Open Thread

What’s on your mind?

Comments

[Dr. Ed 2]

Trump — the most significant president since Lincoln.

[Martinned]

True. Lincoln saved the United States as a single state, and Trump ended the republic. The two most significant presidents since Washington.

[santamonica811]

Hitler. Germany's most significant leader in its history.
Stalin. Russia's most significant (let's say) leader in its history.
Chairman Mao. China's most significant leader in its last 1,000 years.
Pol Pot. Cambodia's most significant leader in centuries.

I'm not sure I'm convinced of your premise, given FDR's influence, and the fact that he was leading America during the Second World War. But at most, Trump is not far behind. His vile behavior, his ability to get Republican's in Congress to consistently whore their integrity, his ability to get close to a blank check from the Sup. Ct . . . there are all hugely significant, and only a fool or a liar would deny that they have been happening. I'll merely point out the obvious--that "significant" does not equal 'good' or 'positive' or 'moral' or 'just' . . . or any of the admirable qualities we often say that we want our President to embody.

[Commenter_XY]

Agree: FDR's tenure was consequential. As was his treatment of Jews.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Leftist bias is real….

https://www.themainewire.com/2026/03/if-you-think-the-maine-lamestream-medias-liberal-lies-are-over-the-top-youll-love-this/

[Martinned]

I still don't know what "narco terrorism" is, but apparently it's good enough for the Peace President to start dropping bombs on yet another country. (Though this time not contrary to the ius ad bellum.)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgjzz4gn64zo

[Kazinski]

Well this time it is in coordination with the elected government of Ecuador.

I thought that was how you wanted it to work?

[Martinned]

Yes, that's what I said. But that doesn't mean it's a good idea. (And still less does it mean that it's consistent with what Trump promised his voters in 2024.)

[Kazinski]

This from Politifacts list of Trump's 2024 campaign promises, so I think he had it covered:
"Designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations

As president in 2019, Trump said he would designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. The legal designation is used to identify foreign groups that "engage in premeditated, politically motivated acts of terrorism against noncombatant targets," according to the Wilson Center. However, Trump said he would temporarily hold off on the designation at the request of Mexico’s president. Now that Trump is campaigning again, the promise is back. Some international relations and counterterrorism experts have questioned what tangible impact giving drug cartels the designation would have, adding that it could harm U.S. diplomatic relations with Mexico"

https://www.politifact.com/article/2024/sep/30/donald-trumps-2024-campaign-promises-heres-his-vis/

And the President of Ecuador has also designated Ecuador's drug gangs as international narco terrorists.

[Martinned]

I still don't know what that means, or why that makes it a good idea to drop bombs on them.

Terrorism is violence to influence politics. (Simply put.) That's not what drug cartels do, normally.

[Commenter_XY]

Eurotrash, you sit on your ass in a comfy flat in a pissant country while Ecuador has thousands of it's people killed by drug gangs (narco-terrorists) and deals with narco-terrorist prison riots. Maybe you should STFU. Ecuador decided for themselves that enough is enough and Pres Noboa is backing up his pledge to address the narco-terrorist violence.

Simply put, you're a ankle-biting poodle.

[Martinned]

What you're describing is organised crime, not terrorism. I'm sorry if your own language confuses you.

[Commenter_XY]

Eurotrash, last year there were 4,500 murders in a country of ~20MM. By way of comparison, FL had roughly 1,200 murders in the same year.

This isn't organized crime, dumbass. It is terror.

Sorry if you don't know math.

[Martinned]

Interesting development that suggests I might have been wrong about something:

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Son Emerges as Leading Choice to Be His Successor

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/world/middleeast/iran-mojtaba-khamenei-successor.html

My sense of the Iranian system was basically like the old Soviet Union. The big boss is basically in charge, but there are laws, including laws about the succession, and as a result it's not a free-for-all or a dynasty. If the Revolutionary Guards really do push thory Khamenei jr., I would be wrong on both counts.

(Ironically one of the other contenders is Khomeini's grandson, who is apparently one of the more moderate candidates.)

[Commenter_XY]

Mojtaba Khamenei has a limited life span. The best thing this terror supporting POS can do now is buy life insurance and get ready to die violently.

[Martinned]

I've seen reports that he was wounded on day 1, and that that's why he hasn't been seen in public since.

[Commenter_XY]

The job will get finished. Either America will wax his terror supporting ass, or Israel will. Either way, that POS terrorist dies violently.

[Kazinski]

This probably a good idea but it may not go far enough, announcement from X on AI war videos:

"Today we are revising our Creator Revenue Sharing policies to maintain authenticity of content on Timeline and prevent manipulation of the program.

During times of war, it is critical that people have access to authentic information on the ground. With today’s AI technologies, it is trivial to create content that can mislead people.

Starting now, users who post AI-generated videos of an armed conflict—without adding a disclosure that it was made with AI—will be suspended from Creator Revenue Sharing for 90 days. Subsequent violations will result in a permanent suspension from the program.

This will be flagged to us by any post with a Community Note or if the content contains meta data (or other signals) from generative AI tools.

We will continue to refine our policies and product to ensure X can be trusted during these critical moments."

https://x.com/i/status/2028873177028555201

Of course the loophole there is there are a lot of actors that may not care about the revenue, for instance the Government of Pakistan posted footage from a video game claiming it was a strike against India last year (to be sure faking a retaliation may actually be better than a real retaliation, but still a lie).

But it certainly should cut down on the number of accounts click hunting for revenue which is the vast majority of accounts.

And I realize this won't satisfy critics like the EU whose preferred policy id government mandated censorship of not only AI content but points of view.

[Martinned]

Of course the loophole there is there are a lot of actors that may not care about the revenue

Gee, really? You think foreign governments and others who post propaganda on Twitter might not care about their ad revenue? Whatever gave you that idea?

[Kazinski]

True, after all I pointed it out, but in a follow up Tweet, the X executive Nikita Bier said the vast majority of accounts spreading fake AI war videos were just people creating content and looking for clicks on whatever was topical at the moment.

Hopefully the idea is to curb that first and then the government and paid dis-info accounts will be more managable. Maybe just label them "paid disinformation" and no censorship should be needed.

[Drewski]

X announces neutral content policies with no intention of following them pretty often. I have no reason to believe this one will be different.

[Kazinski]

Trump has threatened to cut off all Spanish exports to the US, to retaliate against Spain not allowing the US to use its bases in Spain to prosecute the war in Iran.

"(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump said he will “cut off all trade with Spain” after the country denied access to its military bases for his bombing campaign against Iran, spurring a sharp rebuke from Madrid that the US president must respect international trade agreements.

“I told Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain,” Trump said Tuesday during a meeting at the White House, referring to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent."

Of course a couple of weeks ago Trump would have put a 200% tariff on Spanish goods or something like that, but now he can't.

Ironically when the Supreme Court said Trump could not use IEEPA to impose tariffs, they were very clear that the IEEPA authority could be used to ban exports entirely, partially regulate them, he just couldn't tax them. From section II B of the Opinion (which is part of the controlling section):

"To begin, IEEPA authorizes the President to “investigate,
block during the pendency of an investigation, regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void, prevent or prohibit . . . importation or exportation.” 50 U. S. C. §1702(a)(1)(B). Absent from this lengthy list of powers is any mention of tariffs or duties."

[OpinionsVary]

I'm not sure I'd call it ironic. The SCOTUS said that because the statute pretty clearly says that, whereas it doesn't mention tariffs at all. Of course, if Trump *does* try that, we might get to see some litigation on Ilya Somin's other IEEPA bugbear - the degree to which courts can or can not question whether there's actually an emergency under the IEEPA in the first place.

[Kazinski]

Courts won't touch that with a ten foot pole, well at least above the district court level.

The President is citing as the "emergency" the ability to use foreign bases while our troops are in actual combat.

Not only did Section II B get 6 votes the 3 dissenters said that Trump was entitled to even more authority than the majority opinion because it implicated foreign affairs.

So you could expect 9-0 on that.

[Martinned]

So the US Regime gets to do whatever the fuck it wants, and nobody else does? Quod licet Iovi indeed...

[Commenter_XY]

You're the cow. Remember that.

[Kazinski]

Didn't we just have that discussion a day or two ago, that US law is superior to both international law and treaties?

[CountmontyC]

Happy command day.

[Commenter_XY]

Oh David....

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/trump-law-firms-justice-department/2026/03/03/id/1248160/

Ooops.

The process will go on. 😉

[Martinned]

Can't have any disloyalty to the Great Leader...

[Commenter_XY]

The newest Iranian craze....presented w/o comment. 🙂

https://www.breitbart.com/pre-viral/2026/03/03/watch-iranians-do-the-trump-dance-to-thank-president-for-taking-out-ayatollah-khamenei/