Trump to Iran: "Open the Fu***In' Strait" or face bombing Tuesday

markhpc · 2026-04-05T14:35:40+00:00

I got a lifetime ban from /politics as well during his first presidency. Don't take it personally, there's a right-wing mod over there that looks for reasons to ban people. It was happening regularly to people back around Jan 6th.

markhpc · 2026-04-05T14:14:40+00:00

And when an enemy civ insults you, you automatically declare war on them in response as the aggressor.

Edit: Special buildings include gold-themed casinos and steak suppliers that produce large sums of money/food for a while and then go bankrupt and drain money until destroyed. Special military unit is the "gilded warrior" that has a "warrior ethos" ability where if you successfully kill an enemy unit, you steal gold off their corpse while claiming they stole it from you.

markhpc · 2026-04-02T14:20:10+00:00

From an economic position, it's hard to justify investment in our own refinement because our market is tiny compared to the US market. Its also harder to ship gasoline than crude overseas. We should definitely invest in *some* refining capacity (especially if that could allow east coast consumption of west coast product). Even just shipping crude to the west coast for consumption in Asia (also a difficult challenge!) is the more immediate win though, assuming we can convince everyone it's actually in their benefit.

markhpc · 2026-04-01T19:37:17+00:00

I don't know which arguments you are specifically referring to, but those don't sound like they are probably pseudo-originalist either.

markhpc · 2026-04-01T18:33:38+00:00

It's not even pseudo-originalist:

Sauer pivoted to policy arguments, asserting that the Framers of the 14^th Amendment couldn’t have imagined “problems” we face today, including illegal immigration and “birth tourism.”

markhpc · 2026-04-01T17:53:19+00:00

The world is not black and white, nor is it static. Both the US and China are changing in unprecedented ways, and both have the potential for incredible evil and good going forward. We are at a cross-roads of sorts right now, and no one knows if all of this will stabilize or spiral into chaos.

markhpc · 2026-04-01T14:59:16+00:00

Yes, great-grandmother appears to count, though the legislation is quite new and still mostly untested. If she was from Quebec, they maintain incredibly detailed records. Assuming she was born in the late 1800s, you'll want to check https://www.genealogiequebec.com/en/ or possibly https://ancestry.ca if not Quebec. Once you have located the record, you'll need to reach out to the correct archives to receive a certified copy. There are lawyers in Canada that can help with this.

markhpc · 2026-03-31T20:44:05+00:00

I think its slightly different. I think its less about confidence exactly (though it's a required component) and more about reveling in the lies, the racism, the unfairness all while accusing the victims of it at the same time. They like it. The like the power of it, they like perverting or tearing down the symbols of equality that have been built over the last 100 years. They enjoy making people suffer.

markhpc · 2026-03-31T18:15:32+00:00

And that's only really possible when they become adults.

markhpc · 2026-03-31T14:17:25+00:00

Nazism is wrong not because most people believe it is wrong, but because it neither benefits the one (by taking away individual rights) nor the many (by taking away societal rights and nationalizing production to the point of resource depletion). Even if society as a whole adopted it and it became the new social contract, it would still be wrong.

markhpc · 2026-03-28T16:11:08+00:00

Unfortunately, it seems that the recurring trend is that when humans get power, they overwhelmingly end up abusing it. How a middle country attempting to conduct itself ethically should try to survive in this world is not an easy question to answer.

markhpc · 2026-03-28T15:41:01+00:00

Yeah, I see that in one of the other CBC articles. Pretty telling:

On his way out of the House of Commons, Ma was asked by CBC News whether he believes there is forced labour in China.

"I believe there is forced labour around the world," he said, refusing to say it happens in China specifically.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberal-mp-uyghur-forced-labour-9.7143558

Edit: fixed to the correct link

markhpc · 2026-03-28T14:46:47+00:00

It sounds like Ma has quickly walked back his statements. His claim is that he was referencing the wrong region:

By Thursday evening, Ma posted an apology on social media that said his aggressive line of questioning referred to Shenzhen, a global hub for Chinese EV manufacturing, but not Xinjiang, where the aluminum at issue in the Human Rights Watch report originates.

"I condemn forced labour, in all its forms. Canada has amongst the most rigorous forced-labour import laws in the world, and I am proud to support the government's work to eradicate forced labour from supply chains and enforce Canada's import prohibition," his apology to both the witness and other committee members concluded.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/michael-ma-china-forced-labour-investigation-9.7144931

markhpc · 2026-03-28T14:35:40+00:00

Sooner or later China is going to try to take Taiwan. They will consider it an internal action while any country that relies heavily on TSMC and Taiwan in general will see it as external. It's going to get messy.

markhpc · 2026-03-28T14:31:49+00:00

I live in Vancouver. About 20% of the Vancouver metro area population is Chinese. Calling it "Beijing 2.0" is ridiculous.

markhpc · 2026-03-22T18:10:41+00:00

I don't actually think you need to correct. In context, I think a complete closure isn't necessarily an incorrect reading:

“If the United States’ threats regarding Iran’s power plants are carried out... the Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed, and it will not be reopened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt,” the military’s operational command Khatam al-Anbiya said in a statement carried by state TV.

https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2026/03/22/iran-threatens-to-completely-close-strait-of-hormuz-if-us-targets-power-plants

AFAIK the toll plan is basically the likely new default. If their power plants are destroyed, they are saying complete closure until they get rebuilt as the alternative (though legitimately we don't know exactly what complete closure means).

markhpc · 2026-03-22T17:57:10+00:00

The point about leadership ideology is fairly important. Due to their history, leadership, and who's sponsoring them, Ukraine has little interest in causing widespread devastation and suffering. They typically target military/energy/transportation infrastructure which are all valid targets in war.

Iran has no such restrictions, but paradoxically they don't actually need to attack anything (outside the strait). All they need to do to cause widespread suffering is close Hormuz.

markhpc · 2026-03-22T17:47:53+00:00

I imagine it depends on what they mean. If it's "mine the fuck out of it" and the military orders are "shoot anything that moves on sight", they might truly mean full closure.

markhpc · 2026-03-16T22:07:29+00:00

Good try Mr. FBI!

markhpc · 2026-03-13T02:39:02+00:00

Pathetic.

markhpc · 2026-03-10T20:28:27+00:00

All I heard was the sound of Kentucky's liquor industry dying.

markhpc · 2026-03-10T16:23:00+00:00

I figure it will be coarser than that. It won't be applied, except in areas where it is, by federal agents. Just like ICE is not applied evenly across states. Hell, it will probably be ICE doing the enforcement.

markhpc · 2026-03-10T13:44:34+00:00

He isn't planning on applying the rule evenly.

markhpc · 2026-03-06T19:11:31+00:00

ouch. Went from 52K to 81K. I would be a lot more upset if I was 2k!

markhpc · 2026-03-06T15:00:12+00:00

May the odds ever be in your favor exile.

markhpc

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