What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[mongers]

Back to the good old days when we gave our soldiers meth to keep them awake and in fighting killing shape.

FYP?

[HVC]

Back to the good old days when we gave our soldiers meth to keep them awake and in fighting killing shape.

FYP?

Can't make a war with cracking a few soldiers :shrug:

[Razgovory]

"The technological humiliation of the [Russian] empire continues. It will fall because of Crimea," Brovdi wrote on social media. He said Moscow's shadow fleet, which transports sanctioned oil products around the world, was "noticeably shrinking" and could no longer use the Kerch strait, connecting the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea.

The Sea of Azov is a vital waterway that connects Russia with eastern Europe. It is of crucial economic and military importance to Moscow, which uses it to ship oil, grain and other products such as steel to international markets.

That doesn't sound like ships to transporting war materials to troops.  But certainly, we should prioritize investigation our enemies first.  After the war is over and the danger is past. 

[The Minsky Moment]

"The technological humiliation of the [Russian] empire continues. It will fall because of Crimea," Brovdi wrote on social media. He said Moscow's shadow fleet, which transports sanctioned oil products around the world, was "noticeably shrinking" and could no longer use the Kerch strait, connecting the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea.

The Sea of Azov is a vital waterway that connects Russia with eastern Europe. It is of crucial economic and military importance to Moscow, which uses it to ship oil, grain and other products such as steel to international markets.

That doesn't sound like ships to transporting war materials to troops.  But certainly, we should prioritize investigation our enemies first.  After the war is over and the danger is past. 

The Kerch strait is absolutely vital in supplying Russian occupying troops.  It is entirely legitimate to target it, and the fact that doing so also impacts civilian activities does not undermine that legitimacy as long as the strikes are proportional. 

Thus, for example, the DOD law of war manual (2023, pre-Hegseth), describes legitimate military objectives as potentially including:

• "Transportation objects, including facilities (e.g., port facilities and airfields) and equipment that could be part of lines of communication (e.g., highways, railroads, waterways, and bridges connecting military forces with logistics depots and storage areas)."
• "Economic objects associated with military operations or with war supporting or war-sustaining industries have been regarded as military objectives"
• "Oil refining and distribution facilities and objects associated with petroleum, oil, and lubricant products (including production, transportation, storage, and distribution facilities) have also been regarded as military objectives"

I recall that when I made a similar defense of Israel in the early stages of the Gaza war (i.e. before it was expanded to level the entire territory), you did not take issue with the analysis.

[The Minsky Moment]

But certainly, we should prioritize investigation our enemies first.  After the war is over and the danger is past. 

There is a fundamental difference between the way that Ukraine and Russia have conducted themselves in the war.  One doesn't have to believe that Ukraine has been consistently and perfectly innocent as the driven snow to understand that.

Prioritizing the most serious violations first is common sense and a basic principle of virtually every proper law enforcement body on the planet.  And all the eye rolling in the world doesn't change the facts that the most serious violations have been from the Russian side.

[Razgovory]

They aren't hitting a body of water, they are hitting ships exporting grain and oil to international markets.  That's not a military target.  I don't have a problem hitting duel use or even civilian targets.  I'm not that interested in adhering to legal niceties when doing so would cause whole of Ukraine to be enslaved.  I certainly don't approve Trump's cutting off of weapons to Ukraine.  What I do have a problem is the double standards.  Selective prosecution of laws.

[viper37]

Businesses globally claw back $110 billion after Trump's tariffs deemed unlawful

Overall, $US80 billion ($115 billion) in tariffs has been refunded by the US since May, plus interest at a rate of up to 7 per cent, analysis by Oxford Economics has found.

Over the next year, the same amount is expected to be refunded to businesses globally.

"This is the largest refund issuance that's ever been paid off by the Department of Homeland Security," Grace Zwemmer, of Oxford Economics, said.

The article is from ABC Australia, so the 110 billion$ is a tad misleading given it's AUD.

Still, 80 billion$ this year, 80 billion$ the next one, things are going pretty well for the US.

Hopefully, the profits from the new US-Canada bridge will help smooth out things.   (note: it will be as "profitable" as the average Hollywood movie is).

[The Minsky Moment]

They aren't hitting a body of water, they are hitting ships exporting grain and oil to international markets.  That's not a military target.

You are wrong on two accounts. 

First, Ukraine is not required to verify the precise contents and destination of each and every tanker before conducting a strike.  If they can establish that convoys are used at least in some significant part for military supply purposes and the strikes are reasonably proportional, then the strike is legitimate even if absent a complete cargo manifest.

Second, because Russian occupying forces are requisitioning Ukrainian grain, petro products and minerals to fund their war effort and defray the occupation costs, ships carrying those materials are "economic objects associated with military operations or with war supporting or war-sustaining industries" as described in the DOD manual.

Don't confuse "selective prosecution" with real distinctions under the governing legal standards.  This is the same game the MAGA people play when they it's OK to bring bogus prosecutions against Comey or Schiff because the prior administration brought legit prosecutions against Bannon and J6 rioters.

[crazy canuck]

Wonderful.  A powerful military with unstable leadership and top roid rage troops carrying out their orders.

In an unrelated announcement, Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez were all named to senior Pentagon positions . . .

 

[Razgovory]

They aren't hitting a body of water, they are hitting ships exporting grain and oil to international markets.  That's not a military target.

You are wrong on two accounts. 

First, Ukraine is not required to verify the precise contents and destination of each and every tanker before conducting a strike.  If they can establish that convoys are used at least in some significant part for military supply purposes and the strikes are reasonably proportional, then the strike is legitimate even if absent a complete cargo manifest.

Second, because Russian occupying forces are requisitioning Ukrainian grain, petro products and minerals to fund their war effort and defray the occupation costs, ships carrying those materials are "economic objects associated with military operations or with war supporting or war-sustaining industries" as described in the DOD manual.

Don't confuse "selective prosecution" with real distinctions under the governing legal standards.  This is the same game the MAGA people play when they it's OK to bring bogus prosecutions against Comey or Schiff because the prior administration brought legit prosecutions against Bannon and J6 rioters.

This is nonsense.  If exporting food counts as a "war sustaining industry", then anything does.  You could blow any enterprise  that generates funds for the regime by paying taxes.

And yes, I was very much thinking of Trump's use of selective prosecution.  One standard for my friends one for my enemies.  That is pretty much how we do war crimes.  It's how everyone prosecutes war crimes.

[The Minsky Moment]

This is nonsense.  If exporting food counts as a "war sustaining industry", then anything does. 

No your conclusion does not follow.  It is not merely "exporting food."  It is monetizing war booty expropriated by a conquering army.  As in any hypothetical or actual legal proceeding, the facts matter.

[Syt]

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-will-focus-counterterrorism-efforts-left-wing-groups-rubio-says-2026-07-16/

US will focus counterterrorism efforts on left-wing groups, Rubio says

WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) - Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said the U.S. would focus international counterterrorism efforts on "far-left terror," telling officials from more than 60 countries that leftist violence had been overlooked.

A Washington conference hosted by Rubio has sparked concerns ‌from Democrats that the Trump administration is politicizing counterterrorism efforts and draining resources from fighting extremism on other fronts.

In a speech, Rubio said the Islamic militancy threat was "severely diminished" due to coordinated international efforts but that rising left-wing violence was a "blind spot".

"We can and we must identify and map this threat and rebuild our counterterrorism architecture to defeat it," Rubio said, citing a transnational threat from groups who hate the West and target its politicians and infrastructure.

The conference marks the Trump administration's most significant effort yet to internationalize a counterterrorism focus that critics say is not supported by data, raising questions about whether resources will be shifted away from monitoring Islamic militancy and far-right violence.

President Donald Trump has made countering left-wing groups ⁠a priority. Trump singled out the antifa movement on the campaign trail in 2024, and vowed to take action against left-wing groups he accuses of fomenting violence after the killing of conservative activist and Trump ally Charlie Kirk last year.

The Trump administration convened a law enforcement workshop in May to discuss the threat of far-left groups and would co-host a second workshop with Germany, Rubio said.

"We will either cooperate across our borders, or the terrorists will continue to exploit the gaps between them," Rubio said. "The United States is building the infrastructure, the partnership and the strategy to defeat the scourge of far-left terror."

Since November, Washington has designated four European groups — Antifa Ost, the Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front, Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense — as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, offering rewards of up to $10 million for information on their financing.

The U.S. Treasury is expanding probes into the use of charitable and nonprofit structures to hide foreign influence and allow violence, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the conference on Thursday.

'EXTREMISTS WITHIN THE ADMINISTRATION'

Eleven Democratic lawmakers wrote to Rubio on Wednesday questioning the evidence for the new focus on left-wing groups ‌and called ⁠the White House's May counterterrorism strategy, which did not mention neo-Nazi or other far-right groups, a "politically partisan document."

The letter, obtained by Reuters, referred to concerns that designating groups as far-left terror organizations risked targeting lawful protests and political opponents.

"We strongly urge the Department to return its focus to a serious mission set that is definitionally apolitical, data-driven, and rooted in reality, instead of rubberstamping the political priorities of extremists within the Administration whose views and policies put U.S. national security – and the American people – at risk," wrote the lawmakers.

The lawmakers included Representative Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on ⁠Foreign Affairs, and William Keating, the ranking member of the subcommittee on Europe.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

At the conference, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said leftists were driven by "envy and hatred" and derided antifa demonstrators as "all deformed in some way, in their appearance, in their dress, in their mannerism".

"Why is there not one normal-looking person among ⁠them? Every one of them, through the course of their life and their decisions, has scarred their body and their appearance in many different ways to the point in which their outer appearance becomes a manifestation of their inner hatred," Miller said.

Rubio in his speech cited property damage and looting during demonstrations after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd as an ⁠example of left-wing violence that had been ignored, arguing that think tanks and journalists often agree with the goals of left-wing militants.

Rubio also said left-wing groups work with foreign states hostile to the U.S., citing Iranian proxy networks as "increasingly intimately tied to leftist militant groups around the world," though he did not provide evidence of such links. He also accused Cuba's Communist leaders of having "helped build the far left" in the United States, without offering evidence to support the claim.

[The Brain]

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said leftists were driven by "envy and hatred"

They envy my rugged good looks.

[crazy canuck]

I mean the United States can't have any anti-fascists around as they become fascist

[Valmy]

I guess I don't see how this is different from what the US government has done for the past 70 years.

At some point DC will just declare all humans terrorists.