Having literally exhausted every effort to convince Iranian leadership to bow down before the American Empire and behave like a normal country, the Iranian leadership, whoever that happens to be, is clearly not interested in playing along.

Meanwhile, like a constipated person who just can’t figure out a way to take a large shit, the rest of the world is in a real quagmire. And until something happens, all we can do is stay by the bathroom door and wait until we get a sign of something that shows movement in the right direction.

The elixir, I believe, to loosen the bowels of the ruling Mullahs and the IRGC, who insist on holding it in, is to blow a huge hole in their rectum and let the pieces fall where they may.

He who hath an ear, let him hear he truth: Iran is a 7th Century country playing by medieval rules of conquest, and the rest of the planet would really like to move on.

I would also add that as long as a country like Iran exists, we can never truly say we are a civilized planet.

Now I get that many of my faithful brethren are up in arms about Trump and he starting this cramming of solid waste down the throats of the Mullahs, but they deserved it, and having not yet realized the might of the great Empire, dare I say, Trumpian empire, is the fact that we could any moment bomb the shit out of Iran until there is nothing left of it, and no one would care.

Oh, they might get some sympathies from the finance partners in the UK, or France, but secretly, almost every nation except China and Russia, could care less about them. We saw this in Venezuela, where a government was removed and no one shed a tear, not even Argentina, which is famous for them.

The reason is because the days of really bad actors dressed up as global leaders are over. The transformation in many Middle Eastern countries is proof that financial strength is the answer, not authoritative religions who tell people what to wear, or when to pray, or countries that make people eat sawdust and celebrate Christmas in August just to make everyone happy.

The world is one big corrupted peace of shit, to be true, and if you need evidence just scroll X for about 15 minutes, or worse, TikTok; the entire rules-based order is one catastrophic pile of doo-doo and we all know it. But the quality of life, while far from perfect, is shown by the sheer number of millionaires produced every year. Iran is the stone age considering it was a much more progressive country up until 1979.

In my next article I will tell you how upset God must be right now at how we treate the world of his son’s former estate, but let’s just say no one is innocent at this point, and if Iran gets blown to smithereens, they can’t say we didn’t warn them, and no one will shed a tear.

Memo to Rubio: drop leaflets telling the Iranian people to run like its the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, and head for the Eastern plateaus while there is still time. Tehran is about to feel the love of 15,000 bunker-busting bombs right up their culos. And when that happens, oil will be flowing again, fertilizer, medicine, and everything will flow, and the world can get back to normal.

Relief is good.

Iran has no right to hold the world hostage, and it is exactly why they can never have a nuclear bomb. They are proving to everyone our suspicions of what they woudl do if they had one. The Iranian Regime has terrorized its people and the region for 40 years, they oppress women, kills Jews, Christians, homosexuals and other minorities who deserve to live with dignity just like in other countries. The Iranian people deserve (fair) rule of law, human rights, freedom to exist, to mingle with the rest of humanity.

If Congress says it needs a justification for war, look deep inside your soul and ask yourself do the Iranian people deserve the same kind of life as you?

Of course they do.

I still can’t get over the fact Afghanistan is being run by basically the same kind of religious nuts, and by that I mean people who use religion to oppress, and who cause enormous pain and suffering through tyranny. But it was not without effort that we did try to bring law and order to the region, but it failed because the people of Afghanistan weren’t ready to say goodbye to 678 AD.

I believe the people in Iran are ready to overthrow their government, and I believe if the CIA would simply do its fucking job like they do in every other country where they sponsor coups, this could all be over in weeks - and life would go on.

To Trump, I say this is your last term. Make it count. Make history. You have given Iran enough time, and they are still playing with you. Bomb the shit out of them, and then let’s bring the boys back home, just like Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

Sometimes in order to clean up the mess you have to make a mess.

These are not the thoughts of a mad man. Quite the contrary. My ideas are based on history, and sometimes you need a Godzilla in order to take down a Rodan.

I do not carry water for Trump. I see him as a spectacle of history, and I leave it to historians to judge him. What I see is a completely original human being who is beholden to no one. While some might argue that’s a bad thing, I also see it as an opportunity to do things his predecessors never had either the idea or the courage to try. In other words, some things he does well, others not so well. But he tries and mostly, he is successful.

But when he dresses himself up, or allows himself to be portrayed as being akin to Jesus, I take no offense. I love Jesus. I am a committed Christian who believes in His teachings, and I accept His divinity. And given that Trump also professes love for Jesus—and has, perhaps, felt closer to Him than most due to his close calls with death—and given his unabashed public support of Christ, the only thing I see is a man with a quirky sense of humor, giving accolades to Christ by making Him front and center in the conversation.

What seems strange to me is that the Left would take offense at all. The very word “God” often seems to elicit a sharp reaction from many on that side. And when was the last time any of them showed real concern over the plight of thousands of Christians who are massacred every year?

If Trump wants to be palsy with Jesus, and isn’t intimidated by the Pope—who is, supposedly, below Jesus on the spiritual power scale—what does that matter to me? I will let Jesus Christ deal with that in the next life. But in this life, the real miracle, in my view, is that for the first time in modern history, an American president has pulled off what appears to be a virtually bloodless confrontation with forces intent on undermining the West and causing widespread suffering through energy deprivation and instability.

No one wants to give Trump credit, and even fewer believed he could do it. Yet, he did.

The straits are flowing again, Iran’s days may be numbered in weeks, not months, and the broader message—perhaps even to leaders like Xi—is a reminder of what they might face if they attempt similar moves elsewhere.

Ladies and gentlemen, if I may say so, I am inclined to believe that Jesus—or God—does indeed have a hand in the affairs of man, and that, for once, peace could be within reach.

Isn’t it said in Daniel that the Most High rules in the kingdoms of men?

Regardless of his jester-like moments, when it comes to Trump, the Lord sometimes works in mysterious ways.

It has come to my understanding that Hezbollah, often known as a political and militant group in Lebanon, is deeply rooted in Shia Islam, drawing inspiration from Iran’s revolutionary ideology. At its core, Hezbollah reflects a fusion of faith and politics, anchored in the concept of the “Wilayat al-Faqih”—the guardianship of the Islamic jurist.

This doctrine asserts that a senior Islamic jurist, like Iran’s Supreme Leader, has both religious and political authority, guiding the state in accordance with divine law. Similarly, Hezbollah’s leadership draws its moral and political legitimacy from this idea, positioning themselves as defenders of Islamic values and the oppressed.

This blending of religious authority and political power evokes historical parallels.

In ancient Judaism, the Sanhedrin and Sadducees wielded similar dual roles—acting both as interpreters of the law and political power brokers. Just as the Sanhedrin shaped Jewish life under Roman rule, Hezbollah’s religious leaders shape Lebanon’s political landscape. Thus, Hezbollah is a modern manifestation of this ancient pattern—where faith, law, and power intersect, for better or worse, in shaping society.

Add to this, Shia Islam feels it is under the yoke, if you will, of Western authority. Its religious rulers use violence to further their ideology, and Israel’s (and the West’s) constant assaults are a repercussion of Hezbollah’s actions, not Israel.

If, in Jesus’ time, the Jews had decided to attack Syria, which was also under Roman authority, Rome, too, would have taken swift action.

Hezbollah is the belligerent party. Theocratic dictatorships are a relic of the past and belong in the dustbin of history.

The West is sorry that you somehow missed the last six hundred years of intellectual progress. Out of religious pride, you have failed to keep pace with the rest of humanity.

This is also true of the Iranian leadership. They bring this wrath down upon themselves because they do not see the true light of God. If they did, they would recognize the Son of Man’s teachings and contributions to law, ethics, human rights, common law, jurisprudence, constitutional republican government, free markets, and equal rights for men and women.

In Shia law, one man rules as if he himself is God.

Such an insult to the Most High!

The West embraced Jesusonian principles, as we (mostly) warmly embraced the Son of God while He taught us on our world 2,026 years ago. This is why today we are more powerful and more enduring than you in every way.

To the religious leaders in Iran, Lebanon, and elsewhere: Join the West—join progress.

History will not be kind to those who reject the light of truth.

People don’t like my views on Iran. I endorse the actions Trump is taking, and I fully well know the impact all of this is having on the world at large. We in America are far better off than people in most countries, but this is not the doing of America; this is the doing of a small group of religious radicals who are clinging to power like Sauron cinching the ring as it slowly slips through his fingers.

It was Iran that sponsored most of the terror activity for the last generation, and such a country is not qualified to sit at the global table of business. Earth is a rules-based order—or it isn’t. And it’s high time a world leader finally did what Trump is doing, which is to slap them down and force them to play by the rules, and the rules in this case don’t include Iran owning a nuclear weapon.

It would be like Cuba having a nuclear weapon, or North Korea—oh wait, they do have one. And the only reason for that is because they have big brother China to protect them. We have treaties with China and Russia not to use weapons, détente at the end of a barrel, but it keeps the peace and we all live happily ever after.

Iran doesn’t play by the rules, and they have a religious zealotry to wipe out the Jews, whom they despise for reasons that harken back to the 7th century, and even further if you count the Old Testament, which traces this thing all the way back to Abraham.

For whatever reasons, the recklessness of Iran makes it everyone’s neighborhood bully. Trump has decided to take on the bully because sooner or later this bully might do something to really inflict harm, like using a bomb—and that cannot happen.

So while my day job is to be a loving Christian, my part-time gig is rooting for the good guy, which is us, because this is where, apparently, everyone wants to live, including 50 million Iranians who have to suffer under the ruling thumb of a bunch of stuffy mullahs who control billions of dollars of oil.

But all of this could end if Iran would simply ask for intervention and admit they have anger issues, and get treatment. They say the way to fix a problem is to first admit you have one, and Iranian leadership should look around and ask themselves, why don’t people like us?

I believe you already know the answer.

Oh, and by the way, you don’t get to keep the ring.

All right, so first of all, I would consider myself, as a participant in these podcasts, to be a spiritual philosopher. I like philosophy, and I like thinking about spiritual things and ideas. I tend to get philosophical about them because they help me understand the structure and the dynamics of life.

The other day I was watching someone, and they were talking about how happy they were to be saved. And I thought about that word—what does it mean? What does it mean to be saved?

I imagine a lot of my non-believing friends and family—and believe me, most people I know don’t seem to be very spiritual or religious—and are quite antagonistic toward people of faith. But what do they think of the word saved? What do they think when someone says, “I’m saved”? What do they think that means—saved from, or saved for?

So I want to talk about that for a minute, because what it means to me, plainly, is that when you are saved, you are saved from the clutches of eternal death—eternal non-existence. And what that means is that you have accepted that you are more than just a material being—that there is something within you that is salvageable, that will persist even after your material body has given up and is no longer usable.

So when you say you’re saved or you’re not saved, it’s a distinction one makes about where they see themselves in life. If you are a person who does not believe or doesn’t care about being saved, what you’re essentially saying is, “I don’t think there’s anything that comes after this life in the flesh. There’s nothing that’s going to save me from death.”

To the person who believes they’re saved—or who talks about the idea of being saved—what they’re saying is that they believe there is someone or something that has the ability and the power to save you. So essentially, the idea of being saved also includes the concept of someone who has the authority and the ability to save you from physical cessation of existence.

And the only possible being that could save you would be something more than material. So the essence becomes: the saver is deity. Deity makes it possible for a person to be salvageable—to have some quality or essence about them that transcends the material world.

Now, you could logically ask yourself, why does deity need a person to want to be saved? What is this dynamic where created beings have to somehow participate in order for that salvation to be realized? What is it that requires the person being saved to agree to be saved?

So if you believe that you’re saved, is it because you believe it—or is it something independent of that belief? If you don’t believe in eternal life, or that there is an essence about you that transcends physical life, does that play a role in your salvageability?

I think you could argue that it probably doesn’t.

On the other hand, we hear over and over again, “It is your faith that saves you.” So then you wonder—if I have to believe that I can be saved, what happens if I don’t believe that? Do I just get discarded? Am I not salvageable simply because I don’t believe I am?

Or is it something else?

Maybe it’s not a matter of believing you’re saved. Maybe it’s a matter of recognizing the truth—that there is something to be saved. That there is something within the human being that is worthy of salvation.

So I would say that it’s incidental—if you are a salvageable human being, in other words, if there is a survival quality within you that is adaptive to the whole of deity consciousness, then you’re going to be saved by virtue of the fact that you are a human being with soul potential.

And I think that’s what it comes down to—the soul itself is the question. Do you have a soul?

Now, that’s where it gets a little dicey, because in order for the soul to emerge, a person has to make a qualified choice at some point in their life—something that creates the embryonic soul. And that’s something we’ll have to tackle another day.

So I would say that while it is your faith that saves you, it is not the only prerequisite to being saved—and we’ll get to that.

But that’s basically the point of the term “being saved.” And people are joyous about it because it means they are not limited by this one singular existence—that there is something to look forward to.

And frankly, I would be excited about that. It gives us hope that we’re not just limited to one short, brief instant of time.

Before the Left gets its panties in a bunch, I would like to point out to my pacifist friends that America has a long history of conflict in its short 250-year history.

It’s what happens when you assume leadership in the free world, for the simple fact that leaders are always attacked by lesser powers who seek to replace them.

It’s not easy to be leaders of the free world, because the wealth a free world creates provides opportunity to other nations who wish to plunder those riches for their own gain.

For example, do you think the cartels are dealing in pesos, or American cash? It seems funny that most of their customers are in the free world. Free world people like to get high. So it was smart for Trump to take down a country that was essentially in bed with the cartels. Have you noticed, since ICE began its operations, that suddenly murders, deaths, and overdoses have gone down?

Nice job for a “No-King.”

But I digress. Let’s get back to the war thing.

Thanks to my AI secretary Dani, here is a brief reminder of how many conflicts America has seen since our founding.

Here’s a comprehensive chronological list of wars involving the United States since 1776, with their commonly accepted start dates.

🇺🇸 Wars Involving the United States (Since 1776)

🏛️ Founding Era & Early Republic

• American Revolutionary War — April 19, 1775

• Northwest Indian War — 1785

• Quasi-War — July 7, 1798

• First Barbary War — May 10, 1801

• Tecumseh’s War — 1811

⚔️ 19th Century Expansion & Civil War Era

• War of 1812 — June 18, 1812

• Second Barbary War — March 3, 1815

• Seminole Wars — 1817 (First Seminole War)

• Mexican-American War — April 25, 1846

• Utah War — May 1857

• American Civil War — April 12, 1861

• Indian Wars — ~1865 (post–Civil War phase)

🌎 Imperial & Early Global Conflicts

• Spanish-American War — April 21, 1898

• Philippine-American War — February 4, 1899

• Boxer Rebellion — June 1900

🌐 World Wars & Interwar Conflicts

• World War I — U.S. entry: April 6, 1917

• Russian Civil War — 1918 (U.S. involvement)

• World War II — U.S. entry: December 7, 1941

❄️ Cold War Era Conflicts

• Korean War — June 25, 1950

• Vietnam War — November 1, 1955

• Bay of Pigs Invasion — April 17, 1961

• Dominican Civil War intervention — April 28, 1965

• Lebanon Crisis — July 15, 1958

🛢️ Post–Cold War & Middle East Era

• Grenada Invasion — October 25, 1983

• Panama Invasion — December 20, 1989

• Gulf War — August 2, 1990

• Somali Civil War intervention — December 9, 1992

• Bosnian War intervention — 1995 (U.S. major role)

• Kosovo War — March 24, 1999

🔥 War on Terror & Modern Conflicts

• War in Afghanistan — October 7, 2001

• Iraq War — March 20, 2003

• Second Libyan Civil War intervention — March 19, 2011

• War against ISIS — June 2014

• Syrian Civil War intervention — September 2014

• Yemen conflict involvement — 2015

⚠️ Important Notes (For Accuracy)

• This list includes declared wars, major conflicts, and significant military interventions.

• The U.S. has participated in hundreds of smaller operations, covert actions, and peacekeeping missions not listed here.

• Start dates reflect U.S. entry or first engagement, not necessarily the global start of the conflict.

In other words, war is the rule, not the exception.

As Americans, we need to support all wars where bad people are stopped from doing bad things. Bad things include promoting terrorism abroad, spreading illicit drugs, human smuggling globally, spreading infectious diseases, or committing gross human rights violations—all of which fall under the banner of “bad things.” And while we are not the world’s police, we are the world’s largest military force, and sometimes the force for good must take on the forces of evil.

Anyone who doesn’t understand this as the permanent condition and reality of mortal life is looking at reality through the eyes of a child.

History is written by the victors of wars, and there is a right side and a wrong side.

Iran has brought this war on itself, and it will be good when the root of its power has been yanked from the drying sand forever. The Iranian people hunger for freedom they haven’t seen since 1979. Be proud of the fact that such a nation, rooted in totalitarianism, is finally being brought to justice. And why on earth we would want such a country to control 25% of the world’s oil supply is beyond reason—it is, in fact, suicidal.

Since 1979, most Middle Eastern nations have sobered to the fact that healthy, robust societies come from open markets and economies that thrive and work for their people. This is why even they disdain Iran. Iran is a bad actor, and its insistence on provoking a holy war has completely lost its utility. Saudi Arabia knows this, as do Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan. The only friends Iran has are, ironically, the same countries that always support bad actors—Russia and China—which is reflective of their poor human rights records.

It would be good for this country to believe that what we are doing right now to Iran is warranted. First, we are the only ones with the firepower, and second, once this skirmish is over, the rest of the world will have rid itself of one less tyrant.

Let us be proud when victory comes—and we should. Our ancestors are, and the Iranian people will be quite grateful, too, just as European descendants are grateful we gave them an assist to take out another tyrant by the name of Adolf Hitler.

Let us not forget the Son of God paid us a visit. He spent a little time here, got to know what life was like on our dark world, and in the end, though he brought truth and light, our leaders killed him.

And why did they kill him?

Because he was a threat to their power. Plain and simple.

Have things changed?

No, they have not.

That is what I want you to think about—how things haven’t changed. The same people are in charge, or worse.

What does it say about a species that kills people who bring peace?

It says we have different priorities.

And this is why so many still suffer. It’s not because God is angry, or that he isn’t really there, or because He is a mean God.

Look at the way Christians still get murdered for being so, or they get ridiculed, or worse—they are called evil because they don’t endorse reproductive rights, or sexualizing kids, or because the followers of Christ object to promiscuous behavior. And anyone who gets in the way of our God-given liberties is labeled phobic.

That is what people think of those who believe in Jesus.

We reap what we sow, and so far, the only sowing I see is the sowing of distrust, anger, jealousy, materialism, greed, avarice, exploitation of the weak—especially of little children—and exploitation of the system itself so that everyone “gets what’s coming to them.”

In the end, we killed Christ because of our pride, and I don’t see him coming back anytime soon because he knows what we did to him the last time—and we would probably do it again.

We celebrate pride as if it is a virtuous thing, above all other needs, and anyone who comes along to tell us we need to be humble, giving, patient, honest, and sincere will be told to go to hell.

Yes, they’ll say Christ died because of our sins, and he was the “final sacrifice.” Wrong. That might make us feel less guilty—and that’s the point. Until we realize just how bad mankind really is, we will never change. The crucifixion of Christ is the greatest symbol of man’s evil nature.

I, for one, would like to apologize to Jesus; I’d like to believe he forgives me, and he probably does, but it makes me sick to think I come from a race that kills Sons of God so we can hang on to power.

The fact that so many people are offended by Christ tells me nothing has changed.

It is not just the failure of a tepidly weak Congress that has lines a mile long at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Boston-Logan, or Houston Hobby. Sure, you can shake your fist at Chuck Schumer, or Trump, but the real culprit is us.

You see, everyone flies now like we used to take the bus (remember Greyhound?). Airlines are at capacity anyway because the country has grown in population by 30 percent over the last four decades. Add to this that since 9/11, every human being must be stopped, checked, X-rayed, and scanned before being allowed to board a plane. On top of that, planes now carry more passengers because airlines have figured out the maximum pain point we can tolerate while sitting in our seats.

How many times have you seen planeloads of passengers bringing two or three carry-ons, plus a computer, onto a plane? It’s like we are moving into a hotel for three hours.

We have reached a tipping point.

It is too cheap to fly, and airlines will scrape every dollar they can (and offer you a low-interest credit card). The whole experience has degraded precipitously since the 1970s. Back then:

• Food and drinks were free

• Stewardesses were young and attractive - and very nice!

• You had legroom and two or three good-quality magazines

• You could get a pillow and blanket

• Headphones were free so you could listen to music

• The captain was a charming professional who spoke clearly

• You could quickly board a flight simply by handing over a ticket

• Planes rarely exceeded 160 passengers, so boarding and deplaning were easy

• At most airports, you could walk from the parking lot to the terminal in minutes

• Flight delays were rare, not the norm

• You could smoke a cigarette in the back of the plane

• And yes—the food was good and free

• People drank, but there were no fistfights in the aisle

• Passengers didn’t normally try to open cockpit doors

• Pilots were hallucinating on mushrooms

So you see, when you look at what has been taken out of the flying experience, you understand why flying has become just like driving. It’s miserable because there is too much of it.

My family and I need to go to a wedding later this summer in North Carolina, which is three states away. We have decided to drive because the time it takes to get is about the same (all day), and we can bring more things with us. Plus, we get to see parts of the country we haven’t seen before. We can talk, listen to music, or use our smartphones—whatever we want—while traveling on the interstate, where there is food at every exit.

Sometimes we push our systems too much, and it degrades the human experience, and its more about population than a government that just can’t keep up with scale.

One more reason airports are full is that this year, that no one talks about. Spring Break—once called Easter break before woke folk changed the name—is spread across multiple states that all start and end at different times. Spring Break travel is now a month-long event, not just a week, and many of us are traveling more because of VRBOs and easy-to-find accommodations.

Not everything is the government’s fault, though they could certainly ease TSA checkpoints if they wanted to speed things up. But that won’t happen—because government loves checkpoints.

In order to truly understand the historical context of the current war between Israel and Iran, with the U.S. being a proxy, it can be explained through this brief account.

Cain was a bastard child. Adam was not his father; Cano was Cain’s father, and he was from a tribe of the Nodites, who lived east of the (original) Garden site in Western Iran.

Out of …

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One quick scroll down Instagram and you’d be under the impression the world is about to fall apart. The fear-porn is at a fever pitch, and even I, from time to time, get depressed at all of it. It’s a big, fat mess, isn’t it? Humanity on the precipice, doom and gloom everywhere, and the expectation of massive failure is just inches away, it seems.

But what if it isn’t?

It took Rome five hundred years to fall.

Consider the standard automobile. It is a complicated and highly technical contraption that is the result of five generations of evolving technology. One would think that something so well-crafted and efficient could operate without issue for as long as the materials last—and for good reason. It was built, inch by inch, to be exactly that: a fast-moving machine that glides like the wind. And it’s not just the car—it’s the road, the highways, the efficient system of streetlights and roadways, all designed to make sure that sports car gets maximum use. And any number of a million little things can go wrong, but they don’t—and if they do, it’s the exception, not the rule.

It is the same with society. We didn’t build this thing overnight, and every inch of it took as long as it needed to take to get us here. A computer has a zillion parts, and any one thing can stop it—but it doesn’t. And that’s my point. Humanity is built upon the principle of redundancy - trial and error. Our financial systems, developed with rules, ensure it doesn’t fall off the rails. Our medical industry, as fragile and infinitely complicated as it is, is the best humanity has ever seen. And the good news is, should a comet like Apophis hit us in 2029, there is no way it will take as long to put everything back together again—or at least it won’t take another million years like it did the first time.

And we also give far too much credit to men thinking they have everything under control. They don’t. The greatest leaders in the world are just human, passing along ideas and knowledge one generation at a time. Think about Alexander the Great, a brilliant warrior and statesman, perhaps the greatest in history; or Genghis Khan; or Abe Lincoln—brilliant men in their own right, each one heartbeat away from death. And when they died, mankind continued unfettered.

And that is the point. As fragile as humanity appears to be, we’ve made it through the worst of times previously—advancing glaciers, horrific floods, disastrous earthquakes, and even several world wars, with scars to prove it—and here we are at the beginning of another century, still moving forward.

I used to think there was an evil cabal of demons and people who were planning for man’s destruction. Our greatest religion, Christianity, bathes itself in apocrypha, with a nod toward “end times” and second comings baked into the ingredients of its faith, always worried that someday the world will just collapse—only it doesn’t.

My good friend reminds me often that “The Most High does rule in the kingdoms of men,” which, translated into modern speech, means, “Dear Lord, take the wheel…”

Our plans are not God’s plan, and we are only just beginning the more interesting part of the human story. The quality of that story is up to us—but God has our back. I believe that.

Too many smart people have fallen victim to nihilism because we simply can’t comprehend the delicacy of building a society. Malthus thought we would starve. Paul Ehrlich believed the world was too crowded. Friedrich Nietzsche and Karl Marx despised human progress and believed us unworthy of it—and yet we have prevailed.

Ask anyone alive today if they are lucky to have been born in these times, and most will agree we are far better off than we were even sixty years ago.

We worry about the fragility of life because we understand the preciousness of what we have gained—like fine crystal that we keep on the top shelf so it doesn’t accidentally break. We like our comforts, and we stress about being uncomfortable. Meanwhile, my closet is full of clothes, there’s a hospital nearby, grocery stores on every corner, a pet clinic down the street, and a decent car I can take my wife on drives with. I have countrysides to drive through and Netflix to play my favorite movies while I sip a glass of fine red wine—and all of that is possible because our ancestors kept striving for better things and better living.

And it would literally take a comet to bring all of this down—which I have no control over anyway.

But as far as society passing away in our lifetime, I don’t see it happening—just like Rome didn’t fall in a day. And when it did fall, it was from neglect and avarice. Though even in its fall, the better rudiments of the once-great Roman Empire (and the Greeks before them, and the kings of Egypt as well) survive today in our laws, our educational pursuits, our institutions, and our desire for knowledge—unstopped by several plagues, incessant wars, and the growing pains of a burdening industrial age that led to footprints on the moon and the erasure of not a few diseases that have long plagued mankind.

To wit, no one man or nation can destroy what has been built by the hands of God through the children of His enlightenment. Let us be strengthened by the resolve that God believes in us, and through this revelation, perhaps follow His example—and cling to the hope that He has a grand design in store, if we would only believe.

As a fan of Mornings with Maria, I was shocked at Ms. Bartiromo’s enthusiasm over new drone developments that, on the face of it, portend a very dark future for society.

Skydio.com CEO and developer Adam Bry describes this new form of policing that is already underway:

Take a step back. How are you going to feel knowing that you are never more than 30 seconds away from a robotic drone that can “help you” when the need arises?

Are we ready to accept a flying fleet of AI-driven robotic drones that are always present? And what about in countries that are under strict authoritarian rule, like China, North Korea, or some other totalitarian society? Is this technology not a dictators dream come true?

While it might sound reassuring that we have the technology to create a literal drone army, I can see a time in the not-too-distant future when the buzz of flying robots will be everywhere—a constant hum of machines coming and going, snapping images and surveying at super speed, all the while becoming the Big Brother we always feared—and all “for our safety.”

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and knowing human nature, we know where this is headed. It’s headed toward a total and complete police state where everyone—you, me, your neighbor—is only 30 seconds away from someone asking to scan our eyeballs via a high-tech drone that will most likely not only track your movements, but hunt you down easily if you become a threat.

For law enforcement, this sounds promising, but in the wrong hands, it spells prison without walls.

Throw in a predictive AI algorithm, and you have pre-crime units tracking down potential suspects—Minority Report in the not-too-distant future.

And I always think, who asked for this?

Should you?

It would behoove us, as a free society, to begin thinking about legislation that protects citizens from violations of our Fourth Amendment rights, which are outlined in the Constitution as protection from “unreasonable searches and seizures,” including those that would come in the form of surveillance from a robot flying over your head, or a camera attached to the side of a bus, watching you—waiting for you to make a mistake.

Most recently, a Broward County judge ruled that red-light cameras are unconstitutional, which is good news for liberty-loving Americans. But we need more than that. We need to be protected from the protectors and never allow constant surveillance to become the norm. The expectation that when I leave my home I surrender my rights is ludicrous, and yet we accept it in our high-tech society because we assume these practices are there to protect us—and perhaps they are. But at what cost?

Benjamin Franklin wisely stated that if we must give up our freedoms in order to be safe, then we deserve neither. Lasting security and freedom can come only from a truly moral society, not at the hands of an overreaching government that insists on monitoring our every move.

Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you
—Sting

Nothing short of insane—that is how I would describe New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, a politician who has far outlived his usefulness in Washington and is now stooping as low as possible against the will of the American people, all while being protected by the media and fellow Democrats in Congress.

In a recent stump speech, Senator Schumer described ICE—an agency that has, thus far, removed over 10,000 serious criminals from the United States—as “thugs.” The same senior senator is demonizing federal law enforcement, essentially seeding the American public with the idea that a lawful enforcement agency is somehow “dangerous.”

At the same time, Americans are facing growing frustrations with airport security and travel delays, while political gridlock in Washington continues over proposed legislation such as the SAFE Act, which supporters argue is intended to strengthen voter integrity.

In essence, the United States Senator is suggesting that those who entered the country illegally are “victims,” while portraying federal agents as “dangerous.” Meanwhile, millions of Americans endure long security lines, missed flights, and mounting frustration as Congress remains deadlocked.

What’s worse is that Democrats in both the House and Senate (with a few exceptions) continue to defend leaders like Schumer, Jeffries, and Warren, who regularly appear on air and criticize ICE agents—men and women who have families and who serve fellow Americans by working to maintain public safety.

(But Jim, what about those protesters who were killed by ICE?)

You mean those who were encouraged by political leaders to put themselves in harm’s way because they were told it was “the right thing to do?”

There is growing concern about the role of outside “dark money” funding in protests across the country. Some believe that the same sources of political funding may also support the campaigns of leaders who advocate sweeping societal changes, and who want to “fundamentally transform America into a third-world hellhole.”

Adam Carolla said it best: If you are still a Democrat, know who you are supporting. You are supporting leaders who, critics argue, prioritize reelection over the well-being of everyday Americans—those who must live under policies that include higher taxes, rising crime, strained resources, trans-youth mutilation, increased housing costs, and pressure on the middle class, Black, White and Asian Americans.

There are approximately 22,000 agents who serve within the Department of Homeland Security. These men and women put their lives on the line every day, tracking down individuals who intend to harm others or exploit the system. They do not operate with disregard for American values, but rather in defense of them.

To my fellow Democrats—of which I was formerly one—that party, as I once knew it, is gone. Many believe the modern Democratic Party now supports policies such as open borders, expanded abortion access, and positions that are increasingly at odds with traditional values, including support for law enforcement.

While I am no water-carrier for the Republican Party, I do believe in strong family values and a deep sense of American community. I know I am fortunate to have been born in this country, and I do not take that lightly. I do not see today’s Democratic leadership as serving the broader public interest.

How about a new party—the American Party: one that prioritizes protecting our homeland from threats, both foreign and domestic, while cherishing individual freedom and the right to be left alone?

If COVID wasn’t a wake-up call as to how easily people can be influenced by fear, then I can only hope more reflection is still to come.

Just as many felt divided from family and friends during the pandemic, there is concern that political rhetoric today risks turning Americans against one another—particularly against those who serve in law enforcement—often under the banner of “democracy.”

How shameful.

I hate the police state. I abhor it because I deem it mostly unnecessary.

Prior to 2001, there was never the presence there is today when you take a flight. TSA agents are everywhere, and it has made traveling a nightmare. We are living in a perpetual police state because of “security concerns” that never seem to go away, and yet, despite increased security at the highest levels, there are still violent acts, which precipitate more security measures. You can go to a ballet and you will probably be checked at the door for weapons.

Why?

Is every inch of America now under lockdown? Are kids having to pass through metal detectors at school? When you go to a baseball or football game (college and professional), are there not guards and police patrolling the grounds, some places even with the presence of drug-sniffing dogs? The answer is yes, yes, and YES!

We are now living in a full-blown, never-ending police state.

Cameras are now fastened to school buses to catch speeders (to make us safe); street cams and even car cams are everywhere (to make us safe), and your local police have access to your Zoom cam on your front door (to make us safe), though Nancy Guthrie might disagree.

Every time there is an incident, it becomes standard operating procedure to increase safety protocols that never go away once they are established, and it’s why our local law enforcement feels more like a military patrol unit these days than ever before.

When does it end?

Never. And why should it?

We tried to tell you that security trumps freedom in the eyes of the government; the idea that unrestrained law enforcement will prevent crime is mostly false for the simple reason that cops can’t be everywhere, and most criminals are not stupid enough to commit a crime with a cop nearby.

Look at the New York subway system, probably the most surveilled city in America, and yet almost daily we hear about people getting stabbed, shot, set ablaze, or pushed into oncoming trains despite the “enhanced security measures” that seem to fail to prevent the very crimes they were supposed to stop.

The police state isn’t about protecting you; it’s about making sure you know they are monitoring your behavior and keeping data in case something goes awry.

And there is no return to the old days when you could literally walk onto a plane without having to get your body felt up, your luggage scanned, or your private parts fried by an X-ray machine just to board your flight.

Today, amidst the TSA shutdown, one would think HHS would relax the rules in order to make sure people can get on their flights on time; you would think that our loving and paternal government would be okay reducing deep-search protocols to give the public a break. But such is not the case. We are constantly on yellow or red alert, not because there are minions of terrorists awaiting the perfect time to strike, but because as long as the government has convinced you there is such a threat looming behind every corner, you will comply.

Simply put, they are building a database so that if they ever do need to find you, they can—even if you are not a terrorist. It might just be because you are MAGA and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the president. Think about that next time a TSA agent waves you through a body or retina scan.

I would like to try an experiment. I want to respond to an excellent article from Phil Butler, posted on ZeroHedge.com. It has to do with how the Trump administration is performing. Sadly, he is right on many points, which we will discuss.

For most who know me, they know I am a conservative today because the Left has moved so far to extremes that I no longer feel the same way about issues like LGBTQ, climate change, and many other so-called progressive movements. The Democratic Party has changed since I was a Kennedy Democrat. It is unrecognizable, and the damage the Left has inflicted on virtually every aspect of society is maddening and disgusting.

But as to Phil Butler’s article, he properly frames the current global situation and, in doing so, forces me to bring my own views into the discussion—if for no other reason than to unload my own disappointment with Trump’s decisions of late. And I think I am not alone.

First of all, I am deeply grateful for Trump’s immigration policies. They have lowered addiction rates, reduced crime, and are saving hundreds of thousands of lives that would otherwise be lost due to the trafficking of drugs and humans. Trump started his second term with a great many successes, including addressing inflation (which is artificially high due to misguided Fed policy, as well as lingering effects from the Biden administration’s supply-chain debacle (during post-COVID).

The reversal of dangerous woke/DEI policies is also to be applauded.

Moving away from a merit-based society has harmed commerce, art, and quality of life, and most importantly, has turned everything political—driving a huge wedge between Americans. Many blame this on Trump, but I attribute it to a media ecosystem manipulated by Deep State loyalists who see Trump as a threat to the existing power structure, which is in large part responsible for current global tensions. After all, it was Biden who enriched the Iranian regime. And NGO corruption, which was in full force for 12 years (going back to Obama), cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue, while the country’s infrastructure continued to deteriorate.

From the 1940s to the 1960s, America represented the future. Since that time, the great American society has continually declined in both stature and moral vision. We are now, in many ways, a center of immorality, and our streets are lined with mentally ill citizens waiting for their next checks, their medications, or both.

For about a year, I truly felt like the worst was behind us with Trump in charge.

Then Iran happened.

At first, it was about freeing the people of Iran from tyranny—a goal I wholeheartedly support and still do. But then too many questions went unanswered, including the most important one: Why, if Trump is declaring victory, are they still able to block the Strait of Hormuz? If the leadership has been devastated, why are the people not rising up? And lastly, if Iran is firing at neighboring countries, why is Iran still standing? One would think the UAE or Qatar would be joining in to bring the regime down completely.

Another point Phil Butler makes is: why is Trump going after the news media? We all know they are biased, but the optics of controlling information are not good. They weren’t good when Biden did it, and they are not good when Trump does it.

I also believe that while Trump often acts like a fool, there is a human being underneath that bravado. I was especially suprised and disappointed that Trump failed to recognize why the Epstein ties are so important to the American people. Dismissing them shows a lack of understanding about why it matters, which is this: If very powerful people can do whatever they want and get away with it, then it sends the message that those with the most influence do not have to follow the rules—and if they don’t, why should anyone else?

That, in part, is why I believe there is such a massive uptick in immoral behavior, including among teenagers who seem to have no real sense of hope for the future.

I said this two days ago: stop the attacks already and negotiate peace so the rest of us can get back to living, instead of worrying whether we should start pulling our money out of the banks for fear of social collapse.

Credibility never lasts as long as you expect, and Trump is losing it quickly—even among his base.

And while I don’t need ABC to tell me that, I do see fear in people around me, including those who rarely think about politics.

And that cannot be good.

They say that in an argument, the truth is lost.

I want to believe President Trump is telling Americans the truth when he says we have beaten Iran and its ability to make war with us, and that they will stop supporting terrorism everywhere. I know in my heart we have the best and most powerful military in the world, and that some chump country’s military has been destroyed.

I don’t believe the mainstream media is trustworthy, so I have two choices: trust Trump and believe we have defeated Iran, or trust the media when it tells me we are losing the war and it’s only going to get worse.

It reminds me of a decade ago when George Bush was standing on a large aircraft carrier with a huge sign behind him that said “Mission Complete.” We all know the celebration was premature, and the Iraq War lasted far too long because we underestimated what men who have nothing to lose will do to save their country.

The lesson here is: don’t announce defeat until you actually win.

Add to this that the FCC is now going to go after media outlets that don’t report on the war “properly,” which sounds like Pravda to me. People don’t want “proper” media—they want honest media. But sadly, the media lost their credentials in 2015 and haven’t learned that the American people of today don’t trust them.

So now we have a salesman president who is trying to take out a bad actor, and a media establishment known for supporting bad actors if it makes the president look weak. What’s a citizen to do?

Here is where we start.

First, let’s all be honest. The world needs all the energy it can consume (notice how climate change policies are now softening?). It does no one any good for a nation to be able to strangle one-fifth of the world’s oil supply by controlling a 200-mile stretch of water that can ruin the economies of many nations with the flick of a drone. Such a scenario is too unpredictable, and a world that depends on efficiency can’t live with this kind of risk. Iran knows this, Russia knows this, and Europe knows this.

Using an analogy: In the first Godzilla movie, the giant fire-breathing reptile was the destructive enemy. It wasn’t until Godzilla could be controlled to defeat other monsters that he was seen as an asset. The same is true with Trump. If any other superpower tried what we have done to Iraq (like, say, Russia attacking Ukraine), there would be uproar. But with Trump, he gets to be everyone’s bad guy who can take out Iran precisely because Iran is a bad actor.

No one has sympathy for them, but they probably have a nuke, and they are also padding the pockets of the British, so the once-powerful United Kingdom has been compromised, they can no longer do the bidding of whoever the hell is in charge. Now America gets to be the gangsters who show up and say, “Pay for your protection, or you won’t have any—and that’s bad.”

Obama tried to buy Iran off. It didn’t work. It only made them stronger. Trump said let’s do the opposite—let’s take away their infrastructure and let the Iranian people have their country back.

Whatever else you see or hear is extra effects. Iran’s current rulers, if they were like Iceland or even Greenland, would be less vital to the world economy, but such is not the case. And this is why Trump, as clumsy and precocious as he is, serves history.

I still maintain my original posture, which is: this is the Iranian people’s fight, and we should support them—that is it. Let’s leave now, let them lick their wounds, and who knows—perhaps the seed of democracy, a true democracy, will emerge in Persia. Maybe Trump ought to suggest the name change; he has experience with this kind of thing.

But to the people who have TDS and see this as just another reason to flex their outrage—sober up. Power is energy, and energy is power. And as long as oil powers the army of power centers being constructed so that we can all ask ChatGPT relationship advice and how to make a cool website, it is a fact that he who controls energy will control the world.

Hollywood Is Dying

Over the weekend, the missus and I were able to spend some time watching a few movies on Netflix. One was Sinners, the much-talked-about movie that was nominated for 16 Oscars.

I was happy to see the Best Actor award go to Michael B. Jordan. Though I will have to admit the twins he portrayed weren’t all that different. I couldn’t figure out who was Smoke and who was Stack. I also didn’t know it was a vampire movie. Hope that doesn’t spoil it for you. It spoiled it for me—not because it wasn’t a decent film with great production and really nice performances, nor because of the wonderful music and the flowing script. As contemporary movies go, it was nice to see a film that didn’t preach a woke message and make me feel guilty for being white, which is what I have come to expect from films that feature Black actors these days.

What bothered me about Sinners was the stereotyping of Black people. There was nothing redeeming about any of the characters. Smoke and Stack are criminals, and the plot line involves taking their stolen money and building a bar in the middle of rural South Mississippi where the town’s Black folk can come, have a good time, get drunk, and fight against a sudden roving band of white vampires. No one seems to survive except the movie’s central character, preacher boy Sammie Moore (who did a fantastic job!), and we are left with a confused message of redemption—I suppose—but I am not sure.

The metaphor could have been about how white people corrupt Black people, or it could be a subtle message to Black people to take responsibility for their behavior. Or it could have been about the old man who sells the building to Smoke and Stack but later was going to kill them anyway, which tells us that in 1932 white landowners were prejudiced.

A more appropriate title might have been Incongruence, because that is what it was.

The fact that it garnered 16 Academy Award nominations doesn’t surprise me. The Academy is comprised mostly of older, wealthy white people from “The Valley” (San Fernando Valley) who love to shower African Americans with compliments in order to assuage white guilt for living so well.

This takes nothing away from the efforts of the entire cast and crew, for Sinners did score a lot of points despite the fact that the script was weak and the plot line was confusing. The film was creative, at times emotional, and certainly a contender. But if films are to be judged on merit—and not on the color of the people who make them—let’s hold everyone to the same standard.

I’m also not sure One Problem After Another was really the Best Picture. I do know the director and the cast are comprised of some of the most lucrative artists in the industry, and so the nod from the Academy is essentially saying, “We love money slightly more than we love our moral virtue.” And so everyone goes home with a special achievement award anyway (and a bag full of gifts valued at $350,000).

But perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was made in the first 20 seconds of Conan O’Brien’s monologue, predicting that AI will be replacing him next year—something every person in the Kodak Theatre fears more than the plague.

And the award for Best Picture goes to… ChatGPT.

In my last essay, I pointed out that the current government of Iran simply cannot co-exist with a contemporary rules-based global order, assuming the protection of human rights is included in this rules-based society.

Forcing women to wear hijabs to cover their bodies is, in my opinion, a violation of human rights. I also happen to believe that selling the living organs of Uyghurs is a violation of human rights as well, but I suppose the ruling commissions over at the EU, the UN, and the WHO don’t see this as a priority. They are too busy arresting white people who insult Muslim asylum seekers who are escaping from governments like Iran that want to slit their collective throats.

So you know my position on Iran. The government needs to be sent back to the age they want—the 8th century—and now is the time for every red-blooded Arabian to do what needs to be done. They need to bomb the hell out of Tehran until the only thing left is rubble.

The collective Middle Eastern nations, if they wish to have any semblance of progress in the emerging global economy, need to destroy Iran in order to save it.

If I were Trump, I would issue a warning to all Iranian citizens to evacuate all areas where the ruling class lives, including every member of the IRGC, and bomb them until they see a white flag emerging from the rubble.

The complete destruction of the Iranian system has to be total. This must be a complete and final act of eradication—not only of the bullies who rule, but of the misguided principles of Shia Islam that are at war with the world.

This sounds bullish, and even frightening, to be sure. But unless it is total eradication, Persia will never be reclaimed by the 70 million Persians who have been held captive for half a century and must now rebuild, brick by brick, the civilization they want: a free democracy supported by the will of the people, where they are truly represented by that will, not the whims of power-hungry and psychotic religious fanatics who actually believe the Deity of all deities is on their side because they kneel five times a day and touch a black stone every few years for sanctification.

Why not do it on Easter? Now that would be a hoot.

The blood spilled in this conflict must exact the pain and bloodletting the Iranian rulers have inflicted on their own people. Persians must reclaim their land, and they can do it as never before if the other Middle Eastern governments act with extreme prejudice and terminate the mullahs’ command.

Then we would all have something to celebrate.

Here’s a great quote. It comes from the book Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, and it was the inspiration for the film Apocalypse Now. It truly defines how to win any war so that war will never reappear:

“Horror and terror are your friends. You must make them your friends, or they are enemies to be truly feared.”

Humanity must become so sick of war that we “never forget,” so as to end governments that oppress their people in the name of power. This is the odor that fills the room of human society, and it must be defeated by force if it is to be defeated at all.

And it starts with this warning:

“Attention, people of Persia—we hear you. Now hear us. On April 5th, the combined forces of the United States and Middle Eastern partners will begin the destruction of all ruling factions of Iran, including the IRGC and other agencies aligned with the ruling powers of Iran. Any citizen who wants to live must vacate the cities and find shelter for seven days while our campaign of total ruination is underway.

It will be decisive, and it will be fierce. It will be biblical.

It is time to clean house. We wish you Godspeed.”

And then airdrop water and food supplies in accessible areas outside the major cities so normal citizens will have enough supplies to wait out the destruction.

Once the mission has been completed, neighboring countries will assist in rebuilding a New Persia.

Mission complete. Free elections, a new era begins. Praise Allah, or whatever.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to make this observation: Trump has stepped into dog shit.

At the outset, my assessment is that Iran is a bad actor on the global stage, and we need to rid ourselves of the odor of despotic rulers who oppress their civilization for stupid reasons like pleasing Allah while killing in his name. I have long argued that for good men to do evil, they need do nothing but allow evil people to run the earth. Bob Marley said it best: Evil never sleeps.

Having said that, Trump entering into the conflict we see unfolding now is being sponsored by China and Russia for a multitude of reasons—money, power, energy, hegemony—take your pick. The midterms are upon us, and for the people who hate Trump, the motivation to stop him is a collective effort from the Left in our country, the Left in Europe, and particularly the ruling powers in China and Russia. They all have a common enemy, and nothing spells disaster for America more than the removal of Trump. The incentive to keep the conflict going benefits Russia first because of oil profits, and second because it means a weaker America if Trump is gone.

Can you imagine how happy Russia and China would be if Gavin Newsom became president? It’s like taking out the king and putting in a gay queen—someone who will busy himself with fundamentally changing America into a weak, feeble country while empowering the enemies of true democracy and American greatness, all in one fell swoop.

In other words, as long as the Iranian conflict rages, America’s superpowers will be slowly drained, all the while fuel prices remain high and public sentiment is used against Trump as Americans become fatigued with war leading up to the midterms. The final act is the mainstream media celebrating Trump’s defeat at the polls (or at least the Republicans’ defeat) so that the majority goes back to the House and Senate, and Trump becomes a lame-duck president for two years, possibly facing another round of impeachment hearings, and so forth.

Can you imagine a better scenario for our global enemies?

Neither can I, and that is what you, as an American, should be worried about.

Let us pray the conflict in the Middle East comes to an end sooner rather than later, but if I were placing my bets, I would bet on the Left. They want Trump out more than supporters want him in. And that is the tragedy, now isn’t it?

We don’t love Trump enough, it seems, and it means defeat at the polls come November if we allow the enemies of Trump, far and near, to win.

Nobody wants war, yet war has been the condition of man since—well—man himself.

As much as we would like to pride ourselves on “keeping the peace,” the fact that we have rules of war indicates our warlike tendency. In reality, killing people should never come with rules if you want a sure and steady victory. Being nice in war is a weakness, not a strength.

But let’s step back and look at the macro view of the current “crisis” in Iran.

Iran is stuck. At a time when all major developed and developing countries agree—or at least seem to—on a rules-based order, Iran has been the exception to the rule, which is ironic since Iran, or Persia, is one of the oldest civilizations on the planet. Iranian culture has dotted the lines of history for over 7,000 years—perhaps even longer when you consider the “Land of Nod,” where Cain found himself a wife in the Book of Genesis was east of Mesopotamia (modern Iran).

But the leadership of Iran has been waging war with its neighbors since at least 1979, particularly with Israel, for ethnic rivalries that stretch back to biblical times. Yet today is the modern era—the age of AI, smartphones, social media, and a younger culture that no longer plays by the old rules. They want modernity.

I said way back in the 1990s that modern despots were not going to be able to keep pace with modern people. Kim Jong Un is only alive today because he lives under the shadow of China, and even China is smart enough to know social unrest is the last thing a ruling party ever wants. But the mullahs and the Ayatollah didn’t care much about social unrest. They didn’t care much about human rights, women’s liberties, or children’s futures—all the while the rest of the world was moving at 180 miles an hour as the ruling class of Iran kept its foot on the faces of its own people.

This is one case where American hegemony may prove useful. No one liked Iran—except, of course, Russia and China, for nefarious reasons. If those are your two buddies, you know where it’s headed.

Iran had become a vessel of antiquity. It had outlived its usefulness, and this is why no fewer than eight other countries joined in and counterattacked Iran in the opening days of the latest war. Some liberal Americans, hesitant to give Trump any credit, have once again aligned themselves with what many see as the wrong issue, while others in society are grateful Trump took out what they view as a schoolyard bully, much like his removal of another schoolyard bully, Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela.

The war is like an anthill being kicked. The ants go crazy as they seek to maintain order. I pray for the people of Iran, and I praise the West for finally having the insight to recognize that Iranian leadership never intended to join the modern world—and that as long as they remained in power, the Middle East could never fully join it either. Like it or not, this is about power, wealth, and most of all, trade and commerce.

For those worried this is a war of biblical proportions, take a deep breath. It’s going to be all right. At the end of the day, the sun will set with one fewer despotic regime on the face of the earth. And that is a good thing.

History will, of course, judge us in real time. But for now, I am hopeful for the Iranian people, whom I warmly welcome back into the modern world.

As a Christian, I am emphatically against war. Far too often the innocent suffer the most, and bloodshed runs contrary to the teachings of God.

Having said that, I also understand that sometimes you must remove the cancer if you want to save the patient. In this case, the patient is the Middle East — the cradle of civilization — a region that has been hijacked by radicalized factions who believe God permits the killing of innocents who do not worship Allah in precisely the same way.

For centuries, certain extremist movements within radical Islam have declared it their mission, in the name of Muhammad, to eliminate “infidels.” When you foster that kind of culture, you tend not to get invited to many parties. Humanity, at this stage in history, is attempting to shed its belligerent skin — the vestiges of endless warfare. Modern societies around the world have learned that commerce and prosperity are far better pursuits than regional domination and the subjugation of those who do not follow your path to deity.

The Saudis distrust Iran. Yemen struggles under corruption fueled by Iranian influence and the Ayatollah — an aging cleric whose worldview belongs to another century. Iran, once called the flower of the Middle East, has been diminished by decades of rigid theocracy and repression.

If you had asked me whether the United States should have confronted Nazi Germany, I would have given a firm thumbs up. The same would be true of Mao’s China during the 1940s and beyond, when the communist regime oversaw policies that led to mass starvation and the deaths of millions. Sometimes evil regimes must be confronted, especially when they seek nuclear weapons — not merely for defense, but for status in the sandbox of global hegemony.

America is hardly an innocent actor in all geopolitical affairs. Yet, per capita, more people have prospered under the global order shaped by American influence than under many previous empires in Europe or Asia, at least over the past two centuries.

When asked who I would rather see shaping the global order, my instinct is to say: the United States.

Most of all, I believe the Iranian people — especially the women — deserve to live in freedom and peace. Unleash the potential of the Iranian people, and you might witness a Middle East freer from terrorism than at any time in modern memory.

Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates all have deep concerns about Iran’s current leadership, and for good reason. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been linked to significant regional violence. Were it not for the diplomatic and economic support of Russia and China — sustained in part by energy trade — Iran’s ruling establishment might have faced far greater isolation long ago.

History has a way of humbling regimes that overreach. The future of the region will not be written by bombs alone, but by what rises from the ashes — whether liberty or another cycle of revenge.

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