So let me get this straight - Russia used an IRBM - which required them to notify the US in advance of its use - to destroy a cooperative garage and a shopping mall? "Massive strike" = 4 dead. Desperation attempt to bully. Meanwhile, one FP7 took out dozens of Russian troops training in Kursk.

Chaos that can be exploited is the goal, and the goal looks like it is going to be achieved. If you believe you already know how the 2026 election is going to go, I suspect you are wrong. I think it's going to be a mess. On purpose.

They aren't going to try to sell what they have done. They won't even try to defend it. They will demonize their enemies. For once, can we go into an election season expecting that, and not try to fight "Your side is evil" with "Your political policies are not right for these 20 reasons"?

Wait, Fruity G is in the hospital? Oh noes!

One's side has to win in the present in order to be those who write the history in the future.

There is a big difference between having the right to do a thing and doing the right thing.

"Where have I heard that name before?" So generic as to not attract further inquiry.

Are you not entertained?

My Hungarian friends - may you throw off your fear and throw off the chains that bind you to monsters. May we all. Best wishes to Peter Magyar. www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5Xx...

Amanda Ungaro didn't kill herself. IBTL

"Reflexive control is a Russian-derived concept in asymmetric warfare that manipulates an adversary's perception by feeding them curated information, causing them to voluntarily make decisions that are detrimental to their own interests." TMYK

So - US ships are stuck in the Persian Gulf, Iranian ships are not, and we dropped the sanctions on their oil, so theirs is what gets out. This helps Iran, Russia's ally. And we're going with this was a mistake, a strategic blunder? That just happened to help Trump help Putin? OK then.

Let's face it - the biggest problem is a total lack of principles. There's no action they won't take just because it is "wrong". Transactional morality.

Sure enough - we're in the "We're just going to lie about it" phase still. Clowns. www.whitehouse.gov/releases/202...

The amount of people who have no clue that the cease-fire is not really a thing is disturbing - the entire media industry talking about what's next, who won, etc., and the price of oil. It's like they believe they can make reality just by saying it over and over. Oh right, they do believe that.

Penning a hot take on the "cease-fire"? I'd wait.

I'm shocked. OK, not really. www.channelnewsasia.com/business/tra...

What's really going to bug you is when you ask yourself whether Trump setting up Putin's ally Iran with a funding stream like charging for passage through the Strait was an accident. At $2M/tanker, that oil money would fund the construction of 7000 Shahed drones. PER. DAY.

I was not aware this would be relevant 2 weeks later, but here we are.

I predict this was set up to fail.

I feel subjected to a bad play, in a theater in which I did not agree to go.

Any official statements from the Iranians yet?

. I'm so very tired of this shit. .

I'm so sorry America - I've tried to warn as much and as often as I could. 👇👇

One of the greatest propaganda successes of the current Republican Party is convincing folks that it is "just Trump" among Republicans that is beholden to Putin. They don't "Refuse to admit it" - they are ALL IN ON IT.

I am left wondering how many times it would have ACTUALLY taken of us saying "There are no guardrails" before you lemmings understood it - because there's a bunch of people crying out for guardrails we already told you weren't there any more. One more time: THERE. IS. NOTHING. TO. STOP. THIS.

Bibi and Putin are in a fight for global influence with Trump. Bibi now royally pissed at Putin for giving targeting of ISR energy sites to Iran. This power struggle in their organized crime ring is a global mess.

Dystopian horror story in a sentence: "By the time the poor went for the torches and pitchforks, they were met by an army of automatons whose allegiance to the rich was preprogrammed and who were wholly unconcerned with their lot in life or whether their rights were being respected." Yours?

You know whose opinion I would love to have on the Iran conflict? Paul Van Riper. warontherocks.com/2015/11/mill...

An excellent thread. There are problems from outside, yes - but there are structural problems within as well that we must correct.

Close, but a little more complex than that - it's deliberate (whether Trump is aware or not) sabotage of the US government. Yes, stealing as much as they can while doing so, but with the purpose of removing impediments to their GLOBAL transnational organized crime syndicate. Trump, Bibi, MBS, Putin.

Necessity is the mother of invention. I highly recommend that the makers of the Patriot missile learn that really quickly and speed up production and reduce cost, or you will be replaced by a cheaper version created in Ukraine out of necessity. Fire Point will make you obsolete.

OMFG NO, a cabinet and VP who are absolute butt-kissing ego-stroking (at the least!) sycophants are not going to invoke the 25th. Accept that isn't going to happen and move on.

Wait - is everyone still assuming those in power want, care about, or even need the will of the people? They are planning to not need your support, they are planning to rule over us by force if necessary. Plan accordingly. I feel like a broken record.

What's really going to bug you is realizing that the horrible consequences of his actions on the United States are not an accident of his bumbling, but a direct result of plan to cause damage to the United States and the international order in order to empower a transnational organized crime ring.

Every politician who says T's "got to go" is pissing me off. This insanity is not new. You've got no solution either, and your saying he's "got to go" DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Over, and over, and over again. I'd actually like you to STFU until you come up with something to do that matters.

👇👇Taps the sign:

Trump is a madman, but IR is not innocent. Shaheds attack Ukrainians regularly, also attack US forces and allies in the M.E.. IR and RU are allies. IRGC are Putin puppets. The IR conflict is wedge between US(T admin) and Putin. Bibi and Putin are combatants here, with T taking IS side. Already WW.

Oh, so you think someone should do something, do you? What? They captured any legal and constitutional means of enforcement against him FIRST. There's no one in a white hat riding to the rescue. Our system is compromised. There are no off-ramps. Sorry. Plan accordingly. 👇👇Taps the sign:

I wonder if any future historians will be be confused by our stance on global warming by all the "Abolish ICE" marketing in this time? :D

Stop for a minute analyzing the details and consider the big picture. If you are working for Putin, what helps? 1. US in a big war/conflict, draining resources 2. Internal US political conflict 3. US professional warfighters sidelined 4. Cybersecurity gutted His "bumbling" is serving a purpose.

First place that chants "Spiderkash" at him and gets on TV wins.

If you aren't already, expect the middle east to get really messy over the next few weeks. I fear we are about to find out how much this is, in fact, war.

Look, I don't know what to tell you if you think saying "Trump surrendered" is going to work out well. If that's what the media goes with, he'll put marines into Iran just to prove he didn't surrender. I don't believe there's actually all that much changing, to be honest - they just insider traded.

I hope the "watch TV and rage post on social media" version of the fireside chat goes away after this presidency.

Now here's a question for you. I just watched video of a strike that happened **over the weekend** against a main Shahed drone factory in Iran. Um... why was that not in the initial set of targets? You would think it would be #2 or #3 on the list, not 3 weeks in.

"I don't understand why no one has stopped him!" Really? Could it be he's currently in the position to be the most protected human on the planet, quite literally? Has the best health care of probably anyone on the planet, quite literally? We make this position impervious to the world on purpose.

I don't want to sound alarming, but people need to understand reality is NOT in control. These two warring nations have sizable parts of leadership who are religious fundamentalists that literally believe they were sent by God/Allah to destroy the other religion. Expecting coherence is foolish.

There's been what sounds like a refueling accident in/over Iraq.