mostlytired
7.3K posts
@mostlytired3
Nothing better to do.
BIG: Over about a week, Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana was repeatedly overflown by groups of unauthorized drones, not just a single incident, but coordinated waves of roughly a dozen or more at a time. These drones weren’t typical hobby models: they showed signs of long-range control, resistance to jamming, and deliberate, organized movement patterns, including spreading across sensitive parts of the base like areas where B-52 bombers are stationed. They flew for hours each day, used changing routes (likely to avoid tracking), and may have been intentionally testing how the base responds to intrusions. Despite the seriousness—given Barksdale’s role in U.S. nuclear operations—there’s no public confirmation that any drones were shot down or stopped. Officials are still investigating, and while some suspect foreign reconnaissance or probing, no actor has been officially identified. Source: ABC
But are you floppy disk old..
5 1/4 inch old. Actual floppy old. Like, I've literally flopped disks.
President Trump appears to be setting the stage for US withdrawal and leaving local states the task of reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Think of it as a new Trump Doctrine for the Middle East: "We broke it but you own it." open.substack.com/pub/richardhaa…
we ruined such a good thing
I'm a Smurf. I've been hired to run counter-intelligence operations at Smurf Village. My role is political; I've personally gone up against the evil wizard Gargamel. But once I'm on the inside, I discover that Smurf Village has a relationship with a goat-riding human boy called Peewit. Peewit isn't a Smurf. He's caused a lot of damage with his antics over the years. Why is he even here? I start digging. I pull up Papa Smurf's history with Peewit. Papa Smurf has been collaborating with this kid for years. Protecting him. Making excuses for him. Why? Peewit is reckless. Peewit makes messes. But Papa Smurf keeps letting him back in. The more I dig, the more Peewit I find. He's everywhere. In every file, behind every favor, connected to every mess. A picture forms in my head: if I'm looking for Peewit everywhere and I keep finding Peewit, the only logical conclusion is that Peewit is the one controlling Papa Smurf. Then a prominent Smurf gets assassinated. They say Gargamel's people did it. Case closed, move along. But I get access to the dead Smurf's private messages. And there's Peewit. Right there in the chats. The same Peewit I've been laser-focused on all year. Pressuring him. Making demands. I bring this to Papa Smurf and his inner circle. I bring it with alarm. Papa Smurf looks at me funny. And then — just like that — I'm kicked out of the investigation. No explanation. Just... out. This is the final proof that Peewit is controlling the Smurf Village. I know what I saw. I have to get the truth out there. So I do the unthinkable. I leak the information.
Dear Europe, I know you feel outrage. I have talked to many of you on the phone. I know politicians and media on both sides of the Atlantic are furious. I attended a conference with mostly Europeans. The worry and frustration was palpable. I get it too. You are dependent on Middle East oil and aluminum and fertilizer and shipping and LNG. Dubai is a vital travel hub for you. Vital. But don’t worry. Trump will lose the midterms and Congress will flip and side with you. Or maybe not… I live in the bluest town in the bluest state, where protests are practically a seasonal sport. I drove over eight hours across New England this week past the usual corners where outrage normally lives. This time? Nothing. Left, right, center. I’m hearing almost no one talk about this war. MAGA doesn’t even care. Ask someone and you’ll get the expected talking points. But in coffee shops, kitchens, real life? Silence. Hard truth: most Americans just don’t care. And since the weather warmed, not a single keffiyeh in sight. So when Trump says you need to go protect the ships and airports that are vital to YOU, I think he means it. Because the vast majority of Americans don’t care. And it’s not that we want to see you spin into an energy and food shortage. It’s that even the most TDS-inflicted liberal American is getting tired of your BS. Hating Trump is one thing. Almost half of America is OK with that. But your anti-American vitriol and arrogance and weakness is exhausting. Nobody likes a needy person who is angry and thinks they are better than you. It’s literally the worst combination in a person. And you might not want to admit it, but you are needy. You need us to reopen Hormuz. You need our banks and our markets. You need a lot. “We will not participate in this war” is fine. Nobody is asking you to bomb civilians. What’s weak is you won’t surge defensive missiles and planes to protect European-owned ships and property. When exactly did defense make you a participant? Defense of innocent life and property isn’t a “war crime.” And you DO own the majority of ships getting attacked. Ships that you are unwilling to defend maybe because you outsource the labor to Indonesia, the Philippines, and Ukraine. You are the wealthy lords who abandoned the mansion but told the help to stick around and defend it. So you might want to send a few warships and missile defense units to protect YOUR property. Or at least leave them at anchor and send the innocent crews home. You want us to defend the Strait because we started this mess? That’s reasonable. Problem is the reaction from most of America to your demands is: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
People keep posting this, but does it really make a difference in real life? There have been tens of millions of homes built with the modern lumber and they seem to be holding up well structurally
“If I were Russia and China, I would let Iran play out longer. I would let the U.S. use more of its military warfighting capability, and then when they’ve played it down enough, I would go take Taiwan. It’s what they wanted to do for a long time, but we are kind of holding them back. If I were China, I would say, let’s let them play this out, we’ll let them get tired—once they’re tired, we’ll do what we want to do, and they won’t be able to stop us because they’re going to be too tired to come over here and do that.” @MichaelTLester
