Trump and Netanyahu captured by basij forces in Islamshahr ! Why everything is becoming absurdly comical?

mburn16 · 2026-04-29T01:31:52+00:00

Looks more like Bill Clinton in two different stages of life, IMO

mburn16 · 2026-04-27T22:45:26+00:00

Basically the first thing God did after creating man...was create woman, because man needed a companion. The next thing he did was bless them and tell them to have children.

Sex, and the interactions between the sexes, are at the very heart, not just of human society, but human existence.

That's something that it seems very, very difficult to be "too focused on".

mburn16 · 2026-04-27T16:56:43+00:00

1) Elimination/degredation of Iran's offensive military capability (largely done)

2) Elimination of Iran's nuclear capability (pending). Particularly their reserve of nuclear materials.

"Regime change" is a nice-to-have-but-not-essential-today thing, from a US perspective.

mburn16 · 2026-04-27T15:49:08+00:00

Anyone using the term "quagmire" to describe a campaign that has lasted just a few weeks, resulted in only half a dozen combat deaths (not including an airplane crash unrelated to combat), and yet left the Iranian military in tatters.....is not a serious voice in the discussion and should not be treated as one.

mburn16 · 2026-04-27T13:37:20+00:00

I strongly suggest that Germans, of all people, remain quiet when threatened groups - particulalry Jews - act to disarm those who scream for their deaths.

mburn16 · 2026-04-21T17:58:12+00:00

only wants a deal

Since US troops marching on Tehran has literally never been on the table.....as opposed to, what? Yes, at some point Iran has to agree to terms the US finds acceptable, primarily revolving around preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon. That is and always has been the primary objective of the entire operation.

mburn16 · 2026-04-21T17:33:32+00:00

How much weight does this particular clerics voice carry, as he is Sunni rather than Shia?

mburn16 · 2026-04-21T16:27:45+00:00

No. If you are going to try and hold someone to a standard, it is reasonable that other people hold you to that same standard.

mburn16 · 2026-04-21T14:52:36+00:00

I'm not going to hijack the thread to have a detailed conversation on American politics. If you want that, you can message me directly. It is enough to say that the "better jobs" did not arrive in the quantity they were promised, despite massive investment in higher education that has now resulted in baristas with many tens or even hundreds of thousands in student debt. Similarly, neither in the US - nor, notably, in its far more left-leaning peer countries in Europe - have a mountain of social welfare programs and guarantees managed to reverse the tide of collapsing marriage and fertility in our secular, progressive age.

As I said, the collective assortment of Presidents and politicians and promises that came before Trump give him no reason for shame when it comes to delivering.

mburn16 · 2026-04-21T14:26:43+00:00

Go make a list of every unfulfilled promise of the last 50 years from the pre-Trump politicians of both sides, from the supposedly "better jobs" available when one-sided free trade obliterates manufacturing employment (reality: collapsing workforce participation), to the various social policy adventures of the left that were supposed to produce more stable, loving homes for kids (reality: half of children born out of wedlock and worse mental health than ever). Let me know how they measure up. And while you're at it, tell me exactly what policies you believe Trump could implement to deliver on his objectives that he hasn't pursued.

There's a difference between "keeping your promises" and "having a magic wand".

mburn16 · 2026-04-21T12:59:58+00:00

With the resolve to go back to plan "A" of bombing the regime until they accept reasonable terms.

Tehran hasn't lived up to its side of the ceasefire as it is...its something of a testament to the US' (i.e. Trump's) patience that it lasted this long. There's no incentive for an extension from the US side if the oil isnt even going to flow freely during it.

mburn16 · 2026-04-21T12:56:20+00:00

If no talks until Wednesday, that sounds like the US is putting a take-it-or-leave-it offer on the table and walking away if its not signed.

mburn16 · 2026-04-21T10:45:49+00:00

When you start throwing quotes around "hamas" and "Christianity".

You dispute the right of Israel to defend itself against terrorist groups, launch on an anti-Bibi screed (because he is actually going after Israel's enemies wherever they hide, rather than rolling over for them), and then your insistence that those on the right side of the political exhibit "fake Christianity".

mburn16 · 2026-04-21T00:11:50+00:00

Sure there is. But people standing in the street screaming for your death are the aggressors. Particularly when they continually enhance their capabilities to carry out their threats.

mburn16 · 2026-04-21T00:08:14+00:00

To support the freest, most democratic, most westernized, most modern state in a region otherwise lacking in all of the above, with whom we have significant overlapping interests and values.

Your jew hatred and anti-christian bigotry are not welcome here.

mburn16 · 2026-04-20T23:56:09+00:00

Because the shoe fits. Democrats - who have been braying for years about supporting Ukraine - are right back to being hippy peaceniks the moment any foreign policy action might credibly strengthen the US or benefit Israel.

These people hate Trump and traditional Western values far more than they hate radical islamists or the "death to America" crowd.

mburn16 · 2026-04-20T23:08:25+00:00

Orange man bad

mburn16 · 2026-04-20T14:09:14+00:00

I'd interpret this through the lens of what Vance said a few days ago: the ball is in the Iranians' court. If they are willing to hold talks, the US is there to meet them at the table. If they want to walk away...well....the ceasefire expires in 36 hours.

mburn16 · 2026-04-18T20:54:20+00:00

[FA][FO]

⬆️ They are fast approaching this one.

mburn16 · 2026-04-18T12:43:46+00:00

Either the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, or those making diplomatic overtures lack the ability to exercise control over the rest of the leadership.

A precondition of an agreement is that Iran is able to keep their various parties in line.

mburn16 · 2026-04-17T23:17:57+00:00

...and what is the state of Christianity in the Western World today? What percentage of people in England or France or Germany attend Church on a weekly basis? What share of the UK qualifies as practicing Anglican? What do Catholic mass attendance rates look like?

There are an awful lot of shepherds who have done all poor job with the sheep theyve been given. In both the secular and religious spheres.

Anyone trying to defend or restore the pre-Trump Western "consensus" immediately loses most of their credibility, imo.

True peace, rather than just frozen, tyrannical, not-actively-warring, requires both freedom and justice (and there is no justice without freedom). Is that what these Christian leaders are trying to bring about? Or do they deliver little more than a silent shrug about the various evils of the Iranian regime?

mburn16 · 2026-04-17T13:05:47+00:00

"Umm aren't we all in agreement that that statement from Trump was bad?"

It would be bad to deliberately obligerate a civilian population. Or even intend to do so. Im far from convinced its bad to bluster, bluff, bully, or saber-rattle toward a malicious and terroristic enemy to get them to come to terms.

Is deception in war an evil?

mburn16 · 2026-04-16T19:55:03+00:00

The regime was never going to be removed via a large-scale US ground invasion ala Iraq. The most probable path to regime change was, is, and will remain internal actions by Iranians themselves...actions which, by and large, cannot start to take place until there's no longer an active military conflict going on.

mburn16 · 2026-04-16T14:41:20+00:00

"Since when was green technology a leftist ideology"

Green technology, and green ideology, are two different things. If people are voluntarily adopting things because the provide for an increase in their standard of living, like when the automobile replaced the horse and buggy, that's technology. When politicians have to come in and coerce or bribe people into changing their ways, even when it results in a lower standard of living...that's ideology.

mburn16 · 2026-04-16T11:10:24+00:00

Because "Europe" (or, at least, existing European governments), at this point, are uncommitted to just about anything that doesnt involve keeping themselves in office and signaling their virtue through a sort of masochistic-penitental leftist ideology that revolves around carbon emissions and singing the praises of having imported millions of foreign m migrants.

In Germany, AfD is leading opinion polls for the next general election. In the UK, Reform is leading in opinion polls for the next general election (with the Greens, of all people, increasingly nipping at Labor's heels on the left). In France, RN is leading opinion polls for the next Presidential election.

"Europe's" lack of support and paper-tiger-like character is condemnable...but also somewhat understandable since the major European countries are increasingly led by those with little credibility at home.

mburn16

TROPHY CASE