1 hour ago, pmp10 said:

That's just US pretending multipolar order isn't real.
Their ability to restrain Israel is clearly nil at this point.

 

usa couldn't even keep their most loyal and obedient vassal like australia and japan in line

not because they are in some rebellious mood

but because usa are so stupid and incoherent they couldn't fallow their direction if they want to

Australia is in the same boat as Canada. They'll always (well, 'always') be loyal to the US, Trump, not so much. Trump's conduct and being seen as Trumpists doomed both countries' conservative opposition parties to electoral losses that they previously looked like they would win. Not following Trump's directions is electorally popular.

(Particularly funny is the US threatening to pull out of AUKUS. Which would result in the Australians having paid the french a billion dollar break fee to switch to US subs for nothing. While that was a Morrison vanity project- and the threat is likely just trying to leverage additional purchases*- he tied Australia's defence strategy to it for future governments. Cancellation would be a massive prestige loss for Australia and the UK, and Australia would end up... going back to the French? Guess they could always keep the Collins class even longer**...

*coincidentally, we've spent/ allocated $4bn for 4 planes and 4-6 US helicopters. To put that in perspective, we could have bought 28 F-16s for an eighth of that amount 15 years ago, and that's including the prior lease fees. Pretty much total extortion

**allegedly so loud initially that RNZN sonar operators thought they had to be decoys during a wargame, because no one would deliberately design them that way)

15 hours ago, Malcador said:

They have tankers and not like Syria or Iraq could stop them

am gonna admit we were surprised fordow, bushehr and isfahan sites were not hit in the initial strike. learning that perhaps israel were doing this solo helped make sense o' what we were seeing. if the goal were a preemptive  knee-capping o' the iranian capacity to develop nuclear weapons, then this were a kinda slipshod effort as it nowhere near achieves such an outcome and likely only accelerates iranian efforts at the remaining sites, no?

less 'bout an immediate halting o' the nuke program. 

considering how the trump admin leaked israeli intel in the first term, and the houthi stoopid more recent, we woulda' been more surprised if israel wanted the US anywhere near their operation... and given how well executed the israeli attacks were, (which again makes the exclusion o' fordow, bushehr and isfahan noteworthy,) it's hard to imagine the clown car assembly o' a reality tv show and serial sexual assaulter Pres who disturbing regular exhibits aphasia symptoms, a fox and friends weekend host defense secretary, a real estate mogul handling the diplomacy end o' things, plus tulsi gabbard (don't get us started,) were anywhere near the planning and execution o' the israeli version o' the baptism scene from the godfather. 

trump is gonna take credit just so long as things appear positive, but he will distance if/when things turn sour. 'course the truth o' the matter is that the US has become an increasingly irrelevant participant in the calculus o' middle east players since obama. 

even so, am not gonna pretend we have any kinda special knowledge. maybe the US and israel did work together, but am embarrassed to admit that israeli success makes US involvement less likely in our mind.  2025 is so not what we woulda' imagined in 1999.

HA! Good Fun!

Edited June 14, 2025Jun 14 by Gromnir

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/russia-says-israels-attack-iran-was-unprovoked-illegal-2025-06-13/ 

 

Putins comments on Israel attacking Iran

"We strongly condemn the use of force by the state of Israel in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and international law," the ministry said. Unprovoked military strikes against a sovereign U.N. member state, its citizens, peaceful cities, and nuclear energy infrastructure are categorically unacceptable.  The international community cannot afford to be indifferent to such atrocities, which destroy peace and damage regional and international security," it said. The statement called on both sides "to exercise restraint in order to prevent a further escalation of tensions and the descent of the region into full-scale war".

 

This type of constant hypocrisy and delusion from Putin when he is doing in Ukraine everything  that he is criticizing Israel of doing never ceases to both amaze me and make me laugh 

Its yet another example of the ubiquitous false outrage that is common nowadays " wars and invasions are wrong unless my team is doing it and then its based and fine "

 

But at  least  he mentions the importance of the UN and international law .....that must count for something  

Ive got to sit down and finally watch that movie one of these days.

57 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Ive got to sit down and finally watch that movie one of these days.

Have you watched any of the Godfathers?

They classics and there is 4th one  that was released  long after the first 3 which is really a directors cut of the third one but it provides closure 

You  might find them a little a slow compared to modern day mob movies but they iconic and they set the  standard for most mob movies that came after them 

 

 

Cool, Democratic reps and senators in Minnesota are getting assassinated now.

41 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Cool, Democratic reps and senators in Minnesota are getting assassinated now.

sure, this is unfortunate, but look at the violence of blm in 2020 and the widespread riots destroying la today. are libs genuine in their condemnation of political violence, or are they tacit advocates?

whatabout the two trump assassination attempts?

whatabout steve scalise and the 2017 baseball game shooting by a bernie sanders supporter?

whatabout...

am not having a hard time anticipating the deflection and whataboutism.

as for the godfather, it is almost necessary to watch the first two films as both is cultural reference points-- if you don't know 'em, you miss the allusion and won't get innumerable memes. we read the bible in college not 'cause we were religious but do to the fact we would miss a large % o' famous author allusion and references if we didn't know the bible. you think we wanted to watch the star wars prequels or the jj abrams star wars films? hell no, but to get all the inevitable star wars references we knew would become part o' cultural norms, we suffered the indignity.

HA! Good Fun!

Dressed like a cop, maybe people understand all the apprehension about how ICE agents are dressed 

Multiple ICE impersonation arrests made during nationwide immigration crackdown

as ice is routine wearing street clothes, balaclavas, and refusing to show id, the fact there hasn't been some kinda lethal incident/accident, particular in a stand your ground state, is nothing short of miraculous. unless the goal is to trigger such an accident, am unable to see the rationale... particularly insofar as the refusal to show id is concerned.

but harris woulda been just as bad, right? the people who claimed they would use lethal force to deny a federal officer if the government tried to confiscate their gas powered chain saw if such were condemned due to imaginary environmental legislation, those people sudden go uncharacteristic meek and quiet when feds is routinely arresting american citizens by accident.

am typical mistaken for puerto rican or mexican, and our post retirement wardrobe is admitted kinda embarrassing. no more ferragamo loafers and nice suits. in fact, one o' our old work colleagues keeps calling us "fetterman" 'cause we routine wear hoodies, shorts and sneakers ('course now that it is getting warmer, the hoodie is probable gonna disappear by 6am on most days, but am suspecting our new fetterman nick sticks for awhile.) we sure as heck don't carry a passport or have our birth certificate with us everywhere we go. how easy would it be for us to end up in an ice facility by accident with no way to prove our citizenship status?

regardless, what happened to all the outrage from the libertarians? the "justified" anger 'cause o' rumors that the libs might do something was common a year ago, but now maybe the folks at reason.com write a they are all bad article when describing their disappointment about venezuleans and afghanistan residents having their temporary protected status summarily and arbitrarily revoked... but of course their lead article is 'bout biden. 

wtf?

HA! Good Fun!

8 hours ago, BruceVC said:

This type of constant hypocrisy and delusion from Putin when he is doing in Ukraine everything  that he is criticizing Israel of doing never ceases to both amaze me and make me laugh 

Not your best work.

People saying the marching is poor, looks a bit laid back but I guess the US armed forces spend time on other stuff.

Edited June 14, 2025Jun 14 by Malcador

21 minutes ago, Malcador said:

People saying the marching is poor, looks a bit laid back but I guess the US armed forces spend time on other stuff.

 

wait where are those cheer come from

doesn't seem like there are enough people to make that kind of noise on screen

are there far more people on the camara side

Sponsored by Coinbase, hilarious. This is just embarrassing. 

Today in... wha?

The Bleach Community Is Ready for RFK Jr. to Make Their Dreams Come True

Quote

Online communities dedicated to the use of a toxic bleach solution to treat everything from cancer to autism believe Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is interested in their cause.

So... do I need to worry about what's in this Fall's influenza vaccine?

6 minutes ago, rjshae said:

Today in... wha?

The Bleach Community Is Ready for RFK Jr. to Make Their Dreams Come True

So... do I need to worry about what's in this Fall's influenza vaccine?

 

be grateful if usa doesn't spread plague on purpose to create herd immunity

4 hours ago, Malcador said:

People saying the marching is poor, looks a bit laid back but I guess the US armed forces spend time on other stuff.

well, perhaps the navy (13 october) and marines (10 november) will do a better job when they get their parades. afterall, seeing how today were all about the army and not trump's birthday, that means that for the 250th birthday o' the navy and the marines, similar parades is gonna occur, yes?

sure, a relative small number o' people showed up to trump's birthday... sorry, the army's birthday parade, and the whole event looked kinda underwhelming, but practice makes perfect. got two more shots at perfection. surely when the navy and marines get their parades, improvements will be made. more sponsors? perhaps you won't be able to hear the squeaky sherman tank noises over the sound of roaring crowd noise when people are cheering for the marines? trump wouldn't dare doze off for the marines, right? 

HA! Good Fun!

5 hours ago, Malcador said:

People saying the marching is poor, looks a bit laid back but I guess the US armed forces spend time on other stuff.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-kicks-off-massive-military-parade-national-mall/story?id=122853103

It wasnt as attended as I assumed, I guess the general negative sentiment expressed on this thread was an accurate benchmark of how most Americans felt about this celebration

Its understandable considering the reality of the political climate but it reflects poorly on Trumps overall popularity 

 

 

One thing I know that should stir up Guard Dog's heart and finally break through his paradoxically pathetic yet practically impervious shell of "both sides are the same"...the assassin even shot and killed the dog, a darling golden retriever. Find me any evidence of anyone but right-wing scum, be it this creep or cops or ghoulish governors of South Dakota, deliberately going out of their way to kill dogs in this day and age. Even their king hates dogs: doesn't that tell you both sides are, in fact, not the same?

10 hours ago, BruceVC said:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-kicks-off-massive-military-parade-national-mall/story?id=122853103

It wasnt as attended as I assumed, I guess the general negative sentiment expressed on this thread was an accurate benchmark of how most Americans felt about this celebration

Its understandable considering the reality of the political climate but it reflects poorly on Trumps overall popularity 

I think it would have been (a lot) more popular without the obvious association with his highness' birthday. I'm not against military parades per say, and I do support our military forces. But this was tacky.

1 minute ago, rjshae said:

I think it would have been (a lot) more popular without the obvious association with his highness' birthday. I'm not against military parades per say, and I do support our military forces. But this was tacky.

Is there really any doubt left that he has wet dreams at night about becoming a new Putin, Xi or Kim?

joe rogan has an epiphany

warning: sweary

Spoiler

...

well that's just great. is only now rogan realizes that the trump and stephen miller mass deportation plan has human costs? sorry, but if you didn't realize this were an inevitable outcome o' a scheme to deport millions of undocumented residents, then you are too stoopid to be taken serious... even if, with the benefit o' more than a little hindsight, you are right about this one issue.

honest, what is wrong with these people, and how long does it take to sink in that it ain't just child separations. it ain't solitary issues like near non-existent social security fraud, pepfar money laundering, or va waste. it ain't a single fire fighting training school, or a solitary national park ranger. it ain't just one law firm, university or chris krebs. it ain't a singular medical grant that were stoopid terminated, or one person who had their medical treatment cancelled. it ain't just one case o' the doj abandoning due process in an effort to get bad people. it ain't just one 747 from qatar... well, it is just one plane, but the jet is almost trivial compared to the meme coin billions and stock market manipulation grifts. it ain't just one instance of incompetence, cruelty or greed. and guess what, just as with child separations, all the other examples were also predictable.

only five months. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

33 minutes ago, Gromnir said:

joe rogan has an epiphany

warning: sweary

  Reveal hidden contents

...

well that's just great. is only now rogan realizes that the trump and stephen miller mass deportation plan has human costs? sorry, but if you didn't realize this were an inevitable outcome o' a scheme to deport millions of undocumented residents, then you are too stoopid to be taken serious... even if, with the benefit o' more than a little hindsight, you are right about this one issue.

honest, what is wrong with these people, and how long does it take to sink in that it ain't just child separations. it ain't solitary issues like near non-existent social security fraud, pepfar money laundering, or va waste. it ain't a single fire fighting training school, or a solitary national park ranger. it ain't just one law firm, university or chris krebs. it ain't a singular medical grant that were stoopid terminated, or one person who had their medical treatment cancelled. it ain't just one case o' the doj abandoning due process in an effort to get bad people. it ain't just one 747 from qatar... well, it is just one plane, but the jet is almost trivial compared to the meme coin billions and stock market manipulation grifts. it ain't just one instance of incompetence, cruelty or greed. and guess what, just as with child separations, all the other examples were also predictable.

only five months. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

It's not an epiphany, though. The clip is years old. So that's what he said years before the second election of Donald Trump. Which means it is just evidence that Rogan is a truly reprehensible human being. 

My theory is that they left him in his sensory deprivation tank over the weekend, forgot to flip him a few times and season both sides,  and he cooked too long on DMT.

 

It's funny how so many attempts at peacemaking in the Middle East by American presidents only seems to lead to more conflict. I guess it's just a crappy neighborhood. We've wasted entirely too much diplomatic capital on that region. Because oil, I suppose.