Open Thread

What’s on your mind?

Comments

[Kazinski]

Trump is ordering a blockade of sanctioned tankers and says they are going to sieze more of them.

President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Venezuela on Tuesday by announcing that he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” entering and leaving the South American country.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna249616

Trump is obviously doing this to distract from the Democrats Epstein releases, so I am calling on the Democrats to keep releasing more Epstein material on a daily basis until Maduro is deposed.

[John F. Carr]

While stateless vessels are fair game, foreign-flagged sanctioned vessels still have a right of passage.

[Dr. Ed 2]

I'm not sure that is an absolute, John.

Ships carrying contraband are not entitled to a right of passage, and then there are protocols regarding blockades.

Kennedy's blockade of of Cuba in 1962 is an example and the Soviet ships turned rather than challenge it, but as I remember my International Law, it comes down to the flagging power's navy being willing to defend ships flying its flag. And that's why ships used to be registered in the UK and US and not Panama.

A ship is considered the territory of the flag she flies -- Reagan invaded Panama...

[John F. Carr]

Traditionally a blockade is part of a war. Some call it an act of war in itself. Otherwise, a blockade comes into effect only when there is a war.

For a blockade to be legally effective the blockading power must effectively and uniformly deny access to the blockaded coast. If the blockading power does not have enough forces to deny access or if it selectively enforces the blockade, the blockade is not binding on neutral ships. Absent a legal blockade owners seized neutral ships have a right to compensation.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/blockade-warfare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Declaration_Respecting_Maritime_Law

[Brett Bellmore]

As long as it's just stateless vessels, it can't be an act of war, because, who would it be an act of war against? You can only commit acts of war against states.

Mind you, I'm sure they're going to make a mistake eventually, assuming they haven't already.

[John F. Carr]

Following tradition, a blockade of Venezuela would be part of a war against Venezuela although none of the seized vessels flew Venezuelan flags.

But this isn't a traditional blockade because it does not deny all access to Venezuelan ports. It is increased enforcement of sanctions.

Is it still an act of war?

I don't expect Venezuela to declare war and give Trump an excuse to invade. Remember Operation Just Cause? And the flag states of sanctioned ships tend to have no meaningful military power.

[Brett Bellmore]

At least allegedly, all the "sanctioned" vessels are either unflagged or flying false flags. As such, they don't really HAVE "flag states".

[Sarcastr0]

At least allegedly

Such trust.

[Brett Bellmore]

You're weird, you know that? No, saying "at least allegedly" is a denial of trust.

[Sarcastr0]

Except in your comment you treat the allegation as true - you use it to argue this isn't an act of war.

You've also embraced just about every other bit of unsupported nonsense this admin puts out. About Antifa. About whichever migrants the DoJ is going after.

It's been quite a change for you! And you converted so quickly!

[Commenter_XY]

Isn't blockade an act of war = ...foreign-flagged sanctioned vessels still have a right of passage

[John F. Carr]

A traditional blockade is an act of war or a part of a war. What Trump has announced is not a traditional blockade. He used the word blockade informally.

Say the US Coast Guard stops and seizes sanctioned Comoros-flagged MV Evil Tanker after it leaves Venezuela. Does the whole world have a casus belli? Only Comoros? Also Venezuela? I don't know how this works.

During the "Tanker War" there was a regular war going on and traditional rules could be applied.

[Stephen Lathrop]

Kazinski — Piracy systematized remains piracy.

Trump is transparently attempting to initiate war with Venezuela. Do you think he is Constitutionally empowered to do that?

[Dr. Ed 2]

Yes.

[Michael P]

Tell us that you don't know how laws of the sea (even before LoST) work in your usual turgid way.

[Sarcastr0]

Until they return the oil and land they stole from us? What?

[bloocow2]

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-situation--why-can-t-kash-patel-shut-up

I've been on this kick before, but... Patel should be fired. Or should step down. I don't care what your politics are, or if you agree or disagree with the general direction this administration has taken the FBI in. None of that should matter.

What should matter is that this guy is a clown who can't do his job properly. Twice now he's gone ahead of what investigations have actually uncovered, publicly claiming breakthroughs when none existed. He cares more about getting likes on social media, or getting interviewed on friendly podcasts about his relationship with his freaking girlfriend. (which was probably recorded before the Brown shooting tbf, but still, it's not a great look)

His FBI is paralysed through fear, and he's fired competent people for the sin of doing their jobs under the previous administration. He has no qualifications, and every time a photo gets taken of him he looks like he just got caught cheating on a test.

Just fire the guy. Even MAGA people should want their FBI to be competent. Right?

(And yes, local police appear to have screwed up elements relating to the Brown shooting too. They should face consequences also)

[Dr. Ed 2]

Why not just abolish the FBI???

[John F. Carr]

Some federal crimes do not duplicate state crimes. To enforce those we need a federal law enforcement agency.

[Commenter_XY]

Eurotrash 2, worry about your own country. We're doing fine.

[Michael P]

If I recall correctly, it's an Australian cow.

[Sarcastr0]

The idea that only Americans can comment on America is ridiculous.

Trying to bully people on the Internet with shitty nicknames is also ridiculous.

You've become ridiculous.

[Michael P]

Everyone, even foreigners who want to meddle, should refrain from commenting if relying on nutcases like Olivia Manes and Benjamin Wittes.

Has Wittes done anything useful in his life, or just acted as a tool for James Comey to illegally leak documents and information? He has an agenda here that makes him even less reliable than usual.

[Sarcastr0]

Well ad hominem may suck but it’s better than Commenter’s ugly American schtick.

Way to go.

[DDHarriman]

... he says as he bullies someone with a shitty insult...

lmao

[Michael P]

He's something like a comment vampire: totally unable to see himself in any kind of mirror, so he doesn't realize how shallowly hypocritical he is being.

[bloocow2]

You're all free to comment on Australian politics if you like!

(assuming you know anything about them haha)

But seriously, my elderly mother probably knows more about American politics than anyone here knows about Australian politics. American politics just has this... infectious effect on countries outside of America.

Anyway, if people want their government agencies to be staffed by complete idiots... cool! It's your country! Doesn't really affect me if it's a complete laughing stock.

[Michael P]

Australian politics are hardly worth commenting on, except to figure out why you guys are importing terrorists. To coin a phrase, is it really so important to shoot up Hanukkah celebrations that Australians won't shoot up?

[Sarcastr0]

Ugly.

[Michael P]

They are. So are you -- but do you give Islamist terrorists a run for their money in "ugly", or are you all bluster and prattle?

[Dr. Ed 2]

Why is Brown University scrubbing this man from its website?
----
Mustapha Kharbouch '27 is a first-year student considering concentrating in International & Public Affairs and Anthropology with a focus on the Middle East. They are a third-generation Palestinian refugee born and raised in Lebanon. Attaining a scholarship to attend UWC Maastricht, they have led and continue to help with community-building initiatives and social change roles. They are fond of bringing their lived experiences into academic spaces and participating in engaged scholarship. They are highly moved by questions of indigeneity, justice, and inclusion, and particularly interested in the intersection of queer studies with Palestinian studies. Mustapha is also currently the Cultural Programming Coordinator for the Global Brown Center and on the e-board of the Arab Society.

https://web.archive.org/web/20251216151717/https://cmes.brown.edu/news/2023-10-16/mustapha-kharbouch

=====
Facts:
1: All of the Brown websites mentioning this man are now unavailable.

2: The RI AG stated that he knew who the man was. How does the AG know who he is?

3: The shooter shouted *something* and people unfamilar with Arabic are not going to instantly recognized shouted Arabic, if -- in fact -- that was the language the expression was shouted in.

4: The man bears a physical resemblance to the shooter.

It really is starting to smell down there...

[DDHarriman]

It's the Democrat authorities covering up another heinous act by one of their protected & sacred classes. It undermines The Narrative so it must be erased.

[dwb68]

WSJ: "A military blockade is considered an act of war but..."

There is no but.

A military blockade is an act of war.

[Commenter_XY]

Agreed, a blockade is an act of war.

Where is Congress?

[Stephen Lathrop]

An MIT professor—one highly influential among the parts of the physics community attempting to invent practical fusion power reactors—was assassinated yesterday at his home in Brookline, MA.

Excepts from the Brookline.News:

"Nuno Loureiro, a 47-year-old MIT professor, was shot and killed at his home on Gibbs Street on Monday night, according to Brookline police and the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office. . . . .

Brookline chief of police Jennifer Paster said in a statement issued Tuesday evening that “in order to protect the integrity of the investigation, we are limited in the information we can share at this time and ask for the community’s understanding and patience.”

A Portuguese physicist, Loureiro was the director of Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT. Portugal’s foreign minister announced his death at a meeting of parliament on Tuesday, according to CNN Portugal."

[Dr. Ed 2]

Yes, and that supposedly is unrelated to the Brown shooting.

Right....

[David Nieporent]

Clearly, because random people being killed 50 miles apart are typically related to each other.

[Commenter_XY]

lathrop, it remains to be seen whether this was a targeted assassination of a Jewish professor.

[Dr. Ed 2]

What's not being said about the Brown shooting is why so few students died.

Brown has a Level 1 Trauma Center on campus.

Brown Rhode Island Hospital is the Level 1 Trauma Center for all of Southeast New England (including part of Massachusetts):
https://www.brownhealth.org/centers-services/trauma-center-rhode-island-hospital

What I noticed was that several of the victims were STILL in "critical" condition four days later -- usually you either upgrade or die, "critical" is where vital signs are unstable and outside normal limits, indicating a life-threatening situation that requires immediate medical attention. Patients in critical condition may be unconscious and need intensive care to stabilize their health.

Before talking gun control, lets talk trauma care because it also includes all other forms of life-threatening trauma.

A Level 1 Trauma Center saved my life six years ago.

[Frank Drackman]

Only practical difference between a Level 1 and a Level 2 is the Level 1's have to do research and have more specialists to manage more unusual injuries (knowing you, Dr. Ed, your injury had to be unusual)
Level 1's also have Psychologists and Grief Counselors, so you can "Rap" about how your injuries affected your Id, or so your fambily can mourn if you don't make it.
Used to love when Patient's Fambily's would ask if their loved one was on the "Critical List" as there was no such list, I think it was a Status thing back in the Hood,
"Ja-marcus still be on dee Critical List!!"
My first "Surgical Procedure" was removing a .357 slug from under the skin of a "Perp" who the Mobile Po-Po had shot multiple times back when that didn't start nationwide Riots, he'd recovered months later, but still had that memento over his Deltoid. Got the Resident to give the OK, a little lidocaine, little dissection, and "Voila" a 125 grain Federal Jacketed Hollowpoint in the pan.
Of course the Perp wanted it as a keepsake, told him he couldn't have it, had to "go to Pathology"
I still have it of course, along with my Urine cup full of Kuwait City Sand, and a small Lucite Ball, removed from the chest of a Patient who'd been treated with "Plombage" back in the 1930's (Google it yourself)
She didn't need it anymore, it was from her Autopsy.

Frank

[hobie]

Dear Excellency Trump,

I wanted to take this opportunity to commiserate on how unfairly Rob Reiner has treated both you and I over the years. His radical left antisemitic tranny terrorism has left both of us scarred. Besides, including murder, we two seem to have a lot in common. Besties for life, I say.

For your consideration,

Nick Reiner

[Frank Drackman]

It's all of those Damn Assault-Knives!!!!!!

[DDHarriman]

Deranged Liberals raise deranged liberal kids.

*shrug*

[Michael P]

Recommended by Arnold Kling:

We’re scratching our heads at why Europe isn’t growing; I lived in Europe for years. They’re not risk-takers. Their government is very aggressive in removing risk from their lives and that’s why they’ve had low growth. It’s like how macroeconomics and finance are very similar. I said this sort of central truth from financial markets is you don’t get a higher return unless you risk loss. True. This is the foundation of all finance, but it’s also true for the macroeconomy and that if you don’t have a certain amount of risk, you just don’t have the same amount of growth.

https://thefutureofliberty.org/episode/allison-schrager-on-free-markets-public-pensions-and-americas-appetite-for-risk/

[Brett Bellmore]

I don't think it's just that. Take Germany, for instance: Their government spends approximately half of their entire GDP. And every cent the government taxes away from the private sector is a cent the private sector can't invest in growth.

Then you get into the flat out destructive things their governments do, like destroying functional and already paid for powerplants.

[hobie]

Very much reminds me of this rather important article a decade ago in the NY Times. Here's the free version for you to read:

A Fearless Culture Fuels U.S. Tech Giants

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/business/the-american-way-of-tech-and-europes.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9U8.8KzH.3ILWoYtMOIpW&smid=url-share

In it they ask: "Why hasn’t Europe fostered the kind of innovation that has spawned hugely successful technology companies?"

The answer, they contend, is cultural. It's not just risk taking, but rather Silicon Valley's “Fail fast, fail often” mantra. Failure, and even bankruptcy, are to be expected here in order to innovate.

But failure and bankruptcy are so abhorrent and shameful to Europeans (often resulting in suicides) that they just cannot innovate like we do.

[Michael P]

"It's not just risk taking, but rather" being willing to do lots of things that have a relatively high likelihood of failing. A smarter writer might realize we call that "taking risks" for short -- but we are talking about the flailing New York Slimes here.

[hobie]

Sigh. So much for trying to strike up a civil conversation with you.

[Michael P]

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/openai-refuses-to-say-where-chatgpt-logs-go-when-users-die/

The transcripts there should be a warning to anyone who thinks it might be a good idea to ask AI for guidance or analysis, especially if one doesn't know what kind of history the AI keeps from session to session.

[Frank Drackman]

I get it! you're showing the irony of the risks of using AI by using AI!!!!