deserving of the death penalty. Not even some everyday antifa thug like me! (With apologies to the our contemporary would-be ruler for using his words.)

Nope, that was the old commie Abe Lincoln, explaining the founders' fears of accruing excess power in the hands of individuals--especially American presidents. https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/War-Powers/
 

"NO KINGS!" as many of us say these days. 
 

And coming up a month from now, March 28, is our chance to reiterate that point. Get your boots out, your canes and other forms of mobility assistance. Tell the kids or grandkids you may need a lift. Not asking you to toss tea into Boston Harbor, join a Committee of Correspondence, or ride a horse hollering "the British are coming!"

Just make your bodies seen, your voices heard.  To make that statement: NO FUCKING KINGS! Or, just NO KINGS if you prefer. 
 

Use this link to find a No Kings Day action near you. 

https://www.nokings.org/

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Jack Mallory

Trump has announced that Operation Epic Fury is ahead of schedule. 
 

Guess these troops got killed and wounded faster than Bone Spurs expected. Please forgive my focus on these American casualties; I'm sure hundreds or more Iranians, Israelis, and others have already died or been wounded, combatants and innocents alike  

Brave new squeeze?

As Libby says,

"Everything changes the moment an American dies.

"Language shifts. Missions expand. A limited action quietly becomes a long commitment measured not in weeks, but in years.

Don't let this happen. Don't let these tragedies justify even more tragedies.

********

Yes, Joanie, hopefully most of us here on the forum will take some kind of action. No Kings, no more Brave New Squeezes.

Jack Mallory

More on Operation Epic Squeeze. Much of the information is coming from Iranian sources, and U.S. media are being understandably hesitant to accept everything reported. But they are passing on what can be verified. 

Student and teacher's desks are kind of world-wide constants. This is one of two schools reported struck.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/world/middleeast/girls-school-strike-iran-video.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
 

War--what is it good for?

Robert Hall

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Robert, thank you for posting the interview with Chris Murphy..He is a great Senator and spot on that this war was unneccesary and most likely the hard liners will just come in to rule and the nuclear capabilities continue...Trump never came to Congress but figured that he and he alone can declare war. We are now involved in a regional war. It is a big tragedy. Yes the Irainian regime is horrible but that doesn't mean we should risk the lives of our American soldiers and the lives of so many in the region for this.  Love, Joanie

Jack Mallory

At least six American service members have died following the orders of Commander in Chief Trump. He tells us to expect more deaths. Trump's position as CIC is as close to ANY form of military service as he or his lineal male ancestors and descendants have ever come in nearly 150 years.

"From the date of the birth of Donald Trump’s grandfather in 1869 to the birth of Tristan Miles Trump in 2011, we see zero military service. This also includes: Frederick Trump (1869-1918); Henry Trump (1899-1900); Fred Christ Trump Sr. (1905-1999); John George Trump (1907-1985); Fred Christ Trump Jr. (1938-1981); Donald J. Trump (1946 to present); Robert Trump (1948-present); John Gordon Trump (1938-2012); Fred Trump III (1962-present); Donald John Trump Jr. (1977-present); Eric Frederick Trump (1984-present); Barron William Trump (2006-present); Christopher Trump (1995-present); William Trump (1999-present); Donald John Trump III (2009-present); Tristan Milos Trump (2011-present); Spencer Frederick Trump (2012-present); John Frederick (Trump) Kushner (2013 to present); and Theodore James (Trump) Kushner (2016 to present).

"This list covers 147 years of Donald Trump’s direct male ancestors and successors who have lived in America during these 147 years. To be fair, one died in infancy, one is seriously disabled and six are young children. Thus there were 10 mature Trump men who were of military service age during this time.

"And during these same 147-year span the following military conflicts occurred: Spanish American War (1898); Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901); occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916-1924); World War I (1914-1918); World War II (1939-1945); Korean War (1950-1953); Vietnam War (1968-1975); invasion of Grenada (1983); invasion of Panama (1989-1991); Gulf War (1990-1991); Bosnian War (1992-1995); Kosovo War (1998-1999); Afghanistan War (2001-2014); and the Iraq War (2003-2014)." https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/opinion/columns/2020/02/12/president-bone-spur-has-no/1724792007/

Perhaps bone spurs are an hereditary disability. Or an hereditary scam?

Jack Mallory

Taking a break with a different kind of reality. 

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Unbelieveable...while children are dying being bombed at their school and already 6 American soldiers are dead, Trump is a the White House musing about how the gold curtains he chose are the most beautiful ever. He goes on to comment about the coming of the Ballroom...meanwhile, the war goes on with all its death and destruction. Jack's beautiful photo was nice to see amidst all this tragedy.  Love, Joanie

Thomas Stecher

I just learned through Facebook that  our classmate Michael Riskin died yesterday, March 1, 2026.  I have no specific information.  At BCC, he and I were primarily connected as close friends of Greg Novik [1946-2017].  Anyone who had just known him as a teenager would not have recognized him as he appeared in the last part of his life.  I was connect to him on Facebook, but we had barely communicated.