spidermike007

I do have some friends that will come right out and say the man is a butthead, he's an idiot, and he's an absolute clown, but I like his policies. Those are the Republicans I admire. It's an interesting point that you bring up, and one that a lot of Republicans just don't understand these days. During the 20 years that Clinton, Obama and Biden were in office I was continually critical of their policies. Just look back at some of my posts when Obama and Biden were in power. I was not a big fan of Obama for many of the years that he was president and my posts reflect that. As a centrist democrat I criticized a lot of his policies. I see so little of that coming from Republicans these days, to point where their absolute fealty is actually quite frightening. Most just can't handle critique of Trump, they immediately clam up, get defensive and start making it personal. Instead of behaving like rational intellectuals and debating policy they just start throwing out nonsense, accusations that I've never criticized my own party, or that I get paid to be critical of Trump. That is not only ridiculous, it is inane. I wish somebody would offer to pay me to criticize Trump. I would spend my whole day doing it. Criticism and open mindedness is what independent thinkers engage in, and it sets them apart from dogmatic subjects of a wannabe king. I invite you to reflect on that for just a moment.

Switching off if somebody were to try to kill somebody why would they use seven substances to do it? That alone raises an awful lot of suspicion. I'm not saying he wasn't murdered but the presence of seven drugs in his system seems odd.

With many people, once they got attached to a theory, it was hard to get them detached. They’d screen out unhelpful facts, invent favorable ones, and ignore contradictions in their own claims. Look at those Sandy Hook, multiple fraud convictions, and Jan. 6th truthers, babbling about false flags and crisis actors and all the rest. When people were motivated enough to believe something, they were going to believe it no matter what. There was no such thing as a bridge too far.

Israel and America are directly to blame for the high prices of gas right now, and worldwide they should be calling it the Trump Tax.

Just another example of Trump raining economic destruction down upon America, and creating more Trumpflation everywhere he goes. The positive side of all this is that he's going to be gone very soon.

Well we know the IRG already had at least 150,000 men and we know the National Defense Forces already had at least 200,000 men. With the reckless attitude that both Israel and the US have demonstrated toward the Iranian civilian population and infrastructure, it is likely that they've been able to recruit hundreds of thousands of young men for the cause. Had the nimwits adopted a different approach, a public uprising would have been very possible, but now it's virtually impossible. And if Trump does send troops into Iran it is going to be a slaughterhouse and thousands upon thousands of Americans are going to lose their lives. And the only good that's going to come of that will be the total and complete downfall of Donald Trump, Hegseth, and the MAGA movement.

I would consider that to be a fairly accurate assessment.

I told you I wasn't woke and I don't pretend to be. @fredwiggy and I disagree on a lot of topics but as you can see we treat each other with kindness and respect for the most part. Though there may be a little snarkiness from time to time, it's not highly personal and that makes a big difference. Disagreements on many topics make the world go round, and I find them fascinating and try to be accommodating when it comes to different points of view. What I said about most Americans being prudish is absolutely true. I see more first-timers to Thailand from America that have a problem with the sex industry than people from any other nation, who tend to be a lot more tolerant and a lot less judgemental. A lot of Americans have an air of superiority and tend to judge people harshly. That's not a sweeping statement that's just simply truth, and I realize it's not PC, but as an American I think I have the right to state certain truths.

With all that being said some of us look at a factory owner paying someone 15,000 baht a month to work 50 to 60 hours a week, and then treating them poorly, is immoral and something that Buddha would not approve of. Thai friends of mine tell me even with the University degree unless one has been smart enough to specialize in a high demand industry, the pay is only about 5,000 baht a month more to start. And yet the amount of time effort and money that it takes to earn a four-year degree is significant. So you have to look at it through a cultural context and be a little bit more forgiving in one's outlook. For a gal from Issan, who barely has a high school education, the options are very limited here.

Exactly. Just think Steve Miller, Bessent, Lutnick, Vance, Trump, and other other bozos.

I know you're American, so a certain degree of prudishness is to be expected, but beyond that inability to wrap your mind around a completely different culture and its ways, we're actually trying to say something with this statement of yours?

We don't have to concern ourselves with what most activists are doing. Most "activists" these days are merely netizens. Getting up off your bum and actually doing something is far different than moaning, groaning and criticizing on social media. For me, that amounts to next to zero, in terms of courage. Being outraged is simply participating in victim culture, and weak PC nonsense, which is degrading society and preformed mostly by weaklings. Everything sparks debate these days, everything seems to offend the snowflakes, everything seems to cause "netizen outrage". Who cares, it means nothing, it is less than zero. Outrage is simply a manifestation of weak victim culture. I don't like anybody dictating to me how I should speak, nor how I should behave. I don't do PC, never have, and never will. You don't like the way I refer to you, that's your issue not mine. You want to be a victim that's on you. Being a real activist, who makes an honest effort to support a valid cause, is a whole different level of courage and conviction. Personally, I despise PC. And social justice authoritarianism. I think it represents alot of what is wrong with contemporary culture, and especially America today. It is a major form of weakness, when you allow yourself to be easily offended, and take everything personally. Granted, there are things that can be perceived as offensive, but allowing yourself to be offended by tiny little things people say and do is a bit much! But, the people who are offended daily, by things others say, are just weak, and would benefit by growing thicker skin. Life can be rough and caustic at times, and for those of us who have grown thick skin, it is like water off a ducks back. No big deal, at all. Think what you want to think. It just does not mean anything to those with self esteem, and a sense of who and what they are. Granted, these are just my opinions, and some will take offense to them. LOL. The US and the UK are by far the most tolerant countries in the world when it comes to the whole trans, non-binary, amorosexual, decide whatever you want today, if it fits mentality. No other country is as loose, driftless, and as silly as the US.

Want to hope that that same bill would apply toward IDF forces who have committed terrorism against the Palestinian people.

It's quite amazing how somebody could give a thumbs down to the statement that you just made. You really have to be wearing blinders, drinking a lot of Kool-Aid, or just living in complete denial to not even be man enough to admit how correct your statement is. Even if you agree with most of Trump's policies, a reasonable, objective and open-minded person can at least admit that he's the most corrupt president in American history, there's really no debate about that. I do have friends who support him, but are at least willing to say he's a butt head, he's an incredibly ugly person, I despise him personally, but I do support a lot of his policies.

This incredibly evil and pathetic man has already Unleashed hell on the Iranian people and for what?

Can we send a bill for the additional cost to Israel and the US? We need to refer to this as Trumpflation. It was an unnecessary war of choice, started by a power-hungry simpleton, with no understanding of basic economics, having given no thought to the potential consequences of his ridiculous actions.

If they find that they were not substances involved it sounds like it was alcohol poisoning, people don't realize just how common it is that people drink themselves to death. 20s is way too young to die.

Need I say more about this street goon?

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, hosting his first monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the Iran war began, prayed Wednesday to have “every round find its mark.” “Every month it is fitting to be right here,” he told the gathered civilian employees and uniformed military personnel. “All the more fitting this month, at this moment, given what tens of thousands of Americans are doing right now.” He read a prayer he said was first given by a military chaplain to the troops who captured then-President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela. “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation,” Hegseth prayed during the livestreamed service. “Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.” Hegseth frequently invokes his evangelical faith as head of the armed forces, depicting a Christian nation trying to vanquish its foes with military might. “I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed,” he read from the Psalms on Wednesday. During the expanding Iran war and global conflicts, Hegseth’s Christian rhetoric has drawn renewed scrutiny, including his past defense of the Crusades, the brutal medieval wars that pitted Christians against Muslims. Scary stuff from the low end drunkard garbage man. https://apnews.com/article/pete-hegseth-pentagon-christian-worship-service- 30db48b6ceb8af5e6172fb3ba2eafaa0

One could truly make an argument that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are the biggest problems, certainly not Iran.

People so quickly forget history and it's likely the vast majority never study it to begin with. Certainly guns like Trump have never picked up a history book and he's likely never even read a briefing on the history of the region. Britain was raping Iran for 20 years prior to the US installing the Shah. The deal that they had with Persian oil was absolute abomination and the total humiliation to the people and the nation. The PM at the time in the early fifties decided enough was enough, and wanted to nationalize the oil industry, and that's all it took for the US to intervene. (1953) US-backed coup and reinstallation of the shah: Tensions initially began brewing over the democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh’s efforts to nationalise the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP). The British colonial power controlled the majority stake in the joint-venture company since oil was discovered in the early 1900s. Mosaddegh’s moves to nationalise the company after his 1951 election angered the British. The US’s Central Intelligence Agency supported the United Kingdom in engineering a coup and backing once-deposed monarch, Pahlavi, back into power as shah. (1957) Atoms for Peace: The shah’s ambitions for a nuclear-powered Iran gained support from the US and other Western allies. Both countries signed a nuclear agreement for the civilian use of nuclear power as part of then-US President Dwight D Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace programme. A decade later, the US provided Iran with a nuclear reactor and uranium to fuel it. The nuclear collaboration forms the basis for the current nuclear question. So we actually supported Iran's development of nuclear power which of course has led to their development of nuclear weapons. This 5,000-year-old civilization has been shaken down countless times by countless nations, and they are accustomed to making sacrifices. They're not going to give up easily. Americans on the other hand are incredibly soft people, and we will not make personal sacrifices to justify this war. That is why the Iran strategy has hurt Trump and the US so much. They are very unpredictable and the two dummies thought they had it all figured out. https://share.google/jOREo87J8AbdTRTIh

I agree with you about that but Trump promised that he would not start any new wars, do you by any chance remember that? That was a major campaign promise that has been broken a few times already. Trump also promised that the US was going to stop policing the world and yet he's been the most aggressive president in my lifetime. So what gives, maybe as a Trump supporter you have some sort of explanation?

No. I hate the Iranian government as much as you do and I do think they need to be stopped. I am simply questioning a few things. Did they plan this operation sufficiently and properly? Was Trump's hand forced by Israel? Do they have an endgame in sight? Has there ever been a government in recent history that has transitioned from an authoritarian regime to a democracy without boots on the ground for many years? Are Americans prepare to make the kind of financial sacrifices they're going to need to make if this war turns out to be prolonged? Was this the right time to inflict all this financial pain on the people of the world? Some would argue that the economy is already in a slightly precarious state. Will Iran ever surrender, and was it a total miscalculation to just assume that the people would rise up? I love the Iranian people and I question whether or not we needed to inflict this level of pain suffering and damage of their infrastructure that we have so far, with Israel's very aggressive participation. I have a dozen more questions but we can limit it to that for now.

I wonder what Petie will do once he gets fired? He could likely get a job as a pool cleaner or the manager of a grocery store. Maybe. But most of the members of the administration are likely doing illegal insider trading, so he'll probably be financially secure.

That's because no talks are taking place, Trump is simply lying his way through another crisis, attempting to calm the markets and avoid a slaughter in the midterms.