Pennywise the Dancing Clown

@RunBlogRun From CIA case officer to fitness innovator, Emily McCarthy shows how intelligence skills translate beyond the field. Discipline, resilience and preparation are not just workout habits. They are the same qualities that strengthen national security.

Ok... hold the DANG presses. The New York Times is reporting that the United States is shelving plans to escalate this war because the Trump Administration believes that the combination of economic pressures and negotiations will be more likely to succeed. Guys. We tried this. Trump called uncle. It CLEARLY didn't work. When the initial US blockade was imposed on Iran on April 13th, President Trump VERY clearly bought in to the "13 days until Iran's oil wells explode" nonsense. In fact, on day 10, he went on Fox News and LITERALLY said "in three days, their oil storage is going to run out, and their oil infrastructure is going to explode due to something having to do with nature." Now... let's just ignore the VERY obvious fact that Trump had exactly ZERO idea whatsoever about how any of this works... Not only did NIOC (National Iranian Oil Company) shut-in their oil wells without "exploding them" in 2012 and 2019, but the ENTIRE GULF is shut-in to some degree right now! Okay, so then we move on to the "Plan B". We're going to... and you're going to need to REALLY hold on to your seats here... cause so much hyperinflation and collapse of the currency that the Iranian people will rise up and topple the regime. Yes Donald, I'm sure after killing 168 children in Minab, threatening to wipe out their entire civilization, and bombing water storage facilities, "a tiny bit more inflation" is going to make the difference over the course of a few weeks. They've been under economic warfare for 47 YEARS DONALD! But hey, we kept the initial blockade on Iran for 66 days, that must have REALLY hurt, right? They're losing $500M per day Trump said! Well... no... not even remotely. The REAL figure was $435M, and that was a wildly overinflated, bizarrely calculated, and fundamentally broken calculus. Iran's inflation? Didn't notably increase during the 66 days of the blockade. Iran's Rial? Literally changed like 2%. Actually, technically I believe it strengthened to the dollar in the lead up to the MOU being signed, idk, I'm one-shotting this post from memory. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! Yes. When the blockades were lifted, Iran had stored about 60M barrels of oil on vessels due to storage eventually reaching near-capacity. On top of this, they had another ~60M in onshore storage. As a result, during the 27 days of the US blockade being lifted, Iran exported a total of 80M barrels of oil outside the US blockade line. Given that it takes 2-3 weeks to reach the destination, and given that Iranian oil sales are paid generally upon delivery and not at the time of loading, that mean that this cargo is worth about EIGHT BILLION DOLLARS. But you thought that was it? NO! The United States? They didn't even come CLOSE to achieving normal rates of imports and exports during the blockade lifting window of 27 days. Not even CLOSE! And on top of this, the blockades tertiary objectives of cutting off wheat, medical supplies, cooking oil, and proteins? Iran RAPIDLY imported those goods EXACTLY FOR THIS EVENTUALITY! Of course, we can't end this post without mentioning, I don't know... THE BAB AL-MANDEB STRAIT?! Yeah, those 4.5M barrels of oil Saudi was pumping through the East-West Pipeline? POOF! The Omani Route? Zilch for traffic recently! Chinese demand? That's gonna come back online Trump! This is... and I'm saying this as calmly as possible... perhaps THE MOST braindead idea that I have heard. Dear lord.

Kuwait denies a WSJ report that it joined operations against Iran, calling the claim "baseless." Kuwait's ambassador to Washington: "We have not permitted the use of our territory, airspace or waters to launch offensive operations." @Osint613

Went so far anti-gay they ended up being pro-gay.

Do you see it too?

At this moment, the world is on the precipice. The U.S./Iran War has been led to the point of extreme escalation, and most signs point to President Trump taking measures that would certainly force a further devolution of the situation. We MUST be proactive in preparing for this risk. With assets, materiel, and troops flooding into the CENTCOM theater, many analysts are predicting that we could see limited boots on the ground operations to potentially attempt to seize Qeshm, Larak, and Bandar Abbas. This WILL lead to American casualties at a scale we are not prepared for. Others, myself included, are looking at the push from the Iran Hawks to target Iranian civilian and economic infrastructure. Bridge and Power Plants Day, but turned up a notch further. This WILL lead to Iranian retaliation against Gulf energy and desalination infrastructure. In either event, there WILL be a rapid and overwhelming push for the Trump Administration to respond in an even more aggressive manner. We cannot be behind the curve when this push happens. President Trump’s foolish decisions cannot be allowed to pull us into a forever war. They cannot be allowed to create a humanitarian crisis across the entire Gulf region. They cannot be allowed to turn a recession into a depression. These are not acceptable outcomes. If the President of the United States makes the irrational decision in the coming days to escalate this war beyond what anyone could have initially imagined, we must stand TOGETHER. We must push back IMMEDIATELY. Under no circumstances can we allow the U.S. War Machine to gain unstoppable inertia. We need to work TOGETHER to do everything we can to prevent catastrophe.

Congratulations to President Biden He finished chemo yesterday and rang the bell. Does this make you smile?

Young people with neurodivergent or gifted minds often assume others think the same way they do. Dealing with the social isolation that emerges from finding out that's not true is a real challenge. psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living…

Beauty has always been seen as a highly desirable trait in a mate. But beautiful people and their partners can face some daunting challenges, starting with these. psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-the…

Gurus who promote “manifesting” or the "law of attraction" insist that our thoughts can determine our success in life. This idea isn’t just wrong; it’s dangerous. Here's why. psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-ar…

Whether it’s a serious illness, a sudden loss, or an act of violence, we all experience distress at some point. Some people suffer for years, while others recover more quickly, thanks to these 3 beliefs. psychologytoday.com/us/blog/primal…

@BrettErickson28 @Doug_Bandow IKR!

@Doug_Bandow I’m just SHOCKED that Iran refuses to capitulate when they see how “wonderful” we have been to Venezuela

It hasn't been fantastic. US is stealing Venezuelans' oil. In return, US has helped keep Chavistas in power, ruling over Venezuelans.

@SpencerHakimian She has a “mommy and diaper” kink…

What the fuck is wrong with this crazy bitch

Lego Rubio

Even the wealthiest people I know are too scared to say what they really think about Donald Trump. “I have some very wealthy friends, billionaire friends, that are very afraid of him and they’re on bended knee to him, which is un-American.” Meanwhile his approval numbers are sitting with Nixon at Watergate and Hoover at the Depression. Speak up, grow a pair!!

This is so disrespectful to the dead and their family. Only a small man like Donald Trump would do something like this.

CNN: The Pentagon removed Michael and the three soldiers who also died this past weekend from the public casualty count of soldiers and troops who have died during the war. Has anyone spoken to you about this? Gonzalez-Swinton: Nobody has reached out yet. I kind of don't have words for that.

Send Barron.

🇮🇷🇺🇸 Well, Iran didn't waste any time after finding out that Rubio HATES their LEGO AI videos I don't think he'll be a big fan of this one either 🤣 Writer: Ian