Oracle61

Today it’s International Pet Day! 🎉 Let’s celebrate this day together and create a big thread of our pets! Please share a picture and the name of your pet(s) in the comments! 😊 And give your pet an extra treat and hug from me.. ❤️

𝐀 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏’𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐘 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀 — 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐄’𝐒 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐄𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄 GB News’ Alex Armstrong laid out the geopolitical map that American media refuses to draw: this war isn’t about toppling Iran. It’s about 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 — and America is winning on every front. Start with oil. The Strait of Hormuz carries 𝟒𝟓% 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚’𝐬 𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲. Trump effectively captured Venezuela’s oil supply in January. As Armstrong put it: “𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘰’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯. 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴.” China is in the middle of a tariff negotiation with Trump — and suddenly its entire energy supply depends on American goodwill. Then Europe. With Russian energy off the table and domestic energy hollowed out by the “𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘰,” Europe is becoming 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐬. Armstrong: “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰.” Armstrong connected the dots to what the Pentagon calls 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 — Greenland through the Panama Canal, the entire Western Hemisphere secured as a self-sufficient American economic and security zone. “𝘕𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦-𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢.” The most striking part was his warning for Britain: “𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘞𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 60% 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥.” He described Britain heading toward 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟏,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 as America withdraws from its traditional role. When a foreign ally’s own news anchors are publicly acknowledging that Trump’s strategy is working — even as it leaves them behind — that tells you everything about who has the leverage. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭: 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬. 𝐇𝐞’𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬.

Food for thought. In The Prince, Machiavelli teaches that a ruler’s first duty is to secure the state, even if that means speaking and acting in ways that shock polite society. He warns that “men in general judge more from appearances than from reality,” and that a successful prince must be judged on the effects of his words, not on whether they conform to genteel norms. Trump’s recent language toward the Iranian regime is not a lapse of self‑control; it is a calculated act of deterrence aimed squarely at the leaders of a state‑sponsored terrorist apparatus. He is negotiating through intimidation, signalling resolve, ruthlessness, and a willingness either to send Iran “back to the Stone Ages” or to ensure that “a whole civilization will die tonight” in terms that pierce the bubble of diplomatic euphemism and force the IRGC command to reassess its risk tolerance. In that sense, Trump is acting far closer to Machiavelli’s prince than to a modern liberal statesman: he is willing to appear vulgar, even “unhinged,” if doing so strengthens the fear of his threats in the minds of his adversaries. What is striking is not that a leader dealing with such a regime would use this language, but that so many in the West seem genuinely unable, or unwilling, to recognize the strategy. They clutch their pearls about tone while ignoring the basic logic of coercive diplomacy: when you want to stop a hostile regime and its terrorist proxies from further escalation, you must shape their expectations, not placate your own commentariat. Machiavelli’s blunt counsel is that a prince must sometimes speak as both “man and beast,” combining law with the language of force to protect his people. One is left wondering whether our political and media classes have forgotten the oldest lessons of statecraft. Has no one read The Prince?

‘More than my car payment’: Minnesota drivers shocked by soaring tab fees A 25-year veteran of vehicle sales in central Minnesota says customers are now calling in disbelief after opening renewal notices for their tabs — in some cases finding fees that rival or even exceed their monthly car payments.