The Conservative Cave

... the country he went to war with, which despite being damaged militarily, is now more powerful economically and politically than it ever was before.

The Iranian economy was teetering before the war, and is on the verge of imploding. Even if the war stops now, the blockade is lifted, and trade resumes.

That is the unsurprising news that the central bank of Iran has delivered to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, whom I am certain already knew the broad strokes before getting the news. That's why he desperately wants to end the war, which every liberal in the West insists that Iran is winning.

The Iranian regime was already dealing with many crises before Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion began destroying billions of dollars of Iran's infrastructure. Its capital is almost out of water, its population is, shall we say, restless, and the IRGC was sucking down every available dollar to conduct its proxy wars against Israel, America, and the West.

Now, everywhere Pezeshkian looks, there is rubble, and the balance sheet from his oil revenues shows a figure approaching zero income and large outflows.

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Iran’s central bank has warned President Masoud Pezeshkian that rebuilding the country’s war-damaged economy could take more than a decade, sources familiar with internal deliberations told Iran International.

In a stark assessment delivered to the president in recent days, senior economic officials said the damage inflicted during the 40-day war with the United States and Israel—combined with Iran’s already fragile economic situation—could take up to 12 years to repair.

Several major airports were damaged during the conflict, while strikes also targeted oil facilities, refineries and petrochemical installations that are central to Iran’s export revenues and industrial supply chains.

Pope Leo XIV played the (Papal election) game exceptionally well in order to get elected last year. He had a huge obstacle to overcome; he is an American (and Peruvian), and there is a large faction in the Vatican that hates America.

Leo was seen as a compromise candidate who, although close to the radical Pope Francis, who died in 2025, was not considered as confrontational as the former pope.

That belief turned out to be very wrong.

In April 2025, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica stated that Leo was seen as a "cosmopolitan and shy figure" who was "appreciated by conservatives and progressives" within the church. The pope destroyed that illusion by going after Donald Trump in a very un-papal way.
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(From) Truth Social:

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I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History.[/quote
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"The antagonistic post showed that there were really no boundaries when it comes to people Mr. Trump might target — the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics is apparently fair game," says the New York Times.

Why shouldn't he be? He wants to play politics; he's going to be sullied.

Lots of people are standing up and saying that war is bad and that innocent people shouldn't have to die. The pope's message has been diluted by his comments about Trump and the war.

Leo XIV may be speaking/acting less unwisely than Leo X, but speaking ignorantly about geopolitics and pretzellating Scripture to suit his personal prejudices (or hatred) is not a spiritual leader speaking with wisdom.

generalbetrayus (1,898 posts)

One way to make Orange Julius Caesar's head explode



https://www.democraticunderground.com/119819026

If you’ve ever seen a pro-life protest, one thing that will stand out for you is the contrast between pro-life demonstrators and nearly every other protest group in America in terms of the level of peacefulness they exhibit. They are the poster children of the “peaceful protest.”
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Perhaps that in itself is why the Democrats and the left fear them so much. They are not a physical threat. They only have the power of passivism, which is most potent when the protestors have a clear and compelling message and when the very act of the protest is an act of bravery and courage and risk to one’s safety and freedom.
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Now, the DOJ is starting to correct the weaponization of that department under Biden against pro-lifers. In a statement, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice… No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”

The DOJ just released a 900-page report that provides extensive detail on just how the Biden DOJ coordinated with leftist groups to monitor and target pro-lifers. Further, the report shows how the Biden Justice Department withheld evidence in FACE Act cases.

The DOJ report is billed as the first of several reports the Trump administration plans to release as part of its Weaponization Working Group.

As the DOJ stated, this first report focused on “the Biden Administration’s weaponization of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Based on a review of over 700,000 internal records, the report not only details specific ways the Biden Justice Department weaponized federal law, but also outlines the corrective action taken by the current Justice Department to make right the wrongs of the prior administration.”