Archive for the ‘Always look at the bright side of Trump’ Category

Iran: A Win Everywhere but on Social Media

Posted: June 18, 2026 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, economy, Uncomfortable Truths, war
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Anthony Rossano: I guess you’re pretty pleased with yourself.
“Snaps” Provolone: My father would have been proud. I got my money back, and nobody got shot.
Anthony Rossano: Not so fast. I’ve been tricked. (reaches for the bag of cash)
“Snaps” Provolone: (grabs his hand) I wouldn’t do that if I were you.
Anthony Rossano: You forget, Mr Provolone, you’re going straight today.
“Snaps” Provolone: You’re right, I am going straight today, (points to the Finucci brothers in the next room) but they’re not.

Oscar 1991

One of the problems with social media in general and X in particular is the amount of extreme stupidity without thought that is expressed by people who believe the world is a video game because they haven’t had to deal with actual real world consequences of actions nor ever had real responsibility for anything that involves someone other than oneself.

Which brings us to the Iran deal or Memorandum of Understanding.

You can make the argument that we should have gotten regime change. I would have liked that very much and as a student of history and of war I’m even of the opinion that if a war which cost 10,000 US troops as causalities ended in the fall of the Mullahs it would, in the long run be to the benefit of the world in general and the US in particular. It’s worth noting that almost nobody I know would have borne the brunt of the fighting nor would have I have the responsibility of either convincing America that it’s worth the cost or writing the wives, mothers or children of those who would fall in such an action which would take at best many months, that the country is grateful for the sacrifice of their loved ones.

You could make the argument that we should have just kept bombing, that’s fine but who and what are we bombing? Do we hit military targets? Mosques? The oil fields? Are there strategic targets that would advance our efforts more that are worth our time? They have very little that can project power outside of their country left and what is able to project power inside of their country is embedded within the people. You can argue it’s worth doing but eventually it becomes big booms for small returns.

You could make the argument that we should have simply continued with the operations we were doing. That’s a strong argument as Iran is reaching a crisis point economically, and the costs of such a move military are negligible. The cost in cash to support our military on station isn’t all that much more than doing so elsewhere and our logistics are in place and every existing tanker in the gulf that we get out is one less that Iran can intimidate.

For the record I would have supported any of those three actions as being old enough to remember the hostage crisis in the Jimmy Carter years and seen what the rise of the Mullahs has done to the world (you don’t get what you have in Europe today without them) I think it’s worth it.

The problem with all three of the above scenarios is that the American people do not have the political will for any of them. Maybe when I was a kid we might have, but we live in a different society right now where not even on in 100 people serve in our military or know people who have. Where the price of gas is more valued than the price of lives by voters and where one political party has been doing all it can to support Iran & encourage them to hold on because their hatred of Donald Trump far exceeds their love for their country as both their actions and the polls clearly show.

So Donald Trump has decided on a deal a “60 day” deal which I strongly suspect will turn into a 150 day deal. I’ve read the text of it and it reads like it was written by Sir Humphrey Appleby. Most things that happen happen if other things happen first, it pretty much kicks cans down the road and basically says we’ll leave them alone as we talk to make an actual deal.

The great advantage for Iran is that it allows them, as a face society to claim some kind of victory and a bunch of people are trying to make that argument, but consider:

  • They no longer have a navy
  • Their air force is hiding in other countires
  • Their entire senior leadership is dead
  • They have exhausted a large amount of their drone and missile supply
  • They have been hurt financially to the point where their ability to project power overseas with cash is completely non-existant.

There are those who are saying that the 60 or 150 days allows them to reverse those factors but DOES it?

  • Are they going to rebuild a navy in 150 & find men willing to join?
  • Is their air-force ready to return to bases in Iran to become potential targets?
  • Are their new leaders going to feel safe anywhere in groups of 3 or more without a large amount of human shields?
  • Even if places like Russia & China have the will and the additional supplies to help Iran rearm there is
    • Insufficient cash on hand to do so
    • Limited cash from oil sales available as other suppliers are safer
    • Any Frozen assets released once used are gone
    • The base cost of rebuilding infrastructure that has already been bombed

Moreover we have the absolute ability to monitor all of this stuff via satellite & other methods, every supply method, every route will be visible and become a target for the next round of bombing when it comes.

Furthermore this isn’t a game of Civ 6 when you click a button and damage is rebuilt in one turn. It actually take real people physical time to do these things. I’m not going to say it will be as slow as the railway to nowhere that the left in California has been leeching off of for years and years but Iran is not going to be able to rebuild or project power or fund Hezbollah & send them arms for years let alone in 60, or 90 or 180 days.

Meanwhile consider what will be happening in the US both economically and politically for the Trump administration..

  • The economy continues to roll
  • Our ability to resupply & rearm for fleet and forward troops continues unabaited
  • Our manufacturing jobs continue to soar
  • With the drop of gas prices (down .36 cents in the last two weeks) the political pressure on Trump continues to drop
  • With the increase of American Oil exports the demand for Iranian oil decreases
  • Every day the Saudi pipeline to bypass the gulf moves closer to completion
  • Every tanker that leaves the gulf is one less tanker that the Iranians can use as hostages
  • Every Iranian tanker on the high seas becomes a target that can potentially be seized without much effort.

And all of that takes place with US forces still close enough to go after Iran at any time Donald Trump decides they aren’t playing ball.

Even worse for Iran the drop in gas prices undermines their allies on the left that have been doing their best to prop them up and hurts them politically. Unless they can engineer a crisis before the midterm elections it’s very likely that a strong economy will “Trump” the left’s desire to handcuff the final two years of the Trump in office.

What do they have to play: “Trump said ‘Unconditional Surrender’ hah he lost!”? Seriously? Have none of these people read his book on deal making?

Cripes you might recall US Grant who coined the phrase “Unconditional Surrender” ended up giving generous terms to Lee and Johnston (vs Sherman) to end the war. Did he lose?

If you want to find a historical parallel to what we have now it’s in the battle between the frigates USS United States and the HMS Macedonian during the war of 1812.

The United States with heavier longer range guns pulverized the Macedonian for a long while and then sailed off briefly to repair minor damage done the British ship’s cannon fire.

As soon as it was ready it sailed back toward the heavily damaged British frigate that during the brief respite was able to do little if anything to put itself back in fighting shape.

Stephen Decatur then put the United States in a position to rake the British ship (that is shoot with any danger of their guns replying) and held his fire. The brits took the hint and Decatur ended up taking the ship as a prize of war.

That’s where we are right now. Trump will spend the next six months getting his economy and his supplies in order knowing that he can at any time bomb again. Once he has finally secured a stable alternate oil supply for the world he will be in the position to seize Kharg Island if he wishes.

Iran can not rebuild or rearm or generate sufficient cash to stop this. If Trump does this things the Iranian oil industry is permanently done as the Mullahs only choice will be to destroy the pipelines that feed it or the target the oil on the island with drones. The moment that happens Iran becomes a nation without assets that can be safely ignored as it will never be able to project power or obtain revenue for generations.

In short they become a footnote to the world another Afganistan, a bunch of fanatics without the power to harm anyone but themselves

Put simply we continue to grow stronger while Iran at best struggles to maintain a semblance of order.

And any thought of reconstituting their nuke ambitions? Please, the labs, the trained techs and the machinery doesn’t grow on trees. All of that takes time, effort and heavy construction that Iran can’t do at the moment and that if it starts can be blown up at will.

In short Trump won this war the moment he started shooting & killed the Iranian leaders. He hoped Iran would fold easy, but they did not so he has the choice of winning it fast with high causalities or slow with minimal risk. He has chosen the latter and no amount of fools on social media saying otherwise changes that fact.

The only “Victory” Iran has is the ability to publicly claim it, which as a “face” society means a lot to them, but Egypt has been claiming that the 1973 war with Israel was a “victory” for 53 years but it didn’t make it so.

Or to put it another way. In what sense is Iran in better shape than the day before Trump started hitting them? (short answer, they’re not).

Closing thought 1: There seems to be a lot of talk about Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah concerning this deal but having read the document I didn’t see the words “Israel” or “Lebanon” or “Hezbollah” anywhere.

Closing thought 2: To my knowledge Israel is not a signatory to this deal. Therefore they are not restrained by it at all. There is nothing stopping them from hitting Lebanon, hitting Hezbollah, hitting Gaza or even hitting Iran. I suspect if they do Trump will make loud public protests after the fact that will upset allies of Israel, but do nothing to prevent it before the fact. Bibi is Trump ace in the hole:

Closing thought 3: You can also make the argument that like all Tyrannies this is a crack in the dam that will eventually cause them to fall. Tyrannies always seem invincible to the outside world just before they collapse suddenly.

Five Up too early for a Saturday Thoughts Under the Fedora: World Cup Highlights, The Hardest Part, Musk’s Trillions, Iran Trickling down and Big Finish to the Rescue?

Posted: June 13, 2026 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, doctor who, employment, Sports, under the fedora, war
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I spent some time watching World Cup Highlights yesterday and those highlights demonstrated why the sport is not worth my time.

The highlight reels ran 15-20 min with several replays in them so maybe 10-12 minutes of play. That from a match that runs 90-100 minutes. That’s 80 minutes of dead time where there is no much happening but a guy kicking a ball back to another while they look for a chance to make something happen,

Contrast this with Baseball which while not having a clock has the potential for a run to be scored & a highly happening on every single pitch.

Give me the pine tar & the leather any day.

The worst part of being out of work is the waiting.

Last time around in 2008 I couldn’t buy a job interview. This time I’ve had quite a few. I’m waiting on three companies right now 2 of which had told me I’d be hearing back from them up or down before this point.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy that I’m getting interviews it’s the waiting that throws me for a loop.

It’s not easy at 63 to be competing for positions with people 20+ years younger than you.

Let me remind you of several somethings concerning Elon Musk’s soon to be Trillion dollar net worth.

  1. Musk employs tens of thousands of people
  2. Musk is actively using his wealth for some rather incredible things
  3. There are plenty of people who have never built anything who will critique his wealth for profit. power & clicks.
  4. There are plenty more who only started hating on him once he became a threat to the power of the left or to virtue signal to said left that they’re one of him.
  5. As the old saying goes, he will still be able to only eat one meal at a time & sleep in one bed at a time & will like all of us eventually die.
  6. The only think that really counts in the long run is his relationship with God, I’d worry more about that but I’m too busy worrying about my relationship with God.

But the real thing about Musk’s wealth is this: It’s nothing to do with me and not my concern. He has what he has and does what he does and what he so does is his own business, not mine. I have no more right or claim on what he has than the guy down the street has to mine.

Over the past two weeks gasoline has dropped .29 cents from it’s high in my area. About 9%.

While that’s nice it’s still up 57% from the low it had hit before the Iran War.

This causes me pain but it’s still worth it if Iran is emasculated. What the people who are complaining about the lack of a deal or Trump not getting said deal or bombing them on any given day either don’t understand or ignore is that every day that passes Iran grows weaker and we grow stronger.

As the tankers continue to come to the US & we keep getting tankers in the straits out Iran’s leverage continues to drop. Yeah if we were willing to commit 100,000 troops we could likely bring them down and take the country & the oil but at the cost of 1000’s of US lives that while justifiable in the long run to destroy once & for all the leading terror sponsor in the world, is a price our current society is unwilling to pay & unnecessary if Iran can be emasculated without doing so.

The price will keep trickling down slowly as the alternate supplies continue to open up. I suspect if things aren’t concluded right away it will take till the end of August to see gas at $2.99 again. By that time Iran will be capping wells and their ability to finance jihad outside will be practically finished, which frankly they are almost at now anyways.

That’s a lot less sexy than seeing the Mullahs fall just like winning the cold war over 50 years was a lot less sexy than Patton leading his army against the Soviets in 1945 would have been, but I’ll take less sexy with thousands of less casualties every day of the week.

Finally word is out that the Doctor Who Christmas special is nixed & the BBC is pretty much taking bids to see who wants a shot at running the franchise that they’ve driven into the ground once again.

Like the anti-thatcher stuff that killed it in 1989 the work stuff has made Doctor Who so Toxic that actors have no interest in the iconic role & fans don’t care.

In my opinion the solution is obvious, I’d give it to Big Finish which has been producing original Doctor Who stories for more than a quarter of a century & doing so without needing a government imposed fee to pay the way.

While they have their share of woke they are experts at making stories that people are willing to pay actual money to hear, and while they don’t have experience in TV that doesn’t matter as the special effects and or cinematography are not the problem here. it’s the stories and as Big Finish says: Big Finish, We Love Stories!

Let Big Finish supply the scripts and Doctor Who can thrive again, or let the TV show die and let Big Finish run the Time Lord as strictly audio. Remember it was six years of Big Finish stories starting a decade after the final show that caused it to return. And even if it dies here, remember the first episode was broadcast in 1963 when I was six months old.

Not a bad run.

Five Quick: 0-3 Trying to Kill Trump Thoughts Under the Fedora: Methinks the Left Objects too much, Who Moi?, Trump Now 2nd on the All Time List, Don’t know much about the “Teacher of the Month” from CA, A class closing act

Posted: April 26, 2026 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, media, Uncomfortable Truths, under the fedora
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I was in a middle of a full screen game when DaWife told me about the attempt to kill Trump and when I checked my feed on the subject the first things I saw was the left either

  1. Claiming Trump had faked this
  2. Objecting to the right being blaming them for trying to kill him a 3rd time

I’m sorry but if you want people to not think these things perhaps go lighter on the whole “Trump is Hitler” thing, but in fairness given what we’re seeing these days in Maine if Trump WAS Hitler the left would likely support him.

Speaking of what we’ve been seeing

Here is the right response from someone who doesn’t like Trump

The summit of this nonsense was this:

Although the best answer was of course this:

Let’s go to the video

Grok’s Pointed gun standard which doesn’t count Palm Springs not withstanding this puts Trump two behind Lincoln for 2nd place on the attempted assassinations all time for Presidents.

It would be nice if he doesn’t get a chance to break the record but given the left being the left and that we’re not even half way into this 2nd term I think he might do so

Of course in fairness the idea that at an event full of people who would privately cheer him being killed someone would try to do so isn’t all that odd. BTW can you imagine if the assassin succeeded yesterday how difficult it would have been for the assembled press to feign public outrage with all those camera running?

It was interesting enough to see the general silence since the attempt took place with them there and nobody had a chance to establish the left’s desired narrative nor feed it to those in attendance.

We don’t know much about the teacher of the month who has been arrested except that:

  • He’s fast
  • He shot a Secret Service agent who fortunately had body armor
  • He managed not to be shot and killed, how I haven’t figured out
  • If this guy was “Teacher of the Month” it’s more proof you need your kids out of public school

Given the use of AI these days I’m going to be a bit more careful about what gets spread today about him as the technology to manufacture a narrative has exploded but I must say I think this take is pretty good:

.Already we are seeing people trying to say he’s Mossad or that it’s all about an excuse to start shooting in Iran again (he doesn’t need an excuse btw Actually it would be more legit if he was an Iranian agent instead of just the avg loony lefty, after all we’re fighting a war against them and in war the other side gets to shoot back.), but we can expect everything from gay fanboy of Tucker Carlson trying to impress him to fanatical Catholic upset at the clash with the Pope.

No matter how wacked some narratives are there are fools online who will buy them if it fits their worldview.

The trial will be interesting but I alas think Van Jones is right about one thing:

“I’m starting to worry about something, though, which is that the shooter survived, which means on Monday he’s going to court, which means there is a danger that people try to make him some sort of hero. You watch what happened with Luigi [Mangione], who shot a CEO to death and somehow became a hero. So, they said tonight you saw the worst of America. You saw the best of America. Tonight, you definitely saw the best of America. I hope on Monday we don’t see the worst again. 

The chances of this not happening are so zero.

Finally Trump’s press conference was both informative and gracious you can watch it here:

This was likely the best dressed news conference in the history of Presidential press conferences.

Could you imagine giving such a press conference less than an hour after someone tried to kill you? This guy has ice in his veins.

The security for the new event in 30 days should be interesting.

I’ll close with a quote from Stonewall Jackson:

He who does not see the hand of God in this is blind, sir. Blind!

The US Finally Goes to War With Iran

Posted: February 28, 2026 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump
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“The difference between War and what we have now is we’re not shooting back”

Philadelphia Newspaper in 1917 on Germany’s Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

I woke up to the news that we are hitting Iran and that we apparently are apparently going to finally going to take out that that regime.

Here is his speech in full:

For 40 years they sponsored terrorism all over the world. They were responsible for attacks against American troops & interests all over the world. It is because of the Ayatollah’s in Iran that the Brits, French, Canadians & others are now bowing down before Islam.

Additionally our enemies (China & Russia) have been able to use Iran as a proxy

Let’s be very blunt, I was 16 when they took our people hostages. We should have delivered an ultimatum to them on the spot and destroyed the Ayatollah’s regime at that time while it was still weak. The world paid a horrible price for our failure to do so in 1979 & you might even say that millions all over the planet might have been saved if we had. Furthermore the Iranian people would have been spared even more.

I’m sure that president from Regan to Bush 2 (who actually had Iran surrounded with armies to the east and west of the nation at one point) had reasons not to act & thought it prudent to avoid such things.

You could also make the case that the Iranian people had not yet reached the point where they had had enough. Many Marxists who cheered the fall of the Shah and the coming of Khomeini ended up against a wall as all useful idiots do. It was just 30 days ago that tens of thousands of Iranians died proving that they are ready for this regime of evil to be destroyed.

There were other presidents & administrations who decided that Iran was worthy of US tax dollars by the pallet. I have thoughts on that which we won’t go into today but fortunately that president is no longer in charge so we can wait until the intelligence files of a fallen Islamic Iran are opened to scrutiny to speculate why.

Now we have Donald Trump. We don’t have to speculate why he is doing what he’s doing. Put simply he has decided in his 2nd term to take care of all family business and Iran is one of those pieces of business that is being taken care of.:

It’s been a long time coming. I’m glad to see it in my lifetime.

I’d like to close with some tweets from a month ago that has aged rather well first this:

Apparently the amount of time is 44 days

It’s an interesting thread. I respect Dr. Shanker, he doesn’t like Trump but he’s an honest guy.

This reminds me of Longstreet who never wanted to move until he had everything ready. If Lee had listened to him we might have lost at Gettysburg.

One thing I will say, he has to finish the job, the mullahs have to fall, if not it’s a failure.

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