Khamenei, One of Most Evil People in History, is Dead
POSTED BY: 6ixStringJack
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 05:42
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Quote:I read this before the Iraq Invasion:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I see we cross posted and, shockingly, we agree.
But I have the strange suspicion that the only reason you object to war with Iran is bc TRUMP started it, and if some Dem had done the same you'd be for it.
The Fifty-First State?
Going to war with Iraq would mean shouldering all the responsibilities of an occupying power the moment victory was achieved. These would include running the economy, keeping domestic peace, and protecting Iraq's borders—and doing it all for years, or perhaps decades. Are we ready for this long-term relationship?
By James Fallows
November 2002 Issue
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/11/the-fifty-first-s
tate/302612/
Signym, the article suggested the cost for Iraq would be many $billions. Actual costs were many $trillions with a T.
The True Cost of the Iraq War: $3 Trillion and Beyond
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/true-cost-iraq-war-3-trillion
-and-beyond
Signym, I strongly disapprove of the government starting projects like the very optional wars on Iran, Vietnam, and Iraq unless the cost is known. WWII? That was not optional for the US government. At the time, the Republicans in Congress started investigating President FDR, convinced the war was optional because FDR had tricked the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor. https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/pearl-ha
rbor.htm
Ukraine War? That was not optional for the Ukrainian government. If the US government did NOT want Russia to eventually invade the rest of Eastern Europe, that war wasn't optional for the US, regardless of the cost.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Good luck, Shit Golem.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I see we cross posted and, shockingly, we agree.
But I have the strange suspicion that the only reason you object to war with Iran is bc TRUMP started it, and if some Dem had done the same you'd be for it.
SECOND I read this before the Iraq Invasion:
The Fifty-First State?
Going to war with Iraq would mean shouldering all the responsibilities of an occupying power the moment victory was achieved. These would include running the economy, keeping domestic peace, and protecting Iraq's borders—and doing it all for years, or perhaps decades. Are we ready for this long-term relationship?
By James Fallows
November 2002 Issue
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/11/the-fifty-first-s
tate/302612/
Signym, the article suggested the cost for Iraq would be many $billions. Actual costs were many $trillions with a T.
The True Cost of the Iraq War: $3 Trillion and Beyond
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/true-cost-iraq-war-3-trillion
-and-beyond
Signym, I strongly disapprove of the government starting projects like the very optional wars on Iran, Vietnam, and Iraq unless the cost is known.
I strongly object to optional wars no matter what the cost.
Considering that we actually provoked Russia by breaking our "not one inch eastward" promise and threatening Russia's security, after we had pillaged it for 10 years, and breaking SEVERAL peace agreements about Ukraine, the war in Ukraine is 100% optional.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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Quote:You are joking, right? Because Poland joins NATO, Russia has to attack Ukraine? That makes zero sense for Russia. This makes sense: Because Poland joins NATO, Russia has to attack Poland. Instead of doing the sensible thing, Russia attacked Ukraine because Putin believed he'd win in a day, but years later he is in the same position Trump is in for attacking Iran with the solid conviction he'd win in a day or two.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I strongly object to optional wars no matter what the cost.
Considering that we actually provoked Russia by breaking our "not one inch eastward" promise and threatening Russia's security, after we had pillaged it for 10 years, and breaking SEVERAL peace agreements about Ukraine, the war in Ukraine is 100% optional.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Iran's parliament is considering an agreement with Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The proposal would ban ships connected to the U.S., Israel and other "hostile countries" from the key waterway until Iran receives compensation for war damages. Commercial vessels passing through the strait would be subject to fees of up to 7% of cargo value and a 20% fine for noncompliance. On Wednesday, Iran said it was finalizing a shipping route agreement with Oman, a U.S. ally. The Trump administration disputes Iran's characterization of the agreement, maintaining that the U.S. currently controls the strait through its naval blockade of Iran. Oman has not commented.
Trump's public statements about progress in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran don't seem to align with the reality of what is understood by Iranians. Trump is facing significant pressure to end the war, but Iran remains unyielding despite military pressure from the U.S., and it's making its own demands regarding the Strait. The stalemate has raised concerns from observers that the U.S. may have to accept terms worse than the previous status quo, which was free movement through the Strait. Current negotiations are also focused on the waterway reopening rather than issues like uranium enrichment, which Trump originally cited as justification for the war.
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/07/g-s1-137730/up-first-newsletter-trump-b
irthright-citizenship-iran-oman-strait-of-hormuz-anthony-fauci-mitch-mcconnell
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Iran plots to deal Trump a blow in midterms by keeping him entangled in war
By dragging out talks, Tehran aims to damage the US president politically in the hope of inflicting the same ruinous blow on his presidency as Jimmy Carter suffered over the 1979-81 US embassy hostage crisis.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/07/iran-war-trump-midterm-b
allot
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:You are joking, right? Because Poland joins NATO, Russia has to attack Ukraine? That makes zero sense for Russia. This makes sense: Because Poland joins NATO, Russia has to attack Poland. Instead of doing the sensible thing, Russia attacked Ukraine because Putin believed he'd win in a day, but years later he is in the same position Trump is in for attacking Iran with the solid conviction he'd win in a day or two.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I strongly object to optional wars no matter what the cost.
Considering that we actually provoked Russia by breaking our "not one inch eastward" promise and threatening Russia's security, after we had pillaged it for 10 years, and breaking SEVERAL peace agreements about Ukraine, the war in Ukraine is 100% optional.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
You're evil and, worse, stupid.
Because POLAND HAS A US MISSILE BASE on Russia's border. You think they want more US missile bases in Ukraine? Would we want Russian missile bases in Mexico?
Seriously, STUPID, your brain is fucked.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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Shit Golems don't have brains.
Just more shit.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Trump says he wants the Strait of Hormuz to be a U.S. territory
By Amin Khodadadi | Aug. 15, 2026, 5:47 AM CDT
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/iran-rejects-delusions-trump-strait
-hormuz-us-territory-rcna592666
Iran called on the U.S. to “accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in delusions” after President Donald Trump suggested that he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz as a “territory of the United States.”
The crucial waterway that handled one-fifth of the world’s oil before the war “cannot be seized with a tweet, nor with an aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor through an election speech,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in a post on X early Saturday.
“This strait will only be opened and closed under Iran’s command, and as long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in delusions, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade,” he added.
With oil tanker traffic through the strategic strait at a trickle and peace talks between the U.S. and Iran at an impasse, there are few signs that the war, launched on Feb. 28, is close to being over.
A 60-day negotiating period intended to hammer out a deal to end the conflict, set when Trump and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June, ends on Monday with few direct negotiations having taken place.
Speaking Friday at a police academy in Nassau County, New York, Trump said Iran was being “very badly defeated,” and once victory was secured, “pretty soon, I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.”
. . .
Vice President JD Vance, who has been tasked with leading negotiations to end the war, told Fox News on Thursday that the number one goal was to “keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country.” He added that “obviously goal No. 2 is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.” Tehran has repeatedly insisted it has no desire to develop one.
Trump and his team have offered various reasons for conflict, initially saying they wanted to support mass anti-government protests, before prioritizing a desire to end Iran’s nuclear program and topple the hardline Islamic regime.
In an interview with Iran’s Shahrara News published Friday, the country’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there were “no negotiations currently taking place between Tehran and Washington.”
Qatar and Pakistan, as mediators, were exchanging messages and remained in contact with Iran, “but this does not at all constitute negotiations,” he said. “No decision has yet been taken to resume talks with America.”
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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The Misery Will Continue Until Morale Improves
Why Trump is eviscerating the military
Paul Krugman
Aug 17, 2026
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-misery-will-continue-until-mora
le
According to an old military maxim, amateurs talk about strategy, professionals talk about logistics. But these days we need a third category: Immature, insecure guys think that war is about acting tough and looking cool.
Hi, Paul Krugman with a podcast update for today. I want to weigh in on the incredible rash of stories about how Trump and company are eviscerating the military. It is truly remarkable. If there’s one thing that we thought that the United States was still kind of number one at, it was that we had the world’s premier military. Now, of course, we managed to rather quickly effectively lose the war with Iran, although current management will never admit it.
But also just a series of stories, some of them related to that war, some of them going beyond and to other areas that just are truly shocking, even for somebody like me, who had no expectation that this administration would be doing any good for the nation.
Just to remember the story: So first we had the big warning that the U.S. military was basically running out of ammunition. That the precision missiles that are so essential to waging war were largely gone, expended unproductively against Iran. And clearly the cost benefit calculus was a disaster because the Iranians were sending cheap drones and we were using multi-million dollar weapons in an attempt to counter them.
After that, we got the story about the horrific conditions on board the USS Lincoln, the aircraft carrier that’s been stationed for a very long time without, it appears, adequate resupply and with toilets flooding. Apparently just horrific conditions, which turn out to be not unique to that ship: Other ships are having problems. There’s the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, which apparently has run out of feminine hygiene products, among other things.
Okay, so we have those horrific stories. And then we have the stories about Trump intervening. Demanding, first, that the Navy construct a whole new class of ships, Trump-class battleships, which are useless and would be sitting ducks. Then demanding that the Navy replace modern catapults with steam catapults, which he thinks are cooler. And then demanding that they relocate the command tower on aircraft carriers because he wants them to look more like the way they looked during World War II.
Is this America? I mean, think about the American way of war. We are not a warrior nation, which is fine. We are a lot of other things.
We were a nation that was supreme in the arts of peace. We were a nation of know-how. America won its wars by doing the arts of peace right, by building better and more stuff than other countries. By getting our act together in ways that didn’t necessarily involve fighting.
Of course, you always need courageous warriors. You always need people able and willing to risk death in the service of their nation. But what America was supreme at was logistics. If you ask how did America and its allies pull off D-Day, well, a lot of it was being able to deliver supplies to the beaches of Normandy in a way that the Germans never thought was possible.
America was always the place, the country that was really good at logistics. For us to be not feeding our sailors, not able to keep ships that are not, after all, under fire all the time, to keep the plumbing working, that is incredible.
The idea that the president is imposing his personal aesthetic preferences to undo design decisions that were made by military professionals is also basically incredible.
Okay, what is this all about? And what happened? Some of it is specifically military, but mostly it’s not. I think these military failings should be put in the same context as the frantic and disastrous destruction and redesign of Washington, D.C. The demolition of the East Wing. The disastrous attempt to refurbish the reflecting pool to reflect T
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