Trump's Second Term

[Andy_Ross]

More War!

Hegseth: "Iran is hoping we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation for the IRGC in Iran. You see, there's no shortage of American will. We remember and honor our fallen, those 6 we will soon welcome at Dover who gave everything for their country and this mission. But we remember them be rededicating ourselves even more fervently to this mission."

https://twitter.com/x/status/2029681818870415714

 

[AmyStrange]

Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security
Kristi Noem will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas

Donald J. Trump
@realDonald Trump
I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026... blah blah blah."

Highly respected? Bwahahahahahaha

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump with Inter Miami at the White House: "What a group of people. We could have a lot of fun with these guys. You can imagine when they win how they celebrate. We don't want to talk about it. We don't want to talk about it!"

https://twitter.com/x/status/2029678166470427039

 

[Andy_Ross]

Custom watch

Trump is presented with an Inter Miami jersey, Messi gives him a signed ball, and the owner gives him a custom watch

https://twitter.com/x/status/2029680242143433118

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump during White House celebration with Inter Miami: "The election was rigged and stolen"

https://twitter.com/x/status/2029678873437184410

 

[bruto]

Nah, he proposed Markwayne Mullin.

Pencil mark erased.

 

[Norman Alexander]

Hegseth: "The amount of firepower over Iran and Tehran is about to surge dramatically"

https://twitter.com/x/status/2029684996668014853

How Kegsbreath thinks and wants the US military to look and behave like.


What he doesn't give a flying ◊◊◊◊ about how they look.

 

[shemp]

deleted

 

[Ziggurat]

Yes, murder victims are usually in proximity to their killers.

That's it? That's the full extent of Muslim on Muslim violence? It's the same as everyone else?

I don't think you've been paying attention.

I could give a damn about Andrew Tate. He probably never left his house for fear of being arrested again. You people just love your big displays of toughguyness.

You people? I'm not a Tate fan. He's a jackass and a fool. And I don't believe for a second that he's actually going to put himself in harm's way. Which is part of why I don't think he was interested in killing Muslims. That would be risky.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Hegseth: "Iran is hoping we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation for the IRGC in Iran. You see, there's no shortage of American will...

Thing is, the Iranian regime is fighting for its survival, but you think you aren't. The Iranian regime doesn't care whether dragging this out makes it unpopular, but you have midterms to lose.

 

[EHocking]

Although it claims to be non-Partisan, it is interesting to look at the countries it reviews, e.g. why no assessment of the US? Minimal assessment of Israel. It's assessments appear quite partisan.

From their “about” page

The Institute’s projects integrate technical, scientific, and policy research in order to build a sound foundation for a wide variety of efforts to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons to U.S. and international security.

It seems though, from a browse through google, that despite their partisanship, their data, assessment and reports are regarded as being fairly accurate and solid.

Is there any country or agreement to limit non-nuclear armed ballistic missile development?

The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCOC)

is the result of efforts of the international community to internationally regulate the area of ballistic missiles capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction. Along with the MTCR, the HCOC is the only multilateral transparency and confidence building instrument concerning the spread of ballistic missiles.

 

[W.D.Clinger]

Minimal rules of engagement

Hegseth: "The dumb, politically correct wars of the past were the opposite of what we're doing here. They had vague objections with restrictive, minimalist rules of engagement. No more."

Reports I've seen show Hegseth saying "objectives", not "objections". Which is funnier but sadder.

 

[grunion]

Hegseth: "The amount of firepower over Iran and Tehran is about to surge dramatically"

This all sounds so familiar. I beg your indulgences while I take a trip down memory lane....

• "Every quantitative measurement we have shows we're winning this war" - Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense, 1962
• "I am convinced that we have taken the military, psychological, economic and political initiative from the enemy... Victory is not attainable, if we do not exploit our hard-won initiative." -General Paul D. Harkins, 1963
• "The major part of the US military task can be completed by the end of 1965." Sec Def McNamara, 1963
• "Raggedy-ass little fourth-rate country" - President Lyndon Johnson on North Vietnam, 1964
• "I am convinced that American mobility and firepower, knowledge and courage, will defeat the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese." - Admiral Ulysses S. Grant Sharp, CiC Pacific, 1964

-Gulf of Tonkin incident-

• "We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves." - LBJ, 1964
• "I refuse to believe that a little fourth-rate power like North Vietnam doesn't have a breaking point." - Henry Kissinger, 1964
• "Tell 'em they've got to stop their aggression or we're going to bomb them back into the Stone Age." -Ret. General Curtis LeMay, 1965
• "It's silly talking about how many years... when we could pave the whole country and put parking stripes on it and still be home for Christmas." -Ronald Reagan, 1965
• "We'll just go on bleeding them until Hanoi wakes up to the fact that they have bled their country to the point of national disaster." - Gen. Westmoreland, 1966
• "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing. We are making progress." Gen. Westmoreland, 1967
• "The enemy has not won a single major victory... He is losing control of the people... The end begins to come into view." - Gen. Westmoreland, 1967
• "We are winning now. And if we prevent the enemy from winning, we will have won the war." -Robert McNamara, 1967

-Tet Offensive-

• "The enemy's 'General Offensive' has been a failure... we have reached a turning point." - Westmoreland, 1968
• "Vietnamization is working... the South Vietnamese are increasingly shouldering the full burden of the ground war." Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, 1970
• "The bastards have never been bombed like they're going to be bombed this time." - President Richard Nixon, 1972
• "We believe that peace is at hand. We believe that an agreement is within sight." - NSA Henry Kissinger, 1972

-Paris Peace Accords-

• "The American people have had enough. We can't go back in. We gave them the tools, but we couldn't give them the will to fight." - President Gerald Ford, 1975 (as Saigon was falling)
• "The tactical success was ours, but the strategic failure was also ours. We won every battle, but we lost the war because we didn't understand the nature of the conflict."- General Westmoreland, 1976
• "I guess we just didn't realize that they [the North] were willing to die for their country in numbers that we couldn't match or even understand." - General Maxwell Taylor, undated

Colonel Harry Summers: "You know, you never defeated us on the battlefield."
Colonel Tu (North Vietnamese): "That may be so, but it is also irrelevant."

 

[Andy_Ross]

Let's check again next week

Trump: We announced decisive action to help keep down the oil prices including offering political risk insurance for tankers. The oil has pretty much stabilized. We had it pretty low but I had to take this little detour. They were going to hit us.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2029674105163907450

 

[Andy_Ross]

Secretary Marco Rubio
@SecRubio
I look forward to working with Kristi Noem as Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas — our new security initiative comprised of 13 countries.

Kristi has achieved incredible results as Secretary of Homeland Security and will be a tremendous asset in our effort to promote security and prosperity in the Western Hemisphere.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

So it seems the trumpkins have received their matching orders: Dump had to attack Iran, because Obama and Biden put him in that situation through their terrible diplomacy. So they're really pissed at... Obama and Biden. One even said, and I quote, "look what you made Drumpf do!"

I replied and asked them if they happened to be beating their partner.

 

[Tero]

So it seems the trumpkins have received their matching orders: Dump had to attack Iran, because Obama and Biden put him in that situation through their terrible diplomacy. So they're really pissed at... Obama and Biden. One even said, and I quote, "look what you made Drumpf do!"

I replied and asked them if they happened to be beating their partner.

The traditional question, when the judge demands you to answer yes or no is to ask: has the judge stopped beating his wife?

 

[Trebuchet]

Is there any law saying Markwayne can't be a cabinet secretary and senator at the same time?
And can he vote to confirm himself?

 

[Norman Alexander]

Is there any law saying Markwayne can't be a cabinet secretary and senator at the same time?
And can he vote to confirm himself?

Well, Trump is President, god-king, chief spokes-idiot, main architect, top interior decorator and unquestioned lord of all he surveys for the whole world.

So...probably... let's say yes.

 

[grunion]

"I hated that dog. Cricket had shown herself to be untrainable, dangerous to anyone she came in contact with, and less than worthless as a hunting dog. At that moment, I realized I had to put her down.

I got my gun, then led Cricket to a gravel pit. It was not a pleasant job, but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done."

I bet Cricket pissed herself with Schadenfreudic joy today over yonder the Rainbow Bridge.