Donald Trump

‘Operation Epstein Distraction’: Trump’s bloody Iran ‘hype videos’ seem to target niche audience

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/07/trump-iran-hype-videos

White House wages online propaganda campaign with aggressive and tasteless videos seemingly designed for young rightwing American men

Trump with Jeffrey Epstein in 1997; plumes of smoke from US and Israeli strikes on Tehran. Composite: Getty Images, Middle East Images, AFP

White House wages online propaganda campaign with aggressive and tasteless videos seemingly designed for young rightwing American men

…

Over the past couple of days, the White House and officials affiliated with the Trump administration have shared on X a series of hype videos that aggressively, and tastelessly, show off deadly combat footage from the strikes on Iran, sometimes in combination with footage from fictional movies and video games.

The videos are short, rapidly edited, and seem designed to appeal to the attention spans and tastes of Gen Z males fond of video-game trash-talk – though it is unclear whether those Gen Z males universally appreciate the Trump administration’s narrowly tailored jingoism.

One video, released on Thursday and captioned “JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY”, is less than a minute long but manically mixes footage from iconic action movies such as Braveheart, Gladiator, and Iron Man with apparently real footage of American ordnance striking Iranian military targets. Pulsing, fast-paced electronic dance music plays in the background as Russell Crowe, in Gladiator, says, “Strength and honor,” and a face-painted Mel Gibson, in Braveheart, demands: “What will you do without freedom?”

(It is unclear if the White House obtained permissions for the film and music in these clips, though it seems not.)

…

Americans are overwhelmingly skeptical of the strikes on Iran, according to a recent NPR/PBS/Marist survey, with just 36% of the public saying that they approve of Trump’s handling of the war. The White House’s own messaging has been confusing and tautological.

Rather than try to persuade the American people as a whole of the necessity and efficacy of the war, however, the administration seems more worried about pacifying a small sliver of its base – a very online, very male, and often younger segment of the Maga “new right” that is skeptical about foreign interventionism and especially cynical about anything redolent of the Middle East misadventures of the George W Bush years.

So far that audience seems less than impressed. On X, commenters have responded to the White House war propaganda videos by mocking the videos’ ham-fisted and bloodthirsty aesthetics, describing the US as a cat’s-paw of Israel, or disparaging the Trump administration for betraying the MAGA movement’s promise to put “America first”.

Comments referred to Hegseth as “GI Joke” or suggested that the war with Iran be known as “Operation Epstein Distraction”.

…

See the original article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/07/trump-iran-hype-videos

Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it's easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel's genocidal expansion.
Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.
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Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.
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Continue Reading‘Operation Epstein Distraction’: Trump’s bloody Iran ‘hype videos’ seem to target niche audience

Rights Group Says Massacre at Iranian School—Likely by US—Should Be Investigated as ‘War Crime’

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This work by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A view of the debris of a school, where many students and teachers lost their lives on the first day of the wave of attacks launched by the United States and Israel against Iran, in the southern town of Minab on March 5, 2026. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“Trump loves putting his name on things, but this should be the only building for which he is remembered by history.”

The bombing of a primary school by US-Israeli coalition forces in southern Iranian town of Minab that killed an estimated 160 or more civilians—mostly children—on February 28 should be investigated as a possible war crime, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.

After reviewing satellite footage from before and after the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school—as well as reviewing video taken in the wake of the bombing and other materials—the international human rights group said the available evidence indicates “that the attack was carried out by highly accurate, guided munitions, rather than errant weapons whose guidance or propulsion systems failed or were otherwise disrupted and randomly struck the area.”

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The attack on the school would be among the deadliest war crimes against civilians by US forces in years. Occurring on the first day of bombings of what President Donald Trump and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dubbed Operation Epic Fury, the slaughter of schoolchildren—though the US has denied responsibility thus far—coincides with Hegseth repeatedly bragging that the US military would no longer follow “stupid rules of engagement” in the execution of its operations.

“The school was in use, and children were in attendance on the day of the attack,” the group said. “Human Rights Watch found no evidence that would indicate that the school was being used for military purposes, though researchers were not able to speak to witnesses of the strikes, families of those killed, or other informed sources.”

President Trump should hold Secretary Hegseth and everyone else responsible for killing Iranian children accountable, and bring this illegal, unnecessary war of choice to an end.“

According to HRW:

The United States should immediately assess its responsibility for this strike and make the findings public. If the US military carried out the strike, it should conduct a full investigation into the operational and policy failures that led it to strike a school, fully account for the civilian harm caused, hold those responsible accountable including through prosecution, and commit to changes that would ensure such failures will not be repeated in future operations.

Analyses of the bombing by various news outlets have provided strong evidence that US forces were the most likely culprits of the attack. HRW was told by an Israeli military spokesperson that it was “not aware of any [Israeli military] strikes in the area.” Hegseth said during a Wednesday press conference that the Pentagon was investigating the matter, but offered no further indication of concern in the matter.

During that same press briefing, as HRW notes in its analysis of the attack, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, said that US forces from the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group were providing “pressure” in preceding days along the “southeastern side” of the Iranian coast as he pointed to an area of a map showing coalition bombings that included Minab.

“A prompt and thorough investigation is needed into this attack, including if those responsible should have known that a school was there and that it would be full of children and their teachers before midday,” said Sophia Jones, open source researcher with the Digital Investigations Lab at Human Rights Watch. “Those responsible for an unlawful attack should be held to account, including prosecutions of anyone responsible for war crimes.”

“Allies of the US and Israel should insist on accountability for the Shajareh Tayyebeh school attack and for an end to attacks on civilian infrastructure in all of their operations across the region, before more civilians, including children, are unlawfully killed,” she added.

Human Rights Watch is not the only one demanding an independent investigation.

“This mass killing of children is unconscionable. It bears the hallmarks of a war crime,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Friday after a New York Times investigation found that US forces were likely behind the strike. “Trump and Hegseth must answer for the US’s role and they must be held accountable. People deserve the full truth. There must be an immediate and transparent investigation.”

On Friday, as Common Dreams reported, another school in Iran was struck by US-Israel bombings, bringing the total number of schools hit to four in the first six days of the unprovoked military attack.

“The American people do not want their tax dollars spent on killing children in Iran, just as they did not want their tax dollars spent on killing children in Gaza,” said the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in a statement. “The latest U.S.-Israel attacks on schools in Iran are blatant war crimes. So was the original slaughter of 180 schoolgirls that the Pentagon refuses to take responsibility for.”

“Every child murdered or injured in these indiscriminate US-Israel bombing attacks is a sign that the Pentagon under Pete Hegseth is mimicking the tactics of the cowardly and genocidal Israeli military, which has mastered the art of bombing men, women, and children from afar,” the group added. “The American people expect better from our armed forces. President Trump should hold Secretary Hegseth and everyone else responsible for killing Iranian children accountable, and bring this illegal, unnecessary war of choice to an end.”

While the war continues and Trump on Saturday said the people of Iran should expect bombing and destruction to increase not decrease over the weekend, voices for peace continued to demand a swift end to the violence and said the US president should forever be held responsible for unleashing such unnecessary bloodshed—including the specific devastation unleashed on the school in Minab.

“Trump loves putting his name on things, but this should be the only building for which he is remembered by history,” said Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, referencing the school where the massacre took place.

This work by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it's easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel's genocidal expansion.
Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.
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Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.
Continue ReadingRights Group Says Massacre at Iranian School—Likely by US—Should Be Investigated as ‘War Crime’

US Argues ‘Emergency’ of Iran War Means Israel Needs 20,000+ More Bombs Without Congressional Approval

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Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Civil defense forces in Lebanon attempt to extinguish a blaze that erupted after Israeli bombardment on a solar farm and electricity generation facility in southern coastal city of Tyre on March 4, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP via Getty Images)

‘Who cares about Israel’s genocide, apartheid, and aggression?” asked one human rights expert.

The US State Department is hiding behind the war against Iran that was started by US President Donald Trump last week to justify an emergency order to ship more than 20,000 bombs—estimated at a value of $660 million—to Israel, skirting a pending approval process for the sale by Congress.

In a statement issued quietly on Friday night, the State Department said 12,000 BLU-110A/B general purpose, 1,000-pound bombs had been determined for approval, noting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has “provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel of the above defense articles and defense services is in the national security interests of the United States, thereby waiving the Congressional review requirements under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act.”

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Not included in the statement, according to the New York Times, were additional parts of the sale that “include 10,000 bombs of 500 pounds each and 5,000 small-diameter bombs.”

“This is an emergency of the Trump administration’s own creation.” —Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.)

According to the Times:

The State Department did not mention these details in the announcement, but two current US officials and a former, Josh Paul, who worked on weapons transfers at the State Department, said they were part of the emergency sale. The current officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive arms transactions.

This is the first time that the second Trump administration has formally declared an emergency, allowed under the Arms Export Control Act, to bypass Congress to sell arms to Israel. The administration has bypassed the informal approval process in Congress three times to sell arms or send weapons aid to Israel, but previously has not declared an emergency.

The push for the “emergency” arms sale comes as Israel pummels Lebanon with airstrikes, forcing an estimate 500,000 people or more in southern regions outside of Beirut to flee their homes. It also coincides with Israeli forces hitting targets in Iran alongside the US in what experts say is a wholly illegal attack on that country.

Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, denounced the move by the Rubio in a Friday statement.

“Today’s invocation of the Arms Export Control Act’s emergency authority to bypass congressional review for two munitions cases to Israel exposes a stark contradiction at the heart of this administration’s case for war,” said Meeks. “The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted it was fully prepared for this war. Rushing to invoke emergency authority to circumvent Congress tells a different story. This is an emergency of the Trump administration’s own creation.”

Others also questioned the emergency sale, especially given Israel’s record of genocide in Gaza over the last two years and its pivotal role in pushing the Trump administration toward a war of choice with Iran.

Meeks, in his statement, argued that key questions about Trump’s war in Iran remain unanswered.

“What is the endgame? What preparations have been made to protect American citizens in the region? And how much will this war cost the American people?” asked Meeks. “The administration has provided no credible answers. The American people deserve answers, and Congress must demand them.”

Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Donald Trump explains why he established his Bored of Peace
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Continue ReadingUS Argues ‘Emergency’ of Iran War Means Israel Needs 20,000+ More Bombs Without Congressional Approval

Analysis of Major Polls Shows Trump’s War on Iran Is Historically Unpopular

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Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

People attend a protest against US-Israeli attacks on Iran in New York on February 28, 2026. (Photo by Zhang Fengguo/Xinhua via Getty Images)

“Not merely negative-number-so-what unpopular, but worst-ever-support-for-war-when-it-started unpopular.”

President Donald Trump’s unprovoked and unconstitutional war against Iran is historically unpopular among US voters.

In an analysis published Friday, polling expert G. Elliott Morris calculated an average of eight high-quality polls conducted over the last week about the war and found just 38% of Americans approve of the military strikes against Iran, while 49% are opposed.

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Morris noted that there is simply no precedent for a US war being this unpopular from the very outset.

“The big takeaway from these numbers is that the new war in Iran is very unpopular,” he wrote. “Not merely negative-number-so-what unpopular, but worst-ever-support-for-war-when-it-started unpopular. With just 38% of Americans in favor, support for bombing Iran is lower than retrospective support for the war in Iraq was in 2014.”

Morris then offered some comparisons to past US military conflicts to show that the lack of support for Trump’s Iran war is simply in uncharted territory.

“No president in modern polling history has launched a major military operation with the public already against him,” he wrote. “After the September 11 attacks, a November 2001 Gallup poll found 90% of Americans approved of military action in Afghanistan, with just 5% opposed. The Gulf War in 1991 hit 79-80% approval. Gallup measured 76% support for the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 (Pew had it at 71%).”

Even comparatively unpopular operations, such as Trump’s strikes against Syria in 2017 or former President Barack Obama’s 2011 military operation in Libya, still had net-positive approvals at the times they occurred.

Morris added that Trump should be concerned about this because historically “wars only get less popular” over time as “casualties mount and costs become clear.”

CBS News polling director Anthony Salvanto on Tuesday also highlighted this phenomenon when analyzing a poll on the Iran war commissioned by his network that showed US voters’ support for the conflict dropped precipitously the longer they believed it would last.

“If you think it’s going to be a long conflict, months, even years… the numbers tilt toward disapproval overall,” he said.

Trump so far has not offered any kind of timeline for his war against Iran, and Politico reported on Wednesday that the US military is preparing for the conflict to last until at least September.

Trump on Friday insisted he would not end the conflict with Iran until its government offered its “unconditional surrender.”

Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country's economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it's easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel's genocidal expansion.
Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.
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Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.

Continue ReadingAnalysis of Major Polls Shows Trump’s War on Iran Is Historically Unpopular

While Cost of Living Soars and Healthcare Taken Away, Trump Spending $1 Billion Per Day in War of Choice With Iran

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Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

In this handout released by the U.S. Navy, aircraft are staged for flight operations on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on March 2, 2026 at sea. (Photo by U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

“We can’t afford to keep our hospitals open, but we can afford a billion dollars a day to bomb Iran?”

With fresh reporting that the ongoing US assault on Iran could be costing $1 billion per day in taxpayer money, opposition lawmakers, candidates for office, and outside critics are ripping the Trump administration and his allies in Congress for the financial recklessness of the unlawful and unprovoked attack on the Iranian people.

“We can’t afford to keep our hospitals open, but we can afford a billion dollars a day to bomb Iran?” asked Graham Platner, a Democrat running to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collin of Maine in this year’s midterm elections, in a social media post Wednesday.

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Hundreds of hospitals across the US, most of them in rural areas, are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy or closure in the wake of Trump’s signing of a spending and tax giveaway bill last year that gave billions in tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy while slashing healthcare, including Medicaid.

Collins on Wednesday joined all but one member of the Republican caucus in the US Senate to vote down a War Powers Resolution that would have compelled Trump to cease military operations against Iran.

“In one fucking month we will spend more over there than we needed to save healthcare for more than 2 million Americans. They literally are taking away your food and your healthcare for this regime change war of choice.” —Sen. Brian Schatz

Planter was responding to journalist Nancy Youssef of The Atlantic, who reported, citing a congressional official, that a “preliminary Pentagon cost estimate of the war in Iran is $1 billion a day.”

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) expressed similar outrage to the figure.

“This war is costing a billion dollars a day,” said Schatz. “In one fucking month we will spend more over there than we needed to save healthcare for more than 2 million Americans. They literally are taking away your food and your healthcare for this regime change war of choice.”

An analysis by Allison McManus at the Center for American Progress published Tuesday estimates that the US costs since bombing raids were launched by the American and Israeli forces over the weekend easily exceed $5 billion. According to McManus:

In a March 2 press conference, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine provided a glimpse into the nature of operations thus far in Operation Epic Fury. Caine described the deployment of more than 100 aircraft, the use of Tomahawk missiles, and attacks on more than 1,000 targets in just the first day of operations. Utilizing Brown University’s “Costs of War” project cost estimates of previous operations in the region—including Operation Midnight Hammer against Iran last June and engaging the Houthis in Yemen—it is likely that the operations Caine described alone would cost more than $4 billion.

But these are not the only costs. Elaine McCusker, a former Pentagon official in the first Trump administration, estimated the costs of repositioning forces in the Middle East to be around $630 million even prior to the start of hostilities. On March 2, Kuwaiti forces accidentally shot down three F-15 fighter jets in a friendly-fire incident. As these aircraft can cost as much as $117 million, this translates to an estimated total loss of $351 million. Added to the operations Caine described, a conservative estimate for the initial costs of Operation Epic Fury is more than $5 billion as of March 2—and the campaign is just getting started.

McManus further notes that the billions in military spending for a war that polls show a large majority in the US oppose, “come at a time when American citizens are acutely feeling the pressures of increased prices at home, including housing, energy, and health care costs.”

As independent journalist Zaid Jilani noted, “Trump is spending a billion dollars a day killing people abroad while cutting Medicaid and health care for Americans.”

“Waging a senseless and costly war raises legitimate questions about this government’s priorities,” argues McManus in her analysis. “Priced at around $2.2 million, a single Tomahawk missile could cover 775 children on Medicaid for a year or provide more than 3,600 children with meals in the National School Lunch Program. At more than $5 billion and counting, the costs of Operation Epic Fury—in only its first few days of operations—could cover Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for more than 2 million Americans for a year. If this war continues at the same pace, Americans could see their government burn through tens of billions of dollars, funds that would amount to the cost of Medicaid for millions in the United States.”

John Collins, political writer based in Boston, was contemplative about the military expenditures. “Just thinking of what we could do with a billion dollars a day that doesn’t include bombing people,” Collins said.

Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Donald Trump explains why he established his Bored of Peace
Donald Trump explains why he established his Bored of Peace
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Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.
Continue ReadingWhile Cost of Living Soars and Healthcare Taken Away, Trump Spending $1 Billion Per Day in War of Choice With Iran