War with Iran

[MU82]

Hegseth's Purge of Top Generals Leaves the Army Rudderless

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/us/hegseth-purge-army-generals.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

A series of firings and feuds initiated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has left the Army essentially rudderless as it struggles to deal with the threat posed by cheap, deadly drones and missiles that have pounded U.S. bases in the Middle East.

The Army has not had a chief of staff, the service's top officer, since Mr. Hegseth fired Gen. Randy George without explanation in April, and there are no signs that he is close to filling the position, said current and former officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.

Mr. Hegseth has forced out at least three senior officers who had been viewed as potential successors to General George.

Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, the service's top civilian leader, is also expected to leave the administration in the next few months and has already moved out of the large family house that he was renting in Fort Myer, outside Washington, officials said.

The turmoil comes as the Army, the military's largest service, faces its busiest period since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Army air defense soldiers are playing the leading role in defending U.S. troops in the Middle East from increasingly sophisticated Iranian missile attacks. The Army's command in Europe is providing critical intelligence and other support to Ukraine as it fights to hold off a larger Russian force.

[Uncle Rico]

Hegseth's Purge of Top Generals Leaves the Army Rudderless

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/us/hegseth-purge-army-generals.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

A series of firings and feuds initiated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has left the Army essentially rudderless as it struggles to deal with the threat posed by cheap, deadly drones and missiles that have pounded U.S. bases in the Middle East.

The Army has not had a chief of staff, the service's top officer, since Mr. Hegseth fired Gen. Randy George without explanation in April, and there are no signs that he is close to filling the position, said current and former officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.

Mr. Hegseth has forced out at least three senior officers who had been viewed as potential successors to General George.

Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, the service's top civilian leader, is also expected to leave the administration in the next few months and has already moved out of the large family house that he was renting in Fort Myer, outside Washington, officials said.

The turmoil comes as the Army, the military's largest service, faces its busiest period since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Army air defense soldiers are playing the leading role in defending U.S. troops in the Middle East from increasingly sophisticated Iranian missile attacks. The Army's command in Europe is providing critical intelligence and other support to Ukraine as it fights to hold off a larger Russian force.

Worst president since Pierce

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

https://bsky.app/profile/emptywheel.bsky.social/post/3mtybikylj22p

You can't make this s*** up?!

[Uncle Rico]

Muggsy's socialist fears being realized

https://bsky.app/profile/fintwitter.bsky.social/post/3mu3gmrlqdr22

[MU82]

Auditioning to be the next president ...

DeSantis Administration Misspent $10 Million, Grand Jury Says

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/us/casey-desantis-charity-hope-garden-medicaid-settlement.html?

Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration "misappropriated" $10 million in taxpayer money by diverting it to a charity tied to his wife, according to a leaked Florida grand jury report that took a sharply critical view of the dealings.

The report also said grand jurors found insufficient evidence to levy charges. But it intensified a controversy over the investigation into the fund-raising arm of Hope Florida, the charity that the first lady, Casey DeSantis, started in 2021. The charity's goal is to keep families off public assistance by connecting them with churches and aid groups.

In 2024, the charity's fund-raising arm, the Hope Florida Foundation, received $10 million from a state Medicaid settlement. It was quickly redirected to political committees backing a campaign led by the governor against a ballot measure that would have legalized marijuana.

The transactions amounted to misuse of public funds as "part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities," the grand jury found in its report, which was published online by CBS News Miami on Wednesday. The report was completed in January but has been kept secret since.

[pbiflyer]

DeSantis promises swift justice......for those that leaked the report causing him to get caught.

DESANTIS RESPONDS: After it was revealed that a grand jury determined $10 million meant to provide health insurance for poor children was "misused for political purposes," the governor said "there's going to be consequences" for whoever leaked the report.

[The Sultan]

Auditioning to be the next president ...

DeSantis Administration Misspent $10 Million, Grand Jury Says

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/us/casey-desantis-charity-hope-garden-medicaid-settlement.html?

Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration "misappropriated" $10 million in taxpayer money by diverting it to a charity tied to his wife, according to a leaked Florida grand jury report that took a sharply critical view of the dealings.

The report also said grand jurors found insufficient evidence to levy charges. But it intensified a controversy over the investigation into the fund-raising arm of Hope Florida, the charity that the first lady, Casey DeSantis, started in 2021. The charity's goal is to keep families off public assistance by connecting them with churches and aid groups.

In 2024, the charity's fund-raising arm, the Hope Florida Foundation, received $10 million from a state Medicaid settlement. It was quickly redirected to political committees backing a campaign led by the governor against a ballot measure that would have legalized marijuana.

The transactions amounted to misuse of public funds as "part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities," the grand jury found in its report, which was published online by CBS News Miami on Wednesday. The report was completed in January but has been kept secret since.

What does this have to do with Iran? Stop turning topics into you own political soapbox.

[MU82]

US Patriot missile stocks in Europe are 'beyond critical' due to Iran war, officials say

https://apnews.com/article/patriot-missiles-iran-war-russia-ukraine-trump-09c7d8030a2e11fbd8ee3f7176b3f2d4

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military is experiencing a "beyond critical" shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by President Donald Trump's war with Iran, a U.S. defense official in Europe and a NATO official told The Associated Press, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in NATO countries to a potential Russian attack.

The U.S. defense official said the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia's high-speed ballistic missiles. The NATO official confirmed the low inventories of Patriots among American and NATO forces in Europe. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

In the event of a Russian ballistic missile assault on, for example, a military headquarters or power plant, NATO could be in a similar position to Patriot-starved Ukraine and be forced "to take punch after punch in the mouth," the U.S. defense official said.

[Uncle Rico]

Whoops

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/27/trump-iran-war-navy-budget

Hard to believe a government run by someone that went bankrupt in the casino game is bad at managing money. 

[Uncle Rico]

Consequences of actions

https://bsky.app/profile/carlquintanilla.bsky.social/post/3mu5e27sdf22z

[Uncle Rico]

Consequences of actions

https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/six-months-iran-war-changed-041435283.html

[MUBurrow]

Consequences of actions

https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/six-months-iran-war-changed-041435283.html

Irrespective of politics, that billboard is fire.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Whoops

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/27/trump-iran-war-navy-budget

Hard to believe a government run by someone that went bankrupt in the casino game is bad at managing money. 

That's more on Kegsbreath who loves to cosplay a military person.

Trump is just happy to front run the stock market in advance of his Temu Tweets, which for reasons incomprehensible to me the market still takes at their face value.

[Uncle Rico]

America's Suez Moment or Trump's Folly.  Either work

https://www.virgin.com/branson-family/richard-branson/americas-failure-in-iran-is-a-lesson-in-leadership

[tower912]

This is going to take years, if not decades to fix.  Utter failure.

[jesmu84]

This is going to take years, if not decades to fix.  Utter failure.

It would take decades, assuming the fixes won't be fought every step of the way.

IMO, never will be fixed. We're an empire in slow decay.

[Uncle Rico]

It would take decades, assuming the fixes won't be fought every step of the way.

IMO, never will be fixed. We're an empire in slow decay.

This.  Ibn Khaldun laid it out when he wrote about the rise and fall of empires.  It would require knowledge and understanding of history for modern America to understand that, so we know that isn't happening.

Instead, we're looking back trying to recreate a time that has passed.  Wistful thinking that somehow, a return to the past (white power), solves societal ills instead of working to solve the problems of a modern society.

Inside a business, one can learn how stagnation and an inability to adapt and adjust leads to dwindling returns.  America is chasing a world that doesn't exist because of race, religion, xenophobia and fear.  We're a fundamentally stupid people on purpose.  Some day, a much more advanced civilization will look back at the American experience and shake their heads in amazement at what we squandered because of Fox News.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

It would take decades, assuming the fixes won't be fought every step of the way.

IMO, never will be fixed. We're an empire in slow decay.

We are past the tipping point, IMO, thanks to Trump, the spineless Republican Congress, and mouthbreathing MAGA voters. We won't return to being the undisputed world superpower, ever.

We've made enemies of all of our democratic allies, threatening to attack them and seize their land and resources, while praising murderous dictators. Our standing on the world stage has never been lower. We've shattered our military. We've dug ourselves a $40T deficit. The world is baffled that we elected a tremendously stupid corrupt pedophile--twice.

I am convinced the next 4-6 years is going to see a massive realignment here as Boomers of both parties are cast to the curb...but I think we'll become more inward looking as a country, and the time of America leading the world is over.

[MU82]

We are past the tipping point, IMO, thanks to Trump, the spineless Republican Congress, and mouthbreathing MAGA voters. We won't return to being the undisputed world superpower, ever.

We've made enemies of all of our democratic allies, threatening to attack them and seize their land and resources, while praising murderous dictators. Our standing on the world stage has bever been lower. We've shattered our military. We've dug ourselves a $40B deficit. The world is baffled that we elected a tremendously stupid corrupt pedophile--twice.

I am convinced the next 4-6 years is going to see a massive realignment here as Boomers of both parties are cast to the curb...but I think we'll become more inward looking as a country, and the time of America leading the world is over.

Yes ... except $40 trillion with a T.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Yes ... except $40 trillion with a T.

I was only off by 1000X

[Shaka Shart]

I was only off by 1000X

Good enough for dental work