Exclusive War with Iran starting this week (9 Viewers)

[BigGameDamian]

 

[SlyPokerDog]

 

[SlyPokerDog]

 

[crandc]

Trump now saying he might end the war without opening the Strait.

As for spokesliar Karoline Leavitt, the US twice bombed Iran while in midst of negotiations. So who wasn't negotiating on good faith?

 

[Sheldon Shape]

This made me nauseous all day.

 

[BigGameDamian]

 

[BigGameDamian]

 

[Phatguysrule]

My honest take is that it’s absolutely insane how much money we as humanity spend fighting against ourselves, and how much we don’t do to take care of ourselves.

It’s maddening… Imagine if we took all the money we spend on developing weapons to attack ourselves, and defenses to help us from our attacks - and actually spent it in a way which would benefit society.

Am I just naive or ignorant for thinking it could be so simple? Cause really it seems like it could be as easy as agreeing to not spend money on stupid shit like this, and then have all that insane stupid money you spend on it going into something which helps people instead of the opposite.

If we did that then the wealthy would lose power. Not all power, but they wouldn't have as much power.

But I agree. It could be great. It could be so easy.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

 

[Rastapopoulos]

If they actually WERE fetuses maybe Hegseth would care about them dying

 

[Sheldon Shape]

 

[PDXFonz]

If we did that then the wealthy would lose power. Not all power, but they wouldn't have as much power.

But I agree. It could be great. It could be so easy.

A lot of wealthy people are also wealthy because of the money they make off of warfare.

I understand what a drastic shift it would be in the economy and societies.

Ive thought about it a decent amount. One of the biggest (reasonable) questions I came up with is - How do you restructure military positions so that those who serve and are compensated for doing so, still have jobs.

My favorite fantasy of a life like that is where we take most of the money spent on warfare, and re-direct it to space exploration. Then those in the military could have jobs in the production of equipment and maintenance work. Expand the ISS, and turn it into like a ship harbor for the production of spacecraft. So basically building stuff in space, which would open up a lot of jobs but still probably not as many as would be lost if militaries were dissolved.

 

[crandc]

With his personal pastor at his side, Hegseth rhapsodized about death and destruction against those who, in his words, deserve no mercy.

Yesterday I visited a friend who is a devout Catholic. I mean, crucifix on the wall, religious statues, shrine to Mary, whole bit. She was appalled at these self professed Christians. Gesturing to statue of Christ, she said he was all about mercy.

But today's Christians in power think he was all about trans people using restroom.

 

[BigGameDamian]

 

[UncleCliffy'sDaddy]

With his personal pastor at his side, Hegseth rhapsodized about death and destruction against those who, in his words, deserve no mercy.

Yesterday I visited a friend who is a devout Catholic. I mean, crucifix on the wall, religious statues, shrine to Mary, whole bit. She was appalled at these self professed Christians. Gesturing to statue of Christ, she said he was all about mercy.

But today's Christians in power think he was all about trans people using restroom.

I spent the first eighteen years of my life basically in "Catholic Immersion". Twelve years of Catholic school. And NOT ONCE did I EVER hear any of this so called "Christian" bullshit these so called "Christians" are trotting out (and making up as they go along). The literal ignorance is truly flabbergasting. Jesus was (and still is) all about love, mercy and peace. It's like these fucking idiots are totally oblivious to how Christianity got it name. Like it's all just one big coincidence. Hegseth and the other so called "Christians" are straight out of the Old Testament, all hellfire and destruction. About the only thing of value (besides some seriously twisted historical nuggets) from the Old Testament are the Ten Commandments and the Psalms. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of nonsensical filler. But I guess it's just enough to get the criminally stupid on the side of criminally insane......

 

[2Fluffy4U]

My honest take is that it’s absolutely insane how much money we as humanity spend fighting against ourselves, and how much we don’t do to take care of ourselves.

It’s maddening… Imagine if we took all the money we spend on developing weapons to attack ourselves, and defenses to help us from our attacks - and actually spent it in a way which would benefit society.

Am I just naive or ignorant for thinking it could be so simple? Cause really it seems like it could be as easy as agreeing to not spend money on stupid shit like this, and then have all that insane stupid money you spend on it going into something which helps people instead of the opposite.

It's a genuinely good sentiment and I don't think you're wrong that the money humanity pours into war is obscene. But the framing of "we just need to agree to stop" skips over the hardest part of the problem — so let me put it closer to home.

Imagine that over the next 30 years, a large group of people migrated to Portland and the Pacific Northwest. Nothing wrong with that on its own. But imagine that a majority of them — by their own polling — believed that Oregon law should be replaced by their religious legal code. A code that gives women half the inheritance rights of men, criminalizes homosexuality, forbids leaving the religion on pain of death, and restricts free speech about faith. And a vocal minority believed they were justified in using force to make it happen.

Would you still say "let's just agree to stop spending on conflict and redirect the money to helping people"? Or would you want someone to defend Portland's way of life?

That scenario isn't pure fiction. It's the demographic and ideological reality playing out across Europe right now — and the numbers are worth paying attention to.

In the 1980s, Muslims made up less than 1% of France's population. Today they're around 7%. Across Northwestern Europe as a whole — UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium — the Muslim share was 0.3% in 1950 and is now around 7%, projected to exceed 11% by 2050. That's a civilizational transformation within a single lifetime.

But it's not just about population numbers. It's about what a growing share of that population believes should govern society. A recent study found that 57% of young French Muslims aged 15-24 now rank sharia above French national law — up from 36% thirty years ago among the same age group. Mosque attendance in France jumped from 7% in 1989 to 40% today. In Germany, 47% of Muslims say sharia supersedes German law. In Sweden, 52% say the same. In the US, Muslims are currently around 1.1% of the population but a 2015 survey found 51% believed they should have the choice to be governed by sharia rather than American courts.

Sharia is fundamentally incompatible with Western liberal democracy. It's not a personal spiritual practice — it's a comprehensive legal system that governs inheritance, criminal punishment, gender rights, sexuality, and freedom of conscience in ways that directly conflict with the US Constitution and every European charter of human rights.

This is exactly what Israel has faced since 1948 — not a neighbor who disagrees on policy, but movements with founding charters calling for its elimination, backed by a religious-legal framework that leaves no room for coexistence. You can't unilaterally opt out of that conflict. Choosing not to defend yourself isn't peace — it's just losing on a different timeline.

The wish that we'd stop spending on war and spend it on people instead is a beautiful one. But it only works if everyone at the table shares that wish. When one side's ideology makes coexistence impossible by definition — that's not a budget problem. That's an existential one.

 

[RR7]

Choosing not to defend yourself isn't peace — it's just losing on a different timeline.

The wish that we'd stop spending on war and spend it on people instead is a beautiful one. But it only works if everyone at the table shares that wish. When one side's ideology makes coexistence impossible by definition — that's not a budget problem. That's an existential one.

There's defending oneself, and there's going on the offense to wipe people off the earth, destroy their homes and make land inhabitable.

But sure, I guess war is just a Muslim caused problem?

 

[2Fluffy4U]

There's defending oneself, and there's going on the offense to wipe people off the earth, destroy their homes and make land inhabitable.

But sure, I guess war is just a Muslim caused problem?

Factually, there is no evidence of wiping people off the map (with regards to the Israel-Palestine conflict) — not in Gaza, not in the West Bank, not in Iran. Gaza's population today still stands at over 2.1 million, roughly the same as before October 7th, and has actually doubled over the last 25 years. That's not what erasure looks like.

You want to know what wiping people off the map actually looks like? Look at what happened to Jews across the Arab world.

In 1948, roughly 850,000 to 1 million Jews lived across Arab countries — communities that had existed for over 2,000 years, long before Islam. Here's what happened to them:

— Iraq: 135,000 Jews. Today: fewer than 10.
— Egypt: 75,000 Jews. Today: around 30.
— Yemen: 63,000 Jews. Today: essentially zero.
— Morocco: 265,000 Jews. Today: around 2,500.
— Libya: 38,000 Jews. Today: zero. Not a single one.
— Algeria: 140,000 Jews. Today: zero.
— Syria: 30,000 Jews. Today: fewer than 20.

These people were stripped of citizenship, had their property confiscated, were subjected to pogroms and state-sanctioned violence, and were driven out within a generation. No UN resolutions were passed. No refugee camps were built. No international outrage followed. The world barely noticed.

Meanwhile, there are 2 million Arabs living inside Israel today — with full citizenship, voting rights, representation in the Knesset, and seats on the Supreme Court. That is what a minority with equal rights looks like. Find me the equivalent in any Arab country for its Jewish population. You can't — because they're gone.

So before anyone uses the word genocide about Gaza, answer this: what do you call what happened to the Jews of Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Algeria? And while you're at it — what does 'from the river to the sea' actually mean, and what is it that Palestinians want? I'd genuinely love to hear the answer.

 

[BigGameDamian]