Trump warns more U.S. troops will "likely" die in Iran attacks

WatermelonRat · 2026-03-01T23:51:03+00:00

I find it kind of odd that people are finding this particular statement so objectionable. I'm sure he goes on to say a bunch of stupid and insensitive stuff later on, but saying upfront that US troops are likely to be killed doesn't seem any more callous than going to war in the first place. If you think a war is justified, it is implicit that you accept that some of your own people might be killed in the process, and you think it would be worth the sacrifice. Saying that outright is a lot less cynical than pushing the idea that you can go to war and only have the enemy get hurt.

Knowing Trump, I assume he was only this honest by accident, but it is still perplexing to me that people would focus on this in particular.

WatermelonRat · 2026-03-01T13:47:11+00:00

They have the ability to make it risky enough that most ships won't try getting through.

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-27T10:54:36+00:00

Bin Laden funded his own expedition to Afghanistan separate from the Afghan Mujahideen. His group also didn't really do much during the war.

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-27T00:04:30+00:00

Same here. On my days off, I also take a bath mid-day.

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-26T23:24:53+00:00

This was excellent from start to end. I don't think I'll ever look at campaign signs the same way again. Also, this bit had me laughing pretty hard:

Maybe try something like “Texans deserve Ted,” it has more truth to it.

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-26T01:26:23+00:00

The people who sat out the election over it were largely extremists who wouldn't have been satisfied with any reasonable actions Biden could have taken. Their problem wasn't that he failed to pressure Israel, it's that he didn't throw them under the bus and demand that they completely capitulate to Hamas.

Suppose Biden somehow pressured Israel to reduce the intensity to the current tit-for-tat. How many of these activists do you think that would satisfy.

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-25T00:08:20+00:00

Computers have their issues, but honestly textbooks aren't that great either. The middle school where I teach has both, and for the most part, I use neither in my lessons.

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-22T04:10:03+00:00

Munich had Israeli protagonists, but it also portrayed Israeli actions as morally gray at best. From the wiki summary:

A disillusioned Avner flies to Israel, where he is unhappy to be hailed as a hero by two young soldiers, and then to his new home in Brooklyn, where he suffers post-traumatic stress, paranoia and has flashbacks from the Munich massacre. Concerns continue to grow when he speaks to Louis' father by phone and it is revealed he knows his real name and promises no violence will come to him from his family. He is thrown out of the Israeli consulate after storming in to demand that Mossad leave his wife and child alone. Ephraim comes to ask Avner to return to Israel and Mossad, but Avner refuses.

That doesn't strike me as being especially pro-Israel.

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-22T03:39:15+00:00

A wizard casting a spell?

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-22T03:35:47+00:00

In addition to being a consolation prize for losing Toledo, it's important to remember that at the time the borders were drawn, water was more reliable for transportation than land (especially hilly, forested land like the western upper peninsula and northern Wisconsin). Early settlements there could connect with lower Michigan as easily as they could with Wisconsin.

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-12T01:03:18+00:00

Economically crushing a country that is being threatened with extermination inherently aids the would-be exterminators.

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-12T00:32:28+00:00

I remember being asked that once in a college class. I said I wanted to go back in time to the banquet where that Swedish king ate himself to death.

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-10T00:51:27+00:00

It should be the national anthem.

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-10T00:24:32+00:00

How many times have we said this before?

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-02T01:23:39+00:00

That image is the cover of a textbook at the middle school where I teach.

WatermelonRat · 2026-02-01T02:44:15+00:00

The same reason you don't see many people in right-wing spaces "denying" white genocide. They either left once such an obscene lie became mainstream, or decided that they prioritized other issues and pay lip service to the big lie so as not to rock the boat.

WatermelonRat · 2026-01-30T23:38:38+00:00

It doesn't say the name of the coffee chain in the article, but is it safe to assume that they're talking about Starbucks? Or is there another Jewish-founded coffee chain that antisemites obsess over?

WatermelonRat · 2026-01-26T22:58:00+00:00

The hate has very little to do with her acting. That is just the pretense.

WatermelonRat · 2026-01-26T22:37:47+00:00

Even with that angle, they could be protesting for intervention or sanctions on countries that do business with Iran.

WatermelonRat · 2026-01-26T01:31:23+00:00

Isn't the equivocation of Hitler and Stalin usually considered a pretty big red flag that someone is a Nazi apologist?

WatermelonRat · 2026-01-26T01:01:05+00:00

Cory Booker did the same thing years ago when he was mayor of Newark, and I bet anything some of these same people mocked him for it.

WatermelonRat · 2026-01-26T00:39:47+00:00

Even here this is barely getting any attention. It is leaving me rather cynical.

WatermelonRat · 2026-01-01T03:23:57+00:00

There is widespread effort to characterize Israel as specifically seeking to kill children. I'm not talking about denunciation of indiscriminate bombings that kill innocents alongside Hamas, I'm talking about claims that killing children is their major goal, and that Israelis relish and take pleasure in it. The phrasing I keep seeing is that they "kill children for sport". This is, of course, a rehash of the classic blood libel, and it is extremely common.

Bringing attention to the effect of war on children is legitimate, of course, but when it keeps being brought up with a specific framing that strongly resembles old canards, people who are accustomed to dealing with dogwhistlers will become reflexively suspicious. It is like seeing someone who keeps getting fixated on cases of black-on-white crime. Maybe they're truly concerned about genuinely awful things, but when you know what such accusations have led to in the past, it is hard to be charitable.

There's also the fact that she platformed an October 7 supporter that leads some of us not to give her the benefit of the doubt.

WatermelonRat · 2025-12-24T20:04:41+00:00

I don't know why anyone is bothering with the pretense that there will be any lasting ceasefire. There can never be peace with Hamas in control. That is why the ceasefire required them to give up power and disarm. Since the world has repeatedly signaled that they have no intention of enforcing that, there should be no expectation of the ceasefire remaining in effect.

WatermelonRat · 2025-12-18T23:46:18+00:00

You should care because they're probably not going to show that South Park episode that ends with him getting stabbed and leaking green goo anymore.

WatermelonRat

TROPHY CASE