theviklink

Once again no politician has ever lied as much as him and none has ever been so honest either.

Nothing captures the strategic moment quite like this

@wilhelmscreamin There are way more good ones, just depends on your interests. Luke Gromen, Rest is History, Invest Like the Best, Acquired, Hardcore History. Also some true crime ones I've forgotten the name of.

i don't understand why people think there are too many podcasts. there are like 3-4 good podcasts in the world. i would love there to be more good podcasts

@nic_carter I put Zeihan in the Raoul Pal bucket after his Bitcoin and China takes during Covid (master of the universe confidently predicting the future), but I guess that was a little harsh. He was right about some things along the way. But the confidence of the man is obnoxious.

it's uncanny how the Straits crisis and its reverberations was completely anticipated by peter zeihan in this 2020 book core thesis: - the US as a reluctant increasingly isolationist hegemon unwilling or unable to maintain food energy security for the whole planet - the US able to weather this transition as it has the continental resources it needs, but its erstwhile freeloader allies totally hung out to dry in the new order - no hegemon willing or able to fill the gap; no one else post '45 has the blue water navy and power projection ability that the US had; trade becomes more disordered and more expensive - trade becomes more regionalized, countries dependent on seamlessly functioning global food/fertilizer/energy trade are big big losers, globalization retreats haven't seen any good counter arguments to this thesis. the realignment is happening in real time. listen to what the Euros are saying about the Strait and their energy security and see what Trump is saying about Europe. (not saying anyone is "right" or "morally justified" just calling balls and strikes)

It's pretty unreal that people still believe Gutenberg invented the printing press, when it was invented a whole 7 centuries before in China. When Gutenberg painstakingly printed 300 bibles in 1450 and went bankrupt because of it (as that lady describes 👇), some texts in Asia were already printed at 1 million copies (!!!) as early as the 8th century! That's the case of the "One Million Pagodas and Dharani Prayers" commissioned by Empress Shōtoku of Japan around 764–770 AD (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi%C5%9Bu…), a series of one million small wooden pagodas each containing a printed Buddhist scroll, thousands of which survive to this day. Heck China had mass printed paper money - called jiaozi - during the Song Dynasty, around the 10th century AD, so roughly 400-500 years before Gutenberg (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiaozi_(c…)! It's probably only in the 18th or 19th century that 1 million copies of *anything* got printed in Europe, meaning we were behind Asia by literally a whole millennium in that regard. Quite the testament of our incredibly parochial worldview that we turned a thousand-year technological lag into the founding myth of supposed Western intellectual superiority...

To avoid a repeat of last night’s shellacking in the 2026 midterms, Republicans should: quit covering for pedophiles put America before Israel put farmers before corporations quit funding wars abroad reduce spending to control inflation quit attacking independent voices

The United States has spent EIGHT TRILLION DOLLARS fighting and policing in the Middle East. Thousands of our Great Soldiers have died or been badly wounded. Millions of people have died on the other side. GOING INTO THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE WORST DECISION EVER MADE.....

@BasedBiohacker This is predative marketing. "30 years of consistent research" Almost all research is in rats or cell cultures. Human clinical trials are extremely rare. "Heals the gut-brain axis" Purely theoretical in humans. No large-scale trials prove it "sharpens cognition."

Glenn Dubin. Billionaire hedge fund manager. Named in sealed documents. Virginia Giuffre alleged she was lent to him. He says he never met Epstein. The files show emails, photos, and flight manifests. Document EFTA00945127.

Every document has a file number. Every quote is verbatim. Every claim is independently verifiable. If this investigation matters to you, share it. Lawmakers need to see it. Journalists should be building on it. The full series: sayerji.substack.com/t/epstein-files The switchboard is visible. 🔚

To anyone still gullible enough to fall for scummy media hoaxes: Trump said warmongering neocons love sending your kids to die for wars they would never fight themselves. Liz Cheney is Kamala’s top advisor. Liz wants to invade the whole Middle East. Kamala = WWIII. Trump = Peace.

PSA: Bombing a country on the other side of the globe won’t make the Epstein files go away, any more than the Dow going above 50,000 will.

I am a diplomatic aide in the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. My job is logistics. When two countries that cannot speak to each other need to speak to each other, I book the rooms. I prepare the briefing materials. I make sure the water glasses are the right distance apart. You would be surprised how much of diplomacy is water glasses. Too close and it feels informal. Too far and it feels like a tribunal. I have a chart. We had a very good month. Since January, Oman has been mediating indirect talks between the United States and Iran on Iran's nuclear program. The talks were held in Muscat and in Geneva. The Americans would sit in one room. The Iranians would sit in another room. I would walk between them. My Fitbit says I averaged fourteen thousand steps on negotiation days. The hallway between the two rooms at the Royal Opera House conference center is forty-seven meters. I walked it two hundred and twelve times in February. This is good for my cardiovascular health. It was less good for my knees. Both are in the service of peace. By mid-February, we had something. Iran agreed to zero stockpiling of enriched uranium. Not reduced stockpiling. Zero. They agreed to down-blend existing stockpiles to the lowest possible level. They agreed to convert them into irreversible fuel. They agreed to full IAEA verification with potential US inspector access. They agreed, in the Foreign Minister's phrase, to "never, ever" possess nuclear material for a bomb. I have worked in diplomacy for seven years. I have never seen a country agree to this many things this quickly. I made a spreadsheet of the concessions. It had fourteen rows. I color-coded it. Green for confirmed. Yellow for pending. By February 21 the spreadsheet was entirely green. I printed it. It is on my desk in Muscat. It is still green. That phrase took eleven days. "Never, ever." The Iranians initially offered "not seek to." The Americans wanted "will not under any circumstances." We landed on "never, ever" at 2:14 AM on a Tuesday in Muscat. I typed the final version myself. I used Times New Roman because Geneva prefers it. The document was fourteen pages. I was proud of every comma. Here is what they said, in the order they said it. February 24: "We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity." — The Foreign Minister, private briefing to Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors. I prepared the slide deck. Slide 14 was the implementation timeline. Slide 15 was the signing ceremony logistics. I had reserved the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Room XX. It seats four hundred. We discussed pen brands for the signing. The Iranians preferred Montblanc. The Americans had no preference. I ordered twelve Montblanc Meisterstucks at six hundred and thirty dollars each. They arrive on Tuesday. February 27, 8:30 AM EST: "The deal is within our reach." — The Foreign Minister, CBS Face the Nation. He sat across from Margaret Brennan. He said broad political terms could be agreed "tomorrow" with ninety days for technical implementation in Vienna. He said, and I wrote this line for the briefing card he carried in his breast pocket: "If we just allow diplomacy the space it needs." He praised the American envoys by name. Steve Witkoff. Jared Kushner. He said both had been constructive. I watched from the Four Seasons Georgetown. The minibar had cashews. I ate the cashews. They were nineteen dollars. The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten. But it was a good morning and we were within our reach. February 27, 2:00 PM EST: Meeting with Vice President Vance, Washington. The Foreign Minister presented our progress. Zero stockpiling. Full verification. Irreversible conversion. "Never, ever." The Vice President used the word "encouraging." His aide took notes on an iPad. The aide did not make eye contact for the last nine minutes of the meeting. I noticed this. Noticing things is the only part of my job that is not water glasses. February 27, 4:00 PM EST: "Not happy with the pace." — President Trump, to reporters. Not happy with the pace. We had achieved zero stockpiling. Full IAEA verification. Irreversible fuel conversion. Inspector access. And the phrase "never, ever," which took eleven days and cost me two hundred and twelve trips down a forty-seven-meter hallway. Every American president since Carter has failed to get Iran to agree to this. Forty-five years. Not happy with the pace. February 27, 9:47 PM EST: The Foreign Minister's flight departs Dulles for Muscat. I am in the seat behind him. He is reviewing Slide 14 on his laptop. The implementation timeline. Vienna technical sessions. The signing ceremony. The pens. I fall asleep over the Atlantic. I dream about water glasses. February 28, 6:00 AM GST: I wake up to push notifications. February 28: "The United States has begun major combat operations in Iran." — President Trump. Operation Epic Fury. Coordinated airstrikes. The United States and Israel. Tehran. Isfahan. Qom. Karaj. Kermanshah. Nuclear facilities. IRGC bases. Sites near the Supreme Leader's office. Israel called their half Operation Roaring Lion. Someone in both governments spent time choosing these names. Epic Fury. Roaring Lion. I spent eleven days on "never, ever." They spent it on branding. The President said Iran had "rejected American calls to halt its nuclear weapons production." Rejected. Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling. Iran had agreed to full verification. Iran had agreed to "never, ever." Iran had agreed to everything in a fourteen-page document that I typed in Times New Roman. The President said they rejected it. I do not know which document the President was reading. I know which one I typed. February 28, 18:45 UTC: Iran internet connectivity: four percent. — NetBlocks, confirmed by Cloudflare. Ninety-six percent of a country went dark. You cannot negotiate with a country at four percent connectivity. You cannot negotiate with a country that is being struck. You cannot negotiate. This is not a political opinion. This is a logistics assessment. February 28: The governor of Minab reported forty girls killed at an elementary school. I do not have logistics for that. There is no slide for that. The water glass chart does not cover that. February 28: Lockheed Martin: up. Northrop Grumman: up. RTX: up. Dow futures: down six hundred and twenty-two points. Gold: five thousand two hundred and ninety-six dollars. An analyst at AInvest published a note titled "Iran Strikes: Tactical Plays." The note recommended positions in oil, defense stocks, and gold. The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten was nineteen dollars. The most expensive pen I have ever ordered was six hundred and thirty dollars. The math suggests I have been working in the wrong industry. Defense stocks do not require water glasses. Defense stocks do not require eleven days. Defense stocks require one morning. February 28: Israel closed its airspace and its schools. Iran launched retaliatory missiles toward US bases in the Gulf. The Supreme Leader promised a "crushing response." Israel's defense minister declared a permanent state of emergency. Everyone is using words I recognize in an order I do not. I recognize "permanent." I recognize "emergency." I do not recognize them next to each other. In diplomacy, nothing is permanent and everything is an emergency. In war it is the reverse. February 28: The Foreign Minister has not made a public statement. The briefing card is still in his breast pocket. It still says "within our reach."

@covie_93 I'm sure Schumer is writing a sternly written letter right now.

@covie_93 @Liberalibrarian

Good thing Congress isn't alive to see this.

Thanks again to all the "anti-establishment," pro-Trump podcaster guys who provided such an accurate view of the 2024 election when they assured us that Trump would get in and vanquish the "neocons," end the wars, defeat the Deep State, and release the files. You guys rock!

Is there anyone still confused why Trump's band of Israel First billionaires -- led by Miriam Adelson, whom Trump himself said prioritizes Israel over the US -- is pouring tens of millions into a Kentucky Congressional district to remove @RepThomasMassie from Congress?🇮🇱

The dude is gonna get Americans killed just to distract from the fact that he fucked little girls.

if you voted for trump you just gotta throw in the towel at this point and admit you had a moment of retardation so you can get on with your life