JR Planas

Every storm cloud has a #SilverLining. Some glow brighter than others; find them. 📸: Nikolaus Riggi, JR Planas #NewProfilePic

The “monarchist crashout” you’re waiting for isn’t coming. Reza Pahlavi isn’t leading a cult of personality; he’s the only viable transitional leader the opposition has, full stop. Whether you’re a committed constitutional monarchist, a republican, or somewhere in between, the reality inside Iran and in the diaspora is that no other figure commands the same breadth of recognition, institutional continuity, and international legitimacy. He’s the bridge. Period. We don’t need perfect ideological alignment right now. We need someone who can unify factions, speak credibly to the world, and prevent the post-regime vacuum from turning into another Libya or Syria. Pahlavi is that person. He’s spent decades building exactly the networks and credibility required for that moment. No one else comes close. As for the current war: yes, it’s brutal. But let’s not pretend the Islamic Republic’s daily body count, hangings in Evin, torture chambers, forced hijab beatings, exported terrorism, and 47 years of economic sabotage, is somehow less destructive than what’s happening now. The regime has been at war with the Iranian people since 1979. What we’re seeing is the regime finally feeling the consequences of its own choices. The destruction is horrific, but compared to the slow-motion atrocity the mullahs have inflicted on their own citizens? You tell me. Will some monarchists go too far if the war spirals completely out of control and Pahlavi keeps backing it without adjustment? Sure, that’s possible, but highly unlikely, because he has consistently shown he puts Iran’s long-term interest above any short-term hawkishness. But even then, the fallback isn’t “crashout into irrelevance.” It’s the recognition that the only path forward still runs through the only national figure the opposition can actually rally around. The regime falls when Iranians inside decide the cost is worth it. When that day inevitably comes, we won’t be looking for purity tests or ideological score-settling. We'll be looking for a transitional leader who can hold the center, talk to the army, talk to the diaspora, and talk to the world. That leader is Reza Pahlavi — king or not. The rest is noise. #KingRezaPahlavi‌ForIran

Sorry to disappoint the Europhiles that follow me but NATO in its current form is not going to survive until 2030 and at this point, that is a good thing. It is long past time for America to form new workable alliances around the world, for a new era of geopolitical reality. Does this mean all of our interests in Europe will vanish overnight? No, and in fact the dissolution of NATO would actually allow us to work better independently with European nations instead of having to go through and deal with an outdated alliance structure. Another thing is, there needs to be a clear understanding, that if we cannot count on the Europeans for support against a rogue Iran, then we certainly cannot count on them to help us face down China moving forward. Therefore, they should no longer expect our help against Russia. As while we still have our issues with the Russians, they are still mostly a European centric problem that the continent (if gets itself together) can manage well enough on its own.

The weather patterns we are seeing now bear close resemblance to those of the 1930s, when we had multiple La Niña years back-to-back with little interruption. That has also largely been the case since 2015–16. With a major El Niño developing currently, the drought spanning coast to coast should ease and the intense spring / summer heatwaves over the U.S. should ease. Depending on how much lag there is, it may take several months for that to happen, though. Summer could be quite toasty.

Here is the thing about grass that nobody explains. It wants to be grazed. Not just tolerates grazing. Not just survives grazing. Actually evolved, over millions of years, in direct relationship with large grazing animals, to respond to grazing by growing back more vigorously than before. Grass does this through its growing points. Unlike most plants, which grow from the tip, grass grows from the base. You can eat the top. The plant continues from the bottom. It responds to being grazed by sending resources into root development, deepening its root mass, sequestering more carbon into the soil, producing more tillers, regrowing faster. A grazed grass plant has more root mass than an ungrazed one. More root mass means more carbon underground. More carbon underground means better soil. Better soil grows more grass. The cow isn't destroying the grass. The cow is, in the specific biological sense of the word, farming it. This is why the Great Plains built twelve feet of topsoil while sixty million bison grazed them. This is why the Serengeti got greener when the wildebeest population recovered. This is why Brian's earthworm count went up after he started rotational grazing. It is not counterintuitive once you understand that the grass and the grazer evolved together. It is just biology. Biology that took several hundred million years to work out and about forty years of dietary guidelines to start undermining.

I'm trying to imagine the alternative history of WW2 if it looked like this war, and what the coverage might look like "It's January 11th, 1942, one month after Hitler declared war on the United States. Hitler, Goering, Bohrmann, and Himmler were all killed in an allied bombing attack on Hitler's headquarters, along with fifty other members of the German High Command. 95% of entire German navy is resting at the bottom of the North Sea. The Luftwaffe is no more. Allied aircraft achieved complete air superiority over Germany within 48 hours of the war's start. Still, many sophisticated commentators are saying that the Third Reich has the upper hand, because they have shut down travel through the Danish straits."

Regarding recent press coverage

Seatbelts save lives. Unfortunately... they don't save KitKats. 🍫 #IYKYK

sorry guys we were product testing for our 12th herb and spice

Les presentamos nuestra nueva bebida sabor Kit Kat… por tiempo limitado. 👀

@KITKAT bad time to roll out our Kit Kat pancakes huh

for legal reasons this is a joke

We are thinking of the entire KitKat team. Please give them a break during this difficult time In unrelated news, we will be swapping out our LEGO Airport for a candy airport

My chair is still warm, I swear…

@KITKAT May we recommend...PayPal Purchase Protection?