Breaking: Elon Musk defrauded Twitter investors when he disparaged the company in 2022 in an effort to buy the social media platform for a lower price than his original $44 billion bid, a jury concluded
A judge has ruled that a Pentagon policy limiting independent press access is unlawful, dealing a major blow to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's push for tighter media control.
Well, I'm in the number 1 area so I always make sure the suit of armour is cleaned before I venture forth.
Do I feel "unsafe"? I've lived most of my life in London and there's an element of common sense and keeping your wits which is important. Waving a new mobile phone around isn't a good idea near the tube station and there is persistent low-level criminality (pickpocketing, shoplifting) which is, I suspect, linked to a small number of rough sleepers who in turn have addiction and mental health issues.
I wouldn't walk down the High Street at midnight but during the day, for the most part, it's fine.
Westminster is a bit of a surprise. I don't live there but it is where my job is - and I've never felt in the least unsafe walking around the area. I would say Channel 4 journalists considerably outnumber the muggers on its streets.
There are less salubrious bits of Westminster, housing estates round Paddington mostly.
Well, I'm in the number 1 area so I always make sure the suit of armour is cleaned before I venture forth.
Do I feel "unsafe"? I've lived most of my life in London and there's an element of common sense and keeping your wits which is important. Waving a new mobile phone around isn't a good idea near the tube station and there is persistent low-level criminality (pickpocketing, shoplifting) which is, I suspect, linked to a small number of rough sleepers who in turn have addiction and mental health issues.
I wouldn't walk down the High Street at midnight but during the day, for the most part, it's fine.
Westminster is a bit of a surprise. I don't live there but it is where my job is - and I've never felt in the least unsafe walking around the area. I would say Channel 4 journalists considerably outnumber the muggers on its streets.
There are less salubrious bits of Westminster, housing estates round Paddington mostly.
I guess. But even then hardly the Bronx.
Eliza Doolittle used to live in Westminster
And now she's dead I tell you, dead. Be very afraid...
(It would be interesting to come up with a measure of the difference between actual safety and percieved safety. Where are the places where people are afraid and don't really need to be, and where are they foolishly confident?)
“The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not! If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them,” he added.
As the president was leaving the White House on Friday afternoon, he told reporters that he believes the US has “won” its war with Iran
He doesn't need the Strait open but he might also be planning to occupy Kharg Island? Okay, has anyone thought of showing him a map?
A fairly recent piece of polling that depressed me was that people still wanted to tax millionaires more, even if that meant less tax coming in. I mean the mess the nappy stupidity of it.
Whoever comes in, the public will need to be consciously trained to become more resilient, the way that socialism has consciously trained them (and trains them still) to become ever more helpless and dependent.
One good polling question would be:
Would you prefer to see more / fewer / zero rich people in the UK ?
I see little evidence that the presence of the ultra-rich actually does much for everyone else. They’re too good at avoiding tax. Whereas greater income equality is associated with greater happiness and better health.
So, I would prefer to move to greater equality, by which I mean levels we saw in the ‘50s and ‘60s, when there was still plenty of rich people, and plenty of innovation/growth.
Fair enough but what can we do about the tech bros, oligarchs and other ultra rich ?
And they seem too distant for there to be much resentment against them in any case.
Its people who are in the £10m zone who seem to get a lot of resentment and who could easily be taxed into leaving or stopping work.
A fairly recent piece of polling that depressed me was that people still wanted to tax millionaires more, even if that meant less tax coming in. I mean the mess the nappy stupidity of it.
Whoever comes in, the public will need to be consciously trained to become more resilient, the way that socialism has consciously trained them (and trains them still) to become ever more helpless and dependent.
One good polling question would be:
Would you prefer to see more / fewer / zero rich people in the UK ?
I see little evidence that the presence of the ultra-rich actually does much for everyone else. They’re too good at avoiding tax...
Have you looked for it, or don't you want to find it? In the UK, the top 0.1% (roughly the top 30,000–35,000 earners) are responsible for approximately 12.7% to 14% of all income tax revenue (around £35-40 billion/year, or about a quarter of the health service for example), so even if we just equate the good people do with the amount of tax they pay, you're wrong.
But they also provide far more than their fair share of employment to others, by consuming by saving money that it subsequently invested in the economy, or by creating businesses themselves.
A fairly recent piece of polling that depressed me was that people still wanted to tax millionaires more, even if that meant less tax coming in. I mean the mess the nappy stupidity of it.
Whoever comes in, the public will need to be consciously trained to become more resilient, the way that socialism has consciously trained them (and trains them still) to become ever more helpless and dependent.
One good polling question would be:
Would you prefer to see more / fewer / zero rich people in the UK ?
I see little evidence that the presence of the ultra-rich actually does much for everyone else. They’re too good at avoiding tax. Whereas greater income equality is associated with greater happiness and better health.
So, I would prefer to move to greater equality, by which I mean levels we saw in the ‘50s and ‘60s, when there was still plenty of rich people, and plenty of innovation/growth.
Trump: “I think we've won. We've knocked out (Iran's) navy, their air force. We've knocked out their anti-aircraft. We've knocked out everything... From a military standpoint, they're finished."
The only problem being that he hasn't won. America has not won. And they are a fucking hell of a long way from winning.
“The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not! If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them,” he added.
As the president was leaving the White House on Friday afternoon, he told reporters that he believes the US has “won” its war with Iran
So basically he is saying "I've just shat all over your doorstep, I think you will find cleaning it up very rewarding".
Old gang trick was shitting in a newspaper, then setting it on fire and leaving it outside an rivals door. They come out - stomp to try and put it out - and... have a bit of a surprise.
That sounds identifiable by DNA.
As of about now police can even take a DNA sample of your dog for identification (sheep for the protection of), as well as yourself.
“The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not! If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them,” he added.
As the president was leaving the White House on Friday afternoon, he told reporters that he believes the US has “won” its war with Iran
Ch4 News is so much better than anything the BBC can offer. How are the mighty fallen. The fuel crisis is worldwide the worst in history. How long will the Americans be prepared to live with Trumps colossal folly?
Because they reflect your own views very closely.
I used to watch Channel 4 News every day back in the 1990s as a teenager because they were so good despite their slight left-wing bias at the time.
“The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not! If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them,” he added.
As the president was leaving the White House on Friday afternoon, he told reporters that he believes the US has “won” its war with Iran
“The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not! If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them,” he added.
As the president was leaving the White House on Friday afternoon, he told reporters that he believes the US has “won” its war with Iran
So no one has told him yet about fertilizer?
No problems for the USA.
Most of theirs comes from Canada and Russia !!!
All their food is from those two countries?
This is why MAGA and Trump are off their heads. The world they imagine could happen cannot. We live on a totally interconnected planet.
Now, it might be possible to return to a 'Little House on the Prairie' world in the US where the arrival of a new season's calico and seed corn was a major annual event but...
If you haven’t watched it he was on Newsnight tonight . A brilliant explanation of the difficulties in securing the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Persian Gulf .
“The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not! If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them,” he added.
As the president was leaving the White House on Friday afternoon, he told reporters that he believes the US has “won” its war with Iran
So no one has told him yet about fertilizer?
No problems for the USA.
Most of theirs comes from Canada and Russia !!!
All their food is from those two countries?
This is why MAGA and Trump are off their heads. The world they imagine could happen cannot. We live on a totally interconnected planet.
Now, it might be possible to return to a 'Little House on the Prairie' world in the US where the arrival of a new season's calico and seed corn was a major annual event but...
If you haven’t watched it he was on Newsnight tonight . A brilliant explanation of the difficulties in securing the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Persian Gulf .
He's brilliant. Loved his work as Sky News foreign correspondent for many years.
If you haven’t watched it he was on Newsnight tonight . A brilliant explanation of the difficulties in securing the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Persian Gulf .
He's brilliant. Loved his work as Sky News foreign correspondent for many years.
If you haven’t watched it he was on Newsnight tonight . A brilliant explanation of the difficulties in securing the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Persian Gulf .
Hard to secure the Straits? Surely not? Donny has spent all of five minutes on a plan to take them using only a thousand marines.
Personally, I think Feb 26 will “go down in infamy”.
The U.S., seemingly led by Israel, treacherously junked peace negotiations with Iran and murdered the negotiators. It almost immediately went on to commit war crimes in the Indian Ocean while Israel was given free rein to continue its wars of colonial expansion.
It failed to consult allies, and has - precisely in accordance with predictions by any half-decent Middle East analyst - unleashed a global economic crisis. Supposed allies in the Pacific are now counting down the days left of oil supply.
Basically, it’s signalled that America is ultimately less interested in defending the economic security of allies than promoting the interests of Israel’s kleptocratic regime.
While we are still in the fog of war, I think the long term effect is more profound than you might think: no ally can any longer trust the U.S. I expect to see increasing partnership across the liberal middle powers - Canada, UK, Europe, Japan, Korea and Australia - to find ways of shoring up defence, economic and digital sovereignty.
It’s the end of American power, really. It will of course retain significant economic heft and the largest military force in the world.
But it will become a rather expensive and useless toy set. Nobody trusts them anymore. They are too fickle, deceitful and cruel.
One of your most barking posts ever.
I can only assume you've been drinking.
On the contrary. An excellent post. Something you haven't managed for quite a while.
Lol. Plaudits from "Wodger". The biggest red flag of them all. And the kiss of death to any serious poster.
Someone who's still (checks notes) not close to breaking even 7k of likes, despite posting well over 22,000 times.
Iran launched 2 intermediate range ballistic missiles at the US base in the Chagos islands. At 4000km this appears to be the longest range missile attack in the history of warfare, so far.
So at least 50% or more of voters want to keep the triple lock and subsidise energy bills during the Iran War. Most voters from all parties want to keep the triple lock, though less than half of Reform voters want to subsidise energy bills. They are divided on increasing defence spending and not yet ready to believe a UBI is possible but not majority opposed and Green voters back it as do half of Labour voters.
Most voters aren't that bothered about students though, more refusing to forgive student loans or bail out universities than not with Green voters again the main exception. Furlough is also not going to be believed as realistic either again
It doesn't matter what voters want, and this is where Starmer and Reeves are about to come up against reality
It does because voters elect their governments, as this poll proves the triple lock is untouchable, most voters from all parties want to retain it.
At most Labour could get away with means testing it that is it
Means testing the State Pension - that would go down way worse than killing the triple lock.
Throw one big increase on the state pension and few would notice the lock has gone, announce means testing (in any form on any part) and your political party will be gone at the next election
As I keep saying -
1) Merge employee NI And IT 2) Protect the basic rate pensioners. Only those on 50K+ will pay more tax initially. 3) Put all the old age benefits in a blender, and make the result taxable. 4) quadruple lock - the pension is the personal allowance and the personal allowance is the pension. This means that for any pension increase the Chancellor will have to raise the personal allowance. Suddenly....
Taxation is the best way to deal with this.
I’m at a loss as to how 1 and 2 would work. The easiest way of achieving what you want is to rename NI and apply it to people who are below the pension age a - so you may as well keep NI out a plateau on it at £50,000 and increase income tax to 42%.
The other issue that makes other changes impossible is that income tax is a delegated tax in Scotland an I think elsewhere (it just isn’t different in Wales and NI).
You merge employee NI and IT
That (at least in the short term) you create a new rate of basic tax for pensioners (below £50K income) that is the old IT rate - so they don't pay the NI extra.
This is simple to administer, since HMRC has DOB on their systems.
But we already have that with NI - you stop paying it on the April 6th after you get your state pension.
So the easiest way to do what you want is to leave it as it is
No. The point is that pensioners over 50K will be paying more tax. And all the others currently not paying employee NI.
Which again could be done by removing the 2% employee NI rate that NI goes to after £967 a week on to income tax to make income tax 42%.
Easily done and that 2% higher rate NI is a relatively recent invention anyway
The idea is to remove employee NI from the board entirely. So no games to play avoiding NI.
Sensible in many ways. However, two things would follow.
1 Better-off pensioners would pay more than now. 2 The headline rate of income tax would be higher than now.
Both of these are electorally as popular as being told to find a stick, sharpen it and then poke yourself in the eye with the sharp stick. (Sharp sticks and eye pokers were both cut in the coalition austerity round).
The problem remains- we all sort of Intuit that fiscal rebalancing is needed in general, but not in particular.
It's about messaging
1) You announce the abolition of Income Tax and Employee National Insurance 2) You announce the Introduction of the Save The NHS, Protect Cute Kittens and Kick Racists In The Goolies Tax. 3) Any opposition to the proposals is framed as you hate the NHS, you want to kill kittens and you like racists.
A friend worked in charity fundraising. She said the perfect charity to fundraise for would be Kittens for Kids with Kancer (except for the initials).
In the subject of KKK I was scrolling Facebook this morning and saw this and for a good moment o thought the chap on the right was dressed interestingly.
Human culture knows no end to creating silly hats, it is a universal value.
Trump: “I think we've won. We've knocked out (Iran's) navy, their air force. We've knocked out their anti-aircraft. We've knocked out everything... From a military standpoint, they're finished."
Trump could walk away and say if you want oil, then sort this. US is to all intents an autarky.
Trump: “I think we've won. We've knocked out (Iran's) navy, their air force. We've knocked out their anti-aircraft. We've knocked out everything... From a military standpoint, they're finished."
Trump could walk away and say if you want oil, then sort this. US is to all intents an autarky.
But that's not the thing as being self sufficient. A large portion of US refining capacity is setup to proess heavy, sour crudes - of the kind produced in Canada, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. If the US cut itself off from the rest of the world, the light, sweet crude that is produced in the Permian basin would... well... what would you do with it? You'd have to stop US drilling activity, because there's nowhere to store the oil.
In other words, if the US wanted to become self sufficient in oil, it would need to (a) take large parts of US refining capacity offline so as to convert refineries to produce deal with light, sweet crude (which would -generously- take months, and would be a disaster for the refiners); and (b) work out some way not to produce oil that can't be stored.
And while US refining capacity was offline, the US would need to import refined products from around the world, which would be an utter disaster for US gas/petrol prices. (And for petrol prices everywhere.
“The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not! If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them,” he added.
As the president was leaving the White House on Friday afternoon, he told reporters that he believes the US has “won” its war with Iran
Starmer most popular PM - in Toby Jug sales ... ... Longevity and electoral success do not necessarily lead to interest from collectors. Brown beats Cameron, in a reversal of the 2010 general election.
Gimson added: "It tells us that Cameron, though an astonishingly skillful politician, never formed an emotional connection with the British people, and people want to buy things which actually move them.
Airlines prepare to cancel flights to cope with jet fuel shortages
Carriers consider options such as scrapping routes in parts of the world with less stable reserves
Airlines are drawing up plans to cancel flights amid fears that jet fuel will dry up as the war in the Middle East drags on.
Carriers such as Air France-KLM said they were considering options that could include cancelling routes in some parts of the world with less stable fuel reserves.
While Europe currently has enough stocks to supply airlines in the next month or so, other countries are more dependent on Gulf flows and could see shortages sooner.
There is particular concern over long-haul destinations where carriers might not be able to obtain fuel for return flights if the Iran war escalates, potentially leaving aircraft stranded.
Personally, I think Feb 26 will “go down in infamy”.
The U.S., seemingly led by Israel, treacherously junked peace negotiations with Iran and murdered the negotiators. It almost immediately went on to commit war crimes in the Indian Ocean while Israel was given free rein to continue its wars of colonial expansion.
It failed to consult allies, and has - precisely in accordance with predictions by any half-decent Middle East analyst - unleashed a global economic crisis. Supposed allies in the Pacific are now counting down the days left of oil supply.
Basically, it’s signalled that America is ultimately less interested in defending the economic security of allies than promoting the interests of Israel’s kleptocratic regime.
While we are still in the fog of war, I think the long term effect is more profound than you might think: no ally can any longer trust the U.S. I expect to see increasing partnership across the liberal middle powers - Canada, UK, Europe, Japan, Korea and Australia - to find ways of shoring up defence, economic and digital sovereignty.
It’s the end of American power, really. It will of course retain significant economic heft and the largest military force in the world.
But it will become a rather expensive and useless toy set. Nobody trusts them anymore. They are too fickle, deceitful and cruel.
One of your most barking posts ever.
I can only assume you've been drinking.
On the contrary. An excellent post. Something you haven't managed for quite a while.
Lol. Plaudits from "Wodger". The biggest red flag of them all. And the kiss of death to any serious poster.
Someone who's still (checks notes) not close to breaking even 7k of likes, despite posting well over 22,000 times.
The site's resident moron.
Checks notes. You do realise that you’re counting ‘likes’ for an individual poster on an obscure website at 3am on a Saturday morning?
Trump: “I think we've won. We've knocked out (Iran's) navy, their air force. We've knocked out their anti-aircraft. We've knocked out everything... From a military standpoint, they're finished."
Trump could walk away and say if you want oil, then sort this. US is to all intents an autarky.
Well, they quite possibly could. And while it would be very costly for them, it would be worse for everyone else. Which as we know from their own words, the sociopaths in charge would count that as a win.
America under Trump has become a rogue state. It doesn't appear to care how much damage it inflicts in the rest of the world; it is perfectly prepared to betray or blackmail any if its allies; it sees every relationship as a zero sum game.
Personally, I think Feb 26 will “go down in infamy”.
The U.S., seemingly led by Israel, treacherously junked peace negotiations with Iran and murdered the negotiators. It almost immediately went on to commit war crimes in the Indian Ocean while Israel was given free rein to continue its wars of colonial expansion.
It failed to consult allies, and has - precisely in accordance with predictions by any half-decent Middle East analyst - unleashed a global economic crisis. Supposed allies in the Pacific are now counting down the days left of oil supply.
Basically, it’s signalled that America is ultimately less interested in defending the economic security of allies than promoting the interests of Israel’s kleptocratic regime.
While we are still in the fog of war, I think the long term effect is more profound than you might think: no ally can any longer trust the U.S. I expect to see increasing partnership across the liberal middle powers - Canada, UK, Europe, Japan, Korea and Australia - to find ways of shoring up defence, economic and digital sovereignty.
It’s the end of American power, really. It will of course retain significant economic heft and the largest military force in the world.
But it will become a rather expensive and useless toy set. Nobody trusts them anymore. They are too fickle, deceitful and cruel.
Hard to disagree with this. I do agree this marks the end of US power, and possibly Israeli too.
It’s been a total shambles from start to finish. The US, and Israel, really need to be regarded as hostile actors now to western interests as opposed to allies we cheerily support. Support for both needs far more qualification going forward.
Starmer most popular PM - in Toby Jug sales ... ... Longevity and electoral success do not necessarily lead to interest from collectors. Brown beats Cameron, in a reversal of the 2010 general election.
Gimson added: "It tells us that Cameron, though an astonishingly skillful politician, never formed an emotional connection with the British people, and people want to buy things which actually move them.
But in practice, this has not been agreed by the Treasury in its budgeting – and earlier this week the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, only referred to reaching 3% “for the next parliament”, which could run until 2034.
Financial stasis has run on for months as a 10-year defence investment plan, setting out spending on a line by line basis, has been on hold since last autumn with no date for publication. The Treasury has so far failed to make the money available; a brief flurry of speculation last month that the defence budget could rise to 3% by 2030 was quickly quashed by Downing Street.
The MoD believes it will need a further £28bn to meet existing commitments in the next four years, including a long list of programmes such as the £31bn Dreadnought nuclear submarine replacement, the building of new frigates with Norway, plus the development of new combat aircraft with Italy and Japan, and new Aukus nuclear powered submarines with the US and Australia.
“Could we do that with the budget that we have got? The answer is no,” Knighton conceded in January as he surveyed the totality of the MoD’s aspirations.
But with UK economic growth stalling, money is tight. “Everybody is saying there is no financial headroom,” a former senior civil servant said. And there is no sign of a politically weak Starmer overruling the Treasury.
The problem for the UK’s long-term national security, the ex-official argued, is that “we are entering a world of strong, mad leaders...
Personally, I think Feb 26 will “go down in infamy”.
The U.S., seemingly led by Israel, treacherously junked peace negotiations with Iran and murdered the negotiators. It almost immediately went on to commit war crimes in the Indian Ocean while Israel was given free rein to continue its wars of colonial expansion.
It failed to consult allies, and has - precisely in accordance with predictions by any half-decent Middle East analyst - unleashed a global economic crisis. Supposed allies in the Pacific are now counting down the days left of oil supply.
Basically, it’s signalled that America is ultimately less interested in defending the economic security of allies than promoting the interests of Israel’s kleptocratic regime.
While we are still in the fog of war, I think the long term effect is more profound than you might think: no ally can any longer trust the U.S. I expect to see increasing partnership across the liberal middle powers - Canada, UK, Europe, Japan, Korea and Australia - to find ways of shoring up defence, economic and digital sovereignty.
It’s the end of American power, really. It will of course retain significant economic heft and the largest military force in the world.
But it will become a rather expensive and useless toy set. Nobody trusts them anymore. They are too fickle, deceitful and cruel.
One of your most barking posts ever.
I can only assume you've been drinking.
On the contrary. An excellent post. Something you haven't managed for quite a while.
Lol. Plaudits from "Wodger". The biggest red flag of them all. And the kiss of death to any serious poster.
Someone who's still (checks notes) not close to breaking even 7k of likes, despite posting well over 22,000 times.
The site's resident moron.
Checks notes. You do realise that you’re counting ‘likes’ for an individual poster on an obscure website at 3am on a Saturday morning?
LibDems seem to be about the most financially realistic; Labour and Greens vie for the title of top fiscal fantasists.
No surprise then that the Lib Dems are doing worst in the polls. People don't like being told they can't have things.
Really.
The Lib Dem’s want to hose money at people. Like the WASPI lot.
My local lib Dems managing to spend several £ms on redoing a dangerous pedestrian crossing without improving the safety of it all. Probably worse now in fact. They also flattened the leisure centre and can't afford to rebuild it.
How can US and Israel be rogue states if they are acting in their own interests? You could call France a rogue state on that basis. Allies are countries where interests coincide, so when interests change so do allies.
America has more need of Russia now so you can see alliances change and, hopefully, someone in #10 is preparing for that - and the fall outs that will ensue.
Personally, I think Feb 26 will “go down in infamy”.
The U.S., seemingly led by Israel, treacherously junked peace negotiations with Iran and murdered the negotiators. It almost immediately went on to commit war crimes in the Indian Ocean while Israel was given free rein to continue its wars of colonial expansion.
It failed to consult allies, and has - precisely in accordance with predictions by any half-decent Middle East analyst - unleashed a global economic crisis. Supposed allies in the Pacific are now counting down the days left of oil supply.
Basically, it’s signalled that America is ultimately less interested in defending the economic security of allies than promoting the interests of Israel’s kleptocratic regime.
While we are still in the fog of war, I think the long term effect is more profound than you might think: no ally can any longer trust the U.S. I expect to see increasing partnership across the liberal middle powers - Canada, UK, Europe, Japan, Korea and Australia - to find ways of shoring up defence, economic and digital sovereignty.
It’s the end of American power, really. It will of course retain significant economic heft and the largest military force in the world.
But it will become a rather expensive and useless toy set. Nobody trusts them anymore. They are too fickle, deceitful and cruel.
One of your most barking posts ever.
I can only assume you've been drinking.
On the contrary. An excellent post. Something you haven't managed for quite a while.
Lol. Plaudits from "Wodger". The biggest red flag of them all. And the kiss of death to any serious poster.
Someone who's still (checks notes) not close to breaking even 7k of likes, despite posting well over 22,000 times.
The site's resident moron.
Checks notes. You do realise that you’re counting ‘likes’ for an individual poster on an obscure website at 3am on a Saturday morning?
How can US and Israel be rogue states if they are acting in their own interests? You could call France a rogue state on that basis. Allies are countries where interests coincide, so when interests change so do allies.
America has more need of Russia now so you can see alliances change and, hopefully, someone in #10 is preparing for that - and the fall outs that will ensue.
I don't think they are acting in their interests - Israel relies on foreign support for survival and the US economy is essentially based on imported oil. This war has hammered both those aspects and done major damage to them.
I can see how it is in the interest of Netanyahu, who needs a war as Israel votes, or Trump, who needs a distraction from the Epstein files, his catastrophic bungling of government agency cuts and the Roberts court ruling his tariffs are illegal (when that ruling happened, @Big_G_NorthWales suggested it might be 'Iran this weekend' and he wasn't far wrong). But neither has ever shown the slightest signs of thinking about what is best for their countries rather than themselves.
How can US and Israel be rogue states if they are acting in their own interests? You could call France a rogue state on that basis. Allies are countries where interests coincide, so when interests change so do allies.
America has more need of Russia now so you can see alliances change and, hopefully, someone in #10 is preparing for that - and the fall outs that will ensue.
The US has been a reliable ally to Europe, Japan, S Korea etc, and a bulwark of democracy, for the best part of eight decades. If it's now binning all that, whether in its interest or not, then as far as that group of countries is concerned, it has become a rogue state.
If allies are no more than temporary conveniences, then alliances are meaningless.
The kind of Republican we've known for most of our lifetimes:
Don Bacon on Russia-Ukraine:
We shouldn't act like a referee in a boxing match between two equals. No, we have a victim, a democracy being invaded, and a dictator doing the invading. We should not act neutral. This is good versus evil.
I expect more from a Republican administration: stand up to the bully, stand up to Putin. I'm a Reagan Republican. I support negotiations, but there's right and wrong here, and we’re acting morally blind. https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2034675036657709057
Versus this guy.
Hard to believe, but in March 2022 Pete Hegseth criticized the Biden administration for not "equipping and supplying Ukraine with what it needs" fast enough to "bog down and push back" Putin, who "wants the Soviet Union back, Ukraine back, and Kyiv back." https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2035067045088260313
Which means they likely have the capability to send a missile to most of Europe.
Thankfully the two missiles launched last night didn’t succeed, one failed in flight and one was successfully engaged by US defence forces.
The day they send missiles at Fairford will provoke some interesting domestic politics.
But, you know, a certain relucatant admiration for the effort of a country that has - we are told by Trump - lost 100% of its military capability. Must just be a bunch of amateur enthusiasts making missiles in their Tehran garden sheds.
The kind of Republican we've known for most of our lifetimes:
Don Bacon on Russia-Ukraine:
We shouldn't act like a referee in a boxing match between two equals. No, we have a victim, a democracy being invaded, and a dictator doing the invading. We should not act neutral. This is good versus evil.
I expect more from a Republican administration: stand up to the bully, stand up to Putin. I'm a Reagan Republican. I support negotiations, but there's right and wrong here, and we’re acting morally blind. https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2034675036657709057
Versus this guy.
Hard to believe, but in March 2022 Pete Hegseth criticized the Biden administration for not "equipping and supplying Ukraine with what it needs" fast enough to "bog down and push back" Putin, who "wants the Soviet Union back, Ukraine back, and Kyiv back." https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2035067045088260313
TBF, Hegseth's views are determined by how much cheap whisky he's drunk and who has the most recent set of embarrassing photos. Not geopolitics.
How can US and Israel be rogue states if they are acting in their own interests? You could call France a rogue state on that basis. Allies are countries where interests coincide, so when interests change so do allies.
America has more need of Russia now so you can see alliances change and, hopefully, someone in #10 is preparing for that - and the fall outs that will ensue.
The US has been a reliable ally to Europe, Japan, S Korea etc, and a bulwark of democracy, for the best part of eight decades. If it's now binning all that, whether in its interest or not, then as far as that group of countries is concerned, it has become a rogue state.
If allies are no more than temporary conveniences, then alliances are meaningless.
The US didn't act as a reliable ally out of the goodness of its heart. It did it to keep markets open - for US goods.
If the US ends its reliable protection, it shouldn't be too surprised when the world it used to defend waves it off" - and starts making plans to trade amongst themselves instead. Starting with no longer buying US weapons.
To be fair, teleportation could be a useful skiĺl when in charge of disaster relief.
"Kids, don't drive drunk, don't drive drugged. Or you could end up at a random Waffle House 50 miles from home, with no memory of how you got there... But on the plus side, it won't affect your employment chances with this Administration."
The kind of Republican we've known for most of our lifetimes:
Don Bacon on Russia-Ukraine:
We shouldn't act like a referee in a boxing match between two equals. No, we have a victim, a democracy being invaded, and a dictator doing the invading. We should not act neutral. This is good versus evil.
I expect more from a Republican administration: stand up to the bully, stand up to Putin. I'm a Reagan Republican. I support negotiations, but there's right and wrong here, and we’re acting morally blind. https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2034675036657709057
Versus this guy.
Hard to believe, but in March 2022 Pete Hegseth criticized the Biden administration for not "equipping and supplying Ukraine with what it needs" fast enough to "bog down and push back" Putin, who "wants the Soviet Union back, Ukraine back, and Kyiv back." https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2035067045088260313
TBF, Hegseth's views are determined by how much cheap whisky he's drunk and who has the most recent set of embarrassing photos. Not geopolitics.
The line on Ukraine is now consistent across the administration.
They give them no credit for anything, blame them for 'wasting' US weapons, and give them no credit at all for the air defence assistance they've offered in the gulf. One reason the US used so many Patriots in the space of a week - four times what Ukraine has been sent in total - is that they ignored Ukraine's advice based on combat experience. Thats not "self-interest"; it's just stupidity.
Personally, I think Feb 26 will “go down in infamy”.
The U.S., seemingly led by Israel, treacherously junked peace negotiations with Iran and murdered the negotiators. It almost immediately went on to commit war crimes in the Indian Ocean while Israel was given free rein to continue its wars of colonial expansion.
It failed to consult allies, and has - precisely in accordance with predictions by any half-decent Middle East analyst - unleashed a global economic crisis. Supposed allies in the Pacific are now counting down the days left of oil supply.
Basically, it’s signalled that America is ultimately less interested in defending the economic security of allies than promoting the interests of Israel’s kleptocratic regime.
While we are still in the fog of war, I think the long term effect is more profound than you might think: no ally can any longer trust the U.S. I expect to see increasing partnership across the liberal middle powers - Canada, UK, Europe, Japan, Korea and Australia - to find ways of shoring up defence, economic and digital sovereignty.
It’s the end of American power, really. It will of course retain significant economic heft and the largest military force in the world.
But it will become a rather expensive and useless toy set. Nobody trusts them anymore. They are too fickle, deceitful and cruel.
One of your most barking posts ever.
I can only assume you've been drinking.
On the contrary. An excellent post. Something you haven't managed for quite a while.
Lol. Plaudits from "Wodger". The biggest red flag of them all. And the kiss of death to any serious poster.
Someone who's still (checks notes) not close to breaking even 7k of likes, despite posting well over 22,000 times.
The site's resident moron.
Checks notes. You do realise that you’re counting ‘likes’ for an individual poster on an obscure website at 3am on a Saturday morning?
It takes about 2 seconds.
A data-rich response was appropriate given his comment.
Comments
Breaking: Elon Musk defrauded Twitter investors when he disparaged the company in 2022 in an effort to buy the social media platform for a lower price than his original $44 billion bid, a jury concluded
A judge has ruled that a Pentagon policy limiting independent press access is unlawful, dealing a major blow to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's push for tighter media control.
(It would be interesting to come up with a measure of the difference between actual safety and percieved safety. Where are the places where people are afraid and don't really need to be, and where are they foolishly confident?)
And they seem too distant for there to be much resentment against them in any case.
Its people who are in the £10m zone who seem to get a lot of resentment and who could easily be taxed into leaving or stopping work.
Saudi Arabia gives the US expanded access to bases and airspace for war on Iran.
UAE Foreign Minister told Marco Rubio Abu Dhabi is ready for a war to last nine months.
“Attitude has shifted towards supporting the US war as a way to punish Iran for strikes”
France and Spain have closed their airspace to any aircraft engaged in offensive missions against Iran
https://bsky.app/profile/jessica-rn.bsky.social/post/3mhiiai43gs2c
https://youtu.be/Xq1FLGAEaVw?si=w_nzjpV2Dt6Sz298
Casually indifferent to hurt feelings missions?
But they also provide far more than their fair share of employment to others, by consuming by saving money that it subsequently invested in the economy, or by creating businesses themselves.
We need to attract wealth, not drive it away.
But otherwise...
As of about now police can even take a DNA sample of your dog for identification (sheep for the protection of), as well as yourself.
I used to watch Channel 4 News every day back in the 1990s as a teenager because they were so good despite their slight left-wing bias at the time.
US official on Trump's Truth Post: I don't think Trump's post signals an imminent end to the war.
One moment becomes another and everything changes.
I've had a mini-dig, and the largest "drone swarm" I can find in practice is 18 drones launched by the Houthis in the Red Sea a couple of years back.
Defence was layered by different systems from several ships.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/10/houthis-call-wests-bluff-with-renewed-red-sea-drone-assault
I'm not convinced that an attack by say a couple of hundred drones, or waves totalling several hundred, could be swatted easily.
Most of theirs comes from Canada and Russia !!!
BREAKING: US Treasury eases oil sanctions on Iran, including permiting the sale of Iranian crude and refined products into the United States.
Scott Bessent calls it a "narrowly tailored, short-term authorization permitting the sale of Iranian oil currently stranded at sea."
This is why MAGA and Trump are off their heads. The world they imagine could happen cannot. We live on a totally interconnected planet.
Now, it might be possible to return to a 'Little House on the Prairie' world in the US where the arrival of a new season's calico and seed corn was a major annual event but...
"UK to allow US to use British bases to strike Iranian sites targeting Strait of Hormuz"
https://www.itv.com/news/2026-03-20/iranian-attack-on-gas-plant-could-take-five-years-to-recover-from-qatar-warns
If you haven’t watched it he was on Newsnight tonight . A brilliant explanation of the difficulties in securing the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Persian Gulf .
What could go wrong?
Trump is at total war with Iran but is now buying their oil in order to try and save the midterms?
I shall retire to Bedlam.
However, politically it’s probably the last and only chance Labour has to show the public they’re on their side. So politically it makes sense.
Ask ex-PM Rishi Sunak.
And, yes, they're going to try that as well.
Someone who's still (checks notes) not close to breaking even 7k of likes, despite posting well over 22,000 times.
The site's resident moron.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-targeted-did-not-hit-diego-garcia-base-with-missiles-wsj-reports-2026-03-21/?link_source=ta_bluesky_link&taid=69bdf24fb2c4a200014d6d75&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semana_Santa#/media/File:Semana_Santa_La_Laguna_52_(cropped).jpg
https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/5486966#Comment_5486966
https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/5485608#Comment_5485608
Here's the thing.
The US isn't self sufficient in oil.
Now, do they produce more than they consume?
They do indeed.
But that's not the thing as being self sufficient. A large portion of US refining capacity is setup to proess heavy, sour crudes - of the kind produced in Canada, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. If the US cut itself off from the rest of the world, the light, sweet crude that is produced in the Permian basin would... well... what would you do with it? You'd have to stop US drilling activity, because there's nowhere to store the oil.
In other words, if the US wanted to become self sufficient in oil, it would need to (a) take large parts of US refining capacity offline so as to convert refineries to produce deal with light, sweet crude (which would -generously- take months, and would be a disaster for the refiners); and (b) work out some way not to produce oil that can't be stored.
And while US refining capacity was offline, the US would need to import refined products from around the world, which would be an utter disaster for US gas/petrol prices. (And for petrol prices everywhere.
The Foreign Minister of Oman is remarkably direct in his comments:
https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2026/03/18/americas-friends-must-help-extricate-it-from-an-unlawful-war
https://x.com/osinttechnical/status/2035153412875006272
Which means they likely have the capability to send a missile to most of Europe.
Thankfully the two missiles launched last night didn’t succeed, one failed in flight and one was successfully engaged by US defence forces.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-15666525/buffy-star-nicholas-brendon-dead-54.html
...
...
Longevity and electoral success do not necessarily lead to interest from collectors. Brown beats Cameron, in a reversal of the 2010 general election.
Gimson added: "It tells us that Cameron, though an astonishingly skillful politician, never formed an emotional connection with the British people, and people want to buy things which actually move them.
"And he didn't move people, he had many other admirable qualities, but connecting with the wider public, hopeless."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp385808jk2o
Link to BBC Sounds in article
Which they've been doing since they came to power, but they'll just do it even more, especially if Mad Ange takes over.
The Lib Dem’s want to hose money at people. Like the WASPI lot.
You do realise that you’re counting ‘likes’ for an individual poster on an obscure website at 3am on a Saturday morning?
Which as we know from their own words, the sociopaths in charge would count that as a win.
America under Trump has become a rogue state.
It doesn't appear to care how much damage it inflicts in the rest of the world; it is perfectly prepared to betray or blackmail any if its allies; it sees every relationship as a zero sum game.
It’s been a total shambles from start to finish. The US, and Israel, really need to be regarded as hostile actors now to western interests as opposed to allies we cheerily support. Support for both needs far more qualification going forward.
Is it time for the UK to acknowledge the ‘rhetoric to reality gap’ on its military power?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/20/britain-defence-policy-military-power-world-stage
...increased UK military spending amid global uncertainty is something that has been accepted in theory by Starmer. At last summer’s Nato summit he agreed to lift defence budgets by about £30bn to 3.5% of GDP by 2035.
But in practice, this has not been agreed by the Treasury in its budgeting – and earlier this week the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, only referred to reaching 3% “for the next parliament”, which could run until 2034.
Financial stasis has run on for months as a 10-year defence investment plan, setting out spending on a line by line basis, has been on hold since last autumn with no date for publication. The Treasury has so far failed to make the money available; a brief flurry of speculation last month that the defence budget could rise to 3% by 2030 was quickly quashed by Downing Street.
The MoD believes it will need a further £28bn to meet existing commitments in the next four years, including a long list of programmes such as the £31bn Dreadnought nuclear submarine replacement, the building of new frigates with Norway, plus the development of new combat aircraft with Italy and Japan, and new Aukus nuclear powered submarines with the US and Australia.
“Could we do that with the budget that we have got? The answer is no,” Knighton conceded in January as he surveyed the totality of the MoD’s aspirations.
But with UK economic growth stalling, money is tight. “Everybody is saying there is no financial headroom,” a former senior civil servant said. And there is no sign of a politically weak Starmer overruling the Treasury.
The problem for the UK’s long-term national security, the ex-official argued, is that “we are entering a world of strong, mad leaders...
They also flattened the leisure centre and can't afford to rebuild it.
America has more need of Russia now so you can see alliances change and, hopefully, someone in #10 is preparing for that - and the fall outs that will ensue.
I can see how it is in the interest of Netanyahu, who needs a war as Israel votes, or Trump, who needs a distraction from the Epstein files, his catastrophic bungling of government agency cuts and the Roberts court ruling his tariffs are illegal (when that ruling happened, @Big_G_NorthWales suggested it might be 'Iran this weekend' and he wasn't far wrong). But neither has ever shown the slightest signs of thinking about what is best for their countries rather than themselves.
If it's now binning all that, whether in its interest or not, then as far as that group of countries is concerned, it has become a rogue state.
If allies are no more than temporary conveniences, then alliances are meaningless.
Don Bacon on Russia-Ukraine:
We shouldn't act like a referee in a boxing match between two equals. No, we have a victim, a democracy being invaded, and a dictator doing the invading. We should not act neutral. This is good versus evil.
I expect more from a Republican administration: stand up to the bully, stand up to Putin. I'm a Reagan Republican. I support negotiations, but there's right and wrong here, and we’re acting morally blind.
https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2034675036657709057
Versus this guy.
Hard to believe, but in March 2022 Pete Hegseth criticized the Biden administration for not "equipping and supplying Ukraine with what it needs" fast enough to "bog down and push back" Putin, who "wants the Soviet Union back, Ukraine back, and Kyiv back."
https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2035067045088260313
But, you know, a certain relucatant admiration for the effort of a country that has - we are told by Trump - lost 100% of its military capability. Must just be a bunch of amateur enthusiasts making missiles in their Tehran garden sheds.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/20/fema-gregg-phillips-waffle-house?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
To be fair, teleportation could be a useful skiĺl when in charge of disaster relief.
If the US ends its reliable protection, it shouldn't be too surprised when the world it used to defend waves it off" - and starts making plans to trade amongst themselves instead. Starting with no longer buying US weapons.
NEW THREAD
They give them no credit for anything, blame them for 'wasting' US weapons, and give them no credit at all for the air defence assistance they've offered in the gulf.
One reason the US used so many Patriots in the space of a week - four times what Ukraine has been sent in total - is that they ignored Ukraine's advice based on combat experience.
Thats not "self-interest"; it's just stupidity.
Their base will love it too.
A data-rich response was appropriate given his comment.