Trib ignores sound negotiations that ended Iran war threat in 2015.

The Trib's editorial 'The U.S. can protect tankers from Iran, with help from allies' implicitly accepts Trump administration falsehoods about the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and recent attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. In so doing the Trib exacerbates Trump's greatest threat to world peace: his blowing up Obama's signature foreign policy accomplishment last year and his seeking a casus belli to attack Iran outright now.

First the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. To state "The 2015 nuclear deal Trump shelved was too narrow in its scope" is preposterous. Iran had abandoned its nuclear program years before the 2015 deal. US war hawks never wanted a deal because the final agreement signaled an end to their years long effort to take out Iran as a rival hegemon to the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel in the Middle East. Trump ran on repeal both to placate his war mongering base and to satisfy his lust to undue every Obama accomplishment. The Trib is whistling past the graveyard in calling for European support for a new nuclear deal. They're outraged by the folly of US policy, know the current agreement is working, and will never go along with Trump's true agenda: Iran regime change.

Regarding the current tanker attacks, Trump has rushed to judgement, ignoring reports from the owner of the Kokuka Outrageous that the explosion was above the water line and not an Iranian mine as Trump insists. With false US reports of attacks/threats used to justify war going back to the USS Maine explosion in 1898 (Spanish American War), Gulf of Tonkin attack in 1964 (Vietnam War) and the Mother of All fairy tales, 2002's Iran WMD (second Iraq war), the US has zero credibility when fomenting war.

Instead of the fantasy that Europe will support an even more onerous and senseless nuclear deal, the Trib should demand end of cruel, inhuman sanctions which already constitute war on the Iranian people. We've been disrespecting, degrading, destabilizing Iran since we partnered with the UK to overthrow the democratically elected leader Mohammed Mosaddegh in 1953. Sixty-six years is enough.

Hat's off to hat retriever

It happened at Chicago and Western Avenues in Ukrainian Village. Crossing the busy intersection with my hand firmly grasping three year old grandson Alex's tiny paw, a gust of Chicago wind sent my favorite baseball cap flying. Reaching the east side of Western I looked back to see my chapeau resting in front of a car tire just seconds away from grinding it into the pavement. Had I not been tethered to Alex I might made a dash for it as the crossing light was still green. Just as I thought 'nice knowing ya', a young man appeared from one of the waiting cars, scooped up the Nike, bounded across Western to drop it in my outstretched hand before retreating to his vehicle. Didn't even get to thank him properly. He's probably already forgotten his incredible act of daring and simple kindness. I never will.

West Virginians should re-evaluate 68.5% Trump vote next year.

No truth, like no good deed, goes unpunished. In the 2016 election Hillary told West Virginians coal was in death spiral and it was time to get 21st century job training skills. Donald said 'Nyet. I'll bring coal back...don't vote for Anti-Coal Hillary'. West Virginia responded with a 68.5% Trump vote, his best among the 30 states he won.

Last August he proclaimed "The coal industry is back" He should have said 'It's still going backwards'. More coal plants have closed in his first 2 years than in Obama' eight. Coal continues its 4 decade slide with declines of 7% and 8% forecast for this year and next. Coal exports are down 15% due in part to China's 25% tariff on US coal in response to Trump's self destructive trade war.

Soothing words from a propaganda genius will never bring coal jobs back to West Virginia. Every Democratic candidate should highlight Trump's cruel demagoguery to West Virginians and work to turn West Virginia not black with coal, but blue with hope for a renewable energy turnaround in The Mountain State.

Poprocki shoveling dirt on Catholicism's grave

Bishop Thomas Poprocki, head of the Springfield, Illinois Catholic Diocese needs a new job title. Henceforth it should be Chief of Catholic Membership Removal. His call to deny the sacraments to Illinois legislative leaders Mike Madigan and John Cullerton for supporting abortion rights, expands his decade long denial to US Senator Dick Durbin for his pro abortion stance. That move may be applauded by the dwindling hard line faithful, but it's only likely to accelerate declines in Catholic church membership which leads all religions in a two decade decline.

Since 1999, Americans identifying with a church has declined from 70% to 50%. Folks identifying with no religion has more than doubled from 8% to 19%. Catholicism leads the shakeout with church membership declining from 76% to 63% among those professing to be Catholics. The generational decline is alarming: My Traditionalist generation (born before '46) still at 74% church membership while the current Millennials (1980-2000) just 57%.

If Poprocki had his way, one third of all Catholics who support Madigan, Cullerton and Durbin would hear Poprocki bellow "No communion for you".

Is any other religion in the world as self destructive as Catholicism? Don't let women be priests? Check. Don't let priests marry and enjoy sex? Check. Don't let the faithful follow their conscience? Check. With leaders like Poprocki, the Catholic Church does not need the Devil to sow its destruction

Starving Latin American socialists nothing new for Uncle Sam

Though not firing on Venezuela's military, the US is engaged in a war of regime change in Venezuela. Using cruel and crippling economic sanctions causing deprivation, even starvation upon the Venezuelan people, we've targeted the hated socialist regime of Nicholas Maduro. The US has groomed Kennedy/Obama lookalike US puppet Juan Gaido to assume power to protect US business interests there. Since we're reluctant to invade, we've doing it the old fashioned way; pain and suffering on the hapless citizenry to rise up and overthrow Maduro for our guy. It should be no surprise this monstrous policy is not working. We've been inflicting citizen deprivation on the 11 million souls of Cuba for 60 years now but the Castro, Diaz-Canel socialist regime soldiers on because no amount of US cruelty will force overthrow of nationalist leaders committed to preventing renewed US imperialism.

A once secret US State Department memo from 60 years ago describes this policy as "A line of action which, while adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government".

Maybe we should replace the words on the Statute of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free", with "Throw off your socialist leaders or we'll starve you to death".

Free Chelsea Manning...and Julian Assange as well

Is it not the supreme irony that the US gives presidential libraries and six figure pensions to its war criminals but imprisons the blokes that call out US war crimes in the Middle East and Africa. Former Pvt. Chelsea Manning did her job obeying the Constitution by outing such crimes in Iraq nine years ago. Her reward? Seven years in prison, several of which the UN described as torture, before being mercifully pardoned by Obama. When she stood on principle to refuse further cooperation, her government jailed her again for another sixty-two days, with more jail time ahead if she refuses to talk at the next Grand Jury investigation.

Then there's Julian Assange, forced into wretched conditions at Ecuador's London embassy for seven years to escape extradition to a cruel America bent on imprisoning this courageous journalist for publishing Manning's revelations. The US exerted pressure on Ecuador to cough up Assange from his Ecuadoran asylum upon which the Brits immediately imprisoned him for 50 weeks for jumping bail on a Swedish sex charge investigation. That provides the US nearly a year to snare Assange before he's once again free.

The US does pay lip service to justice for its real villains, imprisoning low down on the war crime chain soldier William Calley who served just four years for following superiors' orders to snuff out 500 innocents at Vietnam's My Lai massacre in 1968. Twenty-seven of his follow murderers were set free. Flash forward to today where the president is mulling the pardon of Navy Special Ops Chief Edward Gallagher for the grisly knife killing of a teenage captive, as well as others convicted of war crimes in our forever Middle East wars. Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) is pushing the pardon claiming he too killed many innocents during his tour of duty as an artillery officer in Iraq...and it was no big deal.

This is a grotesque country where our leaders can launch criminal wars, give a pass to heinous individual crimes; then seek decades in prison for the true heroes seeking justice. It's time to give our support and demand freedom for Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange.