FrasierCrane'sHumongousA$$

Amazon is slapping a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on third-party sellers using its platform starting later this month amid a spike in fuel prices since the war in Iran started. abcnews.link/4Xg1xb4

@ABC You might not want to keep getting closer if a plane drops out of the sky like that, lol.

A small plane made an emergency landing on an eastern Pennsylvania highway, stunning one driver who captured the plane descending onto the pavement in front of her on her dashboard camera. abcnews.link/qEJTepi

BREAKING: For the first time ever, GasBuddy data showing average diesel prices have risen above $8 per gallon in San Francisco, CA- the first ever U.S. city to reach the $8 mark ever.

@hissgoescobra I can't stand Trump or the GOP, btw.

@hissgoescobra It wasn't open to civilians yet. It was just completed, so it was available for military use.

What's the operational reason, anybody feel free to chime in, for hitting this during the day? Twice. It's Saturday, perhaps my brain isn't working. Operational meaning other than to inflict more fear amongst civilians.

Massive geopolitical escalation. Al Jazeera confirms Saudi Arabia is officially losing patience and threatening to invoke Article 51 to militarily defend itself. Trump's disastrous warmongering is about to drag the entire Middle East into a catastrophic regional war.

@klebhert1965 @FurkanGozukara They don't like taking orders from Tehran, though.

@FurkanGozukara A única alternativa é mandar os EUA sumirem e ficarem neutros.

@Bonnie582375285 @FurkanGozukara Saudi Arabia and Iran have been at odds for my entire life and I'm old. It used to be part of the Suni-Shia thing until that became more irrelevant.

@FurkanGozukara Saudi Arabia has not been attacked. Saudi Arabia is aiding and abetting the US unprovoked war against Iran. Iran has the right to self defense.

@RichelieuXIV @FurkanGozukara They fought the Houthis in Yemen for a long time, I thought?

@FurkanGozukara Does Saudi Arabia have any serious military capabilities?

Courtesy of @OccupyDemocrats BREAKING: UGH! NPR discovers that the Trump administration hung over a THOUSAND Navy sailors and their families out to dry after evacuating them from Trump’s illegal war and giving them NOTHING when they got back! NPR reports that over 1,500 sailors, their families, and pets have been evacuated from Bahrain after the Trump administration launched a war against Iran without doing the slightest bit of preparation for any possible consequences, like missiles being fired at US bases. "They had to leave in a hurry, many taking only a backpack with clothes. "They literally told them, 'Get what you can get in the backpack. You've got to go,'" said Derrick Johnson, commander of American Legion Post 327 in Norfolk, VA. “They came with no uniforms, nothing. The three we met first, they came with the clothes on their back, what they could fit in that backpack." Unsurprisingly, the Trump administration made no preparations for their arrival, either, forcing the local community to hold donation drives for basic necessities like hygiene products. "The base was asking for donations of toiletries and different things for the sailors coming back, because they were coming back with nothing.” The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society has handed out $1 million to roughly 2,000 sailors and their families since the evacuations began, said the group's chief operations officer Dawn Cutler, a retired rear admiral. "I saw one gal — she had a 2-week-old and a 2-year-old and a dog in a crate and a suitcase. So she was just at the moment, you know, looking to get out of danger, get to someplace safe. And now we're at the point where families are back and they're starting to ask the question: 'Well, what's next? Will we go back?'" said chief operations officer Dawn Cutler of the NMCRS. NPR reports that “the money [raised] is mainly to pay for essentials and to provide bridge loans so families can pay basic living expenses while they wait for the government to reimburse them, which can take months.” That’s the Trump administration in a nutshell. Put Americans in danger for no reason, upend their entire lives because they didn’t bother doing any preparations, and then do absolutely nothing for them when they get back. THEY. DON’T. CARE. ABOUT. OUR. TROOPS.

@IBehunek @SteveCerno @gerardtbaker Didn't Slovakia say neutrality sounded better than NATO or something like that recently?

@SteveCerno @gerardtbaker bye bye

You don’t get why trust matters. To ask allies to follow you into war requires a high level of confidence in your leadership. No one in Europe has that faith in Trump.They could all invade Iran one day and get hit the next with a 100% tariff because he didn’t like someone’s tweet

@XelaSredna @CliffordDMay I loathe Trump and the decision to do this war was extremely stupid, but that bridge actually was a military target, not a civilian bridge.

@CliffordDMay "On the contrary, we've so far focused on military targets." On the contrary, the Karaj Bridge was NOT a military target.

But we've not done that. On the contrary, we've so far focused on military targets. The Israelis have even hit Basij bases to prevent these thugs from killing more Iranian dissidents. I think prominent columnists such as you (and patriotic think tankers such as me) should be urging President Trump and his advisors to maintain that approach: to degrade as much as possible the regime's military capabilities, and whatever is left of its nuclear facilities. That would be an adequate outcome, more than any of Trump's predecessors has accomplished. But, of course, a better result -- not least for the U.S. -- would be for the clerical dictatorship to collapse and be replaced by decent leaders, friends of Americans, who would spend Iran's oil revenues in the future on improving conditions for the people of Iran rather than on Hamas, Hezbollah, the Shia militias of Iran, and the Houthi rebels of Yemen. (And no more drones for Putin.) I don't think that outcome is beyond reach if we just keep the main thing the main thing. Our allies could help. They certainly shouldn't hinder. I bet a dollar that Mark Rutte is telling them something along these lines.

@fcravioto @SusanAcs11 @AJEnglish @CitizenFreePres I lived right across the border from Yugoslavia in Hungary for that one with the refugees (worked with them, ate at their restaurants). Everyone just wanted the slaughter to end. There was unanimous support where I was for bombing like occurred.

@JustChattingEh @SusanAcs11 @AJEnglish @CitizenFreePres Bosnia-Hercegovina can hardly be classified as an independent country today. It is a UN protectorate with a gerrymandered internal division of Bosniak and Serb autonomous regions that keeps 30 year old resentments alive and potentially explosive.

BREAKING: A US government official has told Al Jazeera that the second crew member from the downed F-15E has been recovered after a “heavy firefight”. 🔴 LIVE updates: aje.news/jgys6v

@stored_labor @randomglitchx @ProfJeffries I assume it goes side-by-side with certain disciplines like physics. My father was an engineer and had a degree in mathematics as well. NASA, etc might hire straight mathematicians for projects. I don't know.

@JustChattingEh @randomglitchx @ProfJeffries What is a mathematician? I'm not being facetious.

Actually, we don’t have to.

@fcravioto @SusanAcs11 @AJEnglish @CitizenFreePres Not from Obama's ISIS campaign, no.

@JustChattingEh @SusanAcs11 @AJEnglish @CitizenFreePres Good job in Siria, by the way!! After expelling a third of the country's population, you brought al-Qaeda to power. Now we have weekly pogroms of Alawite, Christian, Druze, Shia and Kurdish peoples. And also, an Israeli land grab of Mt. Hermon and all its water resources. Genius!

@fcravioto @SusanAcs11 @AJEnglish @CitizenFreePres I'll tell you a couple I agreed with and see what you think: Strikes on behalf of the Bosnia Muslims, and Obama's ISIS in Syria war (because ISIS).

@JustChattingEh @SusanAcs11 @AJEnglish @CitizenFreePres If he's not a conscientious objector, I hold him entirely responsible. All my life I've witnessed you gringo assholes destroying one country after another. The entire world is fed up with your imperialist bullshit! Whether it's red or blue MAGA, leave us the fuck alone!!

@fcravioto @SusanAcs11 @AJEnglish @CitizenFreePres You don't know what he or she was flying for, what they would bomb, and what they would refuse to bomb. We do have a lot of Trumpers, but the entire military isn't loyal to him.

@SusanAcs11 @AJEnglish @CitizenFreePres He's a terrorist. His job is to bomb universities, schools, hospitals, pharmaceutical research centers, bridges, power plants, and other civilian infrastructure. He should face the Iranian people and seek forgiveness from them for the crimes he committed.

@eseoyoma1 @AJEnglish Their territory really is extremely difficult. And I suspect their people don't trust their government and wouldn't want to have to call them to come. Kind of like calling ICE to come to your neighborhood voluntarily, I suspect. You don't want to be treated badly.

@AJEnglish If this is true, I will be disappointed with the Iranian military, of all the noise they have made about killing every single America soldier should they set their foot in Iran, they had one US soldier in their territory and still lost a battle to hold him as POW…

@Hanione12 @tparsi @smeslami Iran and Oman, bit there's UNCLOS that rules it.

@tparsi @smeslami Isn’t the passage in Iranian territorial waters?

This is a MUST read article by @smeslami & Zeynab Malakouti! It reveals how Tehran's calculations re the Straits have changed. Rather than use this leverage to negotiate an end to the war, Tehran is looking to establish a permanent transit fee mechanism and use its leverage to reestablish economic relations with countries who - due to US sanctions - have more or less ended their ties with Iran. responsiblestatecraft.org/strait-of-horm…

Iran is demanding sovereign control over the Strait of Hormuz. If it succeeds in imposing this logic, it will undermine the very foundation of international maritime law. The Strait of Hormuz is an international strait governed by the regime of transit passage: passage cannot be arbitrarily prevented or made selective. If Iran succeeds, it will open a Pandora's box: other states will also decide they can act the same way. Let's look at other straits that are critically important for the global economy: ◾️ The Straits of Malacca and Singapore are the next most dangerous example. The Strait of Malacca is the world's busiest oil chokepoint, as well as one of the main corridors for common trade; studies estimate that about 20% of global maritime trade passes through the Strait of Malacca, amounting to approximately $2.4-2.5 trillion annually. In theory, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore could all seek to exert tighter control here. If even one of these countries were to impose a system of permits, selective inspections, or political restrictions, global trade would suffer. ◾️ Bab-el-Mandeb is another example of how control over a narrow strait can quickly become a tool of war. In 2023, approximately 9.2 million barrels per day passed through it, but following the escalation, flows dropped to about 4.0-4.2 million barrels per day in 2024-2025. Formally, Yemen, Djibouti, and Eritrea may attempt to strengthen their control here, and effectively, armed non-state actors may also be involved. The threat is clear: whoever controls this chokepoint can sever the maritime link between Europe and Asia via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. ◾️ The Bosphorus and the Dardanelles are a separate case, as they are already subject to a specific regime under the Montreux Convention, and Türkiye has broader authority over military vessels. But that is precisely why this example is important. In the first half of 2025, approximately 3.7 million barrels per day of oil and petroleum products passed through the Turkish Straits, not counting grain and other Black Sea exports. The danger here lies elsewhere: the existing legal exception could become a justification for new exceptions in other straits. ◾️ The Danish straits are a critical exit route from the Baltic Sea. In the first half of 2025, approximately 4.9 million barrels of oil and petroleum products passed through them daily. Formally, Denmark could impose stricter controls here, and in a broader regional sense, so could the states that control the approaches to the Baltic Sea. If Europe ever adopts a policy of selective access through such a strait, it would mean that even within the Euro-Atlantic space, freedom of navigation is no longer considered absolute. This would be a critical moment for maritime law. ◾️ The Taiwan Strait is perhaps the most dangerous case in the long term. According to CSIS estimates, approximately $2.45 trillion worth of goods passed through it in 2022, accounting for more than one-fifth of global maritime trade. There is only one potential contender for political control here - China. If Beijing manages to impose a system where passage depends not on international rules but on Chinese jurisdiction, it will be a turning point. Then, not only regional security would be at risk, but also the very principle that major trade routes cannot be controlled by a single state through political decision. And since the Taiwan Strait is also linked to the risk of a major war between the US and China, maritime law here directly confronts the risk of global escalation. ◾️ Arctic shipping routes demonstrate that this logic now extends beyond traditional straits. Russia regards the Northern Sea Route as a "historic national transport corridor" and demands compliance with the navigation rules established by Moscow; in 2024, the Northern Sea Route Administration issued 1,312 permits for 975 vessels. Canada, for its part, considers the Northwest Passage to be part of its internal waters, while the United States and other states disagree with this approach. Here, the risk is particularly significant for the future: if Arctic routes begin to be established as a licensed passage under the control of coastal states, this will provide yet another strong argument for those who wish to establish their own control in other areas. So, control over sea lanes is becoming a new weapon. If Iran breaks this barrier in the Strait of Hormuz, other states will also begin competing for control of the seas. The next conflict may arise not only over territory, but over the right to determine who has access to global trade, energy, and naval traffic. This is the real danger: the Strait of Hormuz could lay the groundwork for many future wars.