[TDoS]

Unfortunately, not getting anything done while the wars in Europe and MENA continue to escalate isn't a very good option either.

Of course. Such is American politics. Not getting things done afflicts both the Democans and Republicrats. Folks thinking there is much of a difference between them just aren't familiar with how the American political oligarchy system works.

With all the rest of the nonsense ongoing with the AI Bubble, the debt and Interest rates and inflation, the CONgress get mired in Impeachment hearings will make it impossible to do anything that might put the brakes on the chaos.

Well, change requires a beginning. Getting the Orange One out of the system is step 1.

Hard to predict how it will all workout, but it won't end well.
RE

"Well" is a relative term. "Won't end well" is like a mantra in doomer-sphere. The Sun is getting lighter.... 4 million tons per second....of course there is no "ending well". I suppose what would be better, and far more accurate, would be, "...and this won't end well...even though it ended okay all those other tiems, THIS time..we MEAN it!"

[RE]

The Sun is getting lighter.... 4 million tons per second....

The mass of the Sun is not a matter of discussion here. Your obsession with this irrelevant factoid is a strawman and a violation of the CoC.  Cooler.

RE

[RE]

To keep Americans from being sent over there could take a damn rebellion.  The next move will be for Pox News to sell the heartland on their patriotic duty to restore order and peace to the world.  America's prosperity is at risk.  Only by going to Iran and kicking Persian butt can inflation come down.

It is a hard sell, but will America buy it?

They probably will.  Bicameral cognition got him elected after all, and now his problem is America's problem. 

The voices of the gods say rise up, the homeland could be next.  Duty calls.  That he is the source of all the trouble is irrelevant.

They will use the broken pipe and the dear oil to say we must fight the Persians to keep the bread cheap and the ships moving.[/color]

The only way to possibly get enough boots on the ground over there would be conscription.  The Draft doesn't sell here until the fuel shortage is extreme or food prices double or triple.  The Europeans have to go first also.

The other issue is the CHINESE.  I can't see them allowing FSoA takeover of Iran.

RE

[RE]

THEHILL.COM 2026-09-20

Trump on Iran: ‘My question is, if and when do I blow the entire nation up?’

President Trump has repeatedly threatened to devastate Iran, contemplating options from total destruction to economic pressure or diplomacy, while downplaying rising global energy costs linked to regional tensions. His volatile rhetoric contrasts with ongoing diplomatic engagements, as U.S. allies and lawmakers express concern over the financial and human toll of prolonged conflict.

What did I tell you?  What's the odds he pushes the button?  I go 70-30.

RE

[K-Dog]

I liked the animation.   But it would take up twenty times the space to store and image storage is at the edge of what is reasonable now.  The average Doomscroll image thumbnail runs a bit over 100KB.  That does not seem like much until you start collecting 100 a day.  We have thousands of images.  They are not links.  Each article card owns one.

You may also notice descriptions may change on articles.  We have a lot of descriptions I want re-written so regarding description content expect change.  It is all my bitch.  The summary generator we have is pretty good, and we all have the entire rest of a post to bovate. 

The cards themselves belong to the Diner, by having control over the model I can control bias in the descriptions to a degree.

[RE]

That's why on my old site I didn't store vids or animations, just embedded them.  Downside is if the link goes out, you lose it.  Most of those gifs though have been up for years.

RE

[K-Dog]

That's why on my old site I didn't store vids or animations, just embedded them.  Downside is if the link goes out, you lose it.  Most of those gifs though have been up for years.

RE

Having links for the article pics would be lame. It also would not work well because all the links would be coming from all over the place with different timings.  With one server you only have one connection, which if you are not out of luck will work.  Imagine if all the pics came from different locations.  One or two pictures I have not processed yet, and maybe you don't notice.  If fifty came from different places then you will notice.  Some will be missing.  Having everything the same size also makes loading easy.

30,000 articles at 100K each puts us at 3GB now.  Right now new users only see a tip of an iceberg.  I will add new features to make for a better browsing experience than the inversely time weighted random shuffle we do now.  So far we use a smallish language model of storage.  If thumbnails were bigger the storage would not be quite so inconsequential.  It would be a bigger deal.

[K-Dog]

TASNIMNEWS.IR 2026-09-21

Iranian Forces Down US Drones over Strait of Hormuz

Iranian military forces downed two U.S. drones over the Strait of Hormuz using indigenous air defense systems. The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps reported destroying an MQ-1 drone long associated with operations in Afghanistan, while the Army confirmed the interception of an Orbiter reconnaissance drone. Both incidents occurred under Iran’s integrated air defense network amid claims that the U.S. has resumed deploying older drones due to losses of newer models.

TASNIMNEWS.IR 2026-09-14

Pezeshkian Warns of US Plots to Sow Discord, Calls for National Unity

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned of U.S. efforts to incite division and weaken national unity, asserting that solidarity is vital to resisting American pressure. He condemned U.S. and Israeli actions as violent and hypocritical, particularly targeting civilians and leaders, while praising Iran’s growing ties with neighboring nations through land-based cooperation despite maritime restrictions.

I wonder what the bully is up to.  The midterms are coming, which should be distracting.  Good - leave the beach alone where America has no business being anyway.

Iran's growing ties with neighboring nations is their Charles Atlas answer.

To the global bully.

[K-Dog]

IRANINTL.COM 2026-09-27

Why Trump said no to Iran’s Hormuz proposal

Iran aims to use its influence over the Strait of Hormuz to gain sanctions relief, but the United States has minimized reliance on Tehran by maintaining maritime flow through military support and diplomatic efforts. Washington delays concessions, seeing disruption as manageable and political timing advantageous. Both sides remain entrenched, unwilling to compromise first, worsening Iran’s economic strain and regional isolation despite ongoing dialogue.

-> Washington delays concessions, seeing disruption as manageable and political timing advantageous.  That people have lives to live Trump gives no fucks about.  Motherfuckers!  Iran wants none of this bullshit.  Iran wants peace.  I am ashamed of what America has become.  Goose-stepping drones, all of you!

[RE]

NYTIMES.COM 2026-10-02

Fighting Intensifies in Yemen, Raising Fresh Fears of All-Out War

Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, was bombarded overnight, after government forces reported some of the most intense clashes in years around Taiz, the country’s third largest city.

Inching closer to WWIII.

RE

[TDoS]

NYTIMES.COM 2026-10-02

Fighting Intensifies in Yemen, Raising Fresh Fears of All-Out War

Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, was bombarded overnight, after government forces reported some of the most intense clashes in years around Taiz, the country’s third largest city.

Inching closer to WWIII.

RE

Because of Yemen? It is one thing to get the usual regional conflict as various true believers of Caine and Abel but launching a WWIII seems like quite a stretch. 

[RE]

No, because the War between Yemen & Saudi adds to the war between Israel & Iran, and the Yemenis are allied with the Somalis across the straight in Africa, bringing another continent into the expanding conflict.  That conflict hooks to the Ruskie-Ukie war in the Caspian Sea, while NATO countries are getting incursions by Ruskie drones as well.  In Africa you also have conflict growing in Ethiopia and Kenya.

RE

[TDoS]

No, because the War between Yemen & Saudi adds to the war between Israel & Iran, and the Yemenis are allied with the Somalis across the straight in Africa, bringing another continent into the expanding conflict.That conflict hooks to the Ruskie-Ukie war in the Caspian Sea, while NATO countries are getting incursions by Ruskie drones as well.  In Africa you also have conflict growing in Ethiopia and Kenya.
RE

I see. Best described as "make a mountain out of a molehill" theory of geopolitical doom. Or butterfly wing effect, instead of hurricane in the GOM, but a super-region war.

I think you had a better chance a decade ago at being right about Elon going bankrupt on Tesla. I'll go with the current hypotheisis being far less likely than that one. 

[RE]

Same reason the FSoA hasn't gone bankrupt yet.  Unlimited credit.

The Saudis are sending 100,000 Grunts to take the coast back from the Houthis.  That's a mighty big molehill.

RE

[RE]

THEINTERCEPT.COM 2026-10-28

The Incredible Shrinking Superpower

The retreat of U.S. military influence in the Middle East has enabled Iran and Yemen’s Ansarullah forces to challenge regional bases and disrupt global energy markets. Saudi Arabia’s exposure to attacks highlights Western limitations, while the withdrawal from key installations marks a historic shift. The conflict reflects Iranian resistance, Yemeni nationalism, and the enduring failure of American intervention to achieve lasting stability or reliable alliances.

Good overview of the collapse of military power projection in MENA as a result of Chumps failed wars on Iran.  What this means is that the FSoA has a vastly reduced ability to control the politics in this area of the world, and in conjuction with that the economics on the energy trade.

Military intervention over the last 60 years since Vietnam has shown time and again that it fails against any but the smallest and weakest of adversaries.  Even in the few cases it was marginally succesful, the cost and the time involved makes the overall benefit questionable.  With the advent of cheap drones and missiles available even to smaller countries andnon-state actors, the situation has only become more pronounced over time.

Unfortunately, War Hawks and Profiteers refuse to learn this lesson, so the strategy keeps being tried over and over again.  Underlying this is the fact that Capitalism doesn't work without an enforcement arm that allows one side to profit at the expense of another.  They won't sell you their resources at the price you wanna pay?  Bomb them until they have an attitude adjustment. lol.

The best alternative at this point is to just pull back and focus on more fairly distributing our own resources and solving our own social and economic problems and stop trying to steal from everybody else.  Wishful thinking, of course.

RE