however we got here i'd like to vote for never doing that again; 

 

Anyone who listens to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and compares his witty, reasonable, thoughtful, pertinent, reality-based comments to the mad drivel emanating from the likes of Trump and Hegseth and Netanayahu, can see that Iran is the civilized party to the current conflict, while the other side is led by drooling barbarian lunatics. It’s a wake-up slap in the face, but it’s in-your-face-undeniable: We Americans, who like to think of ourselves as the pinnacle of human civilizational achievement, have become stupid, evil, and massively uncivilized. We are the equivalent of frenzied stone age cannibals screeching like rabid hyenas as we try to storm the gates of a highly cultured, literate people in hopes of ripping them to shreds and devouring their flesh.

How did it reach this point? Isn’t the United States of America the world standard-bearer for Enlightenment values: reason, tolerance, reflection, and skepticism of claims that can’t withstand critique? Why are we lined up behind a certifiable narcissist maniac, Donald Trump, whose statements are so randomly incoherent and without any discernible relationship to reality that they are hardly worth critiquing, not to mention almost impossible to satirize?........more.........