“We reject the unilateral military action by the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order … We demand immediate de-escalation and full respect for international law. It is time to resume dialogue and achieve a lasting political solution for the region.”

–Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez

Yeah. Me too, bro.

The rest of Europe issued mealy-mouthed bullshit statements about having “concerns” and of course failed to mention Israel the way our good Pedro did.

So a bucket of piss for all their noble heads.

***

The butcher’s bill in the first twelve hours:

The Israeli-U.S. airstrikes on Iran under Operation Epic Fury have resulted in 201 reported deaths, with at least 85 of those being civilians. Additionally, around 747 people have been injured.

The strikes have affected numerous locations across 24 out of Iran’s 31 provinces, with one particularly devastating incident involving an airstrike on a girls’ primary school, which contributed to the civilian casualties.

Blowing up little girls. Making the world safe for democracy. Same thing, right?

These are our tax dollars at work. This is business as usual, for the Empire.

More.

***

Late in the day it was reported that Iran’s leader was killed. Doubtless no accident.

Doubtless also that some people very ‘close’ to me will find that cause for celebration.

Which got me thinking about a subject that’s come up a lot in the last few years.

Who qualifies as “family”?

I have a theory.

The first line in that song goes:

I am still living with your ghost.

Anyone that is true of … that’s your family.

So there are people I’m closely related to that don’t haunt me.

And there are people completely unrelated to me whose ghosts I still live with …

… and I believe the latter qualify as a kind of family while the former do not.

Time doesn’t matter, and neither does whether these people are alive or dead.

I still live with the ghost of a girl that broke my heart half a liftetime ago.

I do not live with the ghost of my ex-wife.

I haven’t thought about this theory for very long.

Thought might change things.

Right now it feels real.

So let’s run with that.