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Debt Rattle April 20 2026

Apr 202026
 
 April 20, 2026  Posted by at 9:18 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  Add comments


Edgar Degas Les repasseuses (women ironing) 1884


• Trump’s Cryptic ‘The End Is Near’ Post Sends Internet Into A Frenzy (MN)
• Trump Warns Iran: ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ (Margolis)
• Turkey Could Be ‘Next Iran’ For Israel: US Envoy Scrambles To Calm Tensions (MEE)
• Netanyahu Left ‘Personally Stunned’ By Trump Rhetoric On Lebanon Strikes (ZH)
• Will This Atlantic Hit Piece Be the Final Straw? (Margolis)
• The Enigma of JD Vance (Alan Joseph Bauer)
• Will Spain’s Supreme Court Block Mass Legalization Of Migrants? (RMX)
• Will Ukraine Forcibly Conscript Women To Fight On The Frontline? (RMX)
• Chief Justice Roberts Faces Two Strikes After New Leak Rocks the Court (Turley)
• West Still Wants To Seize Ukrainian Black Soil, Russian Oil – Zakharova (TASS)
• Circling the Drain Phase of Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens Gimmick (Pinsker)
• Marjorie Taylor Greene Amplifies Viral Doubts About Butler (ZH)

 


 

https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2045684789802336442?s=20 https://twitter.com/JudyMaxB/status/2045542891616194898?s=20 https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/2045628818602459221?s=20 https://twitter.com/Real_RobN/status/2045552110100758533?s=20

 


 

 


 


Trump plays the West like a fiddle.

But Iran is going for what they know best: the long game. That’s not Trump.

• Trump’s Cryptic ‘The End Is Near’ Post Sends Internet Into A Frenzy (MN)

In a development that quickly fueled online speculation, President Trump posted a video of Frank Sinatra performing his signature hit “My Way” on social media with no accompanying text or explanation. The move came just hours after he convened a high-level meeting in the White House Situation Room to discuss the ongoing standoff with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz. The post featured the classic track whose lyrics speak of independence and resolve. While Trump has long used the song at rallies, inaugurals, and even as Air Force One departed at the end of his first term, its sudden appearance amid rising tensions drew immediate attention.

This latest social media activity follows fresh statements from Trump on Truth Social addressing direct accusations of Iranian ceasefire violations. In the post, shared widely on X by accounts including RedWave Press, Trump laid out his position clearly:

“Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz — A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement! Many of them were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom. That wasn’t nice, was it? My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations. Iran recently announced that they were closing the Strait, which is strange, because our BLOCKADE has already closed it. They’re helping us without knowing, and they are the ones that lose with the closed passage, $500 Million Dollars a day! The United States loses nothing.”

He added, “In fact, many Ships are headed, right now, to the U.S., Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska, to load up, compliments of the IRGC, always wanting to be ‘the tough guy!’ We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!”

After a U.S.-brokered 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect, Iran initially announced the Strait of Hormuz was open to commercial vessels for the truce period. Oil prices dropped on the news. But the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) quickly reversed course, citing the continued U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and ships. Iranian officials, including Parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, warned that without concessions the strait would remain closed.

Trump has maintained that the American blockade will stay in place until Tehran reaches a broader agreement that includes commitments on its nuclear program. He has described conversations with Iranian counterparts as productive but stressed that the U.S. position will not shift without concrete steps from the other side. No new direct talks are currently scheduled.

Saturday’s Situation Room session included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. According to Axios reporting, the focus was on assessing ceasefire compliance and preparing for possible next steps in negotiations. No immediate policy changes were announced afterward.

This episode echoes dynamics we previously covered, when major outlets claimed Trump was preparing to “nuke” Iran ahead of a deadline tied to the same Strait of Hormuz standoff. The White House pushed back firmly at the time, clarifying that any potential action would be conventional strikes on infrastructure rather than nuclear weapons. Media speculation ran hot then, much as it has with today’s cryptic post.

As of this writing, U.S. representatives are set to arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan, tomorrow evening for indirect negotiations. Iran has not publicly responded to the latest Trump statement, and shipping interests continue to watch developments closely given the strait’s critical role in global energy flows. The situation remains fluid, with both sides signaling openness to a deal while holding firm on core demands. Whether the current pressure and diplomatic track yield results or further escalation will depend on the coming days of talks.

Read more …

Did they think he was a nice guy?

• Trump Warns Iran: ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ (Margolis)

President Donald Trump is done playing nice with Iran — and he wants Tehran to know exactly what that means. After Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps fired on multiple ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, Trump took to social media with a message that left zero room for ambiguity. Trump said Iran violated a ceasefire agreement by opening fire in the Strait of Hormuz, describing the incident as a serious escalation. He claimed that multiple vessels were targeted, including a French ship and a British freighter. “Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz — A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement!” Trump said. “Many of them were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom. That wasn’t nice, was it?”


Trump added that U.S. representatives are headed to Pakistan for negotiations, signaling that diplomatic efforts are still underway. “My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations,” he said. At the same time, Trump suggested that Iran’s own actions have effectively reinforced a U.S. blockade in the region. “Iran recently announced that they were closing the Strait, which is strange, because our BLOCKADE has already closed it,” he said. “They’re helping us without knowing, and they are the ones that lose with the closed passage, $500 Million Dollars a day!”

According to Trump, the United States stands to benefit from shifting shipping patterns, particularly in domestic energy markets. “The United States loses nothing. In fact, many Ships are headed, right now, to the U.S., Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska, to load up, compliments of the IRGC, always wanting to be ‘the tough guy!’” He emphasized that the administration has put forward what he described as a fair deal, while warning of severe consequences if Iran refuses. “We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” Trump said. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”

Trump closed with a stark warning, framing potential military action as long overdue. “They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years,” he said. “IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!” Speaking with Fox News’ Trey Yingst Sunday morning, Trump took it further, warning that if no deal is reached, “the whole country is getting blown up.” That’s language strikingly similar to what he deployed just before a previous ceasefire was announced, which suggests this may be Trump’s version of deadline diplomacy. Push hard enough, make the consequences concrete enough, and watch the other side blink.

He also made clear that the military option is fully loaded. “We’re preparing to hit them harder than any country has ever been hit before because you cannot let them have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told Yingst, adding that the U.S. has “massive amounts” of ammunition ready to go. Trump’s frustration is obvious, and clearly, he’s done playing games. The fact is that Iran has spent decades testing the limits of American patience and walking away with sanctions relief, pallets of cash, and enough breathing room to keep spinning centrifuges. The mullahs have learned, quite effectively, that the cost of bad behavior rarely exceeds what they can absorb.

Trump argues that the price just changed. Whether this is carefully calibrated pressure designed to bring Iran to the table on American terms, or a genuine ultimatum with a Tuesday deadline, one thing is clear: the administration believes the only language Tehran understands is overwhelming force, and Trump is speaking it fluently. “It’s time for the Iran killing machine to end,” he said. And when Trump says it, you know he means it.

Read more …

“Everything comes from Turkey. It’s fiber optics. We’re talking about Azerbaijan and Armenia, which is flowing oil, gas, information, data and materials. Where does it go? How does it go?”

• Turkey Could Be ‘Next Iran’ For Israel: US Envoy Scrambles To Calm Tensions (MEE)

US Envoy Tom Barrack has downplayed escalating tensions between Turkey and Israel as just “rhetoric” and pushed for regional cooperation between the two countries in security and energy projects. Speaking during a panel at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Barrack pushed back against comments from some officials in both countries that suggested they could come into conflict in the near future. “I think Turkey is just not a country to be messed with,” Barrack said. Barrack said that both countries were seeing a distorted image of each other as a result of sensationalized media coverage that painted both as expansionist.


“So if you wake up in Tel Aviv, you read the newspaper, what do you see? You see the diagram on the paper of The Ottoman Empire 2.0, which is Vienna to the Maldives, right,” he said. “You wake up in Istanbul and read the paper and it’s Greater Israel.” Turkey was the first Muslim-majority country to recognize the state of Israel in 1949, and has enjoyed largely cordial security and trade ties throughout most of their modern history. However, since the 2010 attack on the Mavi Marmara flotilla, when Israeli forces raided a Turkish ship delivering aid to Gaza and killed 10 of those on board, tensions have been strained and the government has increasingly hit out at Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

The ‘next Iran’?
The most recent attempt to restore relations in September 2023 – which saw Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting and shaking hands for the first time in New York – collapsed the next month after the 7 October Hamas-led attacks on Israel and the subsequent genocide in Gaza. Since then, the rhetoric has escalated from politicians in both countries, with former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett describing Turkey as potentially the “next Iran” in March. The US government has staunchly backed Israel’s military actions across the region, including joining its war on Iran.

However, Turkey’s status as a Nato member and US President Donald Trump’s stated admiration for Erdogan has led American officials to seek to restore relations between the two countries. Barrack told the forum in Antalya that the energy price shocks from the Iran war had proven the importance of regional cooperation to maintain energy security. “Everything comes from Turkey. It’s fiber optics. We’re talking about Azerbaijan and Armenia, which is flowing oil, gas, information, data and materials. Where does it go? How does it go?” he said. “So Israel aligned with Turkey, like Israel aligned with Abu Dhabi. Saudi Arabia could be aligned with Israel and, for the prosperity of the Israeli people, to me that’s the answer.”

Some recent rhetoric out of Israeli media:

Barrack added that Israel should go further, and try to engage Turkey as part of the International Stabilisation Force established for Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal signed in September. “The smartest thing that Israel could do is to entice and embrace Turkey to enter that force,” he said. Barrack said that Erdogan’s interactions with the Palestinian group Hamas was instrumental for reaching a deal to release Israeli hostages, and that it happened because Ankara didn’t designate the group. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also met with Barrack on Monday for what they said was a “productive” meeting.

Read more …

“On Friday, Trump declared the US had “prohibited” further Israeli strikes..”

• Netanyahu Left ‘Personally Stunned’ By Trump Rhetoric On Lebanon Strikes (ZH)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his inner circle were reportedly blindsided – left “stunned” – after President Trump dropped a surprise line effectively clipping Israel’s wings in Lebanon, according to Axios, citing sources familiar with the exchange. On Friday, Trump declared the US had “prohibited” further Israeli strikes just as the administration-brokered 10-day ceasefire with Lebanon kicked in. The US President was unusually harsh in rhetoric with America’s longtime #1 Mideast ally, writing on Truth Social that “enough is enough”.


The words were clearly not directed at Lebanon, or Hezbollah, but squarely at Israel and its deadly air campaign which had included intense bombing of Beirut at the South for the last week-and-a-half.The statement set off alarms in Jerusalem, with Israeli officials scrambling for clarity from Washington. Almost everything out of the Trump administration has up to now been generally glowing and positive when it comes to Israel and Netanyahu. However, Axios captures the reaction in Tel Aviv, in a Saturday report saying “Netanyahu was personally stunned and alarmed when he learned of the post, the sources said.”

Israel is set to pause offensive ops, but still says it reserves the right to “take all necessary measures in self-defense at any time against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.” The NY Times has highlighted that all of this has put Netanyahu in a tough spot: “Now, the prime minister’s critics, and even some of his allies on the right, have seized on what appears plain as day: his inability to resist Mr. Trump’s pressure, not just in pushing to bring the long-distance war with Iran to a close but even in demanding a truce with an enemy directly across Israel’s northern border.

“A cease-fire must come from a position of strength and be an Israeli decision, reflecting leverage that serves negotiations,” said Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff whose new centrist opposition party, Yashar, is gaining in the polls. “A pattern is emerging in which cease-fires are being imposed on us — in Gaza, in Iran and now in Lebanon.” Again, this actually constitutes some of the toughest talk and restrictions ever imposed on Israel from this administration. This suggests the White House is indeed serious about cobbling together a final offramp.

Still, Netanyahu has declared that the fight with Hezbollah is not over, while at the same time confirming Israel’s agreement with the 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon.”One hand holds a weapon; the other is extended for peace,” Netanyahu said in a fresh speech. “I will say honestly, we have not yet finished the job,” he continued. “There are things we plan to do regarding the remaining rocket threat and the drone threat, which I will not detail.” Israel seeks to “dismantle” Hezbollah, Netanyahu continued, “but this will not be achieved tomorrow. It requires sustained effort, patience, and careful navigation in the diplomatic arena.”

Read more …

“.. categorically false and defamatory” As an MO.

• Will This Atlantic Hit Piece Be the Final Straw? (Margolis)

The Atlantic has a well-documented history of publishing fake hit pieces about President Donald Trump and his administration, and one wonders how many more hoaxes they can run before they get in real trouble.Its latest ef fort targeting FBI Director Kash Patel may be its most reckless yet — and this time, the bureau is fighting back with lawyers. The piece, written by reporters Sarah Fitzpatrick and Jonathan Lemire, claims that on Friday, April 10, Patel struggled to log into an internal FBI computer system while wrapping up his workday.


He quickly became convinced that he had been locked out, and he panicked, frantically calling aides and allies to announce that he had been fired by the White House, according to nine people familiar with his outreach. Two of these people described his behavior as a “freak-out.” Patel oversees an agency that employs roughly 38,000 people, including many who are trained to investigate and verify information that can be presented under oath in a court of law. News of his emotional outburst ricocheted through the bureau, prompting chatter among officials and, in some corners of the building, expressions of relief. The White House fielded calls from the bureau and from members of Congress asking who was now in charge of the FBI.

It turned out that the answer was still Patel. He had not been fired. The access problem, two people familiar with the matter said, appears to have been a technical error, and it was quickly resolved.The piece didn’t stop there. It also alleged Patel has been plagued by “bouts of excessive drinking,” claiming members of his security detail had trouble waking him on multiple occasions because he was seemingly intoxicated. It further alleged that breaching equipment — the kind used by SWAT and hostage-rescue teams — was requested last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors. The FBI denied every word of it before the article ever went live. Attorney Jesse Binnall sent a formal letter to The Atlantic and Fitzpatrick ahead of publication, putting them on notice that the claims were “categorically false and defamatory.”

The bureau’s response was even more direct: “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court — bring your checkbook.” They printed it anyway. Late Friday night, Patel fired back on X.

It’s worth noting that The Atlantic was apparently the only outlet willing to run this story. Other D.C. reporters chased the same tips and couldn’t verify them. They passed. The Atlantic published it. And now they’re going to be sued. This is what The Atlantic does. They publish outlandish and bogus stories that no other outlet will touch, which accomplishes the goal of giving Democrats and their supporters reason to insist the stories are true.

The outlet’s hoax piece alleging Trump didn’t want to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018 because the troops there who died in battle were “losers” and “suckers” was disputed by over a dozen witnesses. Yet, the left still insists it happened—even after Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, admitted it could have been wrong. Sarah Fitzpatrick herself has a history of publishing bogus hit pieces lacking sources and corroboration.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche both publicly defended Patel. Blanche praised Patel, noting he “has accomplished more in 14 months than the previous administration did in four years.” FBI spokesperson Erica Knight added that since being sworn in, Patel has taken just 17 days off — roughly half the time taken by former directors James Comey and Christopher Wray over comparable stretches.

Read more …

Try again in 2028.

• The Enigma of JD Vance (Alan Joseph Bauer)

The sitting vice president is hard to figure out.


Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) said the other day that nearly 80 million people specifically voted for Donald Trump, and thus it was incumbent on Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act and other legislation that the president supports. Tuberville was right about Trump: many, if not most, of those who voted in 2024 for Donald Trump did so because of the man. Whereas some people vote based on party, independent of the candidate, Donald Trump is the main draw for many voters. Whether it be his colorful ways, supportive family, fighting style, blunt presentation, reliability with friends and allies, little dance, or other features, there is simply nobody like Donald Trump. The stock market is reaching highs, the Iranians are assessing massive damage, tariff revenue is enormous, the armed services reached their recruiting goals five months early, etc. The U.S. and the world are different and, for many, better due to the actions of Donald Trump.

So what happens after Trump? The basic thinking is that JD Vance is the heir apparent of MAGA and the obvious choice to run in 2028. Some people whisper that Vance will take the family over country route and not actually run. There are other Republicans who might have an eye on the prize, though Marco Rubio has consistently said that he will not run if Vance chooses to do so. So what about JD Vance? Nobody can be a Trump II. Fine. But is JD Vance a good fit for the tens of millions who supported Donald Trump, the man and his policies?

Before the vice president left for Pakistan recently in order to talk to the Iranians, he gave a quick interview on the tarmac in Hungary. There had been an open point on Lebanon and the ceasefire. Iran claimed that the two were intertwined as the Iranians are desperate to save their decades-long, hundreds of billions of dollars investment in the Shiite terror group, Hezbollah. The U.S. said that Israel stopping its military campaign in southern Lebanon was never included in the 15-point ceasefire document. What struck me was a comment that Vance made on the subject. In the interview, he said that the issue of a Lebanese ceasefire was one of misunderstanding, but he went on to say that the negotiations should not fall over Lebanon, “which has nothing to do with them [the Iranians].”

My “uh-oh” sensor went off. Now I appreciate that it is hard to give a cogent interview while halfway on one’s way home, but the question is whether JD Vance really meant what he said. Lebanon is everything to Iran. I recently saw an interview with Ayatollah Khomeini on an Air France flight back to Iran. He was asked what he felt returning to his homeland. His answer: “Nothing.” His only goal was to spread Shia Islamic teachings and terror, and if Tehran was a good place to set up his office, so be it. Lebanon has been the graveyard of dozens of IRGC generals and officials. Not surprisingly, when the beepers exploded, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon was seriously injured. Why would he have a beeper meant for Hezbollah operatives?

More recently, at a TPUSA event last week, JD Vance spoke. Ben Shapiro noted that his response to the young audience was troubling. Essentially, he stated that okay, you may not like our being friends with Israel, but there are so many other things that you do like, such as beating up Iran, raising wages, etc., that you should judge us on the whole and join us going forward. I have seen at other TPUSA events with Vance and other Republican stars where they skirt the Groyper arguments against Israel (“attacking Christianity!” “making a genocide!” “the USS Liberty!”) and say, yeah, let’s talk about other stuff that you like. All of the calumnies thrown at Israel by the Groyper-Tucker Carlson wing of the party are lies. There have been no Israeli attacks on Christian sites, with the Christian population of Israel the only one growing in the Middle East. There was no genocide in Gaza, with the population growing and over 80 percent of those killed identified by Hamas as their operatives. The Liberty attack was a mistake; Israel apologized and paid reparations. Hey, did we hear anything from these clowns about the Muslim Kuwaiti pilot who whacked three American F-15Es at the start of the current war?

Do you know how not anti-Christian Israel is? After the Kotel or Western Wall was closed to prayers for the duration of the shooting war, it finally opened after the ceasefire took hold. Several family members went to the Old City to pray at “the Wall.” They were not allowed to enter the Old City. Why? Because it was the Saturday on which local Christians have their Fire Ceremony, so access to the Old City was denied to non-Christians. My wife tried to get in at several points, but the walled city was blocked off to all but Christians and residents of the Old City. Now, does that sound like anti-Christian bigotry?

I remember similar events from the past and being rerouted due to a Christian march in the Armenian Quarter. What I just wrote, Vance should have cited. He should have fought back against the strong Groyper, Jew-hating movement infesting TPUSA and younger Republicans. But he chose to punt: Okay, you may not like our Middle East policies, but how ‘bout them tax cuts? The GOP has a Jew-hating problem imported from the Left/Muslim nexus. It’s no coincidence that Tucker Carlson has high praise for Qatar, Islam, and Muslim cities being superior to Western cities. Vance said that Theo Von was the go-to podcaster. A doorknob is more knowledgeable than Von. Von asked Joe Rogan how much longer Israel will “let us stay alive.” And this is Vance’s guy?

So is JD Vance the real deal? Nobody is going to be Donald Trump, and there is no point trying to compare any potential 2028 candidate with a model that they made one copy of and then destroyed the mold. We should be grateful for Donald Trump’s forceful leadership in an age of wet noodles, but we must realize that just as George H. W. Bush was no Ronald Reagan, the next president will not tell a rally that he is going to bomb the s**t out of America’s enemies. Vance may not run, or he may be bested by someone else in the party. But if Vance is the nominee and he can’t get his head around Israel as a good country and not a genocider or starver of the millions, then he will lose some of the MAGA base. The U.S.-Israel relationship is based on respect, and I have heard only praise from Pete Hegseth and Adm. Brad Cooper regarding Israel’s full participation in the war against Iran. While the Gulf states do little, Israel dropped 18,000 munitions prior to the ceasefire. Where is the praise of a true ally while the Europeans hide in the sand? Where is the counter to Groyper anti-Israel lies? Silence here is not golden.

One can’t expect a guy who grew up in the Rust Belt to have the knowledge and experience with Jews that a New York real estate developer has. Donald Trump grew up among Jews, and he learned respect from his father, who did not take rent from Holocaust survivors who could not afford it. I don’t believe for a minute that JD Vance is an antisemite, and even if he won’t divorce himself from Tucker Carlson’s hatred, I know that he is a friend of Israel and the Jewish people. I don’t think he fully understands the region, and I hope that he is a quick learner.

Read more …

Spain doesn’t let them enter Spain, it lets them enter Europe. No borders.

“As tens of thousands of migrants rush embassies across Spain to begin the regularization process, for the Spanish right, the clock is now ticking to save the country”

• Will Spain’s Supreme Court Block Mass Legalization Of Migrants? (RMX)

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his far-left government are not over the finish line yet when it comes to their plan to legalize hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants. Now, the Spanish legal group Hazte Oír have made the first successful step in challenging the far-left government’s “Royal Decree,” which was used to pass the legislation without a vote from parliament. After Hazte Oír’s application was accepted for processing by the Spanish Supreme Court, the government now has a non-extendable 20-day deadline to hand over the complete administrative file regarding mass legalization.


While it does not guarantee a reversal, it places the decree in a state of significant legal uncertainty. By admitting the case, Spain’s top court has found sufficient legal grounds to examine the merits of the lawsuit rather than dismissing it outright. The Supreme Court will verify whether the government followed correct legal procedures and whether it possessed the constitutional authority to use a Royal Decree for a mass regularization, according to La Razon.

The legal risk for the government currently remains high. The plaintiffs argue that such a measure requires a formal law passed by Parliament rather than a simple cabinet decree. Crucially, Hazte Oír has requested a precautionary suspension of the law. If the Supreme Court grants this, the legalization process would be frozen immediately while the judges deliberate on a final ruling. Hazte Oír argues that if the decree is allowed to proceed, it will create “irreparable damage” by granting legal status to hundreds of thousands of people — a situation that would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to reverse even if the decree is later found to be illegal.

Already, scenes showcasing thousands of migrants across the country lining up at different embassies to receive the proper paperwork to apply for legalization have spread across social media. The law, which went into effect on April 15, has proven controversial and been fiercely opposed by conservative and right-wing parties. “These are the lines to manage mass regularization in each municipality of Spain. Tomorrow this chaos will move to the health centers, to the social services, to the real estate agencies… It’s called thirdworldization. It’s already happening. Our priority is to reverse it, radically,” wrote Vox party leader Santiago Abascal.

In contrast, Sánchez has been active promoting his Royal Decree, writing: “Thanks to civil society, institutions, the Church, social agents, and the Plataforma Regularización Ya for making it possible. Regularizing is not just necessary: it is just. It is recognizing a reality that already exists. It is guaranteeing rights and obligations, dignity and social cohesion.” The law is expected to have not only a dramatic effect on Spain, including its public services, but all of Europe, as these legalized migrants will have the right to travel freely across borders within the EU.

The lawyer of Hazte Oír is pointing out the irreversible nature of the decree to argue that it is most certainly a law that should have been passed by parliament. The appellant association, Javier María Pérez-Roldán, refers specifically to the transformative aspect of the law on the Spanish system, noting “the granting of residence and work authorizations; registration with Social Security; access to benefits; and the suspension of final expulsion orders.”

Hazte Oír indicates that the Royal Decree “structurally alters the State’s immigration policy, with direct and lasting effects” on the labor market, the public benefits system, the municipal registry, “and, in the medium term, the electoral roll.” As many critics of the law have also pointed out, the mass amnesty will have profound effects on public services, which are already buckling under the pressure of mass immigration. “Massive regularization without planning directly impacts the saturation of essential public services (educational and social), affecting the collective interests that this association defends,” said Pérez-Roldán.

While the Supreme Court did not grant an immediate suspension, that suspension could still arrive once the court reviews the documentation justifying the law. In such a case, the process of legalization could be frozen, creating a legal limbo for all migrant applicants. Royal Decrees are also legally reserved for situations of “extraordinary and urgent need.” Hazte Oír argues there is no “sudden emergency” that justifies bypassing the normal legislative process. They argue the government is using a “shortcut” to avoid political friction in Congress.

In contrast, the government argues the situation is urgent because of labor shortages in key sectors like agriculture and hospitality, and the humanitarian need to bring “invisible” people into the social security system to fund future pensions. It is unclear if the Supreme Court will buy this argument from the government. While the Royal Decree was used to bypass parliament, which allowed the government to fast-track the process of legalization, it may also still prove the decree’s downfall.

Read more …

Will Zelensky’s wife volunteer? Or will she be decorating their mansion?

• Will Ukraine Forcibly Conscript Women To Fight On The Frontline? (RMX)

Since Ukraine’s population has shrunk dramatically, the army’s number one problem is no longer the lack of weapons, such as ballistic missiles and air defense systems, but the lack of soldiers to operate them, writes Világgazdaság. The competent authorities in Kyiv, however, must bring the army size required by Commander-in-Chief Zelensky (800,000 active soldiers), and since the number of men eligible for military service (between the ages of 18 and 60) is slowly running out, the Ukrainian leadership is now trying to fill the gaps by conscripting women.


As of early 2024, approximately 5 million men are considered to be of conscription age in Ukraine, reduced from about 8.7 million before the February 2022 invasion due to death and emigration. And yet, many of these 5 million are exempt, unfit for service, or already serving. Ukraine has long been shown to use forced conscription methods, with increasing violence, leading men to attempt to leave the country, often at the risk of their lives. Last year, Hungarian channel M1-Hirado recently ran a special compiling some of the latest footage of Ukrainians being beaten and shoved into vans in forced mobilization operations.

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“The most immediate concern for Roberts should be that this is strike two: another leak from within the Court.. ”

• Chief Justice Roberts Faces Two Strikes After New Leak Rocks the Court (Turley)

The legendary baseball player and manager Ted Williams once wrote a letter to the Angels outfielder Jay Johnstone on improving his hitting. Among his pieces of advice was that “with two strikes, you simply have to protect the plate.” Williams’s advice on not striking out came to mind this week when another leak of confidential information rocked the Supreme Court. (The prior leak of the Dobbs decision went unsolved). For Chief Justice John Roberts, the message is clear: it is a time like this that you have to protect the plate.


Roberts, of course, is famous for his own baseball analogies. In his confirmation, he declared that “judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules. They apply them…Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire.” Yet, justices do make rules not only in new precedent, but in the operation of the court system. Those rules are being broken. In the same week as the new leak, Justice Sonia Sotomayor attacked her colleague Brett Kavanaugh as essentially an out-of-touch prig who had never even met an hourly wage worker. It was an unfair insult and a departure from the Court’s long-standing rules of civility. (Sotomayor later apologized).

Additionally, a forthcoming book by Mollie Hemingway on Justice Samuel Alito contains an embarrassing account of how Justice Elena Kagan allegedly screamed at Justice Stephen Breyer so loudly before the Dobbs opinion that the “wall was shaking.” (The book suggests that Kagan was upset with Breyer agreeing to spur along the dissents to get out the final opinions in light of rising threats against conservative colleagues after the leak). For an institution that prides itself on its confidentiality and insularity, the Court is looking increasingly porous and partisan in these leaks. Worse yet, people are indeed coming to the Court “to see the umpires.”

The most recent leak was published by the New York Times, which was given internal memos from various Supreme Court justices on the use of what is known as the “shadow docket” to issue rulings without oral arguments. Notably, the leaks occurred after a controversial speech by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at Yale Law School in which she denounced the use of the shadow docket by her conservative colleagues to release decisions that were sometimes “utterly irrational.”

The memos reveal the concern of the justices that the Environmental Protection Agency was effectively gaming the system, imposing unlawful regulatory burdens on electric utilities despite a countervailing earlier ruling in Michigan v. EPA. Chief Justice Roberts noted that the EPA was using the ongoing litigation to force utilities to spend billions of dollars to comply with the new regulations: “In other words the absence of stay allowed the agency to effectively implement an important program we held to be contrary to law.”

The controversy over the use of the shadow docket is immaterial to this story. The most immediate concern for Roberts should be that this is strike two: another leak from within the Court that was clearly designed to wound some of its members. Unlike the Dobbs leak (which appeared to be an effort to influence the final opinion), this is a leak about a decade-old case. It had a purely malicious purpose to embarrass or disrupt the Court.

The question, again, is the identity of the culprit. There is no reason to assume that the same person was involved in both leaks. Rather, the leaks appear to reflect a deteriorating culture at the Court. After the Dobbs leak, Chief Justice Roberts launched a fruitless investigation through the federal marshals to find the responsible person. The use of the marshals as the lead investigators (rather than the FBI) was criticized at the time. Roberts may have been sensitive to an executive-branch agency rooting around in the highest court of a sister branch.The result was the worst possible outcome. The culprit succeeded in both leaking the opinion and evading any accountability.

The fact is that the Court’s culture and institutional identity have always been its greatest protection of confidentiality. In a city that floats on a rolling sea of leaks, the Court was an island of integrity and civility. The “umpires” could call balls and strikes without playing the leak game. That culture is fast becoming nothing but a relic in the wake of yet another major leak. For the future of the Court and the faith of the public, Roberts has to set his reservations aside and bring in the FBI to find the culprit. Most importantly, he has to guarantee total transparency in allowing the public to see the results wherever they may lead. In other words, with two strikes, Roberts needs to protect the plate.

Read more …

“This refers to revanchism, “which assumes that they now want to carry out that very revenge that will allow them to still win in this very division of the world, the redrawing of the world’s resources for themselves,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman added..”

• West Still Wants To Seize Ukrainian Black Soil, Russian Oil – Zakharova (TASS)

Western countries have not abandoned their plans to seize Ukrainian black soil and Russian oil, as well as divide the world to suit their own interests, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with TASS for the Day of remembrance of the victims of the genocide of the Soviet people, which will be held for the first time on April 19.m”No, they do not want to give up the idea of taking over the Ukrainian black soil, Russian oil and gas, at least managing them, and extending their influence to the resources of Central Asia, South Caucasus, and so on,” she said. This refers to revanchism, “which assumes that they now want to carry out that very revenge that will allow them to still win in this very division of the world, the redrawing of the world’s resources for themselves,” Zakharova added.
Read more …

“.. they embraced the business model of Howard Stern and Jerry Springer: saying and doing increasingly outrageous things.”

• Circling the Drain Phase of Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens Gimmick (Pinsker)

First, the good news: We’ve juuuust about reached the point where we won’t have to talk about Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens anymore. They’ve unmasked themselves as lying, bigoted click-whores. Carlson’s career was longer; Owens’ was shorter. But for a brief, flickering moment in the 2010s, both were considered credible, trustworthy journalists and/or mainstream conservative “influencers.” Turning Pont USA and The Daily Wire boosted Owens; Carlson was the beneficiary of the (exceptionally) well-oiled NewsCorp PR machine. And then… they weren’t.


Conservative audiences are a fiercely loyal breed. We instinctively protect our favorites from the liberal mob — because history has taught us that they’re constantly under attack. That’s our muscle-memory: They smeared Rush Limbaugh. They smeared every other big-name Republican. They attack, demean, defame, and deplatform — and the only way to stop them is by fighting back. Rush Limbaugh still reigns supreme in conservative hearts. No man in the history of political media was slandered more viciously than El Rushbo. Not because he deserved it — but because liberals feared him.

That’s the tragedy of Carlson and Owens’ dark turn: Limbaugh dedicated his professional career to building goodwill between himself and conservative audiences. Time and again, that “harmless, lovable fuzzball” proved himself worthy of our love and respect. No matter how often the mainstream media called him a racist, a sexist, a Nazi, and a homophobe, we knew it wasn’t true. This became our template. It’s how we understood the host-audience relationship. So great was Limbaugh’s legacy that we assumed future hosts would be just as worthy — which meant, as long as we continued to have their back, conservatism, truth, and decency would prevail. It’s a symbiotic relationship: If we do our part, the host will surely do his.

Turns out the paradigm was wrong: Carlson and Owens were unworthy successors — and Rush Limbaugh’s genius was even rarer than we thought. Carlson and Owens traveled the road that Limbaugh paved. They benefited from all the trust and goodwill that he spent his entire career building. And then they destroyed the road.

Because, despite how easy Limbaugh made it look, talking about conservatism 24/7 for years at a time is VERY hard work. Even in the talk-radio medium, there’s absolutely no one else like Limbaugh — someone capable of carrying a three-hour show completely on his own, without guests, co-hosts, a “morning zoo,” or a whack-pack. (Heck, Rush barely even took phone calls!) Yet Limbaugh had the #1 show for decades… and it mostly consisted of him speaking extemporaneously about life, politics, news, and culture.

Of course, Rush had real, actual talent (“on loan from God!”). Lesser hosts must take shortcuts to retain an audience. Like, for instance, Sean Hannity: The veteran conservative still has a highly entertaining program when he’s interviewing someone interesting and compelling. And when he doesn’t, it’s not. There’s no shame in that. Limbaugh-level talents are extraordinarily rare; there almost certainly won’t be another one in our lifetime. (Or, probably, in our kid’s lifetime.) If anything, Hannity deserves credit for staying true to his values. Despite the pressures of fame and fortune, Hannity continues to provide conservative programming for conservative audiences — because conservatism is his north star.

Not so with Carlson and Owens. They abandoned conservatism when they became independent journalists. When they worked for conservative media outlets, they delivered a (mostly) conservative message. Then, when they lost their jobs and had to get clicks to make money, their content changed in a hurry. Instead of being like Limbaugh or Hannity, they embraced the business model of Howard Stern and Jerry Springer: saying and doing increasingly outrageous things. Such as global Jewish conspiracies. Or Mrs. Macron’s innie being an outie. Or Erika Kirk murdering her husband. Or Donald Trump being the Antichrist. Or Muslim extremists being peaceful friends of Christians.

Initially, it was important for conservative media to call out the bait-and-switch, because Limbaugh’s legacy loomed so large, we instinctively gave Owens and Carlson the benefit of the doubt — over and over (and over) again. In fact, the more they were attacked, the more we yearned to protect them! After all, Rush Limbaugh never broke our hearts — so why would his successors? It was a dangerous time for the conservative movement, because Carlson and Owens were mainstreaming antisemitism, crazy conspiracy theories, and historical inaccuracies. Tainting MAGA with their nonsense would’ve been electoral poison. We still considered Owens and Carlson conservatives first — and influencers second. (Just like you-know-who.)

Alas, the trouble with the shock-jock strategy is that it depends on escalation: What shocked us yesterday is old news today. Once you begin circling the drain, you’ve got to circle faster and faster — or the novelty wears off. And eventually, you still go down the drain.

Read more …

Didn’t she retire?

• Marjorie Taylor Greene Amplifies Viral Doubts About Butler (ZH)

Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has drawn attention to a detailed personal account from a longtime Trump supporter who now questions key elements of the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt on then-candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In an April 12 post on X, Trisha Hope, a self-described J6 activist and 2024 Republican National Convention delegate from Texas, details how she shifted from staunch MAGA supporter to skeptic – writing “I learned of the attempt on Trump’s life at the Butler rally. I was in the middle of having dinner at a restaurant in Little Rock, AR.”


Then, at the convention, she thought it was strange that Trump opened his speech by saying he would recount the incident “exactly” once because “it’s actually too painful to tell,” which she found out of character for someone who makes everything about himself. Hope also thought that the ‘ICONIC’ photograph of Trump rising with fist raised, shouting “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT” was weird and “perfectly timed” with a flag lowering and Secret Service agents positioned as if for a staged shot.

“Following the inauguration, I found it odd that Trump wasn’t going aggressively after those who allowed this to happen. He seemed to behave like it was no big deal,” she writes, adding that Trump later promoted Sean Curran – the agent visible in the white shirt in that photo – to head of the Secret Service on January 22, 2025, rather than dismissing anyone for security failures. She also questions Trump’s limited subsequent references to the event, except to say he “took a bullet for us,” and argues that Corey Comperatore’s death was necessary to make the incident believable, while his widow has been denied ongoing answers. Hope concludes by urging readers to apply “critical thinking skills” and have “at least some questions.”

“Instead of his SS detail being terminated as they should have been, Trump made the gentleman in the white shirt the HEAD of the Secret Service on January 22, 2025. Instead of losing his job Sean Curran was given a massive promotion,” she said.

Greene – a former MAGA loyalist whose split with the party over the Epstein files, airstrikes on Iran, Trump’s continued support for Israel and the Gaza conflict, and US involvement in Ukraine – led to her November 2025 resignation from Congress, amplified the post six days later. “Extremely important post worth the read and consideration. Corey Comperatore’s family deserves to know the truth about Matthew Crooks and what happened in Butler on July 13, 2024,” Greene wrote. “President Trump, of all people, should be leading the charge. Why isn’t he? That’s the question.” https://twitter.com/mtgreenee/status/2045528340602269713

The Official Story
According to the FBI, congressional investigations, and law enforcement accounts, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, acted alone when he fired eight rounds from an AR-15-style rifle from the roof of a building near the Butler Farm Show grounds. The shots grazed Trump’s right ear, killed 50-year-old volunteer firefighter and former fire chief Corey Comperatore (who was shielding his family), and critically injured two other attendees, David Dutch and James Copenhaver. A Butler County Emergency Services Unit officer and a Secret Service counter-sniper returned fire; Crooks was killed on the roof. The FBI has stated after extensive interviews and analysis that Crooks acted alone, though questions about his motive have persisted. Security lapses were acknowledged, including how Crooks was able to access the rooftop despite local police spotting him earlier, but the incident was classified as a genuine assassination attempt.

The Official Doubt
A growing number of voices – particularly from within former Trump-supporting circles – aren’t buying it – arguing that the iconic photograph appeared too perfectly composed to be spontaneous, with the flag lowering in sync, agents seemingly posing, and Trump allowed to stand exposed on stage for the image. Some note Trump’s RNC remarks as unusually curt, suggesting an intent to shut down further discussion rather than capitalize on the drama. Critics highlight the promotion of a Secret Service agent involved in the detail instead of widespread firings or accountability, and Trump’s relative silence on the matter afterward beyond occasional references to “taking a bullet.”

Skeptics also note several early security lapses and immediate post-incident actions as further reason to question the official timeline. Video and photographs show FBI investigators hosing down the rooftop where Crooks was killed the day after the shooting, arguing the scene was cleaned too quickly and that biological evidence was potentially lost.

Then there’s police radio chatter that captured officers spotting Crooks, losing sight of him, and struggling to clearly relay the escalating threat between local law enforcement and the Secret Service – communications that were later explained as coordination failures but struck many as highly unusual. Multiple confirmed reports show Crooks was identified as suspicious, photographed with a rangefinder roughly 90 minutes before the shooting, and was spotted on the roof by Secret Service snipers about 20 minutes before he fired – details critics say should have prompted immediate action to remove Trump from the stage or secure the building.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/AlexAndBooks_/status/2045497400416969022?s=20 https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/2045676255077433779?s=20 https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/2045735203260207306?s=20

 

 

 

 

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Home › Forums › Debt Rattle April 20 2026

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  • April 20, 2026 at 9:18 am #238869
    Raúl Ilargi Meijer
    Keymaster

    Edgar Degas Les repasseuses (women ironing) 1884 • Trump’s Cryptic ‘The End Is Near’ Post Sends Internet Into A Frenzy (MN) • Trump Warns Iran: ‘No Mo
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle April 20 2026]

    April 20, 2026 at 10:19 am #238895
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Sin

    “Global Chaos Ahead?? The End of the System as We Know It Bob Moriarty YT

    Bob, terribly sad the Status Quo he hates is changing. What will he hate now?

    Strategic Culture, wrong usually, but DEAD wrong for 50 days, As you can tell by their all-pejorative fact-free language.

    “The Iranians, meanwhile, are just waiting. Asymmetrically. But make no mistake: they are itching to fight – in case the ceasefire collapses.” Soooo….they’re just baiting us in. They haven’t ACTUALLY started to fight and sinking their whole navy was just to give us a false sense of security. Hundreds of IRGC members were blown to pieces in this elaborate con where they’re going to start ACTUALLY fighting – you know, seriously – tomorrow. Got it. Literal straight face when they say this. No gears engage at all, not even the tiny ones.

    “no confirmation at this time that a second round of direct negotiations between the U.S. and Iran will in fact occur on Monday in Islamabad, Pakistan,”

    Then there’s no statement it isn’t happening either. Get some facts.

    “although some media are reporting it as a possibility. Despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s multiple pronouncements to the contrary, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed”

    Yes, he made those pronouncements when IRAN said it was open. And open permanently. Maybe notice.

    “Patrick Henningsen: Indian Ships FORCED to Turn Back Near Hormuz – Iran’s Chilling Message to Trump”

    Yes and the Message is: “We have no way to hurt you at all, ever, in the United States, not even a bit, or we would have done so already. Also We’re planning on making you and your GOP state of Texas, incredibly rich!” Very chilling. Houston is terrified of all the new Cadillacs they’ll buy with horns on the hood.

    “https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/04/19/767156/iran-now-bonafide-regional-power-key-decisions-running-through-tehran-analyst

    If there is ANYTHING less reliable on earth than AI and Non-Asian Non-Guy, it has GOT to be Iran’s own state-owned media. What are they supposed to say? “The U.S. blew the s—t out of everything and we’re only now running around with our hair on fire trying to figure what to do?” No. They go Baghdad Bob. That does NOT mean the U.S. isn’t ALSO Baghdad Bob, but at the least we can recognize it’s very near to pointless to listen to them.

    Heck, the BBC is probably less reliable than Iranian State media, but that doesn’t mean we should be fools about it.

    “…..This is not chaos. This is strategy.”
    Clinton – War
    Bush – War
    Obama – War
    Trump – War
    Biden – War
    Trump – War”

    Excellent point, but some of them have GOOD wars, but now they are uniquely bad, never before seen. And Trump removed us from wars (but still had enough to be counted) and Biden also saw the withdrawal from F-Stan (but approved of Gaza and Ukraine).

    Krainer-Maneco64 “Everything bad predicted about Iran happened and now Trump is seeking an off-ramp.” Really? What bad happened at all Alex? That we now sell oil at 30% price increase? This interview is today as well. Why would the guy open the straits, and is hammering his rivals in Europe while making a ton of many making them come to him want to stop? If I were him, I’d hope the straits stayed in risk forever, making Texas richer than Saudi Arabia. But Krainer talks about “The West”. There IS no “West”, sir. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=orctGjfjEtU

    This is THE major thing I see right now: there’s a major bifurcation of all Euro-analysts, and like so many other things they do, it shouldn’t be. Like they know there should be oil, should be an army, should be free speech, then go “Naaaaaah.” And since it SHOULDN’T happen, therefore it ISN’T happening. It’s something about the “get-along” mentality they have.

    It goes like this: “We” are fighting the war. (Ukraine) “We have high gas prices”. “We” are…”The West”.

    THERE IS NO WEST, guys! All of you. None, nada, zip. “We”, America, are the OPPOSITE of you. You say this all the time, you tell US! Filthy, stinking, ugly, crude, evil, barbaric Americans! We hates them for ever and ever!! Okay, sold. We get the message ya krauts and limeys, we can take a hint.

    So “We” = both America, and not-America, America is the “West” and “Not-West”. Whatever makes their case in that half a sentence, then flips for the other half.

    So Alex3 (Krainer, Mercoulis, Christophous) and say, Maneco (UK) say “Inflation is raging, gas is crashing the economy!!!” …So it’s a fail, the Hormuz was a disaster !!!! (Patented 4 exclamation points) Trump is a fool!”

    NO. YOUR prices are raging. YOUR gas is high. YOUR army is depleted, YOUR economy has crashed. On all points ours is fine, perhaps even great. THERE IS NO WE, dudes. There is no “WEST”.

    Gas here is $4, which isn’t even that high, places are finally now hiring pretty firmly, houses have stagnated, retail inflation is back to whatever 3%. Steak is $6.99, went to a Club Store to make sure this is a nationwide price. Chuck rounds – (I’m getting great porterhouse cheaper) at $6.99 how many truckloads do you want delivered? Eggs are $3. Price of vehicles is plummeting with the new Toyota stripped-down work truck. Etc.

    In Europe they’re saying $30 for a steak and the mashed potatoes are EXTRA. And they have lower incomes than Mississippi. Gas is 2.47/L x4 = $10/gal. It’s not us, it’s YOU. YOU, Britain, Europe, Canada, California. Nobody has any problems but YOU. They’re self-inflicted. Stop hitting yourself with a hammer and blaming us.

    While they’re talking about the economy crashing, Texas is raking in BILLIONS. So let me get this straight: there is no POSSIBLE motive for Iran except that Trump obeys anyone who talks to him, blackmail that BOTH Biden AND Obama couldn’t find and didn’t use, when closing the straits is killing Europe and making us filthy rich? THAT, is his “Stupid accident” Mr. Krainer? Totally inexplicable?

    Golly I think I have detected a motive that doesn’t include Israel at all, except as a patsy.

    Every part of it comes from assuming Europe = US. We’re identical. WHEN EUROPE SAYS THEY HATE OUR GUTS every day and openly interferes in our elections and impeaches our Presidents. Not going out on a limb saying maybe we’re not on the same team here. YOU say we’re not.

    They say that, then it means nothing because “Orange Man”. England does everything but drop a nuke on us, and that’s just cricket, tardy hijinks and shenanigans, sir.

    What else did Krainer say, not grasping what is AMAZINGLY apparent: Broccoli is $20 a box, doubled this month….IN FRANCE. Idgaf. Tell them to stop screwing their farmers white, paving their fields for Prime Minister’s Condos. Oil is at a $40 PREMIUM to Brent price, $140/bbl….IN ASIA. Good! Man, that is AMAZING good news! THEY have $150 oil and we have $80 oil in Tulsa. Sounds like we’re competitive again!

    When Alex3 says “Oil prices are high” they mean, for “us”. There is no “Us,” there is YOU, over there, in Europe, and YOU, over there, in Asia. Idgaf what happens to any of you: figure it out. There is no “ONE” price, “ONE” inflation, One experience.

    Likewise, we are day 50 of MAKING RUSSIA FILTHY BLOODY RICH. And Russia is taking NO RISK!!! Tumpeto-Man is the one taking all the heat! Putin is just cashing the checks! …From the oil he stocked up on since Alaska in the biggest coincidence ever. He just got China to stop f—king him and sign on SiberiaII at a good price.

    …So we are LONG on our way of making up any reparations about Ukraine to Russia. And WE are not paying them: the rest of the world is. And WE lifted sanctions on Russia for this event only. And all Europe has to do to survive is buy Russian oil! Boom! Steak $18 again or whatever you fools choose to pay bc you’re screwing your farmers too hard.

    Boy Alex, I cannot POSSIBLY see any motives here. Boy Russia sure is gonna be mad at Trumpeto! When they clear $100B they’ll be even MORE mad, taking it as they are out of the sole hides of Europe, who Trump warned til he was blue in the face, doing everything but jump on them.

    Yup. What a dummy. Total coincidence. IF ONLY Trump would open the straits so oil prices could crash and make America and Russia poor again, how awful-awful that would be. Terrible if they were open and our ally Saudi Arabia were to lose billions in revenue that their rival Iran can’t pump – but is welcome to any time they want to sign.

    Geez, worst war ever, can’t come up with any rational explanation except he’s elated blowing kids up n’ stuff like Sachs says, instead of watching our kids be trafficked and die here in Oklahoma as was going on before.

    Whaddya say? Every Iranian kid is worth at least two Americans, right? Americans are all scum who deserve to die. If they’re dying we mustn’t MUSTN’T do anything to stop it and change the balance. That would be mean. If you’re getting held down and choked out, with millions of deaths like the last 40 years, you mustn’t do anything radical or fight too hard to escape! It wouldn’t be moral to punch the guys(s) strangling you, not Queensbury Rules!

    The only moral thing to do is give up and die quietly in the manner that seems best to you.*

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k5aVLi_yhM “every 1% drop kills 40,000 Americans”.

    I tell you, Am I crazy here? Does “Making money that saves our lives” not seem like a possible motive here?

    Why can no one cotton on to this VERY SIMPLE, VERY OBVIOUS headline fact?

    April 20, 2026 at 11:40 am #238896
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “• Trump’s Cryptic ‘The End Is Near’ Post Sends Internet Into A Frenzy (MN)

    Apparently Trump is in charge then. If people pay attention to him. He’s in their heads, the only man in the universe. Fall for it again and again and again. Why? Their own egos won’t let them see Trump as some normal guy, another dummy, not Hitler or Jesus.

    Every time you say something rational to them like “No one obeys him” they swat you away and reach again for Trump, the Precioussss. Precious, precious hate.

    Back to reality: WHY on God’s EARTH would anyone care what music videos he posts? Kayfabe: You are psychologically involved. Co-Dependent. RULED. Ruled by Love of the Trump, HATE of the Trump. Instead of being a rational human, you’re a deranged jackal, a wendigo, fading away, exhausted, chasing him. He is your Idol, your god, outside yourself.

    “Donald Trump is becoming so erratic and unstable.”

    As here. If he posted Katy Perry or the Teletubbies, they’d say the same. ANYTHING he posts, does, eats, sneezes, causes this same hebephrenic reaction. But he’s the dumb one and you’re the smart one.

    “they are the ones that lose with the closed passage, $500 Million Dollars a day! The United States loses nothing.”
    He added, “In fact, many Ships are headed, right now, to the U.S., Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska, to load up, compliments of the IRGC”

    He’s telling you his plan TO YOUR FACE, and the IRGC and Europe just go, “Nah. We want to make you filthy rich and for us to collapse instead.” Okay. Heck, if I was Trump I’d PAY the IRGC to act like this.

    • Turkey Could Be ‘Next Iran’ For Israel: US Envoy Scrambles To Calm Tensions (MEE)

    So they’re placing this on deck. This was like Luongo’s intuition when Syria folded up for no reason at all one Friday afternoon and Israel/Turkey were smashed together. Btw, Russia needs this. Turkey is a +100 traitor, and a reasonable non-double crossing govt there would really help world peace. Remember: Russia got him out of the (US) coup and he immediately stabbed them. Ah! The Turks! So much potential!

    “• Netanyahu Left ‘Personally Stunned’ By Trump Rhetoric On Lebanon Strikes (ZH)

    What can I say? It’s Trump so they will “just make s–t up” and post fake AI about it.

    “• Will This Atlantic Hit Piece Be the Final Straw? (Margolis)

    Did Kash even have to feed garbage to some inside mole to create this? Probably not, he looks really busy. So nobody cared if he took a jet joyride, so they move from what is real to “any fantasy that causes idiots to react”. I mean, same as Trump for example: if he’s so guilty then why do you have to keep making things up? I mean, use his ACTUAL CRIMES then, right?

    Kavanaugh inset: So at college parties he put alcohol in the alcohol? Oh no. Was your lobster too buttery? The punch at High School and College parties is not Shirley Temple, you know. It’s meant to cause people to make out.

    As no one is ever discredited, no Sachs, no Asian Guy, this keeps happening. As no one is arrested and fined, this will happen until the sun burns out. But that’s YOU, not them. If YOU stopped buying it, they’d stop vending.

    “Iranian ambassador to Lebanon was seriously injured. Why would he have a beeper meant for Hezbollah operatives?”

    Are you high? Israel would give an explosive pager to every Iranian worldwide, all the children, and every Muslim too. That’s not a bar. And Vance’s statement he’s decoding doesn’t need to be decoded. Seems very straightforward to me. UN President would say the same thing about the US in Peru: it’s not your country, stay out, I don’t care what you invested there.

    “All of the calumnies thrown at Israel by the Groyper-Tucker Carlson wing of the party are lies. There have been no Israeli attacks on Christian sites,”

    Also high. As far as I know, all of this is true and worse.

    “The Liberty attack was a mistake; Israel apologized and paid reparations.” I do not remember this, as it is considered still in contention today. Likewise, every action taken on that day indicates it was no mistake. Even AS a mistake, they strafed people in the waters, a pointless, over-the-top war crime they’re famous for.

    “The GOP has a Jew-hating problem imported from the Left/Muslim nexus.”

    Huh? The Left is FAAAAAMOUSLY anti-Israel, and the moles of the pro-Israel are reported in the GOP (in fact both for both, complex). That’s one. Second, your argument is that the GOP loves imitating WOKE? That’s their long term M.O.? Yeah, no. If ever true, that’s not been true since Woke appeared, +10 years.

    “But if Vance is the nominee and he can’t get his head around Israel as a good country and not a genocider or starver of the millions, then he will lose some of the MAGA base.”

    Yes, but he will gain many more, as everyone hates their guts except Ellison, Congress, and this guy. So please, Bauer, take this position which will continue to highlight Israel and their constant attack on our nation and sovereignty. It will do far more good to have Vance “Learn but quick” and put a spotlight on you, instead of receding to the shadows of influence and limping on.

    “It had a purely malicious purpose to embarrass or disrupt the Court.”

    All paid for. All planned. All written, signed, published. Look to Bezmanov’s “Demoralization Campaign” the “Long March Through the Institutions”. ALL government must be discredited as weak, helpless, out of touch for the Communist Revolution 2.0 to work. To paint Tsar Nick as weak, against the people, etc, when really it was hundreds of traitorous, bribed, gold-hungry officials who acted tirelessly against Russian interests. …In order to collapse it and devour it for eg Britain. Then all those bribed, not only lived in a s—thole ’til 2002, but ALSO were first against the wall in the 10 year Civil war AND up against the wall by Stalin if they missed stage 1. …But if they weren’t feckless, self-serving morons they wouldn’t be bribed in the first place, you can always find some everywhere. Globalists depend on it.

    So there is no “Leak”, they were under a concerted, paid, attack, meant to damage, collapse the U.S. and kill all of us inside, as many as possible. As has been going extremely well these 40 or 80 years.
    In another way, it’s the “Democratiation” of all institutions. That is, we don’t want special, high, unique men there, we want “Everyman”. The man on the street, idiot, biased, do-nothings like Katanji.
    This is true of the church, or of engineering, or street sweepers, or anything. Home Depot would die if a guy in the racks knew what a 2×4 was, while they jump on you at the doorway to ask if they can help using knowledge they don’t have. Look buddy – I – Know better where the screen door hardware is than you do: you started looking it up on your phone. Which, being AI, will also lie. (Several times)

    “… they embraced the business model of Howard Stern and Jerry Springer: saying and doing increasingly outrageous things.”

    Democratiazation of media, etc. Clicks. Short term vs long.

    Speaking of, looks like they all left Fox News…to be Fox News. Huh? Yeah, same Murdoch, MI6 money before and after. Go through the shell companies. So it’s a sheep-dipping. Very clever. Blackwater changes their company name every 18 months, but are the same murderers.

    “Then, when they lost their jobs and had to get clicks to make money,”

    Neither needed anything: He’s a multi-millionaire and she’s married to a British Lord. They do this completely voluntarily. They could spend their existing fortunes to do the #Opposite if they wished. Tim Pool “Loses” money every day taking the hard road.

    “• Marjorie Taylor Greene Amplifies Viral Doubts About Butler (ZH)

    Key item: they suddenly give non-stop coverage for free. Yeah, no, those are all paid, staged. Any real person they’d give the RFK treatment to. “Greene” Certainly something odd happened that day. Again, my take is, it was a real attempt, Cheeto found out about it and turned it. However, what’s he supposed to say? That he was supposed to go official when the official USSS are the ones staging it? That Curran informed him, but had to play along, and that Comperatore wasn’t supposed to die but they got multiple shooters in? Trump shouldn’t have played cute, he should have played the patsy and got shot, referring to the Derp State so they could laugh and call him crazy, claim it wasn’t happening, and not have the double-cross that caught them in the act? And him to the Presidency?

    Yeah, we’ve been doing that since 1913 and losing, thanks. Let’s be so moral and honest we lose everything: good idea. Works in every war. Not a single bullet may go astray. Not a single man may die.

    “• West Still Wants To Seize Ukrainian Black Soil, Russian Oil – Zakharova (TASS)

    It exists, so yes. Humans like valuable things. Who knew? Also, there is no “West”. WHO wants this? Or do they NOT want it? Because if Ukraine is online how are they going to get that multi-million, multi-year famine they’ve got planned? They need it NOT working, so they can kill far more people. Farmers in France and Holland for example.

    Feynman: I should have said not that the universe WAS the Ether, the ripples there making the illusion of matter, that is just yet another paradigm and metaphor: the thing IS what it IS. Whether we call it Tiny Rocks or Strings or Ether, we are abstracting, making a mental model that is not the real thing. Sometimes this needs to be said.

    “Europeans Pay The Most For Public Transport

    Thank God for public transport. I think Sargon said it was $25 for 20 miles?

    “8 Of The Top 10 ‘Most Surveilled’ Cities Are Asian
    Indian cities dominate the rankings, with Hyderabad (79 cameras per 1,000 people) leading globally…

    Like everywhere else there are cameras, women are gang-raped in the streets while the cameras are running. …No one does anything. Example: London as well. More Cameras = More Crime, year after year after year. Women then vote for it again rather than defense.

    April 20, 2026 at 12:34 pm #238897
    tboc
    Participant

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident,…”

    No we do not

    April 20, 2026 at 12:34 pm #238898
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Kill the beast

    April 20, 2026 at 1:27 pm #238899
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    April 20, 2026 at 1:27 pm #238900
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @DrD

    How bad does Trump have to behave before you admit to yourself that he is a bad guy?

    Rape and murder little girls?

    Invite adversaries to a peace negotiation and murder them when they enter the room?

    Get elected by promising peace to a war weary nation, and then deliberately launching the most destructive war in human history that will not only finish off the slow death of the people who voted him in, but kill billions of others in the engineered collapse of advanced civilization?

    How about giving himself top billing over Jesus Christ as the Prince of Peace? I can see the monument to himself in my minds eye. A field of smoldering ashes and rotting corpses stretching to the horizon in all directions, and smack in the middle of it all the name TRUMP so enormous that it’s peeling faux-gold paint is visible from space.

    If you keep defending his travesties you’re going to end up believing your own bullshit so devoutly that your own little name will appear in fine print somewhere in the credits. It will be in print so small it would take an electron microscope to read it, but at least the name will be spelled in full and not just a three-letter abbreviation: “Doctor Death”. Your mother will be so proud.

    April 20, 2026 at 1:36 pm #238901
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Markets prematurely may celebrate, but the next phase likely will be more, bigger war
    Trump’s tariff war will be seen in retrospect to be peanuts to the threatened strike on China’s supply lines.

    Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

    We are entering upon a new stage to this war on Iran. It may not be what many expect (especially in financial markets). Yesterday Trump said inter alia that Hormuz was open and that Iran had agreed never to close Hormuz again; that Iran, with the help of the U.S., has removed, or is removing, all sea mines, and that U.S. and Iran would work together to extract Iran’s highly enriched uranium (HEU). Trump wrote:

    “We’re going to get ⁠it together. We’re going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery … We’ll bring it back to the United States very soon”.

    The President said earlier on Friday that Iran had agreed to hand over Iran’s HEU stockpile.

    None of these claims were true. Either Trump was confabulating (holding to fantasies, albeit believing them to be true); or he was manipulating markets. If the latter – it was a success. Oil fell and markets soared. Reportedly, 20 minutes before the claim that the Strait of Hormuz was open and would never close again, a $760 million short on oil was placed… Someone ‘made a pile’.

    All this turbulence created much confusion. Trump also said a new round of talks and an likely agreement with Iran would happen very soon — even during this weekend. The likelihood of talks is false. Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reports that “the American side has been informed via the Pakistani mediator that we [Iran] do not agree to a second round [of talks]”.

    From the beginning of the mooted Pakistani-mediated ceasefire, Iran was supposed to allow the daily passage of a limited number of ships. However, this was always subject to Iranian conditions for transit passage.

    The net result of Trump’s manipulations has been to make Iran re-assert its existing conditions on Hormuz, on its stocks of HEU, and on its ‘right to enrich’ in tighter, less flexible definition.

    The Islamabad talks had already showed Iran that its 10-point framework — initially affirmed by Trump to form a “workable basis” for beginning of direct negotiations with Iran — was no such thing. The Iranian framework was brushed aside towards the end of the day, as the U.S. pivoted to its key touchstones for its intended victory roll: Iran abandoning uranium enrichment in perpetuity; relinquishing to the U.S. its stock of 430kg of 60% enriched uranium, and the opening of Hormuz — free of tolls.

    In short, the U.S. position was simply a continuation of Israel’s long-established demands. This added experience of Friday’s U.S. deceit will only have served to confirm Iran’s conviction to be continually on their guard and to view the contrived confusion as a possible U.S. diversion from planned military escalation.

    Iran, in refusing these key demands, triggered the U.S.’ sudden, end of day, pulling of the plug on Islamabad, and thus pointed up the pivotal context behind the U.S. ‘walk out’: Netanyahu was frustrated. Very frustrated. “As [Netanyahu] tells it, ‘the media’, that convenient all-purpose ‘villain’, has managed to cement the narrative that Israel lost the [Iran] war”, Ravit Hecht has written in Haaretz:

    “Not many people understand the power of short, sharp and unequivocal messaging – better than Netanyahu … With time running short and his international standing eroding – Netanyahu is desperate to deliver at least one unequivocal success story from the ambitious goals he proclaimed in the first week of the war – when hubris and adrenaline still seeped into every government briefing”.

    “Regime change in Tehran? No longer on the table. The vague goal of “creating conditions” for such a change has evaporated. Ending Iran’s ballistic missile program now seems wildly unrealistic; Netanyahu’s ministers acknowledge that as well. As for Iran’s network of regional proxies, its influence may become subtler, but few believe it can be dismantled altogether”.

    “That leaves one card still in play: uranium”.

    “Netanyahu’s circle hopes that, as in past crises, mounting pressure might compel Iran to export its enriched uranium stockpile. Netanyahu is staking everything on that outcome – or, on the possibility that renewed war could still destabilise the regime”.

    This is why Vice-President Vance — who was almost hourly taking instruction from the White House or Tel Aviv— wound up the talks prematurely. A short sharp victory messaging on which Netanyahu’s future depends clearly was not about to emerge from the talks.

    U.S. Constitutional U.S. lawyer, Robert Barnes (who is a friend of Vance), reports in an interview that:

    “Trump began exhibiting signs of early dementia in September 2025 … He frequently confabulates, he routinely loses his temper and unleashes screaming rants and he is incapable of doing critical thinking. And – according to Barnes, in this state – Trump genuinely believes that the U.S. has vanquished Iran and does not comprehend the massive economic damage that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is doing to the global economy”.

    In short, Barnes says that Trump’s delirium that Iran is at the point of capitulation reflects his impaired mental state — an impairment of understanding ‘reality’ (a panglossian interpretation that Secretary Pete Hegseth does his best to reinforce).

    Like Netanyahu, Trump likely believes too, that pressure and more pressure on Iran could yield the triumphantVictory trophy of (figuratively) waving aloft 430 Kg of enriched uranium — either compelled to be given up by economic pressure, or alternatively dramatically seized on the ground by U.S. forces.

    In the face of this crisis at the heart of the White House, Vice-President Vance reportedly (Barnes again) has been working feverishly behind the scenes to arrange a new meeting with Iran in Islamabad – despite the political process being deliberately impaired through massive Israeli air and ground attacks in Lebanon killing and injuring up to 1,000 persons (almost all civilians) during the ceasefire negotiations, as well as continued attacks since Trumpsupposedly “prohibited” Israel from attacking Lebanon at the start of the Lebanon ceasefire two days ago.

    However, after much toing-and-froing by Pakistan, with messages flowing in many directions, “last night, an Iranian military official said that Tehran had issued a final ultimatum to the U.S. that Iran was within an hour of starting a military operation and missiles strikes on Israeli forces attacking Lebanon, which [finally] forced Trump to declare a ceasefire in Lebanon”, albeit to great anger in Israel. Israeli officials were livid, complaining that they were only informed post hoc.

    It isnot at all clear whether Israel will abide by it (they have already violated the ceasefire). Netanyahu, all Israel’s opposition leaders and a large majority of the Israeli public are untied in their desire for continued war.

    The Islamabad talks failed firstly, because the gaps between the two sides were unbridgeable in a single session; and secondly, because the parties held different, and contradictory visions of the ground reality. The U.S., seemingly entered negotiations from the ‘hypothesis’ that the other party already was militarily destroyed and desperate.

    Iran, by contrast, entered the talks with the conviction that it had emerged stronger than after the 12-day war. In their reading, this meant that the effect of the control of Hormuz and the Red Sea had not yet reached the stage at which the balance of pain could be said to be decisively in Iran’s favour — and certainly had not reached the point at which significant concessions from Iran might be appropriate.

    What is likely to be the next stage? Well — more war. Bigger kinetic war with the focus likely to be on another massive series of missile strikes on mostly Iran’s civil infrastructure (since the Israeli/U.S. target bank was never intended to outlast a few days of strikes).

    On 14 April, Russia’s Security Council warned that “ceasefire negotiations could be a cover used by Washington to prepare for a ground war [too] … The United States and Israel can use the peace talks to prepare for a ground operation against Iran, as the Pentagon continues to increase U.S. troop numbers in the region”.

    Trump has now added a new front, intended to further maximize economic pain on Iran via sanctions and blockades. China is the primary target because, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent avers, China has been Iran’s biggest customer for discounted oil. Bessent claims the new dimension to be the financial equivalent to the earlier U.S./Israeli kinetic (military) strikes on Iran. He called it part of “Operation Economic Fury” — aimed at cutting off Iran’s revenue streams, especially from illicit oil sales and smuggling networks.

    Bessent also said that the U.S. would impose secondary sanctions on any countries, companies, or financial institutions that continue buying Iranian oil or that allow Iranian money to flow through their accounts. He described this as a “very stern measure”. Bessent explicitly warned that if Iranian funds are proven to be moving through any bank’s accounts, the U.S. will apply secondary sanctions.

    If this announcement is intended to coerce China into strong-arming Iran to capitulate to Israel and the U.S., then it constitutes an egregious misreading of the ground in both Iran and China. It will likely backfire on Trump.

    This will constitute another economic front in the war — and extend the economic war to a global level.

    Is it likely that China and Russia will not understand this statement as anything other than another U.S. attempt (after the Venezuela blockade) to squeeze China’s energy supply lines. Hormuz still remains open to Chinese vessels. Trump’s blockade attempt was the initial squeeze — and now he threatens to sanction Chinese banks and trade.

    Trump’s tariff war will be seen in retrospect to be peanuts to the threatened strike on China’s supply lines.

    Markets prematurely may celebrate, but the next phase likely will be more, bigger war

    April 20, 2026 at 1:42 pm #238902
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Evil is as evil does

    “
    Get elected by promising peace to a war weary nation, and then deliberately launching the most destructive war in human history that will not only finish off the slow death of the people who voted him in, but kill billions of others in the engineered collapse of advanced civilization?
    “

    April 20, 2026 at 2:22 pm #238903
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The term “unintended consequences” is an unfortunate misnomer. And an outright lie right there on the face of it. To assign the reason for an event to “unintended consequence” is as absurd as claiming, in writing, that an effect did not have a cause. It just happened, that’s all?

    Of course the consequence was intended. That’s what the word “consequence” fucking means!

    There are accidents, also of course, and Force Majeure, and even Acts of God, but those aren’t unintended either. All of them were intended.

    The arguments (and dismissive side-stepping, excuses and misdirection) are all about who did the intending.

    Let’s give God and random accident a temporary free pass, for the sake of this discussion at the moment, and concentrate on point #last. SOMEBODY intended the bad stuff to happen, and were happy when it did.

    The collapse of civilization, for example, or the wars that keep popping up all around poor old innocent Israel, and the Epstein Files.

    Just because things went South without blame being appropriately assigned is no valid reason for not having a look at who MIGHT have intended them to go bad. Cui Bono, ya know?

    Did Trump and his war monger friends benefit from the slaughter of innocent children in Gaza? How about in Ukraine, where I hear one can buy child meat, sex slaves and adrenochrome on the blackest of markets if one knows where to ask and has legally protected connections. Huge profits in the oil markets are another miraculous windfall for some even more than they were an “unintended consequence” for everyone else.

    Those might be good places to start looking for unintended consequences, if finding true answers is one’s intention.

    April 20, 2026 at 2:37 pm #238904
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    @ DBS:

    Among other things, a minion is a servant, a submissive follower devoted to doing the bidding of its master. It slavishly obeys its leader. A synonym for minion is henchman. Satan has an army of minions (Matthew 25:41 and Revelation 12:7-9). These are fallen angels (Jude 1:6) or demons

    D may be a minion

    April 20, 2026 at 3:02 pm #238905
    zerosum
    Participant

    Connecting the dots.
    I saw 6 male students siting in a waiting area, during a school break time.
    All of them were on their phones. No one was communicating with their classmates.
    Therefore, I concluded that only people who have grey hair read TAE. 🙂
    ————
    Thousands of jobs going unfulfilled
    The Canadian labor market is currently facing a significant challenge with 529,700 job vacancies remaining unfilled for seven months, a figure that has not changed since March 2024.

    https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/home

    Apprenticeship
    https://www.workbc.ca/explore-training-and-education/trades-training/about-apprenticeship
    Apprenticeship programs combine paid on-the-job training with learning in a classroom or shop setting. In most programs, you’ll spend about 85 per cent of the time on the job. Most programs take four years to complete.

    In B.C., apprenticeship training is delivered through a partnership of SkilledTradesBC, public or private training institutions, and employers.

    To complete your training and become qualified as a certified tradesperson in B.C., you must:

    Complete the required on-the-job hours and the in-school training.
    Pass the examinations.
    Earn the recommendation of your sponsoring employer.
    Learn more about apprenticeship from SkilledTradesBC.
    https://skilledtradesbc.ca/
    ———–

    April 20, 2026 at 3:49 pm #238906
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Wang Wen: China’s Perspectives & Role in the Iran War

    April 20, 2026 at 3:58 pm #238907
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Attack sub USS Boise scuttled after only one patrol — 10 years ago

    It’s been docked for repairs for a decade, costing the taxpayer $800 million — a poster child for the Navy’s procurement issues

    The Navy inactivated the USS Boise attack submarine earlier this month, canceling its overhaul after spending $800 million to complete less than 25% of the vessel’s needed repairs. The cost of the full overhaul had ballooned from $1.2 billion to roughly $3 billion — nearly the cost of a new submarine altogether.

    That pricey, nail-in-coffin decision capped off maintenance delays that had sidelined the Boise for over a decade — more than one-third of its career.

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/submarine-boise/

    April 20, 2026 at 4:55 pm #238908
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Trump doesn’t just believe himself to be bigger than Jesus, his hireling IDF good squad is taking out the competition to make sure that he stays that way.

    https://x.com/ytirawi/status/2045851392527458672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    April 20, 2026 at 5:07 pm #238909
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    27:00
    When it comes to overall strategy he proves to be a fool.

    April 20, 2026 at 5:08 pm #238910
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Rejecting Christianity because Evangelicals are deeply racist genocidal killers and the Vatican organizes and protects pedophiles is not a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. (everybody gut level understands that you shouldn’t throw out the baby when disposing of dirty bathwater.)

    The plan all along, the whole idea in the first place, was to get rid of the baby.

    The bathwater is just cover.

    April 20, 2026 at 5:31 pm #238912
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    April 20, 2026 at 6:32 pm #238913
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Some headlines from Iran


    https://xcancel.com/Tehrantimes79

    April 20, 2026 at 7:01 pm #238914
    Dr. D
    Participant

    DBS: You seem to be mistaking different things.

    1) Germany IS GOING to invade Czechoslovakia.
    2) I WANT Germany to invade Czechoslovakia.
    3) I can UNDERSTAND why Germany WOULD invade Czechoslovakia.
    4) These are the RESULTS of Germany invading Czechoslovakia.

    These are all very different things, and saying Germany can, will, why, and what will happen is not an approval, anymore than I approve or disapprove of Genghis Khan or King Edward. They are irrelevant to me as salt because the MORAL standard has no bearing on what anyone will do (clearly) nor is anyone asking me (clearly) nor if I spend my time focused on that instead will it make any difference at all (clearly).

    But it CAN waste all our valuable time and very limited energy in a fast environment to spend 90% of our time looking at our belly buttons and lamenting that the world isn’t perfect, especially while we’re all very safely not going to lift a finger to resist. I mean, are you flying to Gaza, Iran, Donesk to resist? I’m not.

    Besides to even ASK whether what is happening is moral, I have to understand WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON IN THE FIRST PLACE, and it’s not “Aliens landed” and “Everyone was born evil, evilly Dr. Evil”. Nations have INTERESTS. They act a lot like humans, but not entirely because:

    1) They’re immortal
    2) They have the issue of “The many vs the few” in every act, unlike an atomized self
    3) There is no higher law or morality constraining any of them, which we local humans take for granted and get accustomed to. Therefore every day they wake up in a hut waiting for the Barbarians to sweep over the hill…and they will.
    4) Because reasons, every OTHER government and individual is a psychopath, coldly calculating their own interest, and turning on you always, both fast and slow.

    So the only way I can tell if ONE nation is behaving morally is also to know what all the other nations are secretly doing to it. Which no one does, not even the nations, not even the nation DOING the bad things, usually.

    This level of poking while remaining hidden and denying is now elevated to the highest art now, and more millions are killed with the deniable poking than the actual wars. Yet if anyone takes a swing, they still run to teacher like a bunch of sissies and whine and tell on the big bad meany. This is of course, far MORE evil than any war (as well as evidenced by it killing more people) and can never be fixed until the secret actors take such a thrashing they lack the power to try for a generation. That may mean open war, and historically does.

    Now WHO is WHO is what we’re trying to figure out, but to my mind what you’re saying is “I have all the secret information on earth, all the Intel that 250 sovereign nations would kill to get their hands on, and — I — Decide who is right and wrong, and — I — have decided what all the resources, actions, plans, and strategies on the board are. Nothing is hidden from me at. And from my perspective everyone is stupid and doing it wrong. All 250 nations are illogical.”

    OR: Maybe THEY all have access to a thousand terabytes of strategic information we do NOT have, and the best we can hope is to comment and keep up WITHOUT wasting 90% of our time coming to and bantering moral situations, which IS a good use of our time since it allows us to predict the markets, local conditions such as food, recessions and so on, which can move our daily lives.

    So what I hear is, it’s 1939 and I am NOT allowed to say “Germany will invade Czechoslovakia. I can understand their motives. This is what will happen because of it. And because I’m not going to stop them, or even if I AM planning to stop them, I can get out of the way by having this knowledge and discussion.” And when I can’t say that, also you’re essentially encouraging my, our deaths. I remember having this same discussion during Covid.

    Everyone knew these four things in all history up to 2016, then suddenly history and logic all vanished.

    Now we just continue in a frenzy of determined “Not Knowing” and “Pretending not to notice.” Before 2016 that was known to be the condition of an Ostrich, and not to work very well. Even if you declare me not allowed to identify national motives for geopolitical actions, I intend to anyway, because I DO notice.

    But you are too: you are grabbing the first “Motive” handed to you by Fox, CNN, NPR, and BBC. You’ve just forgotten because, as part of planning this, they pre-planted that motive inside your mind to detonate and keep you from noticing the real motive, now.

    Things like “They are trying to cause WWIII and tear the U.S. apart” and since there is ALREADY a war on, the best we can hope for is to retreat to Fortress America — same as Putin retreated to fortress Russia — and try to stay solvent (make money) and fix our nation without so many traitors sabotaging it daily, killing millions of Americans.”

    That is a very CLEAR motive, and a very CLEAR world reality right now. In fact, if we do not admit that, and that we need to act VERY BIG to stop it, there is a very good chance we’ll all die and be ruled by the very evil you fear.

    There are times in a war when you have a punch a guy and not be nice. There’s no time. And that’s even if you are going to drag him out of the building he’s burning and saving his own life.

    April 20, 2026 at 7:22 pm #238915
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    D:

    It is very clear to me you have an attitude not worthy of consumption that is expressed daily. At this point I zoom past most.

    Repent
    Regress
    Find your soul and improve your attitude

    April 20, 2026 at 7:52 pm #238916
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    The United States is not powerful enough to pursue this immoral and unethical policy

    57:00

    April 20, 2026 at 8:02 pm #238917
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    US Navy fleet tracker updated today.

    The USS Bush carrier group is taking the long way around Africa towards Iran, now near Madagascar.

    The burnt-out USS Ford carrier group went back through the Suez canal and is now is the northern Red Sea, away from Yemen.

    No US ships are listed in the Persian Gulf.

    A couple comments from below the update, about the unlikeliness of a Marine Expeditionary brigade forming (they’ll stick with boardings), and how “If the USN is too unwilling or afraid of convoy escort duty, Iran wins.”

    With neither the Boxer ARG nor the Iwo Jima ARG advancing toward the Middle East, I no longer foresee a Marine Expeditionary Brigade forming up. The Tripoli ARG will continue to prosecute smaller missions such as boardings.

    Until the USN provides real escorts for non-Iranian tankers or the Iranian regime is changed out, nothing will really change. As along as the non-Iranian tankers are too afraid to cross the Strait, Iran “wins.” It doesn’t matter if we deploy 10 carrier groups there. If the USN is too unwilling or afraid of convoy escort duty, Iran wins.

    https://news.usni.org/2026/04/20/usni-news-fleet-and-marine-tracker-april-20-2026

    April 20, 2026 at 8:24 pm #238918
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Official pushback against US Navy food shortages and substandard meals.

    The chief of naval operations pushed back Monday against reports that sailors were experiencing food shortages and substandard meals aboard several vessels stationed in the Middle East.

    Adm. Daryl Caudle told reporters during a media roundtable at Sea-Air-Space 2026 in Maryland that food quantity and quality were meeting Navy standards.

    https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2026/04/20/cno-denies-reports-

    April 20, 2026 at 8:27 pm #238919
    tboc
    Participant

    can the case be made that Greater Israel and Manifest Destiny are dovetailed together?
    Read 1 Samuel 15
    ask the question why some force is beating the antisemitism drum so loudly

    Where does your personal philosophy fit into the mosaic of this moment?
    Do you have need to justify your position or do you take a just position?

    April 20, 2026 at 8:37 pm #238920
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    Yes and the Message is: “We have no way to hurt you at all, ever, in the United States, not even a bit, or we would have done so already. Also We’re planning on making you and your GOP state of Texas, incredibly rich!” Very chilling. Houston is terrified of all the new Cadillacs they’ll buy with horns on the hood.

    For me this doesn’t hold water. Iran is perched on the moral high ground; their country viciously attacked with the intention of first subjugating, stealing its resources, and later destroying it. When Trump threatened to bomb all Iranian bridges and power plants, the locals formed human chains around them in defiance. Checkmate! Why do you think Trump cracked on his ultimatum? This is pretty strong evidence that the war has united Iranians like never before, no matter their previous grievances with the ruling clergy.

    On the other hand, the US is divided. The majority are against the war and angry at Trump for breaking his election promises. Anyone with any sense or moral compass knows the US acted treacherously and like a terrorist state. With each passing day Trump broadcasts his madness on X, and the US navy sabotages their ships. Disunity and chaos are on every side, in DC and NATO.

    As I wrote previously, what would happen if Iran decided to sink all our naval ships, especially the carriers? And what would happen if Iran suddenly activated a bunch of sleeper cells in the US, blowing up infrastructure, killing innocent citizens? You know exactly what would happen: the news cycle would bludgeon us over the head with the “horror” 24/7. Differences would be put aside, American flags would pop up everywhere like dandelions, suddenly everyone is a patriot ready to defend the homeland. Nope, that would be a strategic blunder on Iran’s part.

    As for the increase in Texas oil revenue, someone always benefits financially from war, see one Oskar Schindler. Should we rejoice in these gains knowing that the reason for our boon was the destruction of others? I think that is where the terms “dirty money” and “blood money” come from. In this case, Texas may not be the direct cause for the Iran war, but I would be very cautious about proudly driving that new Cadillac around like your company just went IPO. I know it’s just a turn of phrase to make a point, but it sounds cold because it lacks any moral or ethical underpinnings.

    April 20, 2026 at 8:46 pm #238921
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Scott Ritter : Trump and Hegseth Haven’t a Clue

    April 20, 2026 at 9:29 pm #238922
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    April 20, 2026 at 9:37 pm #238923
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Wake up call

    11:00

    April 20, 2026 at 10:34 pm #238924
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Map showing where the Iranian container ship TOUSKA was disabled and seized by the US Navy.


    https://www.twz.com/sea/carrier-tracker-as-of-april-20-2026

    April 20, 2026 at 10:50 pm #238925
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    April 20, 2026 at 10:58 pm #238926
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Iranian news source announced that “Another Iranian ship is passing through the Strait of Hormuz“, on its way to India. It’s a container ship named “Shoja 2”.

    I wonder if it could be bait, for somehow targeting a USN ship which tries to seize it?

    (translated from Persian)

    According to Tasnim news agency, a cargo ship with the flag of Iran and the name Shoja 2 is passing through the Strait of Hormuz despite the siege announced by the US terrorist army.

    The ship leaves the port of Shahid Rajaee near Bandar Abbas and continues its route to the port of Candella in India

    https://tasnimnews.ir/fa/news/1405/02/01/3570932/%DB%8C%DA%A9-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D8%AA%DB%8C-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C-%D8%AF%DB%8C%DA%AF%D8%B1-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%B9%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D8%AA%D9%86%DA%AF%D9%87-%D9%87%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%B2-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA

    April 20, 2026 at 11:18 pm #238927
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Adm. Daryl Caudle told reporters during a media roundtable at Sea-Air-Space 2026 in Maryland that food quantity and quality were meeting Navy standards.

    The worst of our fears have been realized. The lives of those sailors are in dire jeopardy.

    April 20, 2026 at 11:58 pm #238928
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    The Iranian container ship Shoja 2 (formerly the Hanne Christine of Norway) has a length of 90 meters and is passing through the Strait of Hormuz. It can be tracked here –

    https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=8318075

    April 21, 2026 at 12:23 am #238929
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Article from Tasnim News Agency in Iran –


    (translated from Persian)

    The Lloyd’s List data show that at least 26 of the ships of Iran’s shadow fleet have crossed the U.S. blockade line.

    These statistics show that, contrary to the Pentagon’s claim, there is a continuous flow of the movement of the shadow fleet into and out of the Persian Gulf

    https://tasnimnews.ir/fa/news/1405/02/01/3570925/%D8%B9%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%B1-26-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D8%AA%DB%8C-%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%88%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B3%D8%A7%DB%8C%D9%87-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%87-%D8%A2%D9%85%D8%B1%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%A7

    April 21, 2026 at 12:38 am #238942
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @DrD

    These [the 4 points as you listed them]are all very different things, and saying Germany can, will, why, and what will happen is not an approval, anymore than I approve or disapprove of Genghis Khan or King Edward. They are irrelevant to me as salt because the MORAL standard has no bearing on what anyone will do (clearly) nor is anyone asking me (clearl y) nor if I spend my time focused on that instead will it make any difference at all (clearly).

    Ahh! The morality of pragmatism. You’re a pragmatist. That’s distinctly and almost admirably higher than outright amorality, but still well shy of the safer ground of standing up for the good and opposing the bad, on principle alone.

    I think we can work with pragmatism as a start point.

    In which case let me pose the cardinal rule of pragmatic self-interest, which is: Does a particular tactically executed strategy work?

    If yes, then rinse and repeat. If not then change the fucking strategy before it makes the situation even worse and get’s one seriously killed or something just as unpleasant, and even less workable.

    The Empire’s strategy of doubling down on the evil is not pragmatic. The Empire is losing ground, treasure and friends faster than a rattlesnake ina buffalo stampede. Time to re-think the genocidally rapacious colonialism strategy, maybe, while we’ve still got a home to scuttle back to and defend. Bad time to double down the dirty deeds. Good time to bargain in good faith instead of the old S.O.P. of betraying suckers because not only have the suckers wised up, they’ve ganged up, and are literally kicking our ass.

    April 21, 2026 at 12:39 am #238943
    charles
    Participant

    Perspective. As a freshout infantry officer, I had one troop in my command that participated in My Lai. I beg you to take a quick look.

    Mỹ Lai massacre

    April 21, 2026 at 12:49 am #238944
    charles
    Participant

    I dont think thats Bill Murray in the lead photo

    April 21, 2026 at 1:19 am #238945
    tboc
    Participant

    @ charles my hope and prayer is that you are whole. I know some who are not. Here in NW Florida the excursion into southeast asia still has not ended.

    April 21, 2026 at 1:51 am #238946
    WES
    Participant

    Did Anyone Notice?

    Yesterday, there was a report that Germany was now the largest financial supporter of Ukraine.

    So, it isn’t the US anymore!

    So, Trump has successfully shifted the Ukrainian war costs back on Europeans.

    Those Texas Cadillacs:

    Just west of Amarillo, Texas, is Cadillac Ranch, where 10 vintage Cadillac cars are vertically planted nose down into the ground, ass end up.
    This is Amarillo’s most famous landmark!

    I remember the times I drove by these 10 famously planted Cadillacs on the interstate, while driving to Albuquerque, New Mexico, on my way to the coal mines on the Navajo Reservation, in Window Rock, Arizona (were Dr. John, once practiced).

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