Reaching Out (Again) To Pennsylvania's Senators

So far nothing from this post.

Let's reach out again.

This time about this.

In a discussion about Trump's war on Iran, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said (among many other things) this:

With every passing hour, we know and we know [Iran knows], that the military capabilities of their evil regime are crumbling. They can barely communicate, let alone coordinate; they're confused and we know it.

Our response? We will keep pressing. We will keep pushing, keep advancing, no quarter, no mercy for our enemies. 

It's that "no quarter" that's troubling. 

In 1909, the US Senate ratified the Hague Conventions.  Article 23 of those conventions reads (in part): 

In addition to the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially forbidden...

To declare that no quarter will be given;

As this has been ratified, it's the law. The Contitution says so:

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; 

And what exactly does "no quarter" mean?

The International Committee of the Red Cross defines it this way:

This term is used in such expressions as “to give no quarter” or “cry quarter”; in regard to hostilities by land, sea or air, denial of quarter means refusing to spare the life of anybody, even of persons manifestly unable to defend themselves or who clearly express their intention to surrender. 

International humanitarian law prohibits the use of this procedure, that is, ordering that there shall be no survivors, threatening the adversary therewith, or conducting hostilities on this basis. 

And that's clearly what Secretary Hegseth did. 

Senators, your august legislative body ratified that treaty more than a century ago. And it's been the supreme law of the land ever since.

Any comment on Secretary Hegseth's threatened war crime?

Reaching Out To Pennylvania's Senators

About this:

The Feb. 28 strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school building was the result of a targeting mistake by the U.S. military, which was conducting strikes on an adjacent Iranian base of which the school building was formerly a part, the preliminary investigation found. Officers at U.S. Central Command created the target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, people briefed on the investigation said.

Officials emphasized that the findings are preliminary and that there are important unanswered questions about why the outdated information had not been double checked.

And:

Striking a school full of children is sure to be recorded as one of the most devastating single military errors in recent decades. Iranian officials have said the death toll was at least 175 people, most of them children.

But didn't President Trump, early on, raise the possibility that the Iranians did this themselves?

Yes, he did.

On the other hand:

U.S. Senator Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) says he supports President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran, saying Iran is the “most significant state sponsor of terror in the world,” which has killed thousands of Americans.

And on the other, larger, balder, more tattooed hand: 

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania said Wednesday he believes the U.S.-Israel war with Iran has been "effective" and is moving toward an "appropriate outcome." 

"I think, overall, what's accomplished is remarkable," Fetterman told CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett in an interview Wednesday.

Does that include killing 175 people at a school - most of them children? 

And let's not forget:

An effort to constrain President Donald Trump’s power to continue the war in Iran failed Wednesday in the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., joined U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., and other Republicans in voting against advancing the war powers resolution, allowing the conflict to continue. 

Yay. Bipartisanship.

And then there's this:

A group of 46 mostly Democratic senators on Wednesday sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seeking answers on the bombing of a school in Iran.

An Iranian school for girls near a naval base in Minab was hit on Feb. 28 in the first wave of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. More than 100 children were killed in the strike, which U.S. officials say they are investigating. 

And:

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who has been largely supportive of the operation against Iran, did not sign the letter.

Of course not.

Maybe we can get a comment out of our pair of Pennsylvania Senate bipartisans on how, during Donald Trump's war on Iran, a school filled with school children was demolished by a US Tomahawk missile.

Have at it.

Contact Senator Fetterman.

Contact Senator McCormick.

This Happened To Sundas Naqvi, US Citizen - Born In Illinois

Let's start here first:

No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.

That's the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution. It applies to everyone. 

And yet, it didn't apply to this US Citizen - born in Evanston, Illinois.

From WGN in Chicago: 

Outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview on Sunday, Sarah Afzal spoke on behalf of her 28-year-old sister, Sundas Naqvi, who goes by Sunny.

Elected officials, family members and Sunny’s attorney stood alongside her, sharing their accounts of what they say happened after Sunny returned to Chicago.

Afzal says Sunny, a U.S. citizen born in Evanston, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport while returning from Turkey on Thursday.

“Detained with no cause. All she was told was that there was curious travel history,” said Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

US Citizen, detained with no cause. 

But wait. There's more.

Family members say that after more than a day of detention at O’Hare, Sunny’s phone signal was tracked to the ICE facility in Broadview. That led to a protest outside the facility, where family members, community activists and elected officials gathered demanding answers.

But the family says federal authorities insisted Sunny was not there, despite her phone’s location.

Hours later, around 2 a.m. Saturday, they say her phone turned back on and pinged from an ICE facility in Wisconsin. Once again, her family says federal authorities there denied she was being held.

“We know she was there because it kept showing her location right in the middle of the facility, and they were like, ‘We don’t know what to tell you,'” Afzal said. “Then we got a phone call while standing in the place.”

It was Sunny on the other end of the line. Afzal says Sunny told her she had been released and walked from the ICE facility to a nearby gas station around 5 a.m.

From there, Afzal says a stranger offered Sunny a ride and took her to a hotel, where her family was finally able to reunite with her.

Wait. What? 

How is any of this OK? 

 

 

As Expected, Sen Fetterman [Fill In The Blank]

From WHYY:

An effort to constrain President Donald Trump’s power to continue the war in Iran failed Wednesday in the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., joined U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., and other Republicans in voting against advancing the war powers resolution, allowing the conflict to continue. 

Best buds. 

Some background on Fetterman's "reasoning":

Every member in the U.S. Senate agrees we cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.

I’m baffled why so many are unwilling to support the only action to achieve that.

Empty sloganeering vs. commitment to global security — which is it?

— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) March 2, 2026

But what about this, Senator?

From a White House statement dated June 25, 2025 (posted with a headline that reads):

Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Have Been Obliterated — and Suggestions Otherwise are Fake News

Donald Trump said:

Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!

So was it or wasn't it obliterated less than one year ago, Senator? 

Let me remind you, Senator, of something that happened during the conflict that you're supporting.

At least 175 people, most of them likely children, were killed in a strike on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran on Saturday, health officials and Iranian state media said.

And:

Several videos and images verified by The New York Times showed that at least half of the two-story school was destroyed in the explosion. Emergency workers with the Red Crescent could be seen alongside families desperately combing through the rubble, which was littered with schoolbooks and book bags covered in blood and ashes. Portions of the building jutted out from the rubble, with bits of colorful murals visible on what were once the walls of the school. Desks were piled with debris.

Donald J Trump's war - and now yours. 

This is the Trump train you're on now, Senator:

Intentionally attacking a school, hospital or other civilian structure is a war crime, and indiscriminate strikes also violate the law. Even if schools are used for military purposes, the law requires armed parties to avoid or minimize harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Any comment, Senator?  Anyone else, feel free to send this to Senator John Fetterman.

I am pretty sure a group of your constituents will be at your office in Pittsburgh tomorrow. Maybe you want to justify the slaughter of 175 schoolgirls to them?

 

 

 

Another Question for Sen McCormick

While the rest of the world is focused on Iran, I wanted to run this one by Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick.

It's about this:

Watch the whole thing, if you can.

And now we turn to Dave. 

On a number of topics (most notably, on the killings of Renee Goode and Alex Pretti), Sen McCormick has warned against "irresponsible rhetoric" leading to violence.

But he's very careful not to point in any one political direction. Readers can read into that what they wish - both in what how he avoids specificity and how I described it.

On the other hand, here's a few examples from last night, posted by CBS:

Our reporting found hundreds of threats were left on judges voicemails. This one after a judge ruled the president had violated the First Amendment:

Recording of threat: I hope your whole family and everybody you love is raped in front of you and has their heads cut off.

That president being Donald J Trump, of course.

And before anyone "both sides" this:

Judge Jones: The national rhetoric from both sides has probably gotten worse over time. However I would not concede that the Democratic party or or that Democratic office holders have conducted themselves in any way that's similar to what this is administration is doing with respect to the federal judiciary. There's simply no evidence of that.

Judge Jones (a retired federal judge from Pennsylvania and a George W. Bush appointee) also said: 

In very plain English: if we're not careful we're gonna get a judge killed. It's just that stark.

So if Senator McCormick was sitting across from me right now, I'd ask him, plainly and starkly, if he'll denounce the irresponsible rhetoric coming out of the White House, rhetoric that is an obvious threat to the nation's judicial system.

What say you, Senator?

I'll be contacting the Senator's office with this in a minute or two. 

If you feel so compelled, perhaps you can, too.

Watch This

I found this on FB.

Science

We'll start with the anti-science from RFK Jr (as reported by the Beeb): 

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to cancel $500m (£376m) in funding for mRNA vaccines being developed to counter viruses that cause diseases such as the flu and Covid-19.

That will impact 22 projects being led by major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, for vaccines against bird flu and other viruses, HHS said.

Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a vaccine sceptic, announced he was pulling the funding over claims that "mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses".

This was published August 5, 2025. 

And now the science from a few months later (as published by JAMA): 

In this national cohort study of 28 million individuals, the results found no increased risk of 4-year all-cause mortality in individuals aged 18 to 59 years vaccinated against COVID-19, further supporting the safety of the mRNA vaccines that are widely used worldwide.

Specifically, the study was to answer this question:

Are COVID-19 mRNA vaccines associated with the long-term risk of all-cause mortality?

So it seems that science has an answer and, simply put, that answer is "No."   

Science.