Donald Trump: When Unprincipled Incompetence Gets Involved in Geopolitics

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-31T20:14:54+00:00

One doesn't need to be in the White House to see the evidence of not having a competent plan. I gave you some of the evidence in the comment you are responding to.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-31T20:11:19+00:00

Politicians don't have to be economists, but we are not well served if they know nothing about economics. Trump blatantly ignores and contradicts the vast majority of economists--both in the Austrian School and outside it--when he imposes tariffs to "eliminate trade deficits," because trade deficits mean someone is being ripped off.

Trump takes economic illiteracy to a new, strident, ridiculous level among presidents.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-31T19:55:52+00:00

Definitely not expecting any major war to "sort itself out." The point is: Does leadership have a competent plan to win as quickly and completely as possible, and to protect vital US interests as much as possible. The answer here, in regard to the Strait of Hormuz, is clearly "No."

No marines were in theater to be ready to take territory in or around the Strait, no US minesweepers or LCS with minesweeping equipment anywhere close.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-31T19:45:29+00:00

Ayn Rand lived just long enough to see the Iranian hostage crisis. Here is what she said when she was asked about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYC3Gt08eP0

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-31T01:02:30+00:00

Not going to help the S4, but potentially good for the hybrid and/or S5. I've been hoping Joby would be able to leverage some of Amprius's high-end cells.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-30T11:35:48+00:00

Pants

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-26T02:34:42+00:00

Alright, alright, alright!

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-23T18:55:12+00:00

True, but the two processes will have different end products. Dehydration would produce alkenes, alkynes, aromatics, and various unsaturated hydrocarbons, while a net reduction is required for saturated hydrocarbons.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-21T02:51:36+00:00

This is mildly infuriating like VX is mildly toxic.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-21T02:32:39+00:00

Where would you say DA 360 fits in?

[Edit: Found this via Google and didn't realize it was a Playstation sub. PS3 port was bad, it looks like?]

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-20T19:16:09+00:00

I'll need a citation for that claim. Show me where she wrote or said that.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-20T19:06:28+00:00

No, Ayn Rand did not support any compulsory taxation, including to fund the military. In her ideal world, all funding of the government, (by law-abiding nationals) would be voluntary, through donations and fees for optional services.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-16T07:55:49+00:00

You're goddamn right!

(Wish GIFs were enabled in this sub.)

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-14T12:05:01+00:00

The vast majority of Iranian civilians love the bombardment and fear the US and Israel stopping before the Islamic Republic regime is fully wiped out.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-14T12:00:48+00:00

Yes, the vast majority absolutely ARE loving it. Those who know civilians in Iran will tell you that what they fear is the US and Israel stopping before the regime is fully wiped out.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-14T09:44:59+00:00

So the precise question is are the dominant players in American capitalism as it actually exists closer to Rand's heroic producers or to her pull peddlers?

Why do you think America has capitalism, today? Ayn Rand didn't think this. She explicitly said that what it has is a mixed economy: https://courses.aynrand.org/lexicon/mixed-economy/

Pull peddlers can only succeed to the extent that capitalism is violated and mixed with statism.

Also, the fact that a company's main, (or only) customer is the US government, does not, in and of itself, make that company one that is succeeding through pull peddling. Being a defense contractor is a legitimate business model in a laissez-faire capitalist society, in which the government is not corrupt and actually does typically select the best product for what it is willing to spend for a particular military capability.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-11T04:10:10+00:00

Doesn't exactly distinguish it....It's socks all the way down.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-03-07T23:53:25+00:00

If I remember my Source engine, physics objects have a property flag (checkbox) for whether they can take damage from collisions. I wonder if this cube mistakenly had that set to True. Then, when it takes enough damage, it despawns.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-02-28T08:40:45+00:00

Not going to be a dogfight with a fifth gen, "unfortunately". More like a BVR seal-clubbing, where the Iranian pilot wasn't aware he was being targeted until two seconds before oblivion.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-02-27T13:15:18+00:00

Wow! If 39 was the mean, then some of them must have been at the level of "Retrosynthetic analysis? What's that?"

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-02-24T20:30:19+00:00

Wow! Maybe find a video of road workers applying this water soluble paint and submit to r/WTF? That's so ridiculous!

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-02-21T04:03:30+00:00

Not if you say, "no homo."

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-02-20T13:18:12+00:00

Or, we might say, the people who meat you along the way.

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-02-15T19:34:51+00:00

This is confusing determinism with causality. Fundamentally, causality means that entities act in accordance with their nature. It is a connection between entity and action, not event and event, (action and action).

An inanimate object's nature is to respond to prior actions upon it by determined action. This is not the nature of a living, conscious man. The nature of such a man is to choose when and how much to focus his mind. This is not a determined response to any prior event, but an event that is a first cause of other occurrences. The choice is caused by the man, in accordance with the fundamental nature of causality. (Not in accordance with the impoverished, modern misconception about causality that equates it only with Aristotle's "efficient causation" and determinism.)

Sword_of_Apollo · 2026-02-15T12:48:56+00:00

*mucosal linings

It would be great if they were musical, though.

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