https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/14/us/minnesota-shootings

Another Trump supporting lunatic out killing people. But I guess it was just another day of love.

Meanwhile, peaceful protests across the country. Maybe Fox News can find the .0001% that damaged some property so they can talk about how our cities are burning down.

https://on.ft.com/4jN2FJr @ssu and so on...

DJT will be super annoyed tonight that the assassination and the Iran-Israel war will have stolen all the news minutes from his parade.

Another Trump supporting lunatic out killing people. But I guess it was just another day of love. — Mikie

I wouldn’t politicise such a heinous act. Politicising it is the kind of thing MAGA would do, had the shoe been on the other foot.

Never doubt the neocons. — NOS4A2

Are there any left?

I wouldn’t politicise such a heinous act. Politicising it is the kind of thing MAGA would do, had the shoe been on the other foot. — Wayfarer

They're still trying to politicize it regardless, check out the previous page.

Deleted

They're still trying to politicize it regardless, check out the previous page. — Mr Bee

Remember what Michelle Obama said - ‘when they go low….’

I agree that Trump has been overall responsible for the atmosphere of threat and the promotion of violence.

I imagine Trump is pissed at Netanyahu. Hopefully this episode will further disentangle the US from that government. — NOS4A2

Trump distance himself from Israel? I sure as hell hope that happens, because it would mean that he's in the grave.

Man, the organizers and all their acolytes in the press tried really hard to get people to notice the No Kings protest, and everyone has already forgotten about it. It’s performative and cathartic stunts like these that have rendered protesting largely ineffectual. What a shame.

Man, the organizers and all their acolytes in the press tried really hard to get people to notice the No Kings protest, and everyone has already forgotten about it. It’s performative and cathartic stunts like these that have rendered protesting largely ineffectual. What a shame. — NOS4A2

Same with the military parade. Events, dear boy, events.

One was the celebration of a 250 year anniversary that much of the press tried to pooh-pooh. The other was a hissy fit much of the press tried to glorify. Not really the same at all, chap.

Aren't you pretty libertarian, though? You really like seeing tanks roll through the capital?

I do like it, yes. As of now, my own statism goes so far as the so-called “night-watchman state”. It should defend rights and make justice accessible. Beyond that it should not go. Plus a parade in support of soldiers and veterans is a good thing, in my opinion.

A military is pretty expensive. Lots of taxes.

Yes sir/ma'am/what have you. Though, I have very little problem with pre-emptively dealing with these sorts of civil unrest.

deleted

Man, the organizers and all their acolytes in the press tried really hard to get people to notice the No Kings protest, and everyone has already forgotten about it. It’s performative and cathartic stunts like these that have rendered protesting largely ineffectual. What a shame. — NOS4A2

You haven't forgotten about it and it seems to have had an impact. :up:

I went to the one in my county and it was by far the biggest protest that I've ever seen at the government center here.

In 1984 the Two Minutes Hate was a form of catharsis. Do you feel better having vented your anger in a display of collective emotion?

You want Orwellian, this poster is being shared on social media by The White House and Homeland security.

Some people could have a 3000 year hate and they'd still be snarling like a wounded dog.

Next up, cartels and Iran. Both of these will need to occur to get you back in the green. I read you often and enjoy your efforts, but I’m still trying to assess whether I’m being given insight or fear-mongering. — NOS4A2

That was just a month ago what you said, @NOS4A2.

Well, seems like it's very close that we indeed get a Trump war, now with Iran that was started by Israel.

(The Guardian, Tuesday 17th on June 2025) Trump convened a meeting of his national security team in the White House situation room after a day of febrile rhetoric in which the president gave sharply conflicting signals over whether US forces would participate directly in Israel’s bombing campaign over Iran.

He told journalists in the morning that he expected the Iranian nuclear programme to be “wiped out” long before US intervention would be necessary. Later he took to his own social media platform, Truth Social, to suggest that the US had Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in its bomb-sights, and could make an imminent decision to take offensive action. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump said. “But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”

In a post a few minutes later, Trump bluntly demanded “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER”.

It was not just Trump’s all-caps threats that triggered speculation that the US might join offensive operations. They were accompanied by the sudden forward deployment of US military aircraft to Europe and the Middle East, amid a general consensus that Iran’s deeply buried uranium enrichment facilities could prove impregnable without huge bunker-busting bombs that only the US air force possesses.

Demanding unconditional surrender is a quite extreme demand. Talk about an ultimatum. Is it going to be still TACO-Trump or will it be the big sidekick coming to the fight when the opponent seems to be loosing?

(The Hill, 17th June 2025) Trump — who on Monday cut short his visit to the Group of Seven summit in Canada to return to Washington to huddle with his national security team — has already authorized several military capabilities to the Middle East for defensive purposes. Those include more than 30 refueling tanker aircraft sent to Europe, the USS Nimitz carrier strike group ordered to the Middle East and two destroyers sent to the eastern Mediterranean Sea to help Israel defend against guided missile strikes.

The refueling tankers could be used to help replenish Israeli jets, offering Trump a less intense option for military involvement.

A U.S. official told NewsNation that the planes were moved to the European theater to give Trump “options” should things escalate further and the U.S. decide to become more involved.

The extra equipment and personnel add to the large U.S. force posture in the Middle East, with nearly 40,000 troops, air defense systems, fighter aircraft and warships.

The deployments of air and sea assets, taken together, suggest Washington is preparing for a potential offensive operation as Israel and Iran take part in tit-for-tat attacks, open warfare that Israeli officials have said could last “weeks, not days” and threatens to spark a wider war in the Middle East.

To have a lot of tankers around is good especially for offensive purposes. You don't need them for defensive Combat air patrols, but you do need them if you want to strike deep into Iran. So I disagree a bit with the above article.

(Earlier the MAGA people thought like this. Let's see how it goes. But that was before the TACO-nickname.)

I, for one, think immigrations laws should be enforced. The rest is window dressing on both sides. Who cares, other than the damage and violence (which both are carrying out). Meh. Swings and roundabouts. We'll be in the next cycle soon enough.

You want Orwellian, this poster is being shared on social media by The White House and Homeland security. — praxis

Yep.

Definitions of invader:
Merriam-Webster: one that starts armed conflict against another especially without reasonable cause
Oxford Learners dictionary: an army or a country that enters another country by force in order to take control of it; a soldier fighting in such an army
Wiktionary: One who invades a region. Synonyms: assailant, encroacher
Cambridge dictionary: an army or country that uses force to enter and take control of another country

I'm genuinely happy that tourist are ditching Trumpland and going somewhere else. Foreigners really shouldn't go to the US as long as Trump is in power.

Well, seems like it's very close that we indeed get a Trump war, now with Iran that was started by Israel.

Demanding unconditional surrender is a quite extreme demand. Talk about an ultimatum. Is it going to be still TACO-Trump or will it be the big sidekick coming to the fight when the opponent seems to be loosing?

You’re thinking like the Ayatollah now. I think that’s the point.

Meanwhile, other Iranians are clamoring for diplomatic solutions while the senile old leader and his hardliners beg for suicide. So it appears to be working.

But your prophecy might come true should the Ayatollah get his way. In any case you don’t know the answer. I don’t even think Trump knows.

Mr. Netanyahu has appealed to Mr. Trump to join the war, and to use powerful weapons Israel does not have to destroy Iran’s underground nuclear sites. Mr. Trump has mused publicly this week about the possibility of bombing Iran, and even of killing Mr. Khamenei. On Wednesday, he said he still had not made up his mind how to proceed, but also said it was not too late for diplomacy.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/18/world/israel-iran-trump

Classic art of the deal.

Soon Nimitz will be in striking range of Iran, so there's going to be two carrier strike groups in the area. Plus the B-2 bombers at Diego Garcia, whichI mentioned about earlier two months ago, are still there. Plus the important tanker aircraft needed to attack Iran.

This is about what Trump wants to do, and likely he will follow what Bibi and the hawks wants him to do. It's the classic American take, when you are ready to pounce, the last thing would be for the target to back down, hence make as tough demands that they cannot simply abide to.

Now I might be indeed wrong, but I think it's just a matter of time before Trump comes for the help of Bibi "as Iranians haven't responded to all the efforts". No, in truth Trump is salivating too much to get piece of that "Winning" that Israel and Bibi are getting. A big juicy war.

The next likely outcome is if Trump stays TACO, that Israel declares that is has met it's goals. And the war on - war off - war continues...

Classic art of the deal. — NOS4A2

People refer to that absolute bullshit line, still? After all the whimsical "Liberation Day's" and so on? :rofl:

I think it should be clear how this dysfunctional administration will just go on forward from one crisis to another, and during this chaotic stumbling, the older crazy ideas are simply forgotten... hopefully. Like Canada becoming a state. Or the US annexing Greenland or Panama. Or Trump kicking over 10 million illegal immigrants from the US. Just like the "Liberation Day" tariffs.

I can imagine many future crisis that Trump will stumble into in the next three years. Ah, and you are going to be so tired of all that winning.



https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WjMpD16nC2w?feature=share

Hard-hitting OP in the NY Times today (gift link), about how many impeachable offenses Trump 2.0 has already committed, and how blatantly corrupt and outright illegal many of his actions have been. A sample:

Trump has repeatedly ignored due process of law, such as in sending people to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador and to the South Sudan without a semblance of due process. The cutoff of funds to universities and to grant recipients has been done without any due process. This is a very serious abuse of power.

President Trump has used his power for retribution. His actions against law firms, which have been done without due process, have been expressly stated to be for personal retribution because they employed lawyers who investigated or prosecuted him. This is a very serious abuse of power.

The impoundment of funds — cutting off funds appropriated by Congress in a myriad of programs, including for scientific research, for international aid, for colleges and universities, for agencies created by Congress — is unconstitutional and illegal. It is unconstitutional because it is usurping Congress’s spending power, and it is illegal because it violates the Impoundment Control Act. This is a very serious abuse of power causing great harm.

President Trump is using the military for domestic law enforcement in Los Angeles in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act and a long tradition against such use of the military within the United States. This is a very frightening abuse of power.

It is clear that he is personally profiting from being president, with his cryptocurrency profiteering and his accepting an airplane as a personal gift and his real estate deals. This violates the emoluments clauses of the Constitution. — Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the Berkeley law school

It is obvious that Trump regards himself as above the law, and that his flunkies and sycophants all believe it. It's pathetic that the American political institutions have become so ineffective as to enable these blatantly illegal and immoral acts to be propogated from within the nation's highest office.

Article notes that the supine and compliant Congress will never take Trump to task, but let's hope that justice is eventually done.

In Canada the provincial and federal leaders are negotiating with each other about lowering the steep and stifling provincial trade barriers, fast-tracking projects that would otherwise take decades to get through the red tape, cutting spending, lowering taxes, diversifying trade relationship, and other goodies. Last month King Charles gave the throne speech to open parliament, the first time the true Canadian sovereign has done so in around 50 years.

All of it is a complete reversal from previous domestic policy of the last half century, and now we all know that every thing the Canadian governments have done over the past few decades were complete nonsense. My god, and all it took was a few Truth Social posts.

We now know from the royals being included in our politics once again that the rhetoric about Canadian sovereignty is also bullshit, with their satellite monarch reigning from a little island across the ocean.

And just last week the so-called G7 met here to absolutely zero fanfare, except when Trump arrived and then quickly left, of course. After all, there is a crisis going on in the Middle East and all these big Euro leaders from the post-war consensus, who remained signed on to the Iran Nuclear deal, were left doing photo-ops and drinking champagne in the Rockies.

Everything that’s going in the world is the direct and indirect result of the kind of leadership you hope and pray for, and an old playboy and reality-tv show host is out here exposing how effete and obsolete it all is.

Thanks Trump!

In Canada the provincial and federal leaders are negotiating with each other about lowering the steep and stifling provincial trade barriers, fast-tracking projects that would otherwise take decades to get through the red tape, cutting spending, lowering taxes, diversifying trade relationship, and other goodies. Last month King Charles gave the throne speech to open parliament, the first time the true Canadian sovereign has done so in around 50 years.

All of it is a complete reversal from previous domestic policy of the last half century, and now we all know that every thing the Canadian governments have done over the past few decades were complete nonsense. My god, and all it took was a few Truth Social posts. — NOS4A2

Never underestimate the effect an derogatory and condescending statement from a foreign leader has on a population. Add there sky high tariffs on highly integrated supply lines, and you have Canada in earnest looking for other trade partners than the US.

Everything that’s going in the world is the direct and indirect result of the kind of leadership you hope and pray for, and an old playboy and reality-tv show host is out here exposing how effete and obsolete it all is.

Thanks Trump! — NOS4A2

Well, I don't think that international trade has been effete and obsolete. Throughout history it has been global trade that has brought us prosperity. Not stupid naval gazing and mercantilism.

.
Self sufficiency is an old American thing. You're free to the extent that you're self sufficient, so pulling back from the world stage, increasing tariffs to promote American industry, basically building a wall around America, all that makes sense at a deep level to the archetypal American, out on the range, living off trapped rabbits and wild onions. And coffee. Lots of coffee.