Sunday Morning Book Thread - 6-15-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(HT: CBD)

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (they say confession is good for the soul). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(calamine lotion not included)

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

Oh, and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! Some joker moved it on the calendar this year...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (282) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 15 June 2025

Top Story

• The root cause of the huge Google Cloud / Clouflare outage a couple of days ago. (Google)
  
  A null pointer set a Google service into a boot loop when a change was applied without an appropriate policy set. The missing policy should have been caught and the update rejected, but wasn't, because everything is nightmarishly complicated.
  
  
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (203) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Night "Club ONT" June 14, 2025 [The 3 Ds]

Welcome to Club ONT! A collaboration of your Sunday through Wednesday ONT Crew - The Disco, The Doggo, and The Dino. You're in! And look fabulous! There is no turning back now. Grab a chair or mingle with the questionable characters - they have a bunch of inside jokes that make little sense. Remember to clear your search history.

[Top photo: Today is Flag Day. Celebrate accordingly.]

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (561) | Trackbacks (Suck)

I Can't Handle It: Re-Examining A Few Good Men and the Writing of Aaron Sorkin [Lex]

A film school professor of mine often asked, “What is a movie you are supposed to like but cannot stand?” His answer: Federico Fellini’s 8 ½. He found the main character Guido execrable, and all of Fellini’s magical realism could not cast a spell to overcome his dislike of the lead.

There are many foreign, art, and independent films I know I am supposed to admire. But let’s face it: you need a lot of patience to watch Tarkovsky or Warhol or Cassavetes or Bresson.

In the Hollywood canon of all-time greats, there are movies I find slow or unengaging (Apocalypse Now, The Apartment), but I still respect them.

But after all these years (I graduated film school in 199, there has been no highly praised movie I could not abide. Until recently.

And that is A Few Good Men.
***

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:30 PM | Comments (411) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hobby Thread - June 14, 2025 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it decided to celebrate nostalgic toys a year of hobby threading with TRex! We'll leave the board games and legos for another time and focus on other toys for this thread.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:30 PM | Comments (214) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Open thread, news of the day

War moves, assassinations, etc. No pets, gardening, recipes, etc.

Posted by: K.T. at 04:33 PM | Comments (380) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ace of Spades Pet Thread, June 14

Courtesy Misanthropic Humanitarian

* * *

Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Thanks for stopping by. Kick back and enjoy the world of animals.

Would you like a treat?

Let's relax a little with the animals and leave the world of politics and current events outside today.

Posted by: K.T. at 03:07 PM | Comments (47) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, June 14

Hello! A short thread as I get re-oriented to the big outdoor world! I've missed you. Thanks for all the help from the COBs!

Hope everyone is doing well.

Hey KT,

Glad you are back at it again and hopefully feeling good.

Saw in today's garden thread a hibiscus discussion. I have a little story about this one. When we first moved here to Wee Kreek Holler, we put a garden in off the living room patio. One of the first plants I bought for the area was a lavender hibiscus bush. It did very well and grew to be quite large, and then about 8-9 years later, it up and died. Not sure if that was its life span or it got tired of the unrelenting death star beating down on it. But before it croaked I managed to harvest some seeds after it bloomed. I have had those seeds for over 10 years now and I had tried planting them here and there and never any luck. This year I was cleaning out my seed storage and decided I would throw all the seeds I had left of the lavender hibiscus into a pot and if I got one, great, if not I wouldn't have to stare at that seed envelope any more. Lo and behold the plant Gods smiled down on me and one took. It just bloomed yesterday. I will have to transplant it out of the pot soon but I was very happy to have another one. I enjoyed it very much the first time and I am sure I will enjoy it as much this time around.
Never give up Horde, sometimes 10 year old seeds will surprise you!

WeeKreekFarmGirl

Never give up!

We have a lot of Hibiscus and their relatives among The Horde.

Posted by: K.T. at 12:52 PM | Comments (94) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Minor Appreciations of Civilization

Well, it's been a while since I posted, with some life complications along the way. I had open heart surgery a while ago. I still can't drive and some of our household equipment and parts of automotive equipment have decided to die. Then on Thursday, hubby fell among cut-throats in an operating room. Things are a little better now but don't expect great thoughts today.

Thanks to our wonderful COBS and to all of you in The Horde. I've missed you!

We are blessed by family and friends, too.

Anyway, there's a lot going on in California and the world right now, but sometimes the larger culture seems less important than at other times. There's only so much you can pay attention to at one time these days.

I'm kind of happy that there are people who pay attention to the "larger" culture. Long-term trends in culture affect the daily (it seems) changes which dominate the news these days.

But my mind hasn't been much on the development of ancient culture lately. Forget the riots and other stupidities of a moment. There are people out there who don't pay much attention to them. Sometimes we count on these people, even the ones we don't know.

Posted by: K.T. at 11:02 AM | Comments (343) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Case For Military Parades [Diogenes]

There is growing opposition to this weekend’s Army Birthday Parade…ordered by President Trump. Apparently because he ordered it, his opposition is finding all kinds of excuses to complain about it. It costs too much, it disrupts soldiers’ holiday weekend, it’s really about Trump as it is his birthday too. Hogwash.

These people are wrong.

Here’s why.

America needs this parade and frankly it needs more of them. Today’s military is drawn from a remarkably small percentage of the American public. Only about 1% of Americans are currently serving and only about 6% identify as Veterans. The result of this is an America that does not identify with the military, cannot understand what it does, and, sadly, many just don’t care. Whatever they need to know about the military, Hollywood will teach them. Parades can change this. It is an opportunity for thousands of citizens to see what an artillery piece looks like, what a tank sounds like, and what an MRAP looks like in the street. It allows citizens to see soldiers marching, looking sharp and standing tall. America meet your Army.

It is a training opportunity. The President gave an order. It will be carried out. Staffs begin planning. Units are alerted to begin preparations to participate. They will need to plan for travel, shipping of the vehicles, feeding, housing, and care of the troops. They will need to plan for time to set up, rehearse, and inspect. They will need spare parts for maintenance, special training for specific units, and leaders need time to check each soldier involved. In short, deploying to a parade in Washington DC (or anywhere else) is not that different from deploying to, say, the National Training Center for a month of training. It is just another mission to accomplish.

Further, it isn’t an excessive cost. The troops are going to be doing many of these things anyway, whether on their Post or in the field. They will still get paid. They will still eat. They will still have a place to sleep. Leaders will still be checking their soldiers. Maintenance expenses are factored into annual training forecasts. The only real delta in the budget is travel and that isn’t a huge cost, given the payoff. In short, the majority of the budget for the parade is sunk cost.

But there is a huge upside. Yes, troops will bitch about this stuff. It will be a couple of weeks of hurry up and wait. Multiple inspections, spot corrections, last minute changes, and boredom. But when the marching begins, most troops stand a bit straighter and take pride in their units. The soldiers I knew who did a major parade like this were in the DC parade after Desert Storm. All of them told me it was a real pain in the butt. But they also said that afterwards they were very glad to be a part of it. “Sir, it was a huge party!” Children coming up and giving a soldier a bouquet of flowers, strangers shaking their hands, hundreds of civilians saying thank you, and best of all, they never had to buy their own drinks.

Lastly, a parade is a huge recruiting event. When I commanded a Recruiting Company, any time I could get some equipment into a high school or a local civic event, I did so. The results were always positive and some were incredible.

America needs to renew its acquaintance with its soldiers. And soldiers need to see who it is they are fighting for. We cannot let this bond be broken.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:30 AM | Comments (307) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival

[H/T TRex]

I would stop there just to get a cup of coffee because of their clever name. I'm guessing if they put that much thought into their name, the coffee has to be fine as well.

Now we before we enter the Prayer Revival, just a few house keeping matters to take care of. (Rulz for those of you in Delevan)

1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be kind, be nice. Even the trolls have warped feelings.
3) No. Don't even think about it. No. No running with sharp objects.
4) Have a nice weekend!

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 08:09 AM | Comments (285) | Trackbacks (Suck)

EMT

Is it morning or is it Memorex?

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 06:47 AM | Comments (164) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 14 June 2025

Top Story

• How Palm died for a second time. (Substack)
  
  Written by Phil McKinney, who was the CTO of Hewlett Packard at the time HP bought and then promptly murdered Palm.
  
  The CEO at the time of the acquisition was fired by the board before HP's new PalmOS products could launch, and the new CEO wanted nothing to do with hardware, and killed the entire lineup seven weeks after launch.
  
  While the CTO was out recovering from emergency surgery.
  
  And the new CEO was in turn fired by the board just months later, after spending $10 billion on British software company Autonomy and then being forced to write down its value by 80%.

  My first day back at HP will be burned into my memory forever. I was simply trying to grab lunch in the cafeteria at HP Labs when I found myself surrounded by what felt like the entire technical staff. They weren't there to welcome me back - they were there to hold me accountable.

  The scene was intense and unambiguous. Engineers and researchers who had watched the WebOS disaster unfold were pointing fingers and raising voices. Their message was crystal clear and brutal: "You can never take leave again - EVER!"

  Their exact words still echo in my mind: "The CEO and board need adult supervision."

  Indeed they did. Those were dark days at Hewlett Packard.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (82) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Brevity Is The Soul Of The ONT

Howdy folks! Before we get to the memes, let's take a quick peek at how things are going in Tehran:

Posted by: WeirdDave at 10:00 PM | Comments (462) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Army Anniversary Cafe

Sometimes you just gotta get on your moped with your goat.

Owl shows off his beer muscles.

Crystal clear and yet green lake in India.

This dog doesn't just play soccer. He holds his own selfie-stick to film himself playing soccer.

Hyraxes, the evil river otters of the capybara family.

Cows love two things: thick grass and smooth jazz.

A mama cat lost her baby, so her owner got a new kitten for her. Here's her reaction.

This baby kangaroo is just too cute.

Little dog wants smoochers.

Sometimes parents have to think outside of the box to entertain their children.

Very bad dog! Aw, I can't stay mad at him, he's a good boy.

A boat filled with Real American Heroes finds an owl lost over the sea and struggling to stay aloft. So they do what Real American Heroes do.

To a cat, everything is a cat-toy, except actual cat-toys (obviously).

Imma just be down in your wires "fixing" them. Thanks to The Patriarch Tree.

Soldiers are getting ready for the Army Anniversary Parade, some wearing Revolutionary War era uniforms.

Some soldiers are wearing Vietnam-era uniforms. Neat. I guess they're doing an NFL-style Throwback Uniforms display, and I'm all about it.

Update: A commenter says the Real America network will cover the parade starting at 4pm. (Eastern, I guess.) The Right Side Broadcasting network will cover it starting at 4:30.

Governor Tampon says that the US Army parading is like North Korea -- or "Pyong-Pyong" as he so ignorantly says -- and also says he hopes our troops get bad weather for their parade.

The left is so insanely hateful and so possessed of Terrorist Fervor that I'm very worried they're going to attack the troops.

And then we'll have to hear CNN and the New York Times instructing us that it was a Fiery But Mostly Peaceful terrorist attack on US troops.

Dustin Grage
@GrageDustin
The former Army National Guard "Command Sergeant Major" opposes the 250th birthday celebration for the Army?

Fascinating.

We can have an entire month of drag queens gyrating their dick-and-balls into kid's faces but we can't have a single day to honor the troops?

Jeeze, even Jake Tapper feels the pressure to pretend to Support the Troops.

Posted by: Ace at 07:20 PM | Comments (307) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Week In Woke

Three people are shot or stabbed at the "Pride" rally in DC after "protester" object to prudent security measures and a police presence.

A shooting and separate stabbing occurred Saturday during DC's Pride celebrations, leaving three injured. The violence followed a decision to reverse a security closure of the park after activists protested the original plan.

Key Details:

The incidents unfolded in Dupont Circle, a symbolic venue for LGBT+ events in Washington, D.C. One male was injured in the shooting, while two others were stabbed nearby. No deaths were reported as of Saturday evening.

Police had originally planned to shut down Dupont Circle from June 5th to 9th, citing a history of property damage and public safety risks during Pride festivities. That decision was overturned following public backlash from local officials and activists.

In a joint Saturday statement, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the National Park Service confirmed the reversal, saying they worked "overnight" on a compromise to keep the park open while attempting to maintain security.

You wanted it, you got it. You should be happy.

Woke corporations are doubling down on the Groomer Merch.

In the face of sweeping changes to federal DEI guidance under President Donald Trump's administration, corporations across the retail, tech, and fashion sectors are charging ahead with Pride 2025 promotions. This comes even as public support for corporate social engineering through DEI has waned, and major events like NYC Pride have lost longtime financial backers. Nevertheless, over 20 companies have released LGBTQ+ themed merchandise, pledging millions to aligned nonprofits and advocacy groups.

Levi's, for example, released its "Meet You In The Park" campaign featuring reclaimed iconography such as the inverted pink triangle. Notably, the brand's shareholder base recently shut down a move to scale back DEI policies. Levi's continues to donate $100,000 annually to Outright International, a global LGBTQ+ advocacy group.

Calvin Klein rolled out its retro-styled campaign starring LGBTQ+ actor Cooper Koch. The company reaffirms its support for The Trevor Project and other left-leaning organizations like the Transgender Legal Defense Fund. Diesel, in a more radical move, partnered with the erotic art-focused Tom of Finland Foundation, using images of gay party scenes in its merchandise.

Even companies like Target, which earlier this year signaled a departure from DEI hiring quotas, are hedging their stance by keeping Pride merchandise alive--albeit scaled back. This year's offering includes "Pride birds" and limits most sales to online platforms.

Retailers including Urban Outfitters, Hollister, and Abercrombie & Fitch have released gender-neutral lines, with Abercrombie committing $400,000 to The Trevor Project irrespective of sales. Guess Watches framed its offering as "Pride with purpose," donating to the same group.

Meanwhile, tech giant Apple launched a handcrafted "Pride Edition" watch band and other rainbow accessories, stating only that it supports LGBTQ+ groups financially--without disclosing amounts or beneficiaries. Disney went ahead with its themed merchandise inside parks, including rainbow ear headbands and a Stitch plush in a Pride sweatshirt.

While the Red Sox go all out on "pride," even inviting drag queens to put on shows inside the park and throw the opening pitch, the Texas Rangers refuse to host a "pride" night, and the left-wing media is angry that one ballclub shows any diversity on this issue.

Another rapist teacher. But there won't be any Boston Globe exposes or Hollywood films about the moral rot inside the teachers unions.

The Indiana home where disgraced teacher Brittany Fortinberry is accused of making teenagers as young as 13 wear "Scream" masks while having group sex with her has been put up for sale after her husband dumped her, according to a report.

Fortinberry's husband, Nicholas, filed for divorce from the 31-year-old educator, and the couple can no longer afford their Martinsdale home, according to divorce documents seen by TMZ.

The house is where police say some of Fortinberry's alleged sick sexual encounters with minors took place last year -- and where a stripper pole and sex toys were found inside, according to court documents seen by Fox59.

I hope she was one wearing the mask.

Munchausen-by-proxy evil mother is so proud to Signal Her Virtue as she brings her very young mentally-ill daughter in to have her breasts amputated.

Democratic outreach to normal straight men is going great.

Posted by: Ace at 06:26 PM | Comments (190) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Quick Hits

Ana Paulina Luna says that congressional subpeonas will be issued to George Soros and another man I've just heard of -- apparently a CCP-connected donor -- to left-wing organizations set on destabilizing America.

As a wise man once said, Tell me you don't want to see dem beefers.

Byron York
@ByronYork

Appalling to remember that this man--partisan, emotional, hotheaded--held a sensitive position in the national security structure of the White House. Used it to set off the first Trump impeachment and become a Hero of the Resistance.

Trump: "Unlike Biden, I stay awake at night, thinking of how to save our country. He was much better at sleeping than me. He could sleep at a beach with cameras rolling. I can't do that." I voted for the continued humiliation of the evil criminal jackass braggart Joe Biden.

Data Republican tracks the Democrat front group NGOs funding the No More Kings riots to take place tomorrow.

That's a shame. No Ludacris Cam yet, so here's a weak substitute for now.

Ban the Chinese (or any other non-allied country) from buying up US land. (I can't just say "ban all foreign ownership of US land" because the Brits and the Dutch and a lot of other allied countries own a lot of our buildings and companies.)

Posted by: Ace at 05:25 PM | Comments (248) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Israel's Strikes Killed Dozens of High-Ranking Iranian Terror Generals and Nucular Scientists
Update: Photos of the Penthouses of the Pious Leaders of Iran

Obviously Israel failed to blow up all of Iran's missile sites, but they did target them pre-attack:

Amit Segal
@AmitSegal

Israeli security source:

Significant intelligence was collected and surveillance was carried out to incriminate senior Iranian security officials and nuclear scientists who were eliminated.

Alongside this, a covert operational campaign to damage Iran's strategic missile array. The Mossad carried out a series of covert operations in Iran, which were intended to damage Iran's strategic missile array and its air defense capabilities.

As part of their activities, Mossad agents implemented significant moves to introduce special weapons on a large scale, deploy them throughout Iran, and launch them towards the attack targets in a precise and effective manner.

These are three different operations:

First, in central Iran, squads of Mossad commando fighters operated to deploy operational systems of precision-guided weapons, in open areas near the location of Iranian surface-to-air missile systems (SAM).

With the beginning of the Israeli attack, in parallel with the air force attacks throughout Iran, the systems were trained and activated, and the precision missiles were launched directly at the targets at once and with great accuracy.

In another operational campaign to thwart Iran's air defense capabilities that threaten Israeli fighter jets, the Mossad, in secret operations, planted sophisticated attack systems and technologies on vehicles. With the start of the surprise attack, the weapons were launched and completely destroyed the targets of the attack - the Iranian defense systems.

In the third campaign, the Mossad established a base of explosive drones that were infiltrated into the heart of Iran long before the attack by Mossad agents. During the Israeli attack, the explosive drones were activated and launched at the surface-to-surface missile launchers (SGMs) located at the Asfaqabad base near Tehran and that pose a threat to strategic targets and Israeli citizens.

Israel also attempted a decapitation strike against Iran's senior terror command.

Mario Nawfal
@MarioNawfal

🚨🇮🇷BREAKING: IRAN NAMES NEW ARMY CHIEF AS ISRAEL CLAIMS 15 TOP TARGETS KILLED

Iran has appointed General Amir Khatami as the new commander of its army, following the deaths of senior military leadership in Israeli strikes.

At a press briefing, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin confirmed that Israel has killed at least six senior Iranian commanders and nine nuclear scientists.

The slain officials include:

Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri
IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami
Khatam-al Anbiya HQ head Gholam Ali Rashid
IRGC Air Force chief Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh
Drone unit commander Taher Pour
Air defense chief Davoud Shaykhian

The Israeli military describes this as one of the most surgically targeted operations in its history.

Source: Times of Israel, N12

Niyak Ghorbani
@GhorbaniiNiyak

@IDF Statement: Three Top Iranian Military Commanders Eliminated

In a large-scale overnight operation, more than 200 Israeli Air Force fighter jets -- guided by pinpoint intelligence -- struck over 100 high-value targets across Iran.

Among those eliminated:
* Mohammad Hossein Bagheri -- Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces
* Hossein Salami -- Commander of the IRGC
* Gholam-Ali Rashid -- Commander of Khatam al-Anbiya (Emergency Command)

This marks a major blow to the military leadership of the Iranian regime.

srael Defense Forces
@IDF

ELIMINATED: Commander of the IRGC's Air Force & Senior Chain of Command of the Air Force

The Intelligence Directorate identified that the senior chain of command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Air Force had assembled in an underground command center to prepare for an attack on the State of Israel.

IAF fighter jets struck the command center where Commander of the IRGC's Air Force Amir Ali Hajizadeh was located along with other senior officials.

Along with Hajizadeh, Commander of the UAV Force of the IRGC's Air Force Taher-pour and Commander of the Aerial Command of the IRGC’s Air Force Davoud Shaykhian, were eliminated.

Eyal Yakoby
@EYakoby

BREAKING: Dana Bash: Trump told her, the Iranian hardliners in the talks are now dead.

Bash: "Meaning Israel got them?"

Trump: "Well they didn't die of covid."

This is my President. I definitely voted for this.

An Israeli source claims that Israel's intelligence had figured out on what conditions Iran's senior military staff would gather in one place to plot against them. They took the actions and put out the signals (radio chatter, etc.) that would cause the high command to congregate in this one place. Then they kept taking actions and putting out radio chatter that would keep them in this place... while its jets closed in to blow them all up.

Trey Yingst
@TreyYingst

On the strikes against IRGC Air Force leadership: Israel tricked the top command of Iran's air force into a meeting and then kept them there, I'm told by an Israeli security official.

"We did specific activities to help us understand things about them and then used that information to make them act in a specific way," the official said. "We knew this would make them meet, but more importantly we knew how to keep them there."

Update: Israel shot missiles into the penthouses of Iran's senior terror commanders.

Posted by: Ace at 04:30 PM | Comments (350) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Iran Fires Dozens of Missiles at Tel Aviv
Plus: Former Democrat Candidate for Vice President Tim Walz: We Need a Country With "Moral Authority" to Step In to Save Iran from Israel.
Oh, I Know Who Has Moral Authority -- China!!!

All of Israel's attacks were against valid military targets. Including pinpoint-accurate strikes against generals of the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian Air Force (RIP) and professors working on Iran's nuke program.

The Muslims, of course, are bad at making conventional war so they go straight to terror-bombing major population centers:

Iran is taking its vengeance. It's trying to blow up Jewish civilians -- of course -- but most of its missiles lobbed at population centers are being intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system.

But a handful of missiles are getting through.

They hit a high-rise apartment building.

Posted by: Ace at 03:15 PM | Comments (524) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Israel Is Now Bombing Iran's Main Uranium Enrichment Site

There are fresh strikes, which I'll get to in a bit. Let me digest the whole first night of the Israel-Iran War.

Which is what it is.

This post will be about the strikes against Iran's air defenses and nuclear sites. I'll do another post about their strikes against Revolutionary Guards and Air Force generals later.

I've had a pro-Israel friend who was so beside himself over his belief that Trump was selling out Israel that I had to quit the chat group I was in. I was tired of hearing it every hour on the hour.

I want to rejoin just to see what he's saying now.

Apparently Trump did want to negotiate with Iran, to see if he could pull an Art of the Deal coup and avoid war.

But Trump knew there was a countdown clock running, and a hard deadline.

Iran made it clear that they were just jerking him off -- as they've done with every US president, pretending to "negotiate" while they build their nukes.

The deadline passed.

Israel took out Iran's nuke sites, Revolutionary Guard leaders, Air Force leaders.

And Trump knew this was coming the whole time he was negotiating with Iran.

Two can play at the Talk While You Plan War game.

The operation, which is continuing into Friday, came after President Donald Trump asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give Iran 60 days for negotiation. Operation Rising Lion commenced on Day 61.

...

In the first post at 5:56 a.m. ET, Trump lamented that the Iranian leadership wouldn't make a deal:

I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to "just do it," but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done. I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come - And they know how to use it. Certain Iranian hardliner's [sic] spoke bravely, but they didn't know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse! There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!

In the second post at 7:36 a.m. ET, the president reiterated that there's still time for Iran to negotiate:

Two months ago I gave Iran a 60 day ultimatum to "make a deal." They should have done it! Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn't get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!

More on Trump's warning to Iran that they had better make a deal now or face even "more brutal" strikes.

President Donald Trump warned Iran that further attacks will be 'even more brutal' if it does not agree to a deal following Israel's shock strikes on its nuclear and military facilities.

Overnight, Operation Rising Lion targeted Tehran and Iran's nuclear sites in a devastating wave of assaults, escalating fears the Middle East is on the brink of all-out war.

This is a standard claim: That "tensions are escalating" and that we're "on the brink of an all-out war."

In what sense? Who would be the other parties in this "all-out war"?

The Gulf States are all engaged in war, cold or hot, against Iran. Which Middle Eastern powers are going to join the war on Iran's side, exactly?

Now, Iran's terror proxy army of the Houthis in Yemen did attempt a retalliatory missile attack against Israel.

They hit the Palestinians.

This is not the "all-out war" I was promised.

Explosions boomed across the Iranian capital as simultaneous raids hit buildings believed to be the homes of senior military commanders.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the sophisticated operation targeted a nuclear facility in Natanz and a ballistic missile program, thanks to a secret drone base set up in Iran by Mossad.

The operation involved a barrage of explosive-laden drones and more than 200 Israeli jets.

Though the US initially sought to distance itself from the attack, Trump has now told Iran: 'There is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end.'

...

Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff is reportedly hopeful that the talks will continue as scheduled despite Israel's actions overnight.

The president followed up on Truth Social saying Iran 'should have' followed his 60-day ultimatum to strike a nuclear deal.

What Israel did to Iran is incredible. As David Strom commented, this is perhaps even more audacious and incredible a covert operation than we saw in the "Grim Beeper" assassination campaign.

Israel commandos smuggled explosives-carrying drones inside Iran and set up whole "drone bases." I assume these would be in desert areas or otherwise barren land.

The reason they did this is because they wanted a first strike against Iran's air defenses and air force that came out of nowhere. There would be no long warning as Iran tracked Israeli planes from Israeli airspace. No, these drones, already in Iran and within miles of their targets, would just suddenly take flight and start hitting their targets within minutes with no opportunity to intercept them and no chance to scramble their planes off the ground.

That's the first strike -- to cripple their air defense and grant Israel complete unchallenged air supremacy over Iran.

The drones took out Iran's entire air defense grid.

And then the jets took off to start dropping the bigger payloads.

Alongside the Israeli military's strikes on nuclear and military targets, Mossad successfully pulled off a daring covert operation designed to cripple Iran's air defences and allow Israel's war planes to launch their attacks safely.

This included deploying precision-guided weapons in open areas near Iranian surface-to-air missile systems sites, and using drones launched from an undercover base near Tehran to target air defence assets, according to Israeli media reports citing security sources.

Trump did tell Netanyahu to not interfere with the talks and give the (fruitless) negotiations a chance.

Which Netanyahu did.

But the countdown was still running.

When asked at the White House about the possibility of a strike on Iran last night, Trump said: 'I don't want to say imminent, but it looks like something that could very well happen.

'It's very simple - not complicated. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Other than that, I want them to be successful. We'll help them be successful. We'll trade with them, we'll do whatever's necessary.

'I want to have an agreement with Iran. We're fairly close. As long as there is an agreement, I don't want [Israel] going in because I think that would blow it.

'There's a chance of massive conflict. We have a lot of American people in this area, and I said: 'We've gotta tell them to get out because something could happen soon, and I don't want to be the one who didn't give them any warning.'

'We've had very good discussions with Iran. Whether or not we get there, I can't tell you - but it'll happen soon.'

He admitted to Fox News today that he was made aware of Operation Rising Lion before it happened.

He added: 'Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table.

'We will see there are several people in leadership in Iran that will not be coming back.'

Early this morning, Iran launched a swarm of 100 drones towards Israel in retaliation to Israel's strikes.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel 'should anticipate a severe punishment', adding that military forces 'won't let them go unpunished.'

He said that Israel had 'sealed for itself a bitter and painful destiny.'

Meanwhile, Iran's foreign ministry said its army would not 'hesitate to defend Iran's sovereignty with full strength and in the manner they deem appropriate'.

But Iran's drones have reportedly been intercepted by Israel's air defence systems.

Where's the all-out war, then?

Posted by: Ace at 02:05 PM | Comments (495) | Trackbacks (Suck)