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TonyP173's avatar

This morning, on his way to Marine One, President Trump stopped to interact with the media. [As a parenthetical to this comment, In my nearly 8 decades on this planet -- for better or worse -- there has been NO POTUS who has been more transparent.]

President Trump was pissed off at both Israel and Iran, but mostly Israel. The media will be playing clips from his rant until the Second Coming. IMHO, he had every right to be angry at the leadership in both nations.

I suspect that a lot of his anger was pure theater. As a retired Army officer, who came up through the ranks, I was in the bursting radius of more than one ass chewing from a superior officer, both deserved and undeserved.

The Dems will try to make something negative, as the ALWAYS do, out of President Trump's public display. But, the anger (real or feigned) has a purpose, and it sends several messages to both Israel and Iran, not to mention the rest of the world.

At this particular moment, BOTH Israel and Iran want President Trump to be a player. Neither can afford for him to leave the field with his troops, and let the two countries settle things on their own (which they could not do, anyway). The only person on the planet who can forge a peaceful result that is palatable to all interested parties is DjT. Ironic, huh?

After some consideration, I am fairly certain that the POTUS decided to act like General Patton and tighten the stack and swivel on both parties in a way that could not possibly be understood or interpreted mistakenly.

As a bonus, it's not a bad tactic just before meeting with the folks in NATO.

And, speaking of the Chinese, we are certainly living in "interesting tiimes," aren't we?

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Stanley Tillinghast's avatar

Trump, the indispensable man. It would all be serious, if it weren’t so comical. Morning, TonyP.

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Joe Sixpack's avatar

tonyp....now that DJT has accomplished the bombing that only the US could do, why do you posit that Israel needs American intervention? The Israeli's preparation gave us a smooth training run. Other than coveting our money and support, what do the Israeli's need from the administration? And FWIW, I think DJT WAS trying to be a Gen Patton actor. THAT'S DJT's only skill. This is his reality show. He's both the director and actor!

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JasonT's avatar

It's not necessarily a bad thing to be thought just a bit crazy.

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Cas's avatar

A little mystery, tension, and suspense always moves an audience to the edge of its seats. Cue the pulsating music, maestro!

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Tim Hurlocker's avatar

Trump's transparency is bracing, is it not? Imagine chastising an ally in a social media post! Those who think Trump is a pawn of anyone should be humbled.

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Pizza Bob's avatar

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”

It is possible that the post ceasefire missiles sent from Iran were sent mistakenly! I am led to believe that the top Iranian military command personnel has recently undergone — shall we say — a Reduction In Force (RIF), which may be a cause of confusion in orders.

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Thomas's avatar

Iran's command and control is, er, somewhat compromised at the moment.

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Michael van der Riet's avatar

The word I would have used is "fragmented."

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Frank Canzolino's avatar

Trump Always Confuses Opponents

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Stanley Tillinghast's avatar

Love it!!

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Thomas's avatar

So much antagonism toward China. Trump should initiate a cultural exchange program, sending them all of our surplus professors who teach courses ending in "studies" (which is all of them). Culture: exchanged. Playing field: leveled.

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David Black's avatar

Your comments about the massive influx of PhD students from China amazed me. And the massive number of Computer Science/Engineering majors.

I started programming in 1966 and was hands-on for 30 years, then did VC. I found that Computer Science is NOT a science. Not even close. Computer Engineering is supposed to be the practical side of things, but it's just as bad. There's a reason why the supposedly smart big tech companies buy start-ups like crazy -- it's because they can't build stuff that works!

So I say, let the Chinese keep coming to Computer Science, and return to China so they can inflict disaster on Chinese code.

I've written about this extensively with loads of examples. See www.blackliszt.com

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Max Cossack's avatar

Hi, David!

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Steve's avatar

Trump's Ceasefire Chaos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCTS8h7hjZw

Jun 24, 2025

What a wild 24 hours

In less than a day we've had Iran attack a US base, a ceasefire declared then violated and maybe now back on. It's been a lot, but right now Israel, Iran and the United States are agreeing to a ceasefire and claiming victory in this 12 day conflict. It's very early so we'll see if the ceasefire holds but I do think there's a lot of questions remaining about the status and future of the Iranian nuclear program.

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FCinNH's avatar

If the mullahs retain power, they'll start it up again. There's really no question about it. So in another few years (anywhere from 2 to 10) we'll have to do this again. If the military decides they don't want to keep playing this game, then things will change, but the Iranian people can't force change without at least the tacit support of the military.

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Craig Kisciras's avatar

I do not believe that China will attack Taiwan. The Chicoms need Taiwan in order to keep their increasingly fragile economy afloat. The brains, money and innovation are in Taiwan, not on the mainland. Businesses there outsource to the mainland which desperately needs their factories to stay busy. An attack on Taiwan would be a disaster for the CCP.

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Steve's avatar

"shot off a few of their remaining missiles in a non-serious way"

As opposed to firing them In A Serious Way?

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The One's avatar

What disciplines those Chinese PhDs are in would be interesting. Probably not too many in Grievance Studies, Sociology, etc.

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LibertyDefender's avatar

"But as the classical political philosopher Yogi Berra once cautioned, 'It ain’t over till it’s over,' so we should be careful about our certainty."

Henry Olsen told us that Yogi Berra said "it's over when it's over."

Henry Olsen is an expert.

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Michael van der Riet's avatar

The most effective strategies in Game Theory from weakest to strongest are: Tit For Tat, Forgiving Tit For Tat, Pavlov, and Perceived Madness. Guess which one Donald is playing.

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Dave Begley's avatar

Do I have to pay to comment here?

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Thomas's avatar

And re China invading Taiwan, China needs to be discretely told that if it invades Taiwan, its Three Gorges Dam will cease to be. Easily within Taiwan's capability, and too big a liability to risk.

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Thomas's avatar

Who knew there is a Jewish version of hudna? Or for that matter, Persian?

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