In today’s newsletter, President Trump says he is approaching a major decision over the next phase of the war with Iran. Trump plans to consult with leaders of six Gulf nations at the United Nations next week as new activity is reported around Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities. We examine Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s embrace of an unprecedented proposal for a much closer relationship between Canada and the European Union. We also remember longtime Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, who has died at 84, and note a rare moment of unanimity in Washington as the House moves to end production of the penny.
Reading time: 6 minutes
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10
President Trump told Axios on Thursday that he has a “big decision coming up” on how to deal with the Iran regime: “Do I want to go in and annihilate them or do I not? It’s a big decision. Anything could happen with me.”
Trump is meeting next Tuesday at the UN with the heads of Gulf nations, and he said his decision on whether to unleash the military on Iran will depend on what they tell him.
Note: When Trump says things like “Anything could happen with me,” his critics accuse him of being dangerous, unstable and unhinged. It’s actually a negotiating tactic, letting the Iranian leaders know that he’s not the typical predictable political leader that they can manipulate; but that if they don’t comply, he won’t hesitate to annihilate them. If they think it’s likely he will annihilate them, it might make it less likely that he’ll actually have to do it. This is Art of War 101 stuff, but a lot of people in today’s media never took that class.
Meanwhile, ** there are reports of a defense build-up** at Iran’s nuclear site that’s deep under Pickaxe Mountain. Trump said last week, “We notice there’s a little activity at Pickaxe. I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard.” While some experts warn that Iran might have already fortified that location and made it harder for US strikes to destroy it, others say the US has some very big bombs, and we don’t have to reach the facility deep under the mountain, we just have to cave in the access to it.
In other developments, US ally South Korea announced that it won’t deploy military assets to the Middle East in a way to get involved in any war. But Washington approved the potential sale of 48 F-35 Lightning II aircraft and related equipment to Saudi Arabia. We look forward to seeing how those will be used.
It’s hard to imagine the trade war news with Canada reaching new levels of silliness (Lake America?), but in 2026, nothing is impossible. And so, the latest development is that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has embraced a proposal for Canada to become an “associate member” of the European Union.
For many people, geography is not their strong suit, so we’ll wait if you need to find a globe and see that Canada is about 1337 miles from Europe. There are some small European territories that are closer, but Europe proper is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Carney addressed the idea of becoming an EU “associate member” (although it’s unclear what that even means) at a meeting of the EU Parliament in France. He denied that it was an attempt to create a new bloc rivaling America, but said it would allow Canada’s global ties to “take on a new dimension” (the 4th dimension, where the Twilight Zone is?) He also said, “Deepening and widening our relationship will strengthen our sovereignty, improve affordability, opportunity and security for Canadian and European citizens, while safeguarding our ability to live our lives as we choose.”
That’s especially hilarious, considering that both the EU and the current Canadian government are noted for their intrusive leftist bureaucracies that constantly infringe on their people’s right to live their lives as they choose.
In the cherry on top of this silliness sundae, Carney’s speech in France about Canada joining the European Union ** was interrupted by hecklers chanting, “USA! USA!”** We don’t know what they were doing there, but we’re glad they were there. Maybe they were Europeans who came to America for the World Cup and hated going back home.
Least Surprising News of the Day! A ** new study by the Progressive Policy Institute **found a strong negative correlation between low student literacy scores and blue states where teachers’ unions have a lot of political power. That makes sense, since it creates a feedback loop: the teacher’s unions keep incompetent politicians in office, and the politicians keep incompetent union teachers in the classroom. Everybody wins, except the students.
Former Arizona Republican Representative and Senator John Kyl died Thursday at 84, after revealing that he had been ** diagnosed with dementia last December**. His family announced that they were grateful for his “full and meaningful” life, in public service, with his family and in his faith. We extend our prayers and condolences to them. Breitbart News has more on Kyl at the link.
This is a lengthy but important, and very disturbing, report by Erick-Woods Erickson, showing that wealthy radical nutjobs who want to use big government to force their ideas onto the public are no longer confined to the left. Some are using their money and influence to take over traditionally conservative organizations and churches and push a violent, racist, totalitarian, Constitution-shredding agenda of their own, only from the far-right.
For the record: We have no more use for this disgusting garbage from the far-right than we do for the communists (sorry: “Democratic socialists”) on the far left. To quote old, dead white guy William Shakespeare, a plague on both their houses.
In a rare show of bipartisanship, the House voted unanimously to pass a bill to end ** production of the US penny coin **and require sellers to round prices to the nearly five cents.
Why are we not surprised that the one thing all politicians agree on is that there should be no cents coming out of Washington?
This is good news for anyone who cares about preserving justice in the US justice system: The lone holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy child murder case who has been identified, vilified, doxxed and threatened ** has now lawyered up**.
His attorney issued a statement on X warning his critics, “Rest assured that the evil people who have so viciously attacked this American Hero and Champion of Justice will be held accountable to the maximum extent of the law and beyond.”
We’re happy to hear it. Normally, we don’t relish the idea of lawsuits, but in this case, they’re richly deserved. The activist jurors and activists pretending to be journalists who have gone after him have thrown a bunker buster bomb at the foundation of our jury system. Every juror has both the right and the duty to render a verdict based on his or her interpretation of the facts and the evidence, and to be safe from threats and intimidation in doing so. If we allow radical mobs of any type to influence jury verdicts, then it will render them worthless.
We hope that everyone who has tried to dox and scapegoat this juror simply for refusing to acquit an admitted killer of three small children pays a heavy price for it, and that should start with Clancy’s attorney.
Incidentally, the juror’s attorney also warned that any GiveSendGo or GoFundMe accounts claiming to benefit his client are fake, so don’t let any scammers fool you into giving money to help him that’s actually going to con artists.
RELATED: One of the oldest jokes in the book is the one about the man who killed his parents then pleaded for mercy on grounds that he’s an orphan. Astoundingly, the supporters of Lindsay Clancy are ** actually using a very similar defense for real**.
X Post of the Day! ** It points out** that 35% of media coverage of Lindsay Clancy is negative, compared to 96% for Elon Musk. One killed her three children; the other exposed government fraud and waste. It tells you what the liberal media considers to be the bigger offense.
Thank you for reading the Huckabee Post.
