Open Thread

What’s on your mind?

Comments

[not guilty]

The New York Times reports:

The rapid buildup of U.S. forces in the Middle East has progressed to the point that President Trump has the option to take military action against Iran as soon as this weekend, administration and Pentagon officials said, leaving the White House with high-stakes choices about pursuing diplomacy or war.

Mr. Trump has given no indication that he has made a decision about how to proceed. But the drive to assemble a military force capable of striking Iran’s nuclear program, its ballistic missiles and accompanying launch sites has continued this week despite indirect talks between the two nations on Tuesday, with Iran seeking two weeks to come back with fleshed out proposals for a diplomatic resolution.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly demanded that Iran give up its nuclear program, including agreeing not to enrich any more uranium. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, whose country would potentially take part in an attack, has been pushing for action to weaken Iran’s ability to launch missiles at Israel.

Israeli forces, which have been on heightened alert for weeks, have been making more preparations for a possible war, and a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet was moved to Sunday from Thursday, according to two Israeli defense officials.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/us/politics/us-military-iran.html

What, pray tell, is the United States' casus belli for an attack upon Iran? What objective would such an attack seek to accomplish? And what metric would evince "success" for such an endeavor?

Simply put, how does the United States have a dog in the fight there? What national interest is worth potentially spilling American blood?

[TwelveInchPianist]

R2P. They've killed anywhere from 7000-40,000 of their own people in the past couple of months.

[AmosArch]

Yeah, if we are obliged to act against Putin because its immoral what he is doing to ukraine. I don't see why we're suddenly obliged to do the exact opposite of standing around while Iran slaughters its civilians en masse all the while building up a nuclear arsenal to threaten the rest of the world.

Kind of weird how the left bounces between these two completely logically inconsistent positions. Its almost like they have no actual moral compass and just take whatever position opposes the President and benefits them at the current time.

[Sebastian Cremmington]

We are helping Ukraine because it serves our interests… “morality” has nothing to do with it. In this century alone we’ve spent $2 trillion preparing for a war with Russia and now Ukraine is degrading Russia’s military for pennies on the dollar. Furthermore Putin inadvertently turbocharged the global LNG market which has made us energy dominant which is a foundation of America First.

Btw, LNG and oil and energy are the reason we invaded Iraq and why we didn’t invade Iran and why Bush allowed Putin to begin his foreign adventures in 2008. So the fracking revolution and then the development of Qatar’s and America’s LNG industry made Putin desperate because he invested in pipelines when importers prefer LNG. Biden played everything perfectly as president and now Trump is reaping the rewards of Biden’s excellent foreign policy decisions.

[Mr. Bumble]

" Biden played everything perfectly as president and now Trump is reaping the rewards of Biden’s excellent foreign policy decisions."
More Alternate History.

[Malika la Maize]

Well, one involves us directly attacking a country on its own soil and the other helping a country attacked on its own soil, so that may be a difference to some.

[not guilty]

"R2P. They've killed anywhere from 7000-40,000 of their own people in the past couple of months."

That is not good at all, but it is a non sequitur. Once again, what national interest of the United States is worth potentially spilling American blood?

American intervention in other nations' internal affairs has not historically worked out well during the past century. In Iran in particular, the United States propping up a despot led to the Iranian revolution in the late 1970s.

[TwelveInchPianist]

"That is not good at all, but it is a non sequitur."

No it's not. You asked what the casus belli was. R2P or humanitarian intervention is a casus belli. Others have discussed the national interest.

[not guilty]

"Others have discussed the national interest."

IOW, you have no clue, but you cravenly defer to unnamed "others" to discuss a phantom national interest that you can't be troubled to articulate.

Yeah, right.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Others in this comment thread. Why should I repeat what they said?

And do you understand the difference between a causus belli and a national interest?

You get that you asked two separate questions, right?

[Brett Bellmore]

I think it has been a long while since any US President has lacked for a causus belli in regards to Iran. They're not exactly careful to avoid creating them.

But it really shouldn't matter, because it's Congress, not Presidents, who are given the power to declare war.

[Sebastian Cremmington]

Nonproliferation…it’s why Obama ordered the plan to bomb Iran that Trump implemented.

[Martinned]

Also, R2P is not a valid reason for aggression under international law, despite some attempts in the 1990s to change that.

[Mr. Bumble]

...except when authorized by the UN (see Libya).

[Martinned]

Yes, the Security Council can authorise military operations. That is a valid reason for what would otherwise be aggression. But the whole point of R2P was that it would allow for military operations in situations where one of the P5 was blocking a resolution, like in Kosovo.

[Michael P]

Iran has trained, armed and loosed its proxies -- and in some cases troops up to senior generals -- against the United States for more than four decades. You might have heard about something that happened in Tehran in 1979 that lasted the remainder of Jimmy Carter's ignominious presidency, and has still not been redressed unless you count Obama shipping pallets of cash to the mullahs in twisted obeisance to them. Asking what is the casus belli says something about you, not the rest of the world.

[Mr. Bumble]

The TDS is strong in ng.

[Michael P]

It is more like America Derangement Syndrome, in this case.

[not guilty]

"Iran has trained, armed and loosed its proxies -- and in some cases troops up to senior generals -- against the United States for more than four decades. You might have heard about something that happened in Tehran in 1979 that lasted the remainder of Jimmy Carter's ignominious presidency, and has still not been redressed unless you count Obama shipping pallets of cash to the mullahs in twisted obeisance to them. Asking what is the casus belli says something about you, not the rest of the world."

So Donald Trump should now take on the role of avenging angel to punish Iran for events of the late 1970s?

I don't think so. Like it or not, the United States was on the wrong side of history there. Old men sending young men off to war should not happen cavalierly. What is the current casus belli?

Again, what objective would such an attack seek to accomplish? And what metric would evince "success" for such an endeavor? Regime change, even when initially successful, has a way of biting America in the backside in the long haul.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Much like there is no statue of limitation on murder, seizing an embassy can never ever be forgiven.

I know that TDS is real, but I can’t believe we’re gonna see people defending the Iranians. It’s a good thing that Hitler is dead or you be defending him as well….

[TwelveInchPianist]

"Again, what objective would such an attack seek to accomplish? ...Regime change, even when initially successful, has a way of biting America in the backside in the long haul."

So you understand the objective, you just don't agree that it's likely to produce a good result. You're entitled to your opinion.

[Sebastian Cremmington]

Trump exhibited pragmatism in Afghanistan and Venezuela…regime change isn’t the objective. So the Taliban agreed to kill ISIS-K and that was sufficient for Trump to withdraw from Afghanistan.

[Martinned]

I thought the withdrawal from Afghanistan was Biden's fault? Or is it one of those things that are Biden's fault when they're bad, and Trump's doing when they're good?

[Mr. Bumble]

The manner of the withdrawal from Afghanistan was bad anf that was Biden's fault.

[Sarcastr0]

Revenge for 1979?

[Martinned]

Iran has trained, armed and loosed its proxies -- and in some cases troops up to senior generals -- against the United States for more than four decades.

Has it? Where and when did that happen in, say, the last decade?

[Dr. Ed 2]

Like 47 years of acts of war don’t count?

The current Iranian administration was born with the diplomatic equivalent of rape and murder, and has been involved in killing our servicemen ever since. Once they seized our ambassadors, they lost any right to expect any civilized nation toward them the concept of casus belli and we would be fully justified in summarily executing their UN delegation in the lobby of any of our airports.

They ARE Spilling the blood of our servicemen, and that of our closest ally, the state of Israel. Success would be the decapitation of the terrorists currently running Iran, the deaths of individuals who badly need killing.

Of his many many mistakes, Jimmy Carter his biggest was not shooting down a certain Air France airplane back in 1978. He should’ve made it clear to France that he would do it if they let the terrorist go back to Iran and then he should’ve done it. Millions of people will be alive now if he had done it.

[not guilty]

Jimmy Carter put a higher priority on securing the live return of the American hostages in Iran than he did on his re-election. He made an abortive attempt to secure their return by force, but he thereafter prioritized getting them out alive. Counterfactuals are a mug's game, but if Carter had ordered the armed forces to flatten Tehran, he would likely have won a second term, and the lives of the hostages would in all likelihood have been sacrificed in the process.

Did he make the right choice? We can only speculate.

[Mr. Bumble]

This episode of Alternate History has been brought to you by not guilty.

[Frank Drackman]

For someone who was against Abortion, Jimmuh Cartuh sure did one with his "Operation Eagle Claw" (Should have been "Operation Rube Goldberg", more circles, arrows, dotted lines, dashed lines than the Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle(AKS Citric Acid Cycle or Krebs Cycle, which in German is literally "Cancer Cycle")
Just summarizing the plan gives me a Headache
"The plan was designed so all four main services of the Department of Defense would have a part: Army, Navy, Air Force and the Marine Corps. It was planned that helicopters and C-130 aircraft, following different routes, would rendezvous on a salt flat (code-named Desert One) 200 miles (320 km) southeast of Tehran. Here the helicopters would refuel from the C-130s and pick up the combat troops who had flown in on the C-130 transports. The helicopters would then transport the troops to a mountain location (Desert Two) closer to Tehran, from which the rescue raid would be launched into the city the following night. The operation was further to be supported by an in-country CIA team. On completion of the raid, hostages were to be taken to a captured Tehran airport from where they were to be flown to Egypt."
Of course when they landed at Desert 1 an Iranian Passenger Bus drove by, blowing any "Cover" so they detained the Bus until the collision. Typical Amuricans, I'd have just made sure the Bus had an "Accident"
Oh, how was Delta Force supposed to get from the Mountains to the US Embassy?? The "CIA Operatives" were going to rent some Trucks, I don't know, from "Khomeni-Haul", and they'd just drive up to the Mountains, pick up Delta Force, and just drive into Terror-Anne, not like the Ear-Ronians were expecting anything...
Oh, and how were the rescued Hostages to get out? The Trucks would take them to a Soccer Field to get on the Helicopters, fly to a captured Air Field, then C-141's would fly them to Egypt,
Whoo!!!!

Love how the Ear-Ronians waited until Ronaldus Maximus actually was sworn in before letting the jet take off from TIA

Frank

[Martinned]

Like 47 years of acts of war don’t count?

Acts of war against whom?

[Mr. Bumble]

Please define what is considered an "act of war" in your world.

[Martinned]

That's not how this works. It's not my job to pre-emptively define the terms Ed uses in his crazy claims.

[jb]

Anyone else remember Wag the Dog? Massie must be getting close to some of the more problematic content in the Epstein files.

[SRG2]

The casus belli is that Trump hasn't yet won a war, thinks he can win this, and his Saudi and Qatari buddies would quite like regime change in Iran.

Most of the cultists, of course - as we see in the comments above- will justify whatever Trump does and will accuse the rest of us of TDS for questioning anything.

[Martinned]

his Saudi and Qatari buddies would quite like regime change in Iran

Actually Saudi and the Gulf states really wouldn't. They much prefer a weakened regime of Ayatollahs over pretty much anything that's likely to appear instead. (Most likely a nationalist military junta of some sort.)

[TwelveInchPianist]

Virgina Supreme Court rules that kidnapping is legal if you can convince a lazy judge to rubber stamp it.

[not guilty]

Do you have a link to the Virginia Supreme Court opinions? There is no substitute for original source materials.

[TwelveInchPianist]

https://www.vacourts.gov/static/opinions/opnscvwp/1240707.pdf

[not guilty]

Thank you for the link.

[Brett Bellmore]

"First, given that the consolidated appellate record exceeds tens of thousands of pages, we recite only the legally material facts that are relevant to the decisions of the lower courts and the arguments
independently advanced by the parties."

Yup, really lazy judge. Not saying he was right, but surely you want to produce a better argument than that?

[TwelveInchPianist]

It was the lower court judge that was lazy, who granted a final order of adoption for a kid who had never been within four thousand miles of his court based on bullshit representation of some dude that had no relation to the kid.

The person who got the adoption then lured the family to the US and hired a social worker to physically remove the kid from the family's arms.

[Dr. Ed 2]

The only good social worker is a dead social worker.

[Brett Bellmore]

What I'm saying is that "lazy" isn't an argument. Now you've produced actual arguments, hurrah.

To be honest, I thought the dissent made a strong case. I think that a lot, but that doesn't make the majority opinions illegitimate, I keep getting told.

Governments routinely do things, directly and by proxy, that we'd describe as crimes if done in the private sector. An anarchist would say that we should describe them as crimes when done by the government and its proxies, too. But I don't get the sense that you're an anarchist.

If I break into your car, hotwire it, and drive it off, that's theft. Oh, wait, a court blessed it, it's actually repossession, or a levy.

So here. A court blessed what happened, so it was not, legally, "kidnapping".

[TwelveInchPianist]

"A court blessed what happened, so it was not, legally, 'kidnapping'."

That's pretty much what I said. It was certainly kidnapping in every other sense. Of course, in your examples the courts are usually within seven thousand miles of the objects they are levying.

Here, a court granted an adoption for a kid that was seven thousand miles away. The kid's de-facto family had no idea about the adoption until Mast lured them to the US and physically took their kid, two years later. The court ruled that they couldn't challenge the adoption because six months had passed.

[not guilty]

I haven't read the opinion in its entirety, but if Afghanistan were a signatory of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, (it is not,) the putative Afghan custodians might have had a right of action in United States District Court or in a Virginia court under the International Child Abduction Remedies Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 11601 et seq.

[Brett Bellmore]

I said I thought the dissent made a strong case. There was a bit of sarcasm in that comment.

I regularly get attacked here for caring that the dissent made a strong case. For daring to think a court actually got something wrong.

I've been told that a court getting something wrong is unpossible, some kind of category error. You mean it's actually a thing? Go figure.

Cue Sarcastr0 showing up to accuse you of "12"PianistLaw", for the sin of not being a legal realist, and understanding that courts can be wrong.

[BFranklin1776]

They only say that when the majority are leftists rendering a leftist decision.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Deleted

[Mr. Bumble]

"John and Jane Doe have not seen their daughter since."
She was never "their daughter".

[TwelveInchPianist]

They raised her as their daughter. Perhaps you'll prefer the formulation below.

[TwelveInchPianist]

It's not just me that calls it kidnapping. Here's how the Federal Court described it:

In September 2021, once John, Jane and Baby Doe were in the United States and housed at Fort Pickett in Virginia, Joshua Mast devised a plan to remove Baby Doe from their care once and for all. Under the guise of a transfer of housing, a woman in a transport vehicle placed Baby Doe in a car seat while the Does were in the vehicle; when it stopped, the woman picked up Baby Doe and held her. A social worker “then informed John and Jane Doe that they were not Baby Doe’s lawful guardians and that Joshua Mast had adopted the child.” Initially they did not understand. When Joshua Mast entered the room, however, the Does understood that he would be taking Baby Doe. The woman handed Baby Doe to Stephanie Mast over John and Jane Doe’s objections. Jane Doe—more than eight months pregnant at the time—fell to the ground crying, and begged Joshua Mast not to take Baby Doe. Joshua and Stephanie Mast abducted Baby Doe, and John and Jane Doe have not seen Baby Doe since that day.

[Malika la Maize]

Good lord that’s messed up.

The story said the first Trump administration objected but the second dropped it after a reevaluation, what do you think was up with that?

[Frank Drackman]

Friend in College was an Iranian Bahai (One of truly most Peaceful Religions in the World, no wonder they've done so poorly) His Dad, an Ear-Ronian F-4 Pilot decided not to go back when the Ayatollah of Rock n Rolla took over (He was a Colonel, in charge of Ear-Ron's getting F-16's, which they would have gotten if the Shah had stayed in power or if Khomeni hadn't been such a Prick. Ear-Ron had some pretty Sierra-Hotel (Aviation-ese for "Good") Pilots back when they got most of their training in the US
His Dad couldn't get a decent Flight or Consulting job, ran hiw own Convenience Store in Ali-Bama until he was murdered by a (Black) Robber. There's a moral somewhere. Probably that you run a Convenience Store in 99% Black Neighborhood, 99% chance your killer is a Black Neighbor.
Son's inflicting Surgery in Texas last time I checked, arguably may have killed more people than must Revolutionary Guard Members.

Frank

[BFranklin1776]

Sub-Saharan Africans fail everywhere they exist in the world. The sooner leftists recognize that, the better off we'll be.

[Frank Drackman]

Anyone else get in a good workout after watching that RFK Jr/Kid Rock Video???
I sort of did, I smoked a Cigarette, (like Kid, not RFK Jr)
Have to admit, my Physiques more Kid than Kennedy, been lifting weights since 1974 and my Biceps still look like Olive-Oil's.
The "Northern Lights" lyric in "Bawitdaba"?? (that and "Ozymandias" are my 2 favorite Titles) Just to pre-empt Dr. Ed2, it's not the Meteorological Phenomenon Kid's talking about, but....
Few strains come with as much widespread renown as Northern Lights, inarguably one of the most popular strains of all time. An inbred descendant of original Afghani landrace strains, Northern Lights is a pure indica. THC levels can reach 16-21%, making this one of the most potent strains available on any market. A couple hits is all it takes for most patient's seeking this strain's powerful body effects, an upbeat mix of euphoria and physical relaxation. CBD levels are less clear, but they certainly aren't high enough to recommend this as a treatment for seizures or other conditions that respond to CBD. Even so, Northern Lights is a highly useful medical strain, effective at treating anxiety, pain, and insomnia, as well as lack of appetite. Cottonmouth is common, as are red eyes, while other negative effects are much more limited. This strain has a sweet, earthy flavor with hints of citrus. Northern Lights is most popular on the West Coast and in Colorado, but it's a favorite pretty much everywhere else marijuana can be found.
After smoking some Northern Lights, you'll see the Northern Lights.
In the Daytime

Frank

[Dr. Ed 2]

Serious question: you’ve got to have seen some of the very concerning literature about the psych effects of this substance.

Your thoughts?

Mine are that I do not like what I’m seeing, including violent behavior that used to be attributed to things like angel dust. Sure, cops lie, but not all the time and when they’ve also got video???
Likewise, it’s possible to screw a tox scan, but not always.

[Frank Drackman]

Yes, Marriage-Juan-A can precipitate (that means "Cause to happen sooner") the onset of Schizophrenia.
But then you have peoples like me, totally Normie, a few might even say "Gifted" (a Very Few)
I've had to give up the Marriage-a-Juan-a, my Glaucoma got better on its own, and the VA does Drug Screens every so often.
Angel Dust?? You mean Phencyclidine? AKA PCP (Phenyl Cyclohexyl Piperidine, actually pretty easy to synthesize) Ketamine's Outlaw older brother.
You're going back into the Drug Groove-yard with that one, what next, Methaqualone???

Frank

[Dr. Ed 2]

A classic from 1980 that brings back memories:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoC0Ks1N3Q8

And now our subversives wish to protest it.
Whiskey, tango, foxtrot…

[Frank Drackman]

Dr. Ed2, never met a problem that couldn't be resolved with Bombing. (OK, I'll give you Hiroshima/Nagasaki, we Nuke the little yellow Bastards and they still wouldn't quit, took 2, and if they'd known he didn't have anymore in the Bullpen, they probably wouldn't have quit then)
Bombing done by somebody else's Dad (now Mom's can die in Combat also, Yay Women's Rights!) Son/Daughter, Brother/Sister.
What a World, Doctors chop off little boy's perfectly good Peni, Slash a Gash and call it a "Neo-Vagina", the NFL turns Kick Offs into 6th grade Touch, and Frankie Drackman's sticking Daisy's in the GAU's of A-10 Warthogs. Next I'll be shaving what's left of my Hair and chanting Harry Krish-na (Krishna! Krishna!)
Bombing Ear-Ron's great, when you're not the one doing it.

Frank "Ed, I never met a man I didn't like but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception" (A Marx/Will Rogers Reference!)

[Mr. Bumble]

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor formerly known as Prince has been arrested.

[jb]

Meanwhile, the Trump DoJ continues to insist there's nothing to see...

[LexAquilia]

The good thing is that investigation into this has been democratized. People all over are finding amazing information in those emails. I doubt we'll ever see justice, given how compromised & corrupt our political system is, but at least we will have sunlight.

[Mr. Bumble]

Wonder if King Charles (formerly known as Camilla's tampon) has the power to preemptively pardon his brother?

[Martinned]

No. The King acts on the advice of his ministers. And in civilised countries like the UK pardons are vanishingly rare. For example, between 1997 (when the law was changed) and 2014 (when someone filed a formal information request) there were only two pardons in the UK. One of them was Alan Turing, the other one was this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conviction_of_Michael_Shields

[Michael P]

On the one hand, the suspected crime seems to be against the UK -- misconduct in office -- rather than the US. On the other hand, what did Joe Biden's DOJ do about it?

[apedad]

I think you're right that Biden didn't do anything about this vast criminal conspiracy - and he should be rightly condemned.

Good thing Trump will clean up this mes . . . nevermind.

[jb]

You heard it here first, folks. Michael P fully endorses the decisions of the Biden administration!

[Michael P]

You saw it here fifty times already, folks. jb is an abject moron.

[Frank Drackman]

Let me know when they arrest William Juffuhson

[Martinned]

For those keeping score:

Close relatives of the British King arrested: 1
Rich and/or powerful Americans arrested: 0

[Malika la Maize]

The six survivors of Tuesday’s avalanche near Lake Tahoe communicated with emergency responders using the Emergency SOS feature on the iPhone and an emergency beacon, said Don O’Keefe, the law enforcement chief for California’s Office of Emergency Services.

The Emergency SOS feature on Apple’s iPhones allows users to text emergency services, even when they don’t have cellular service or Wi-Fi, by connecting the phone to a satellite.

In this case, the feature allowed the group to stay in touch with the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, which was coordinating the rescue efforts.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/us/apple-iphone-sos-satellite-rescue.html

[Mr. Bumble]

"For an iPhone to reach a satellite, the user should be outside, with a clear view of the sky and horizon. When the phone connects, it sends the text to emergency responders, who will ask for information like location, emergency contacts and the remaining battery life on the phone."
Kind of amazing that it worked in this case.

[jb]

I presume that the person using the iPhone wasn't buried. It seems like they were one of the lucky ones who got out of the snow and then were coordinating with search and rescue.

Very cool that this technology is moving towards being in everyone's pockets. Having the ability to use satellites to communicate was extremely expensive just a few years ago.

[Mr. Bumble]

Musk's satellites?

[Malika la Maize]

The Trump administration has violated more than 50 orders from federal judges in the District of New Jersey, all in cases involving immigrants’ challenging the legality of their detention, according to a court-ordered review conducted by a senior Justice Department official…

In the New Jersey case, Judge Michael E. Farbiarz, who was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden Jr., ordered the administration to detail every instance in which it had failed to comply with a judicial order in the district since Dec. 5.

In a response last week, Jordan Fox, the chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, filed an 11-page declaration describing 52 separate violations across 547 cases, describing them as accidental.

She wrote that detainees were transferred 17 times despite court orders prohibiting them from being moved. The moves took place “inadvertently due to logistical delays,” she wrote.

Another detainee, Jorge Moran-Rodriguez was flown to Peru in violation of a court order “due to an inadvertent administrative oversight” and then decided to stay “instead of return to the United States.”..

A Justice Department spokeswoman said the department took a “very broad scope” in defining violations to report to the judge, including an instance in which a detainee was released nine minutes late.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02/18/us/trump-news

[BFranklin1776]

If the leftist judges had their way, no amount of due process to remove aliens would ever be enough. There'd be rounds and rounds of delays and hearings until it's too late.

That's not acceptable.

[LexAquilia]

The Key Bridge is still collapsed and the Potomac River has turned into an regular river in India -- filled with sewage and human waste.

Isn't DEI and Democrat governance wonderful? The outcomes it produces --- extreme wealth for Democrat politicos and their patrons and favored clients --- is totally acceptable because of Social Justice. Who cares that everyone else suffers? Social Justice!

[Malika la Maize]

It’s not clear who is responsible for the sewage spill, DC, MD, VA, the Feds?

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5742741-potomac-river-sewage-spill-dc-virginia-maryland/amp/

[Malika la Maize]

FCC Chair Brendan Carr said he’s not worried about enforcing political fairness from radio stations the same way he is with late-night and daytime TV.

Carr made waves last week by saying TV hosts must comply with rules requiring they give similar airtime to candidates of both parties. Lawyers have been puzzling over whether, or how, it would apply to talk radio, a traditional bastion of conservative voices. On Thursday, Carr said he didn’t see any reason to similarly press radio stations — although the same underlying rules apply.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/29/talk-radio-isnt-a-target-of-fccs-equal-time-memo-brendan-carr-says-00755660

[Martinned]

Must be a coincidence

[SRG2]

Of course not because he's just another Trump apparatchik

[Michael P]

[N]ew data shows that as Trump’s unprecedented surge of federal agents poured into neighborhoods across the country, 2025 saw fewer police killings nationwide than either of the last two years of Joe Biden’s term — exactly the opposite of what many feared.

Thanks, Trump! (Pulling violent criminals off the streets and deporting them has society-wide benefits.)

https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/david-mastio/article314746248.html

[Malika la Maize]

According to this source police killings in 25 were lower than in 24 but higher than in 23.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States

[Martinned]

New data prepared by whom?

[Michael P]

Progressive police reform group Campaign Zero publishes daily data at mappingpoliceviolence.org, including figures on killings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. In 2025, their data shows 1,314 police killings compared to 1,382 in 2024 and 1,362 in 2023.

You would know this if you bothered to read the page I linked to earlier.

[hobie]

In the real world...

When you attempt a coup, you go to prison
"South Korean Ex-Leader Is Sentenced to Life in Prison"
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02/19/world/yoon-korea-martial-law-president

When you associate with Epstein, your country shuns and arrests you
"U.K. Police Arrest Former Prince Andrew Over Epstein Ties"
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02/19/world/uk-prince-andrew-arrest-epstein

When you torment black [soccer players] with racial effigies, it's called racism
"The shocking scale of the racist abuse suffered by Vinicius Jr"
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7055797/2026/02/19/vinicius-jr-real-madrid-racism-benfica-champions-league/

[Mr. Bumble]

"When you associate with Epstein, your country shuns and arrests you"
So you agree with Drackman that Clinton should be arrested?

[Malika la Maize]

And Lutnick?

[hobie]

All of 'em.

[SRG2]

The difference between you and the reality-based posters is that you think Trump is exempt, while we think no-one should be. If the Clintons were sufficiently closely associated as to have broken the law, then they should be arrested. I have no difficulty in saying that.

Now let's see if you can bring yourself to apply that to Trump.

[ReaderY]

Trump’s plans for the White House East Wing appear to have hit an impediment.

[Mr. Bumble]

You've posted this twice with no cite or link.

[ReaderY]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/02/17/us/trump-white-house-east-wing-ballroom-design.html

[SRG2]

Impediment to a pediment?

[ReaderY]

Is Prince Andrew entitled to be tried by the House of Lords rather than in a court like a commoner?

Also, can he be stripped of his title without an Act of Parliament? The last time a noble was stripped of his title was through the Titles Deprivation Act of 1917. And that was for joining the German Army and levying war against His Majesty during World War I, an act of high treason and a clear breach of the oath of homage underlying the very concept of mutual obligation that underlies feudal nobility. Prince Andrew may have committed serious crimes, but he did not betray his king. Can a British monarch act unilaterally to strip a noble of his titles without either an Act of Parliament or a trial in the House of Lords?

Wasn’t it a key point of Magna Carta to say a king can’t do that?

[Armchair]

Trump has successfully reduced the civilian federal workforce by more than 300,000 people.

The average federal worker is paid just north of $100,000 a year. Benefits add another 50% as a rule of thumb. That's about $45 billion a year in costs savings.

$45 Billion a year in costs savings is nothing to laugh at.