TJ Wells

(AXIOS) - No president in the modern era has ordered more military strikes against as many different countries as Donald Trump.

@axios.com
www.axios.com/2026/03/02/t...

“Saudi official:

"American defense is focused on Israel — without concern for the defense of the Arab Gulf states, which host many of the military bases."

Gulf Arabs are finally waking up to the fact that those bases they host are nothing more than a protection racket and an intel collection hub.”

droop going on in this one, too

Live updates: At least 31 people killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon after Hezbollah attack Iran and Iranian-backed militias fired missiles at Israel and Arab states and Israel and the United States pounded targets in Iran as the war expanded Monday with statements of defiance and warnings of more U.S. casualties.

At least 555 people have been killed in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran, the Iranian Red Crescent Society says. Follow AP's live updates.

… several?

Trump Says War Could Last Weeks and Offers Contradictory Visions of New Regime

Trump is happy with the repressive regime in Iran staying in power: “What we did in Venezuela, I think, is the perfect, the perfect scenario."

All those poor Iranians he called out on the streets to be slaughtered, now US lives lost, billions of taxpayer dollars spent for…situation normal?

There’s been a mass stabbing with shots fired on I-495 near DC.

A shooting in Austin, Texas in the early morning hours.

A shooting in Cincinnati, Ohio last night.

3 mass casualty events in less than 24 hours.

Almost like plunging the country into war it didn’t want is causing chaos.

(AP) — The gunman who killed two people at a bar in Texas early Sunday in a mass shooting that left 14 others wounded was wearing a sweatshirt that said “Property of Allah,” and another shirt with an Iranian flag design, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press
apnews.com/article/aust...

These guys were selling t-shirts until they needed a war to cover up the intentional damage they did to the economy and the president's involvement in a pedophilia scandal.

“.. A protester holds an image of Iran's former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite armed groups attempt to move toward the U.S. embassy located in Baghdad's Green Zone, .. following the Israel and U.S. strikes on Iran, .. in Baghdad, Iraq.”

@reuters.com

Feds asked New Mexico to halt Jeffrey Epstein Zorro Ranch sex trafficking probe, records show Former AG says feds halted New Mexico’s Epstein inquiry without sharing promised evidence as state reopens Zorro Ranch investigation.

Former New Mexico Attorney General Balderas details how the FBI forcefully shut down New Mexico's criminal probe into what was up at Epstein's Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe Co. The feds insisted that they were running their own criminal probe and that NM's involvement would not be tolerated. It was a lie.

The only thing Platner loves more than farming oysters is far-right antisemitic conspiracy theorists

very unfair to call this guy a Nazi merely because he had a Nazi tattoo, retweets Nazis, and praises Nazi shows. after all, he could just be really astonishingly fucking dumb. seems like a great candidate!

im not a politics or international relations guy, but i it appears to me that once again this guy wants to see big explosions then find an exit. declare victory by killing a couple "important people" then wash his hands of it. can he pull it off again? i dont know

While operations are coordinated at a members-only, private beach club — in between fundraisers and parties.

“Have a good time, everybody.”

(Via @dailymail.co.uk)

"They will have sacrificed themselves to delay Trump's day of reckoning with the Epstein Files and for that they will be forever revered by our cult."

The C.I.A. Helped Pinpoint a Gathering of Iranian Leaders. Then Israel Struck.

A defining feature of Trump 2.0's foreign relations is the need for the administration to quickly claim credit for classified and even notionally covert actions that result in "wins."

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/u...

Nine Killed as Protesters Try to Storm US Consulate in Pakistan At least nine pro-Iranian protesters were killed in clashes with police as they tried to storm the gates of the US Consulate in Pakistan’s main port city of Karachi on Sunday.

At least nine people were killed when pro-Iranian protesters clashed with police as they tried to storm the gates of the US Consulate in Karachi on Sunday

great news for substack

“They make a desert and call it peace.”

Opinion | The President of War The U.S. military was once a tool of last resort for American presidents.

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

“Warnings of American military involvement — traditionally viewed by commanders in chief as ‘break glass in case of emergency’ — have now become a weekly, if not daily, occurrence,” W.J. Hennigan writes about the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.

In other words Susan Collins is ALL IN with Trump's latest unconstitutional war in the Middle East.

Just garbled words giving her special gloss of concern from the regime's resident bootlicker from Maine. #MEPolitics #MESenate #MESen

The latest from YouGov (n ~ 1.6k adults):

Approval of Iran strikes: -10
Approval of Trump's handling of Iran: -15
Should Congress approve wars first: Yes +31
Will intervention make Iran better/worse off: Worse off +20

yougov.com/en-us/search...

Historically, these are TERRIBLE polling numbers for day 1 of a major US use of force, particularly against a well known and disliked adversary. Usually it only goes down from the start

I have no reason to doubt these are genuine, but I am really worried they are celebrating too soon.

Iranian VP takes over, Pezeshkian's status unknown | The Jerusalem Post The Iranian reports did not explicitly mention President Masoud Pezeshkian's ability to carry out his political duties.

Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref informed officials of plans to take charge of the country, according to a report by state media.

That suggests that President Masoud Pezeshkian was either badly injured or killed.

X Is Drowning in Disinformation Following US and Israel’s Attack on Iran WIRED has reviewed hundreds of posts on X that promote misleading claims about the locations and scale of the attack.

NEW: X Is *drowning* in disinformation following US and Israel’s attack on Iran. WIRED has reviewed hundreds of posts on X that promote misleading claims about the locations and scale of the attack.

read @davidgilbert.bsky.social:

They were both sat at the kids table