The Smiley Smile Message Board

Trump is a useful idiot for Netanyahu, all too glad to do the Israeli warlord's bidding as long as it wins him points with the apocalyptic/evangelical crowd and distract from Epstein. They literally named it "Operation Epic Fury" to conflate with the initials of "Epstein Files." This situation with Iran is like Germany getting dragged into a stupid ruinous war because Austria-Hungary decided to throw its weight around and pick on someone they didn't expect to have any friends. Like WWI, I expect the outcome will be ruinous to their modern analogues as well. Israel is a bad ally of America and they don't care how much of our money they blow, how many American men are sacrificed, how many of our precious interceptor missiles wasted in their fanatical crusade against Iran. They will gladly lead our country to destruction and then throw up their hands when we collapse and need help in turn. They're not our friends, they're users and everyone's too afraid to say it because the holocaust happened and being accused of antisemitism was a social death sentence until they wore it out. (Not a fan of the Iranian regime but two wrongs don't make a right, and in all cases it's the innocent civilians who suffer most.)

This is the most dangerous time in the history of the world, where we have two nuclear powers dangerously committed to losing foreign entanglements and over-exposed but without an effective way to back down without losing face. Also we have one, arguably two, religious nutjobs who genuinely think they're fighting a modern holy war. (I speak of Putin, Trump and Bibi.) Say what you will about the Cuban Missile Crisis but at least JFK and Kruschev were reasonable men--I wouldn't trust the three despots we have now to handle my underage kids let alone the world. (Yes, that was another Epstein reference.) Even if, by some miracle, this doesn't trigger a global conflict, the closing of the straight of Hormuz is bound to raise oil prices in a time when most Americans have never been poorer, which will likely be the catalyst for another full-blown recession. (Guess who's getting a bailout--NOT YOU!) We were already in a debt crisis as it is trying to pay off the last two back-to-back forever wars in the Middle East, we were getting to a point where even the interest was going to be impossible to pay off, and now this. WE CANNOT AFFORD IT, THIS IS GOING TO BANKRUPT THE US, DESTROY OUR ECONOMY, RUIN OUR FINANCIAL STANDING, MAYBE SINK THE DOLLAR AND PLUNGE THE WORLD INTO A CRISIS. Once that happens, nothing is theoretically off the table. All so Israel could topple a regime that said some mean words but was not an existential threat to them.

I think it's important someone say it but I feel bad that VDP interview thread got hijacked, so with recent developments let me reiterate once and for all time--Israel is not, was not and probably never will be a good ally to the USA. They're the bum who's always taking money and never paying it back. They're the punk who's always picking fights at the bar and sitting back while you bail them out of the trouble they caused. They're the bully picking on an 18 year old (average and median age of Palestinians) using the fancy riot gear and Iron Man nuclear suit you gave them (in lieu of healthcare for your family) which they never even said thank you for. (Where's that accusation toward Israel, JD?) Never let it be said that peace wasn't an option either. Rabin showed the way and was shot to death by Israeli hardliners encouraged by Bibi, who held mock funerals for his opponent. Obama, whatever else his faults, fostered a nuclear deal that even my right-wing friends approved of and Trump tore it up for no other reason than Obama signed it. (Can't let the other side get a "win" even if it's to America's benefit!) These men who lead us want war for its own sake, they chose war when saner options were available, they will make us all suffer for their egos so they can say "we toppled a regime we perceived as a threat!" (But at what cost, gentlemen? AT WHAT COST?!)

When people look back on the downfall of America it will be said that it began as soon as we threw our lot in with zionist neo-colonialist religious zealots for absolutely no reason except misplaced white guilt and misguided geopolitical brinkmanship that got WAY out of hand. I believed that then, in the 2010s when Netanyahu made it clear he sees himself as entitled to our hard-earned tax dollars, when he spit in the face of the POTUS to speak directly to Congress and make demands in the sacred chamber of a government he sees as his gallery of puppets, and I believe it now when Israel commits war crimes in yet another sovereign country that isn't theirs. I refer to bombing a building full of little girls and committing an act of chemical warfare by bombing fuel supplies and making it rain oil on Tehran, a city already poised to run out of water before they just contaminated whatever was left. If the current US regime is sending you "WTF" texts, that's proof you're NOT on the right side of history. (https://www.axios.com/2026/03/08/us-dismayed-israel-iran-fuel-strikes (https://www.axios.com/2026/03/08/us-dismayed-israel-iran-fuel-strikes)) Whatever one's thoughts on Judaism, or Jewish individuals or the idea of them having their own state to prevent any more genocide from befalling them...this is not the way. These are not the actions of a loyal friend or "good guy." They don't deserve our continued support as they've done nothing but bring us bad PR, disrespect and the obligation of cleaning up their messes.

This is me, venting in the sandbox no one goes in anymore. If anyone replies at all, I predict a lot of feigned moral outrage but no compelling arguments why the US needs Israel. (And no, some vague sentiment of "stable democracy in the middle east" doesn't mean anything if they always choose war and expect us to pay for it.) Thank you and goodnight.

Some hard truths there, J. But they have to be said, even if it's in this difficult-to-access corner of the forum. Still, rather here than there -- Van Dyke deserves better.

Living from day to day has never made more sense than now. But we must keep looking ahead too. We must.

Your post should stay on the front page, so I’ll bump it from time to time. ;)

I highly recommend to anyone who reads Julia's post to copy/paste the entire text into an AI chatbot of your choice (Claude, GPT, Gemini, etc), and ask it to scan it for factual inaccuracies, as well as flaws in the argument presented, also ask it to point out the truths and any legitimacy to the overall argument. Because it will point out both the flaws as well as the truths in the argument.

Julia, I truly am trying to be as kind as possible given our last interaction, but I think what frustrates me about many of your posts is certain argument styles that you employ when stating certain points of view. For instance, as Gemini points out:


I also don't really want to get flayed alive for bringing AI into this discussion, so I will pre-defend my use of it by saying I honestly do not have the time or the inclination to personally scan and personally fact-check every line that you've written about this conflict/issue...thus AI is a huge help in this instance. I am also aware of the flaws of AI, and I do not pretend that it is the gold-standard of fact-checking - after reading Gemini's critique of the Epic Fury name, I looked up the issue myself and nowhere could I find is it a fact that the military/administration named it based off the initials - it was postulated on Late Night TV shows that that was the case, and it very well could be the case, but there are no actual facts to support this claim (just conjecture) at this time. So using AI as a tool to kickstart a search into factual inaccuracies is very helpful.

Whether or not you were being facetious, whether or not such a claim is true, you write things seemingly as truth when there is no solidly factual basis for the claims (which is much of what frustrates me about your claims about Brian/Melinda Wilson, Israel, etc). There were many other examples that Gemini pointed out as being blatant flaws (both factually and relating to various argument styles in your argument - what it called a "Gish Gallop" - I'd never heard this term before, but it makes sense with these types of posts - whether you intended it or not). On the flip side, Gemini also stated that, "the author's frustration with the humanitarian cost of war and the U.S. debt is grounded in real issues" which is very true, and I think we agree on a lot of points, but unfortunately your overall message gets completely muddied by false analogies, emotional venting, gaslighting, etc..

Again, I'm not trying to be mean, but I can't sit back and watch stuff being posted that is very clearly false/inaccurate. I think we should all fact-check before we post, and people reading should fact-check my posts, your posts, any posts - especially ones that deal with real-world/life-death issues.

Can anyone answer the main thrust of my argument though--what does Israel do for America, how is this parasitic relationship in any way beneficial to us, how is this Iran war in any way helpful to America's interests, do you honestly believe Netanyahu cares about the US except to cash his blank checks? If you have to use AI to find what's so untrue about what I said, probably asking it very leading questions that you haven't shared with us, does that not prove my point? If what I was saying were so obviously wrong it wouldn't require such minute quibbling or outsourcing of thought to a machine (that probably has a pro-Israel bias, considering they were programmed by Americans and for some reason Israel is considered a sacred cow over here).

Im really asking, because I don't see it. And when I ask, I'm only met with feigned outrage and "antisemite!" and "do your own research!" or some such. If not that, then it's religious platitudes about "the chosen people" (I don't believe in your book, I don't believe a just God would order genital mutilation) and "taking back their ancestral homeland/our birthright promised land" (so as a whitey do I have the right to claim Iran, the birthplace of the Aryan race...or does that only apply when you have a magic book...or do you just need enough victim points in the oppression olympics?) and "only democracy in the middle east" (ok, why do we care about the middle east? Plus America's perfectly willing to ally with Saudis apparently so why does being an apartheid "democracy" give Israel some special privilege to boss us around and lead us into quagmires?) I also hear "shared values" but mutilating babies, bombing 18 year olds in their homes and starting risky expensive wars with no strategy are not MY values and to my dying day I shall fight to see they're not America's values either. (If "circumcision" were invented today it'd be universally agreed as a horrifying barbaric practice that denies the human dignity, the bodily integrity, the autonomous rights of innocent helpless babies...but because it's in an old book written by people who've been victimized it's beyond reproach. I'm such a bigot for caring about people who started life getting unnecessary, excruciating, literal brain-reprogramming surgery without anesthesia that robs them of their erogenous tissue. Literally Hitler.)

Can anyone set me straight and tell me why the US "owes" Israel anything, why the very idea that my beloved country should act in its own interests ahead of those of an ungrateful foreign power intent on ethnic cleansing and wars of aggression is somehow hate speech? Because to the best of my knowledge, they're a very racist regime built with entitlement (to other people's land) and governed by greedy maniacs (who feel WAY too entitled to our money and servitude). We'd be better off washing our hands of this fiasco and leave them to the mess they made.

C'mon, the forum's ending...let's take the opportunity to touch the third rail and speak our minds about this otherwise censored topic.

“Probably asking it very leading questions”? I literally told everyone what to ask and what general response they would be given (thus anyone can do what I asked and see the fact/truth response for themselves - and I implore everyone to do this). Thus anyone can find out what is factually wrong with your posts….no leading questions are necessary. And I additionally implied that everyone should do their own additional research to fact-check whatever the AI replied with. Hence, even if the AI is biased you can find that out by doing your own research.

And what you call “minute quibbling” is merely fact checking the false claims you keep making that are meant to support your argument, as well as pointing out the plethora of bad-faith argument tactics you keep making in order to get your point across. Hence, if you make false claims, those claims should not be used to back up your argument. If you use argument tactics that are meant to intentionally subvert/misrepresent the side you’re arguing against, it needs to be addressed. I don’t see that as quibbling, rather it is merely logical if you’re trying to have a reasonable and level-headed discussion.

As for the main thrust of your argument. I myself don’t possess the knowledge or wisdom to have a definitive opinion on the matter. I will say that I hate seeing people’s lives destroyed by hatred, bigotry, lack of understanding/respect. I detest the amount of money we spend on war, I detest the diabolical/evil things we have created in the name of “defense”. I hate seeing people’s homes bombed out on CNN, I hate seeing the aftermath of terror - thinking about the terror that one must feel in their last moments while bombs are falling around them. Or thinking about the helplessness one must feel when they’re held at gunpoint and forced to watch a loved one being defiled in front of them. I also think about the kids who will never know a “normal” life - those who have been either killed or maimed (physically and mentally) by growing up in a land where rocket fire and bombs falling are the norm.

While I have those thoughts, I also realize that this is not a black and white issue. There are so many elements and variables associated with this issue that it would be impossible to create a solution that didn’t lead to more strife for people on one side or the other. I don’t see that as a cop-out, merely a reality. If someone is doing something unjustified, that person should be held accountable, this should go for anyone whether Israeli, Palestinian, whatever religion you’re from. Finally, I think this is an incredibly complicated issue with real faces/souls/people at the heart and fringes of both sides of the issue - and dehumanizing/simplifying those people (on either side) with bad metaphors, false claims, and a general lack of respect for religious customs on both sides, is not a platform in which to start a meaningful conversation about solutions to the issue. Hence, anything discussed on this message board isn’t going to actually be fruitful or helpful, especially if all of those discussing it possess the same nefarious traits that cause conflict and strife to begin with.

[edit: I actually copy/pasted my post into Gemini and asked it to critique for factual inaccuracies as well as flaws in my argument, it gave me quite a list :-D]