9 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I didnt think Kent was taken seriously by much of the media because of his links and associations to right-wing groups like the Proud Boys. He seems to be getting lots of positive news reporting now?

Saying all that he is right of course. Trump was very much influenced by Israel around deciding to attack Iran and as we have discussed the US and Israeli objectives are different which makes the objective of a US " win " confusing and difficult to define

Yes, there's some questionable elements to Kent's background. But his actions seems to be consistent with a pol. who had bought into redacted's prior stance against foreign entanglements. Is redacted's sudden switch an example of how susceptible he is to the right kind of influencers?

22 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

I have decided that these two need new pairs of glasses. I tried viewing this video both on my tablet and on the OLED.
Ok, sometimes the close-up faces might look a bit better, in an overdone or Ai-uncanny valley fashion, depending on one's artistic POV, but the area/scene examples are awful, even taking into consideration they seem to be filming a screen vs. direct video captures. Most scenes just look like blown out brightness/contrast/color reshade-like filters, with too much forward light (like portrait lighting) and losing possible directional shadow. Not to mention, it adds wrinkles/details to faces, in one case alters upper lip shape of a chr (or at least the lipstick to a point it feels like it) etc. At least I assume it's an option/one doesn't have to use it.

EDIT: also, the demo they got to look at was running on two 5090's. But don't worry, it'll scale downward in the end. >.>

DLSS 5 looks so good, in fact, that the narrators don't appear realistic. Are they AI slop? Just wondering... 😏

Top counterterrorism official Kent resigns over Trump’s Iran war, says Iran posed no imminent threat

I'm glad to see somebody in that circle showed moral qualms about redacted's actions.

‘Never heard him so angry’: Trump is furious that global allies aren’t pitching in in Iran

Crackpot is angry his fantasy world doesn't match reality? Huh.

On 3/15/2026 at 3:53 AM, LadyCrimson said:

I keep telling hubby we should sell the Bay Area house semi-soon because it's so close to the Bay - with global warming, in 20-30 years it could be a problem, if you believe the global warming scientists. We had to get flood insurance for it recently (wasn't a req. before). eg, get rid it before no one wants it! Heheh.

Reminds me of an old quote:

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

I do believe the climate change science; it's just that the Earth's climate is very complex so who knows how it will turn out? It's already heating up faster than they expected.

On 3/14/2026 at 12:38 PM, Zoraptor said:

I have to admit there's a certain amount of grim amusement to be had from Trump now begging other countries to send warships to Hormuz.

Sounds like a grand opportunity to cut a Tarrif deal with redacted. I'm sure he'd be all over that.

Trump says US may hit Iran’s Kharg Island again ‘just for fun’

Umm... 'K. Cue the sinister laughter, I suppose. Mwahahahaha. 👹

This seems increasingly like a bully vs. bully war. Which one is the more evil, I wonder?

It's snowing here; there's about an inch accumulated thus far and it's still coming down. This is very late in the season for snow in this area. ❄️

Meanwhile, the weather folk are predicting a strong El Niño for 2026, which may mean a year or two of abnormally high temperatures. 🥵

The Return of a Super El Niño: How the Rapid Collapse of La Niña is Triggering a Massive Global Shift for 2026

Guess I should enjoy the cold while I can...

3 hours ago, Gorth said:

I suppose Trump accomplished an unusual feat in Iran. He managed to get Ayatollah Khamenei replaced with Ayatollah Khamenei as supreme leader 🤔

Note that the death of the Aytollah is credited to Israel, although it likely wouldn't have happened without the US attack. We also have Israel to thank for attacking Iran's oil infrastructure; I'm not sure that was a good move from the US perspective.

4 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I can't imagine an outcome where the US and Israel stop attacking Iran and then Iran continues there attacks or continues to block Hormuz

Anything is possible but it seems very unlikely?

Well, presumably Iran would want to return to the negotiating table with some form of leverage. The US is spending around $900 million per day, with $6 billion spent thus far. If Iran pursues an asymmetrical war strategy, it could cost the US dearly to gain any sort of victory. Plus, redacted doesn't have infinite funds to spend; he'll have to go to Congress with hat in hand with the Reps having to run for re-election with this on their record.

7 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Iran will obviously accept any ceasefire because they fighting a defensive battle

I'm not clear that's true. In the past they have repeatedly acted to damage the political interests of the in-power President. With most of their military infrastructure destroyed, Iran may choose to play the long game and try to bottle up the Straits of Hormuz. The goal would be to damage the US economy and influence the next election. Democrats have shown more willingness to deal diplomatically with Iran, rather than resorting to force as redacted has done multiple times already.

I'm wondering what the "victory" conditions are for this conflict? Is it a win if regime change is achieved? Are we looking for a Treaty on Iranian interests in Lebanon and Gaza? Is there a hypothetical conflict we're concerned about? Otherwise, I'm not clear what it accomplishes, other than raising gas prices and burning a lot of expensive munitions. We supposedly already destroyed Iran's nuclear enrichment and tore up the nuclear treaty. Seems like it's primarily useful as a distraction from Epstein.

19 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Wouldn't be all that surprising if Iran already has mined the Straits. Or at least, 'mined' them. There will be a lot of drone type developments at play that will be broadly indistinguishable from 'mines'. Indeed, there are multiple varieties of 'mine' that have very little in common with the classic floating porcupine design. Iran is known to have rocket propelled mines, that are seabed deployed and effective from ~200m depth.

The- pretty obvious, to anyone with two brain cells to rub together- negative of sinking Iran's entire navy is that there really isn't any drawback to denying the Straits to everyone in response. It's also pretty obvious to anyone following Ukraine that a country without a conventional navy can still do a lot of damage unconventionally. Shame Trump and Hegseth have to share the same brain cell, really.

Yes, I was expecting mining as well, but perhaps that's too indiscriminate. It wouldn't surprise me if they allow passage of China-bound vessels in exchange for Chinese military aid. That would cause redacted's head to explode.

3 hours ago, Malcador said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-privately-shown-serious-interest-us-ground-troops-iran-rcna262176

I'm guessing the thinking is going that since Venezuela was so easy, this will be too.

He believes in many things that aren't real, so yeah it's concerning about their strategic vision for Iran.

Trump’s War On Iran: Myth Vs. Fact

Hopefully the new ICE head candidate is more Constitutionally aligned, although he's a loyalist to the FIFA peace award winner so that seems unlikely.

Trump fires Homeland Security Secretary Noem after mounting criticism

Another one under the bus. Not a surprise really.

I wonder if Infantino will take back his "peace prize"? Heh, probably not, since DJT can disrupt the 2026 World Cup. What a cluster.

8 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Netflix did not want WB's gaming division at all; their bid was specifically for studio and streaming assets. So it would have been sold off very cheaply or- probably, given its main assets are linked to WB IPs- shut down.

Though it's unlikely Paramount specifically wants the gaming part either their offer is at least for the whole thing.

The gaming division has been tanking of late and they are reducing funding. I wouldn't be surprised to see Paramount+ sell it off for the IP rights.

On 2/4/2026 at 11:58 AM, Zoraptor said:

And it still has the ultimate problem: if Sauron can subvert Celebrimbor's mind- and he'd be at worst the third greatest elf on ME behind single G and double G- then what does he really need the rings for?

Perhaps just greater range? For example, he could almost immediately connect with Frodo when the hobbit put on the ring. With the rings he can manipulate multiple heads of state at the same time at a distances of many weeks' ride.

4 hours ago, Pidesco said:

The recent reports is that the Iran government has a four person deep hierarchy for every meaningful position, which should mean Khamenei's death will either be meaningless or make things worse for everyone involved.

I do suspect it will now make the job of the Secret Service more difficult.

I known DJT likes to gamble, but this attack can set of a cycle of revenge retaliations. I can't see Iran responding with a token attack this time; they will want to deter future raids. The whole event appears reckless, unwarranted, and poorly justified. Did the administration even bother to notify Congress?

One hit wonder from back in the day

Negative social ties as emerging risk factors for accelerated aging, inflammation, and multimorbidity

Another good reason to keep negative people out of your life.

Almost operatic in presentation.

11 hours ago, Gorgon said:

The absence of regular voting is worse. Having said that, the American political system is a bit of a joke. They should break up the two party system into smaller constituents like they do in anti trust cases, and institute proportional representation just for starters. An anti corruption drive is also sorely needed. by 'drive' I probably mean purge. Lock the worst offenders up and scare the rest straight.

Easier said than done. Neither of the existing parties wants competition, so they aren't going to change the funding system to allow more parties. The solution has to be mathematical: change the voting system to a non-pluralistic approach. Allowing people to vote for more than one candidate captures more information about the voters intent, and encourages non-extreme candidates. This approach has been tested in two states thus far (Alaska and Maine) and more cities are turning to this method.