Roth posted an interesting article concerning Germanic tribes and how laws were dispensed. One of points described the shared will of the community.

Important decisions were made collectively. At assemblies, free men and women—practices varied by tribe and era—gathered to deliberate on matters of war and peace, alliances, disputes, and the well-being of the community. There, they spoke, listened to one another, and strove to reach a decision. It was not the power of a single individual that was to determine the fate of all, but the shared will of the community.

Underlying this concept was a profound mythological idea: the human being was not an isolated entity, but a thread in the great tapestry of the kin group. Every action affected the fate of all. Honor, therefore, was not merely personal renown but the standing of the entire lineage. Those who acted justly strengthened the community. Those who committed treason, murder, robbery, or perjury did not merely harm individuals; they disrupted the order that bound ancestors, the living, and future generations together.

For this reason, a chieftain alone did not adjudicate serious transgressions. The community deliberated on what form of restitution or punishment corresponded to the wrong that had been committed. Depending on the deed, this might entail compensation, penance, banishment, or—in the case of particularly grave crimes—even death. The goal was not mere retribution, but the restoration of peace within the community. Order had to be renewed so that the trust binding the kin-group could endure.

From my personal experience, survival groups have failed in the past mainly due to the inexperience of the “leadership” and immorality of its members.

I came to the conclusion that building community is a better strategy. My first premise was that you can build community easier with a community center. Taking your life’s savings to buy land and build the foundation for a community center is not a light commitment but it was one that the Lord led me to make.

I foolishly thought that if I built it, the people would come. And they came for my head. Since I kept to myself, I did not know many people in my area. It did not take long for the “racist” accusation to be made and propagated to marginalize my efforts. As Dalton told me: that was bad ju ju.

This was in 2017 which was the fruition of Obama’s program to destroy our culture through division using government funding of NGOs. There are very few black Americans in Cherokee County and I learned a valuable lesson: people will use any lie to divide or marginalize people and their efforts.

Were my efforts and sacrifices made in vain? You may as well ask if the Lord was leading me astray. I came to the conclusion that the timing was not right and continued building a foundation for the community when the collapse happened.

So what is the point? A community center without moral people and leaders will fail. Infrastructure is only the beginning.

Justice, security and property rights are the keys to building a successful community. Our government’s descent into evil has brought chaos, a two-tiered justice system, unsecured borders and bankruptcy. I look at the government’s failures as a blueprint for a community’s success: if you do not let evil into your community and you have moral leadership, you will grow and prosper.

Are US forces on the brink of defeat via exhaustion?

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is dead, if it ever existed, and Washington’s war to compel Iran’s submission to Israeli demands with air and missile power alone continues without resolution. The war is restarting and Iran remains defiant, its military power is unyielding, and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. War in the Middle East is fast becoming a “war to the last missile.” Since air power über alles has failed will ground forces change the game?

Read Mcgregor’s full post …

The longer Donald Trump continues the war with Iran, the more damage he is inflicting on the capabilities of the US military. Think about that.

I have talked about the depletion of several categories of US battlefield missiles on recent podcasts and decided to give you the best available data to help you grasp the enormity of the problem. The tables below are based on the most recent publicly available analyses from CSIS, the Payne Institute, and major media outlets (as of mid-2026), and provide a current (overly optimistic in my opinon) estimate for US inventory levels of these key weapons systems. Please note that actual inventories are classified; these are informed estimates derived from DOD budget documents, procurement records, and reported expenditures during Operation Epic Fury (the US-Israeli war with Iran).

Details at Sonar21 …

Roth Note: China and Russia join Iran in welcoming such news as this.

From the Comments: So what happens when the entire world sees that the king has no clothes?

I wish we had a few on ‘our’ side.

Roth Note: Compare Araghchi and Lavrov to Kushner and Witkoff.

From Vox Popoli

How is it possible that the White House doesn’t know what everyone paying attention seems to know? And why is the administration still listening to the same people who lost Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Iran Round One?

As both sides escalate strikes on civilian and military targets, the Pentagon is boosting the number of military aircraft in the Middle East, according to the Washington Post. “The US is planning for a wider war,” an unnamed US official told the paper, while warning that the American military effort would be limited by dwindling air defense interceptor and missile supplies, which had been actively used up during the previous stages of the war.

“We do not have enough to safely sustain operations, and I don’t think the White House is aware of that,” the official told the Post. Military experts cited in the report said Washington remains unprepared for potential ground operations inside Iran–an option US President Donald Trump has refused to rule out.

On Friday, Axios reported that Washington had notified Israel that it was sending dozens of additional refueling planes ahead of a possible expansion of operations against Iran. According to the article, Trump was presented with several new military options, including strikes on Iranian power plants and further attacks on nuclear sites to bury Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium even deeper.

Saeid Golkar, an expert on Iran’s security services, told the Wall Street Journal that the situtation risks getting completely out of hand. “This escalation is rapidly intensifying and getting out of control,” he said. “There is a risk we will go back to a total war even if neither side wants it.”

A CNN analysis suggested that “a decisive US military victory over Iran seems a distant prospect.” In echoing remarks, Sina Toosi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, warned that a ground operation “in extreme summer heat… against a fully mobilized military and a population that has largely rallied around the war effort, would be an extraordinary gamble practically guaranteed to be a historic disaster.”

As we saw at the presentation of the World Cup trophy yesterday, Trump doesn’t seem to understand when it’s time to get off the stage.

Roth Note: Narcissist-in-Chief Trump seems to have to involve himself in everything. We elected a Caesar and got a fool. As for the reader who may remain in the Trump cult, I will acknowledge that some good things for the American people have resulted from his presidency, but suspect them being more accidental than intentional. They seem to me mostly done in order to appeal to Trump’s vanity.

We will know if this is true shortly. There will be no resolution as long as Trump is President. Pray for him as his life is in danger from all sides.

Prove me wrong … I’ll wait.

US Troop Casualties Pile Up as Iran Goes to Town on US Bases

One of the biggest stories around the attack centers on the claim from US officials that Russia and China have been the key playmakers providing Iran with high quality targeting to hit these sensitive sites, with some claiming (see below) that Russia has continued flying major supplies into Iran in recent weeks:

As can be seen, Iran is forcing the US to retreat by devastating the regional bases closest to Iran itself. Now some Iranian figures are even proposing that Iran could launch its own offensive ground invasion to take US bases in neighboring Kuwait.

Read the full account at Simplicius …

Can we regain our culture, freedom and happiness?