Sunday, March 1, 2026
Here We Go Again: United States and Israel Bomb Iran With No Clear Immediate Justification and No Apparent Plan
This is what happens when people who are not well-versed in history elect right-wing authoritarian-messianic types who promise greater public safety, less taxes, and lower prices, and all they deliver are economic mayhem, division, persecution, and international chaos.
Early this morning, United States and Israeli forces, in an operation called Epic Fury, bombed Iran under the immediate justification that Iran posed an "imminent threat" by rebuilding its nuclear program and was days away from building a nuclear weapon.
Hold on a minute.
Just months ago, Trump and his Israelis sidekick or puppet master, depending on one's point of view, Benjamin Netanyahu, said they had obliterated Iran's nuclear program with bunker-busting bombs.
Which is it?
In his early morning remarks on Truth Social to the nation, while everyone was sleeping, Donald Trump also called for the overthrow of the Iranian Government, saying they were "a vicious group of very hard, terrible people."
That part is true.
The current Iranian sectarian government of Ayatollah theocrats has been a force of destruction and repression on its people and terrorist activities on other regional nations for decades.
Recently, they viciously put down internal protests against their regime, killing thousands according to news reports.
Iran has responded to the United States and Israellis bombings by launching retaliatory strikes against Israel and neighboring Arab states with no apparent serious damage.
The world would be a better place if the current Iranian leadership were gone and replaced by Democratic and Republic favoring elements.
But people have seen this movie before.
The above sentence was also said about Iraq over 20 years ago, and if taking out regimes that repressed their people were justifications for change, then the United States allies, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, should be on that list too. So should Israel, with its horrific intensification of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and repression of the people in Gaza.
Remember, the United States and a more extensive group of allies in 2003 attacked terrorist and repressive Iraq under the now disproven rationale that Iraq was on the brink of producing nuclear weapons and that the Iraqi people would treat the Americans and other international troops as liberators.
Look how well that turned out in Iraq and in Afghanistan, where American blood and treasure were wasted because of poor planning and a half-ass commitment to get the economic and political reconstruction of those two countries done.
It appears the United States and Israel are about to travel on that road again. The power vacuum, if not managed right this time, will lead to regional instability and terrorist reprisals by displaced Iranian elements, which will be reminiscent of or worse of what happened in Iraq shortly after the American occupation, and that resulted in the rise of ISIS/ISIL.
Arizona Senator and Iraq Military Veteran Ruben Gallego issued an immediate response to Trump's decision to bomb Iran with two social media posts.
In the first, he wrote:
"I lost friends in Iraq to an illegal war. Young working-class kids should not pay the ultimate price for regime change and a war that hasn’t been explained or justified to the American people. We can support the democracy movement and the Iranian people without sending our troops to die."
In the second, he posted:
Yesterday, in possible anticipation of where Trump was headed, Senator Gallego wrote:
"The Iranian people deserve freedom and dignity. But we cannot send our men and women to die at the whim of the President. The regime’s actions shouldn’t become an excuse for a wider war that punishes civilians and puts our troops at risk."
People who know how poorly Mr. Trump has managed the United States in his now over five years in office probably know where this road leads in the latest Middle East conflict. Unless there is a sudden surge in competence, historical literacy, and expertise, this is probably, based on history, not going to end well in the long term.
Remember that we probably would not even be here if Trump, with the prodding of Netanyahu, had not torn up the Obama-negotiated Iran nuclear agreement.
Those prices at that gas pump that may be about to go up because of today's bombings.
Donald Trump did that.
God save the United States and the people entrusted to protect it.
Representative Yassamin Ansari Calls Deposition of 2016 Presidential Popular Vote Winner Hillary Clinton "An Incredibly Unserious Clown Show"
It is deja vu back to the 1990's when Republicans' favorite political pastime was to fabricate fake scandals after fake scandals about Hillary and Bill Clinton.
In another sad day in the MAGA-Trumpists pursuit of retribution against their political enemies, House Republican Oversight Trump Lackeys convened a closed-door deposition of former First Lady, Secretary of State, and 2016 Popular Vote Winner Hilary Clinton, with regard to the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal.
That no proof or credible documentation has surfaced showing either Clinton's complicity with any Epstein-related scandal seems to mean nothing to Republicans who see the former First Family as perennial political objects to continually torture with innuendo and baseless allegations.
MAGA Republicans can not even abide by their own rules for this deposition, with Lauren 'let's make out with my man, not my husband in a movie theater on Candid Camera' Boebert leaking photos of the former Secretary and 2016 Popular Vote Winner.
Justifiably annoyed, Clinton and her representatives called a temporary halt to the proceedings and demanded that the hearing become open to the press, as they have consistently demanded.
Republicans, worried about looking bad like when they did when the former Secretary and 2016 Popular Vote Winner testified for 11 hours straight at the Benghazi Hearing in 2013, did not want to repeat that mistake again.
House Democrats at the deposition registered their disapproval of this waste of time event during the break after the release of Boebert's photo.
Among the House Democrats at the hearing was Arizona Congressional District Three Representative Yassamin Ansari.
In her remarks, she called the deposition of former Secretary and 2016 Popular Vote Winner Clinton "An incredibly unserious clown show of a deposition where members of Congress and the Republican Party are more concerned about getting their photo-op of Secretary Clinton than actually getting to the truth and holding anyone accountable."
Furthermore, she said:
"Let's remind the country what we are actually talking about. Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and a list of many rich and powerful people from the United States and around the world abused and raped more than a thousand people who were children, many of whom were children at the time.
I also want to talk about the reporting from this week and the fact that we now know that the Department of Justice, in their ongoing cover-up, the most egregious cover-up in American history, intentionally seemed to have redacted more or withheld more than 50 pages of allegations from a minor against President Trump.
Do not forget that Kash Patel, when in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said under oath that the FBI had no credible allegations of any other people being involved in this child sex trafficking operation.
These documents of the Department of Justice intentionally has withheld from the American public in regard to the allegations against President Trump came from the FBI. The FBI had interviewed this witness four times. You do not do that if it is not serious.
So, Kash Patel needs to be immediately brought back before the Oversight Committee. He needs to answer these questions again, and we need answers immediately. Again, America is watching. Young people in this country are watching to see if powerful people will continue to protect other powerful people, and whether or not Congress will actually hold these perpetrators accountable."
Former President Clinton will go through his deposition tomorrow. He also wanted his testimony to be publicly aired, but Republicans, knowing how well the Forty Second President appears on television, have refused.
Representative Ansari released the below social media post following the deposition.
Representative Ansari is right.
This deposition is, in all likihood a complete farce and a waste of taxpayer money.
If a First Family needs to be deposed, it should be the current couple residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
They were mentioned much more in Epstein-related materials, and unlike the former Secretary and 2016 Popular Vote Winner, Melania Trump can be seen in photos having a good time with the infamous sex predators Epstein and Maxwell.
She will not be able to claim immunity if Democrats take back the House in 2027. The Supreme Court Ruling on Presidential Immunity does not extend to her.
For that matter, it does not extend to him because these events occurred prior to Mr. Trump winning the Presidency and do not rise to the level of official acts.
Watch Hillary Clinton's remarks after the hearing below. Please click at 8:42:20.
In a Victory for Innovation and Clean Energy Sustainabilty, New Electric Buses Debut in Phoenix
From Facebook
Chalk up another victory for the agents of modern innovation and clean energy sustainability in the Metro Phoenix area.
Last week, 12 electric public passenger buses, thanks in part to funding from the Biden/Harris Era Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, debuted on the streets of Phoenix, marking the continuation of Mayor Kate Gallego and the Phoenix City Council's efforts to shift the fifth-largest city in the nation's energy portfolio toward a cleaner, more modern one.
Earlier moves saw the city purchase hybrid public transport and natural gas vehicles, along with electric school buses.
Commenting on the premiere of the electric buses, Mayor Gallego posted the following social media video.
In the video, the Mayor said:
"I am on one of the Valley's new electric buses. Please check them out. They are operating now. They have zero emissions, so they're great for sustainability. Quiet service. It's much easier to hear people on the bus and great acceleration. So, please enjoy this innovative new technology."
Blog for Arizona reached out to Mayor Gallego's office to ask what the long term prospects were for the Valley Metro Electric Fleet.
The Mayor's Communication Director, Todd Zubatkin, provided the answers to the questions below.
How many electric buses are now operational?
"This is one of twelve (12) recently acquired buses made possible via a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant. The buses are being operated on a pilot basis while the department also undertakes an infrastructure improvement project at one of its transit facilities (operating garage) in parallel."
What is the long-term goal for the number of buses?
"This will be partially determined by the performance of these first 12 electric buses. Of note is that the majority of Phoenix’s current transit fleet (two thirds of ~500 buses) operates on clean-burning natural gas, and the department’s current natural gas provider utilizes renewable natural gas processes in its production. The department has also incorporated hybrid-electric buses into its fleet in recent years."
What is the goal/number in reduced emissions stemming from the release of the new electric fleet?
"While the transit department doesn’t have a set goal for reducing emissions, such reductions can be estimated after the buses have been put into full service. The transit department also works with the city’s Office of Sustainability and Office of Environmental Programs on long-term fleet strategies as part of those offices’ citywide planning effort
Sunday, February 22, 2026
Coming to an Arizona Neighborhood Near You: Concentration Camps; Representatives Ansari, Grijalva, and Stanton Demand Answers from Homeland Insecurity
American Concentration Camps holding mostly innocent and non-violent people, many of them children, in locations across the country, including in Mesa, Florence, and Eloy, Arizona.
All of Arizona's Democratic Congressional Delegation has called attention to the plight of the innocent and the horrible conditions they face in these "facilities" because in Donald Trump and Stephen Miller's Whites-Only Land, the cruelty and ethnic cleansing are the goal and point.
For example, Representative Yassamin Ansari and her staff have been telling people about the deteriorating medical condition of leukemia patient Arbella “Yari” Rodriguez Marquez at the Eloy Detention Facility.
At the same facility, Representative Adelita Grijalva called out the "Cruel and inhumane treatment" of elderly detainees. One of them is 79-year-old grandmother Juanita Benitez, a person who has been held for nine months since crossing the border illegally to join family. According to reporting from Public Station AZPM, there has been "a spike" in the detaining of the elderly.
Marquez and Benitez do not seem to be examples of the worst criminal elements the Trump regime told the American People it would target.
Again, for Trump and his White Nationalist-Fascist band, the cruelty and the ethnic cleansing is the point.
Now the Trump Fascist Regime, through its Homeland Insecurity Department, wants to expand and add more American Concentration Camps in the Grand Canyon State at Surprise and Marana.
Arizona's Congressional Democrats are still asking for answers.
On February 6, they demanded responses from Homeland Insecurity on a measles outbreak at the Florence Detention and Correctional Centers.
On the same day, Arizona's three House Democrats penned an additional letter to Homeland Insecurity Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting Director of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons, demanding a response on the purchase of a warehouse in Surprise to provide space for another 1500-bed ICE-Gestapo supervised concentration camp without consulting local leaders or providing responses to questions, including those by Republican and Trump supporting Representative Paul Gosar.
In statements accompanying the letter, Arizona Representative Yassamin Ansari, who is sponsoring legislation to drain resources from Trump's ICE-Gestapo, wrote on the community opppositon to this facility:
“The purchase of a warehouse in Surprise for proposed use by ICE is extremely alarming. I’m doing everything in my power to rein in ICE, including legislation to rescind $75 billion from the reckless Big Ugly Bill that handed ICE a slush fund for warehouse detention facilities like this one. I’ve heard from countless conservatives, libertarians, and independents across our state who don’t want ICE in our communities. My colleagues and I will continue to stand together to make that clear.”
Representative Adelita Grijalva also conveyed:
"Recent deaths at immigration detention centers are deeply disturbing and underscore the grave dangers of the rapid expansion of private, for-profit facilities across the country. Communities are waking up to massive detention centers being dropped into their neighborhoods with no warning, no transparency, and no accountability. These facilities are not about public safety — they are a central pillar of Trump’s cruel and unconstitutional deportation machine, designed to disappear people behind warehouse walls while denying basic standards of care and due process."
Representative Greg Stanton stated:
“Arizonans don’t want a detention facility across the street from their house or the neighborhood high school. DHS hasn’t done the bare minimum to communicate with local and county officials about how they’ll mitigate the impacts on the West Valley community, and they haven’t communicated to Congress how they’ll make an industrial warehouse fit to hold human beings. Let’s be clear: this is Trump’s disastrous mass deportation machine in action.”
Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego sent a joint correspondence, expressing many of the same concerns outlined in the Ansari, Grijalva, and Stanton letter about the Surprise Concentration Camp.
On February 19, Ansari, Grijalva, and Stanton sent another request for answers to Noem and Lyons regarding another proposed 500-bed Concentration Camp in Marana, despite opposition from the local county government.
The three house members also conveyed similar statements accompanying their recent letter.
Representative Ansari wrote:
“Arizonans have repeatedly made it clear that they do not want ICE in their neighborhoods. Turning a state prison in Marana into an immigration center would be a stain on our state. This is just one more step in their cruel agenda to dehumanize immigrants. I strongly oppose any expansion of ICE in our state.”
Representative Grijalva relayed:
“Across the country, we are seeing detention centers rapidly spring up with little community input or oversight as part of the Trump administration’s cruel mass-deportation agenda — even as serious concerns persist about deaths in custody and inhumane conditions. To meet its arbitrary deportation quotas, the Trump administration is sweeping vulnerable people into detention who should never be there – including Julia Benitez, a 79-year-old abuela who suffers from dementia. Local residents are being left in the dark and do not have basic information about the scope, timeline, or operational impact of this proposed facility. That lack of transparency is unacceptable and dangerous.”
Representative Stanton stated:
"The federal government has a responsibility to work with the communities it operates in — not around them. The planned detention facility in Surprise and the potential conversion of the Marana facility into a private detention center have generated real and legitimate concern from residents and local leaders across the political spectrum. Unfortunately, this is exactly what we've come to expect from Trump's DHS. They're perfectly willing to throw neighborhoods into chaos to carry out their mass deportation agenda. My Democratic colleagues and I will keep standing up for Arizonans and demanding answers."
Ansari and Stanton also paid an inspection visit to the Mesa holding center at Mesa Gateway Airport, where AZ Mirror reported that detainees were being held longer than 12 hours.
Speaking to the press after the inspection, Representative Ansari called the conditions at the Mesa Holding Center "Deeply disturbing and sickening."
Ansari went on to say:
"...This is a so-called temporary holding facility that has no beds, no showers, and no on-site food or medical staff. Yet, today, we confirmed through our conversations and interviews with the staff working at the holding facility that people are often held in this holding facility for longer than 12 hours. Until today, this ICE facility has operated without any oversight, and we were inside the facility for approximately 90 minutes. During that time, we observed conditions that raise serious concerns about safety, dignity, and compliance with basic standards, and I want to share just a couple of my observations today."
"First of all, the conditions. We walked inside and sat in a conference room, where we were able to ask a variety of questions about the conditions inside this ICE holding facility. Then we got to go see it firsthand. You walk into an area on the way to the tarmac, where you'll see people's belongings and bags, one bag each per person. It was unclear whether people are informed that they can go access their things, but sometimes human beings and the people there can go and ask for their belongings. One bag per person. Then you walk inside the holding facility area. It looks like a prison. You have rooms that have, you know, a bench along the wall, and each of the occupancy limitations can go up to 20 to 25 individuals per cell. Again, people are often held there for more than 12 hours. There's no real beds. They're given just blankets, no pillows. There's a lot of people in each room at one time, one toilet per cell. I specifically asked whether there's any privacy when it comes to using the restroom. The answer was no and not real clarity around Medical, you know, access. There's no doctors on site, necessarily. They did say that people, and you know, hospitals would be called, and doctors would be called. If there is an incident, but the fact that people are held there so often, and there's been really extensive reporting by the Arizona Mirror about this as well, more than 12 hours with no real reporting on that as well."
"Both Congressman Stanton and I asked, very specifically, do you, you know, keep track of how often this happens? Is this reported anywhere? The answer was no, and also not a policy for what the condition should be, or what additional steps should be taken by ICE. In other words, the US government when somebody is held for more than 12 hours. To me, that is a huge problem and very similar to some of the problems that we see inside the Detention centers, like the one in Eloy."
This is the United States of America in 2026.
We should not be imitating Fascist-Nazi style actions or returning to the mindset that saw non-violent people imprisoned or deported for expressing their First Amendment beliefs like Eugene Debbs and Emma Goldman during the World War One Period or for Japanese Concentration Camps to be built following the attack on Pearl Harbor, where thousands of innocent people, including children, under the rationale of combatting war time subversion, were incarcerated.
For Donald Trump and his White Nationalist band of apostates, this is like going back to the good old days.
For the sane portion of the American Populace, this move to create Concentration Camps like we are living in the real-life world of "The Man in the High Castle" should be pushed back and opposed at every level of government, and the people who say nothing or actually support this tragic move to Fascism should be defeated at the ballot box.
Arizona Leaders led by State Attorney General Kris Mayes Applaud Supreme Court Ruling Against Trump Tariffs
The word for the day in Democratic and sane Republican political and economic circles today is Hallelujah.
Today, in a six-to-three ruling, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump's imposition of tariffs by declaring emergency powers was unconstitutional and that he overstepped his authority in levying tariffs, which is the purview of Congress and its taxation authority.
Unfortunately, the Court did not provide guidance on how to give the tariffs proceeds already taken by the American Duce Wannabe's regime back to the American People.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes was part of the lawsuit that challenged the Trump administration's position in the Supreme Court.
After the decision, Mayes released the video below on social media.
Calling the decision "Great news," Mayes went on to say:
"This means that Arizonans and Americans will no longer have to deal with these essentially taxes on them. The Attorneys General brought this case because they knew these taxes/tariffs were going to impact/are impacting our economy and that they are illegal..."
Ms. Mayes office also issued a statement where the Attorney General conveyed:
"Today is a great day for Arizona families. Today is a great day for America. The court has spoken clearly: President Trump's tariffs were illegal. The statutes used by the President did not authorize him to impose these tariffs. And thanks to the lawsuit filed by my office and our coalition of fellow attorneys general, today they have been struck down.
Let's be honest about what these tariffs actually were — an illegal tax on American families and businesses. And the President cannot impose taxes on the American people without the consent of their elected representatives in Congress.
According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, the average household lost $1,000 last year under Trump's tariffs. That means families stretching grocery budgets, small businesses watching their margins disappear or being forced out of business entirely.
All year, Americans have watched prices climb and wondered if anyone in power was going to do anything about it. We did something about it.
This case was about more than just tariffs or economic policy. It was about the rule of law and American Democracy. The rule of law is worth fighting for. American Democracy is worth fighting for. Today, we won one of those fights."
The Attorney General also held a press event to celebrate the Supreme Court ruling striking down "The Trump Overreach."
While Trump held an event at the White House Press Room, denouncing the Justices who supported the ruling, while vowing to find another way, as provided in the dissent of the three Justices who voted against the decision, to levy tariffs that working and middle class Americans will continue to be on the hook for, Arizona's other leading Democrats voiced their approval for the Supreme Court's actions today.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs issued a statement that read:
“This is a victory for Arizona’s small businesses, families, and overall economy.
President Trump’s reckless tariffs—the largest tax hike on Americans in decades—have wreaked havoc on our economy and caused chaos for Arizona’s small businesses and families. Over the past year, I’ve spoken directly with small business owners, farmers, and food distributors across our state who are being hit hard. Here in Arizona, we’ve experienced clear and tangible impacts from these harmful decisions, including a slowdown in progress, the loss of jobs, and the disruption of important investments.
At a time when Arizonans are already facing high costs, and with tariffs proven to be a major contributing factor, I feel relieved. Relieved for the small businesses and families who had to shoulder the extra costs on essentials like groceries and housing.
While the damage of these tariffs cannot be corrected overnight, I will continue to do everything I can to increase affordability and connect Arizonans to good-paying jobs and grow our economy, as I have for the past three years.
I will continue to fight to cut taxes and lower costs for working people in Arizona, and I will never stop fighting against DC decisions that raise costs for Arizonans.”
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego offered:
This decision brings real relief to Phoenix families and small businesses hit hard by rising tariff costs. Thank you to @AZAGMayes for leading this case all the way to the Supreme Court.
Representative Yassamin Ansari posted:
"SCOTUS's decision helps American families, small businesses, and farmers across the country as Donald Trump continues to make their lives more expensive. Trump's idiotic trade war must end."
Representative Adelita Grijalva wrote in a statement:
"Trump’s tariffs are a tax paid for by the American people, plain and simple. Research shows that rising costs have been passed on almost entirely to American consumers. While I welcome the Supreme Court’s decision, the reality is that the damage has been done for far too many families and small businesses. This is especially true in border communities like those I represent, where small businesses that rely on cross-border trade, agricultural producers, and working families have all felt the squeeze as prices rise and supply chains are disrupted.”
“Trump is not a king. His actions to side-step Congress are harming the economy, local communities, and Arizona families. That’s why I voted last week to rein in this executive overreach and reassert Congress’ rightful role as a check and balance.”
Representative Greg Stanton posted:
Senator Mark Kelly relayed in two posts:
"This is a huge win for American families and small businesses who’ve had to deal with rising costs because of Donald Trump’s illegal tariffs."
"Standing up for Arizona and taking these fights to court is what @AZAGMayes does every day. Today’s decision is good news for Arizonans who are just trying to get ahead. Thank you, Kris Mayes!"
Like Kelly, Senator Ruben Gallego issued several social media posts praising the Court ruling and condeming Trump's reaction, including:
"Good. But we can’t let up. We must ensure this administration doesn’t try to find another avenue for its reckless and illegal tariffs. We must ensure corporations actually lower prices and small businesses are refunded. And we in Congress must reassert and protect our authority over tariffs."
"Arizona is full of leaders who don’t back down. Thank you @AZAGMayes, for taking action and fighting back against Trump's reckless and illegal tariffs. That’s what standing up for your state looks like."
"Hardworking people have been paying the price for Trump's reckless and illegal tariffs. Today, instead of working to lower prices and pay back the money he owes the American people, he's doubled down on charging them more."
Arizona House Democratic Leader Oscar De Los Santos posted:
"HUGE: In a lawsuit filed by @AZAGMayes, the US Supreme Court rules Trump’s tariffs are ILLEGAL. Thank you, Attorney General Mayes, for killing this illegal tax on American families and businesses that were hurting us while prices spiral out of control."
He also posted these two entries calling out Trump for his announcement of a ten percent tariff across the board via Executive Order, and also his "insane" lies that he has solved the affordability crisis:
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