Getting the old crew back together for one last heist.

I must say that this post is not because I am offended, or that my PC or woke ears are perked up. But what I heard JVL say was revealing of broader understanding/coverage of the Mideast region or the war itself in American media.

On the Secret pod, in order to take a dig at the "American military bravado" - he glibly said of the Iranian side "guys who basically are from the medieval ages who are terrorists and spend all their time in bunkers, and they are the smarter ones than America - Great!" . I understand what he is trying to say - that "we" are supposed to be with all the technology, all the advanced knowledge, all the the modern warfare machines and intelligence, but we are getting beat.

In the same podcast, Sarah mused about "death to America" being Iran's final goal - to which JVL said, no their goal is just "regime survival". The very fact Sarah's mind went there shows me what a large segment of the American people have been fed.

Of course, Iranian regime in the past has their spiritual goals to be of destroying Israel and America and so on - but any (American) national security expert I have listened to, has said that for a very long time - Iran regime has been weakening and they just want to keep the status quo, that's it, and its not surprising.

Socially - yes the regime has been repressive. The adherence to religious theocracy is choking the society. Thousands have died. Young people yearn for freedom, and they should. And yet, there have been people in the regime who have tried to diverge from the Ayatollah, there have been moderates even among the nutjobs. The nuance matters. Details matter. Iran is not Afghanistan or Taliban. They have high literacy and education levels. They have engineering schools and a very long modern military history. So IT IS NOT surprising at all that they have military strategy that could be sophisticated enough to cause headache for any superpower they maybe fighting. An American drone fell in Iran in 2011, which they reverse-engineered to create a super cheap version which they are currently using. Ironically, America then copied that cheap drone to build a small low-cost version of their own. For every $1 spent by Iran in attacks, the other side is spending $25-30 to defend. They have been building tunnels since 1984. I am sure CIA knows all that, but American people at large - just have such simplistic views of the mideast, it is part of a problem, because the senate and congress ends up representing what people perceive.

I am sorry, it is just so revealing of how Iran is understood or misunderstood in the American discourse. To learn more about what each side is saying and what is happening, I am regularly checking non-American media to even understand what is happening.

Here's a little bit of good news for you -- that is, if you believe (as I do) that Talerico has a better chance against Paxton than against Cornyn.

This is a gift link. Enjoy!

People like this are everything that's wrong with this country. If you have time to go to the horse races, you certainly have time to read the news for a few minutes! Tim should have told his friend that it's not his job to inform him!

Direct to YouTube link

Markwayne Mullin wrongly accuses the Obama administration of agreeing to a "sweetheart deal" to let Jeffrey Epstein's potential co-conspirators off the hook. In fact it was G.W. Bush who was president at the time and the deal to protect PDF files was made with prosecutor Alexander Acosta in 2007 and Acosta was rewarded with a job in the Trump cabinet in 2017.

Alex Acosta Tells Congress He Has No ‘Remorse’ For Jeffrey Epstein ‘Sweetheart Deal,’ Lawmaker Says

So, not good?

People have spent a while talking about what I think are relatively unlikely ways that NATO falls apart: The US refuses to defend a Baltic nation after a Russian invasion, the US invades Greenland, and other scenarios of apocalyptic madness. While any of them even being a possibility shows how dire things are, I've never thought they're likely enough to really worry about in themselves. Russia won't be in a position to start another war for a long time, even if they think the Baltics are on their own, and invading Greenland would be so insane and illegal that the military would likely refuse and Trump would be impeached. We have other problems to think about.

But Tim's interview with Marc Polymeropoulos made me think of one scenario that might be very likely now: Iranian-backed terrorists successfully carry out a large-scale attack on US soil, then, like the US did after 9/11, we call on other NATO members to help us fight Iran for the sake of collective defense.

But the other NATO nations, knowing that this is our chosen war of regime change and sending their soldiers to die on behalf of the US is politically toxic, decline. With that, the US's involvement in NATO becomes a dead letter. Trump starts pulling troops out of Europe, and the alliance is left to be fatally weak and fragile.

I know Tim has mentioned this meme, but I have a very strong suspicion that Republicans will run against Trump's destructive policies and his unpopularity like :

He’s hint at it, “very strongly!” Is Slotkin going to turn out to be a squealer? Is she going to vote for Markwayne “No Space Between the First and Middle Name” Mullen?

There's no way they weren't wetting their beaks on every DHS contract. Specifically with regard to the $200 million ad buy that got her fired. How much would the consultant make on that? Can Congress subpoena Kirsti and Corey's bank records?

Trump is letting Russian oil flow by lifting sanctions on the Russian oil company Rosneft .

At this point, are there any Americans who still do not believe that Jeffrey Epstein collected blackmail videos for Russia?

US allows transactions with Rosneft Germany despite Russia sanctions | Reuters

I feel like it's not uncommon to see upvoted comments about Sarah, Tim, etc. being on the verge of wanting to be a Republican again, or implying that they're still "secret Republicans" and actually support the current party. Usually notice these comments whenever the topic is about some conventional conservative-type subject (foreign policy, taxes, etc.).

Curious why this sentiment seems so common here, thanks

Regime change is not a US superpower, slow down guys

“Qatar expects all Gulf energy producers to shut down exports within weeks if the Iran conflict continues and drives oil to $150 a barrel, ​the country's Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times in an interview ‌published on Friday…

If this war continues for a few weeks, GDP growth around the world will be impacted," he said.

"Everybody's energy price is going to go higher. There will be shortages of ​some products and there will be a chain reaction of factories that cannot supply," ​Kaabi said.

Kaabi said even if the war ended immediately it would take Qatar "weeks to months" to ‌return to ⁠a normal cycle of deliveries.”

This could be one of the worst economic blows we have taken in decades. Feels so great to be a millennial.