John H. Ott

I'm heartbroken by the news of the loss of 3 U.S. service members in the Iran War today. There is nothing more terrifying for our military families than the knock on your door of officers while your loved one is serving. 35 years ago I lost my first men in combat and that weighs on me still today.

bsky.app/profile/darr...

Scouts Will Abandon D.E.I. Policies Under Agreement With Pentagon, Hegseth Says

Eagle Scout here. (Troop 6, Grayback Council, Southern Calif.)

No evidence I'm aware of that *any* Trump—or Vance, Hegseth, Rubio, Patel, Miller, Thune, M Johnson, S Miller, etc—ever had any involvement whatsoever in Scouting.

Mind your own damn business.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/u...

Colin Jost on SNL’s Weekend Update:

“During the State of The Union address, President Trump said 'our nation is back bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.'

“‘Same,’ said the measles.”

CBS News under Bari Weiss becomes a non-stop cheerleader for war with Iran. But CBS News polling shows that Americans disapprove of this war.

Oil jumps 10% on Iran conflict and could spike to $100 a barrel, analysts say Most tanker owners, big oil companies and trading houses suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz after Tehran warned ships against moving through the wat...

War in the Gulf is excellent news for the fossil fuels industry, which profits unambiguously from war in all forms, but especially those that affect the movement of oil and gas. Oil jumps 10% on Iran conflict and could spike to $100 a barrel, analysts say reut.rs/4u3IUnc

Pope Leo XIV ! @Pontifex X.com I am following with deep concern what is happening in the Middle East and in Iran during this tumultuous time. Stability and peace are not achieved through mutual threats, nor through the use of weapons, which sow destruction, suffering, and death, but only through reasonable, sincere, and responsible dialogue. 7:33 AM • 3/1/26 • 39K Views 175 L> 455 • 1.9K 953 Relevant v View quotes > Pope Leo XIV & @Pontifex • 18m .... Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of immense proportions, I make a heartfelt appeal to all the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility of halting the spiral of violence before it becomes an unbridgeable chasm. May diplomacy regain its proper role, and may the well-being of peoples, who yearn for peaceful existence founded on justice, be upheld. And let us continue to pray for peace.

So one of Trump’s propagandists tried to peddle the story that Iran was about to strike multiple US bases so we had to attack them preemptively, but the only person in media they could get to push out the lie was Scott Jennings. Then CNN pays him to air it on their network.

Mark Warner: "I saw no intelligence that Iran was on the verge of launching any kind of preemptive strike against the United States. None."

We wouldn’t be where we are right now if Trump and the rest of the Epstein class had been held accountable for their crimes.

Ted Cruz: "I have no indication they were anywhere close to getting nuclear weapons"

Kaine on Fox: "The president can act to defend US against imminent attack without congressional approval. But if you're going to initiate war, you need Congress. The president not only did not come to Congress, he acted without even notification to the vast majority of us. This is an illegal war."

Catherine Beecher is the perfect choice to juxtapose with Charlie Kirk. In the era when American women began advocating for suffrage, Beecher was a prominent anti-suffragist.

This is a measured answer for this moment. The swarm of trolls & bots slamming this excellent Democratic Senator tells me he's got it right. Be careful not to join them. We NEED strong Dems like Senator Kelly.

'Breakfast In America' Democracy is in a footrace with authoritarianism.

'Breakfast In America'
open.substack.com/pub/noelcasl...

I posted the other day that a quick Google search will confirm that the US has entered into over 100 conflicts (including Vietnam and Korea to name a few) without congressional approval. Unfortunately, that argument doesn't fly anymore. Our Congresspeople should already know this and not play dumb.

The Constitution conferred the power to declare or initiate war to Congress for a reason, to make war less likely.

Madison wrote that “the Executive Branch is the branch most prone to war, therefore, the Constitution, with studied care, delegated the war power to the legislature.”

James Madison

Unfortunately, capturing and killing world leaders doesn’t do much for us here at home.

We never learn.

CNN:

Oh do we ever get tired of his lies? The orange dude has been lying since the first time he opened his mouth... when he was still in diapers. Oh, my bad. He's still in diapers.

Push from Saudis, Israel helped move Trump to attack Iran President Trump launched a wide-ranging attack on Iran after weeks-long lobbying by an unusual pair of U.S. allies in the Middle East: Israel and Saudi Arabia.

"The attack came despite US intelligence assessments that Iran was unlikely to pose an immediate threat to the US mainland within the next decade."

So why do it?

"A weeks-long lobbying effort by Israel and Saudi Arabia..."

Ah. Not just weak, but cheap, too.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Outrageous! This government sucks!!

US Casualties
3 dead, 5 injured.

US personnel involved in Operation to remove
Iran's supreme leader.

Imagine how putting that into healthcare would benefit the uninsured.