Donald Trump and Israel started a war with Iran just after midnight Eastern Time on Saturday. I say “Donald Trump” and not “the United States” because Trump did this without the blessing of the U.S. Congress. He did this after telling the American people that, if elected, he would not start a war.
This is the man who was furious over not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
There must be “an imminent threat” against the American people for the U.S. President to take such an action. Democrat members of the U.S. Congress are furious and saying that intelligence reports indicated no such threat.
The U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. Congress the power to declare war. In this case, the Congress was not even informed that this was about to happen.
As I write this on Sunday night, Iran is retaliating by bombing numerous countries where the U.S. has military bases. Three U.S. military service members were killed and five seriously injured in a Iranian drone attack on a U.S. military base in Kuwait.
It has been reported that Lebanon has bombed Israel and Israel has bombed Lebanon.
No one knows what the near or far future holds as a result of this attack on Iran.
Trump says he joined Israel to take this action to save American lives – not today, but in the future. He expects the Iranian people, who are not organized and have few resources, to now waltz in and create a new government since the bombs have killed the supreme leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
I don’t see that happening. It would be wonderful if the Iranians, who have suffered under a brutal regime for 47 years could take control of their government, but I fear they do not have the wherewithal to do that.
I see the U.S. mired in another endless war started on a whim by a man who dodged the draft five times during the Vietnam War.
By the time this blog post “goes live” eight hours from now at 5:00 a.m. Monday, Eastern Time, there is no telling what will have happened.
I’m a “night owl,” so I was still awake after midnight last Friday night when I learned that Trump and Israel had started this war in Iran. I had already planned my second DIY (Do It Yourself) Writing Retreat for Saturday afternoon.
It was difficult to turn off the TV and distract my brain from current events and focus on 1768 in North Carolina, but I managed to do that.
I needed to make a major change in my historical novel’s plotline. Research last week had uncovered a fact that changed the course of the story somewhat. That necessitated deleting many paragraphs, rewriting others, and juggling some scenes.
It was tedious work, but I committed to it for around six hours. The result was a net gain of 2,200 words – one of my most productive writing days. My word count stands at 60,000. I’m aiming for 90,000 words.
After accepting the fact last week that I am a binge writer and I cannot force myself to set daily business hours to work on my novel, freed me to stop feeling guilty for not working on it every day. I plan to schedule more DIY Writing Retreats in the near future as I continue to find a writing process that suits me.
I plan to blog about the last story – which is more of an essay – in my latest book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, on Tuesday. I’ll just “wing it” after Tuesday, depending on what the coming days bring.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
Janet's Writing Blog 
Thank you for sharing this detailed account of what is happening. Sad. Prayers. Speechless!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Tangie. It is very sad and disturbing.
LikeLike
I’m just sick about this latest from the orange spawn of Satan. I am enraged that Congress has not impeached him and removed him from office. All three branches of our government have blood on their hands.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Terrifying that this madman has been alowed to continue to meddle in affairs he knows nothing about…between him and Netanyahu this has now gone too far..Sending prayers…
If I haven’t thanked you for the memes(cooking) I am sorry but I am having tremedous problems with my laptop and emails in particular …this been ongoing and they are now automatically going to trash and nobody can fix it it seems …Hugs xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ditto!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are absolutely right about the orange man and Netanyahu. Two peas in a pod, as we would saw here. They have crossed the line this time and who knows what will happen next. There will be ramifications for decades to come. On Thursday, the orange me said he thought the U.S. could easily “take” Cuba. I didn’t know we wanted it. Does that mean Greenland needs to get in line behind Cuba or vice versa? Little did we know that 24 hours later we were going to start bombing Iran. Most Americans are not happy with this… at all! What we have is a dictator who answers to no one.
Oh, you’re welcome. I don’t always get Sally’s blog read, so I’ve probably missed some of your things on her blog. Sorry you’re having laptop and email problems. I hope someone can get it figured out soon. It is soooooooo frustrating when we have problems with our technology!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unfortunately, we know how every war begins but we don’t know how it will end.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stereotype alert: there are many, many constructive and entrepreurial minds in Iran. It would be wonderful if they got out from under the burden of their present government and the IRGC. Getting rid of the Islamic Republic government, whose name itself is a fraud, is a laudable goal. Getting rid of their terrorism network is a laudable goal. Getting rid of their weapons programs and cyberattack capabilities is a laudible goal.
The people who ordered this war haven’t been the benchmark for well-considered policy. Except for chaos, they don’t do methodical anything. I claim: there’s no moral compass involved in the attack on Iran. Saving the people of Iran? Replace the word “people” with “oil” and we may be closer to truth. Rest assured this will mean a tax increase for all of us in the U.S. We’re looking at hundreds of billions.
A 2007 episode of Charlie Rose warns us not to do what we’re doing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You always make excellent observations. Iranians have unlimited potential if and when they can out from under the systems that have driven them into the ground. The people who ordered this war have no business being in the positions of power they hold. Understatement of the century! We will be paying for this current war in many different ways for decades. Thank you for sharing the link to that Charlie Ross episode. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. It certainly hit the nail on the head regarding our current state of affairs and our unwise decisions. I had forgotten just how much I miss Charlie Rose’s interviews.
LikeLike