I haven’t been following things that closely.
@ George the Zeroth | Sep 27 2025 20:19 utc | 397

No stuff. No actual autopsy. US Americans too oblivious, by and large, to wonder why.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Sep 27 2025 22:19 utc | 404

@ George the Zeroth | Sep 27 2025 22:21 utc | 406

You obviously don’t care enough to pursue any of the half-dozen links I’ve left on this issue, in this thread. Aside from extolling the bliss of ignorance, why are you posting about Kirk. Do you have any idea what point you’re trying to make?

It’s obviously pointless corresponding with you. Goodbye g0.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Sep 27 2025 22:26 utc | 406

USA 4½-10½ Europe

Posted by: Don Firineach | Sep 27 2025 22:27 utc | 408

@fanto – I said thanks already. She visited us a few days ago. But not everyone can bear that. A friend of my USian was present as well, and she “joked” that Sternchen had delivered her to me so that I could “turn her into a vampire”. I erupted with anger, because such talk will forever live on in the subconscious.

@Exile – How does your guest have permission to work?

I don’t know yet, but assume it will work out. Pilar is an USian as well, and she has been living and working here for decades. If necessary I will marry her, lol.

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 27 2025 22:39 utc | 410

US ‘preparing options’ for strikes inside Venezuela – NBC

Posted by: John Gilberts | Sep 27 2025 22:47 utc | 412

US ‘preparing options’ for strikes inside Venezuela – NBC

Posted by: John Gilberts | Sep 27 2025 22:47 utc | 413
———————————————————————————
What one finds online is a lot of talk about airstrikes to take out “drug targets”.
If that’s true, I wonder how that squares with the US’s real intention here, which is clearly regime change, taking down Maduro (and replacing him with what Judge Napolitano calls “a grad student in Florida”!).
Presumably the latter would eventually mire us in another Vietnam-level war.

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Sep 27 2025 22:52 utc | 414

Iran

“Iranian MP Abolfazl Zohrevand claims that Russia has delivered MiG-29 fighters to Iran as short-term support.

He says that Su-35 deliveries continue, and Iran is also seeking to acquire HQ-9 air defense systems from China.

“The S-400 air defense is also on its way, in fact, it has already arrived.””
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1972011363141578828

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 27 2025 23:31 utc | 416

denk@75

Which Countries Trade The Most With Israel and What Do They Buy and Sell?

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/23/which-countries-trade-the-most-with-israel-and-what-do-they-buy-and-sell

“Which countries sell the most to Israel:

1. China…”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Sep 27 2025 23:46 utc | 418

USA 4½-10½ Europe

Posted by: Don Firineach | Sep 27 2025 22:27 utc | 409

I was coming here this evening to thank you, Don, for having posted the Ryder Cup scores yesterday. I watched Saturday’s play, finding it extremely interesting as an example of unforseen consequences — at least, I think it was that.

The US team was well meant and tried hard, but the US fans, some of them, that is, were terrible. I’ve always enjoyed wtching golf, never having played myself, because my parents did and they enjoyed it. I don’t think they would enjoy watching it so much these days.

My feeling was that it was the fans which caused the team — not the one they were booing and jeering — to lost heart and play less well than they would have had the fans been polite, and less boorish when the Europeans did well while cheering when they did not.

I thought that was significant in larger terms as well. It was heartening to me that the US team was bonding much more readily with the European team (except for one caddy that is) than they were with their own compatriots. (They seemed rather ashamed of the latter.)

I wonder, since you so kindly posted the scores each day, if you had a similar impression. Given what we on this forum usuall see indicated with respect to the EU shenanigans, I found this very hopeful. Very hopeful indeed.

Posted by: juliania | Sep 27 2025 23:54 utc | 420

In news circulating on Telegram:
“Moldova’s electoral commission has excluded the pro-Russia party Heart of Moldova from participating in the upcoming parliamentary elections this weekend.”
-DW News, cited on DDGeopolitics (Telgram).

Disappointed, but totally unsurprised.

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Sep 27 2025 23:59 utc | 422

John Gilberts | Sep 27 2025 23:46 utc | 419

Something interesting in that article. Israel is a major exporter of diamonds, or at least diamonds are a major part of its exports. Isreal is not exactly known for its diamond mines.

A couple of interesting wikipedia entries
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_industry_in_Israel

Which instantly leads to this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_Process_Certification_Scheme

The term blood diamonds was thrown about a bit for a decade or two. Its a simple matter to declare diamonds coming from a poor African country ‘blood diamonds’ then they can be bought for peanuts.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 28 2025 0:02 utc | 424

I had Obama delusion syndrome until he bailed out the banks and wonder if our Trump delusion syndrome folks here have a red line for Trump or are they willing to go MAD with him all the way?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 26 2025 2:15 utc | 188

I also was tricked by Obama after 8 years of Bush. For me, it wasn’t just the bankster bailouts, it was also his “Assad must go” attempts to start a bigger war in Syria, his wrecking of Libya, and his administration’s engineering of the Maidan coup starring Victoria Nuland. Then I supported Trump after Obama, but I have realized that he too is full of empty rhetoric for the gullible. I’m not a party loyalist.

Posted by: ThouShalt | Sep 28 2025 0:18 utc | 426

“All I can say is that when we hue-mons get pushed, insulted or even threatened, we tend to push back and sometimes we lash out. We all have our limits.”

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Sep 28 2025 0:00 utc | 424

I totally understand, it happens to me also. I get triggered by trolls into making outbursts. They live for seeing the outbursts they cause. Some people handle them much more eloquently and effectively than I can. Sometimes it’s best to just ignore them if one is otherwise making rational and persuasive arguments (not saying I agree with them all). I’m hue-man too, and your outburst was a fair proxy for what I was feeling about that particular troll.

Posted by: ThouShalt | Sep 28 2025 0:35 utc | 428

In what is probably at least partly designed to obscure or memory hole the Epstein files (and Genocide Don’s buddy NuttyYahoo’s Jew-lo-caust), Trump is now simultaneously planning illegal military strikes inside Venezuela and recently signed a new national security directive declaring war on “the left” (the designation of such includes virtually any non-GOP approved beliefs):

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trumps-nspm-7-labels-common-beliefs

President George W. Bush signed a series of classified national security directives after 9/11, the most famous of which authorized NSA’s unlawful domestic intercepts, a directive that wasn’t publicly revealed until four years later.

In NSPM-7, “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” President Trump directs the Justice Department, the FBI, and other national security agencies and departments to fight his version of political violence in America, retooling a network of Joint Terrorism Task Forces to focus on “leftist” political violence in America. This vast counterterrorism army, made up of federal, state, and local agents would, as Trump aide Stephen Miller said, form “the central hub of that effort.”

NSPM-7 directs a new national strategy to “disrupt” any individual or groups “that foment political violence,” including “before they result in violent political acts.”

In other words, they’re targeting pre-crime, to reference Minority Report.

The Trump administration isn’t only targeting organizations or groups but even individuals and “entities” whom NSPM-7 says can be identified by any of the following “indica” (indicators) of violence:

anti-Americanism,

anti-capitalism,

anti-Christianity,

support for the overthrow of the United States Government,

extremism on migration,

extremism on race,

extremism on gender

hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family,

hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, and

hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality.

“The United States requires a national strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts,” the directive states (emphasis mine).

A “pre-crime” endeavor, preventing attacks before they happen, is core to the post-9/11 concept of counterterrorism itself. No longer satisfied to investigate acts of terrorism after the fact to bring terrorists to justice, the Bush administration adopted preemption. Overseas, that led to aerial assassination by drones and “special operations” kill missions. Domestically, it led to a counter-terrorism campaign whose hallmark was excessive and illegal government surveillance and the use of undercover agents and “confidential human sources” to trap (and entrap) would-be terrorists.

Now, with Donald Trump’s directive retooling the counter-terror apparatus to go after Americans at home, this means monitoring political activity, or speech, as an investigative method to discover “radicalism.” (Contrary to other national security documents all during the post-Watergate era, NSPM-7 doesn’t even mention the First Amendment or the fundamental right of Americans to organize and protest.)

The focus on speech is evident throughout NSPM-7. The directive says that political violence is the result of “organized campaigns” that often begin (with the left) dehumanizing targets in “anonymous chat foras, in-person meetings, social media, and even educational institutions.”

Them freedumb lovin’ MAGAts don’t seem to understand how boomerangs work.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Sep 28 2025 0:41 utc | 430

Tom_Q_Collins | Sep 28 2025 0:41 utc | 431

The western world is now a mess of insanity. America though is like watching spiders fight in a glass box. I see the troops going into portland have been authorised to use full force. I guess the Portlandese are about to get Afghanised and Iraqised. Chickens coming home to roost.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 28 2025 0:51 utc | 432

Peter AU1 @ #425

Thanks for additional info. The late, great, Keith Harmon Snow wrote a good piece about Israel’s diamond business in Africa 20 years ago:

Gertler’s Bling Blang Torah Gang

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/gertlers-bling-blang-by-keith-harmon-snow/

Posted by: John Gilberts | Sep 28 2025 0:52 utc | 434

Gertler’s Bling Blang Torah Gang (corrected)

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/gertlers-bling-bang-by-keith-harmon-snow/

Posted by: John Gilberts | Sep 28 2025 0:56 utc | 436

Ceyhan pipeline from Shaikan oil field is open again after nearly 3 years.

Posted by: Orson Cart | Sep 28 2025 1:14 utc | 438

John Gilberts | Sep 28 2025 0:56 utc | 437

That link works. When there are riches to be found in a third world country, the sharks move in.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 28 2025 1:22 utc | 440

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Sep 28 2025 1:03 utc | 438

Good post. I’m pretty convinced now that most of the folks we see denigrating any innovative sources of energy, other than those old ones like fossil-fuels and nuclear which rely on fuels involving global trade and which can be easily “weaponized” to ignite wars over said fuel resources, are acting as useful idiots. Well intentioned people, but useful idiots nonetheless. Some of them do it knowingly of course, they are ill-intentioned.

Posted by: ThouShalt | Sep 28 2025 1:44 utc | 442

Those central african countries need to get their act together and do a Sahell on the looters and sharks.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 28 2025 1:55 utc | 444

—

The Chinese, with their ability to lab grow diamonds à la carte, have broken the diamond market forever. Not only can they produce diamonds en masse very cheaply but also Asians have traditionally been a huge market for diamonds and now they prefer to buy the lab grown ones.

Posted by: too scents | Sep 28 2025 2:01 utc | 444

Posted by: too scents | Sep 28 2025 2:07 utc | 446

The west has denigrated the importance of family bonds and traditional marriage. Will the diamond market in the future care much about big glamorous stones, or will the market value of diamonds become more industrially focused? The value of the global diamond market is controlled a lot by underlying social values, I would think.

Posted by: ThouShalt | Sep 28 2025 2:20 utc | 446

Jon_in_AU | Sep 28 2025 1:03 utc | 438

Solar and wind I think will be and interim measure in energy production though there will always be places where they have their merits such as isolated communities and work sites.

When I was doing the fire mitigation slashing in at the local coal mine here, I worked with the environmental engineer who was in charge of that.

One place he showed me to slash was across the river on a hill. Just a track leading down to a leveled platform so I slashed the track and platform.

A couple of decades back, it looked like greens were going to shut down coal so they made plans to bring in gas. From that platform fairly high above the river, they were going to drill down under the rive and come up in the power station. That directional drilling, they drill the hole then pull a pipe through.

The coal for the boilers is dried, crushed to a powder and blown in with the air required. It operated essentially the same as a liquid or gas fuel. To convert to gas, it is a simple matter of running a pipe in and adjusting gas flow to ballance air fuel mix.

Methane is four parts hydrogen, one part carbon. Hydrogen when oxidized becomes H2O – water. Only one CO2 molecule to four H2O molecules.
I have no Idea of the BTU’s to CO2 molecules released in each, which really is the number that counts, but I suspect methan would win hands down.

China are putting a lot of research into energy. I believe a pilot thorium reactor is being built or running. They are building a pilot fission fusion reactor, but these too I think will be interim until fusion matures.
China I believe is the future of energy. It is putting massive resources and very smart people into it.

Just the one gas field in south east NT Would keep the east coast of Australia in cheap energy for fifty years. By then, new technologies will have matured.

My mate has and app on his phone that shows what every installation is operating at. All coal fired electricity is running 24/7 at 100% capacity. Rarely does solar and wind generate up to 50% capacity.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 28 2025 2:27 utc | 448

RIP … Assata Sakur …

https://x.com/got_cake/status/1971597666770399617

Posted by: drinky crow | Sep 28 2025 2:28 utc | 450

Posted by: ThouShalt | Sep 28 2025 1:44 utc | 443

Thanks for the reply.

At one stage, between gigs, I was acting as the researcher for a radio programme on the subject of renewable energy and related topics (EVs, etc).

I was much better versed on the latest data at that time, as I was putting in ~60 hours a week studying the subject.

That was something I just couldn’t sustain, unfortunately.

I see the entire pushback against renewables as being largely driven by military “necessities” when you really dig down into ultimate root causes. Everything else seems a secondary

It’s all about energy for boats, bombs, and bombers, and their effect on global power projection.

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Sep 28 2025 2:38 utc | 452

Nobody will really give a flying f*ck about diamonds when they are mainly produced by techno factories and robots. Industrial value of diamonds is very low compared to the deteriorating social value of the nice shiny stones. The social value is continuing to deteriorate. If a once rare thing can be imitated by a factory and robots, the social value is gonna be lost.

Posted by: ThouShalt | Sep 28 2025 2:39 utc | 454

Natural gems still bring big dollars.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 28 2025 2:38 utc | 454

—

People holding gemstones as a store of value are getting brutally raped by the market.

De Beers Records $189M First-Half Loss

The diamond miner and marketer warned last week that it expected to be in the red after significantly cutting prices in Q2.

Jul 31, 2025

London—De Beers Group took a loss in the first half of 2025 after it cut rough diamond prices by a significant amount in the second quarter in order to move goods.

The diamond miner and marketer’s H1 results were released Thursday as part of the first-half report for parent company Anglo American, which is in the process of offloading the De Beers business.

De Beers mined 10.2 million carats of diamonds in the first half of 2025, a 23 percent drop from 13.3 million in the prior-year period that reflects the company’s deliberate pullback on mining in light of the decline in demand.

continues ==> https://nationaljeweler.com/articles/14147-de-beers-records-189m-first-half-loss

Posted by: too scents | Sep 28 2025 2:46 utc | 456

too scents | Sep 28 2025 2:46 utc | 457

Interesting. Opal is the stone I am most interested in and unless they are bought by a sucker, have very low value if they are lab stones.

Because I cannot do much now, I fill in time watching videos. There is one channel, a bloke in the US who buys stones that people want to cash in. He always checks to see if they are natural or fake. Under scanning equipment, natural and lab show different imperfection. Second hand, a faceted lab stone is worth sweet FA.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 28 2025 3:03 utc | 458

“Most of the value in anything rare is in its discovery and not in owning the thing.”

Posted by: too scents | Sep 28 2025 3:05 utc | 460

You are forgetting the natural beauty, I think.

Posted by: ThouShalt | Sep 28 2025 3:09 utc | 460

“Anything essential to maintain a stable and sustainable society should be within the purview of government…”

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Sep 28 2025 3:10 utc | 462

That is a good effort at getting to the real crux of the matter. The problem though, is that all “government” in the zio-anglo west is totally controlled by private interests now. And obviously they control the propaganda machine.

Posted by: ThouShalt | Sep 28 2025 3:24 utc | 462

The Strategic Security Risk for Western Samoa.

In 1995 the Government of Samoa voted the Samoa Ports Authority (SPA) to preside over the ports of Samoa. It is in the interest and well being of every Samoan. If the port of Apia does not operate then Samoa would suffer significant hardship.

Question 1 – Is such an event likely to happen, and what contingency plan does the SPA have?
(Notes following in this letter explain this situation)

Question 2 – given that there is significant per capita undeveloped wealth available to all Samoans, why is that wealth being denied by the Samoan Government and the SPA to the citizens?
( Notes following in this letter identity the per capita wealth that the Government and SPA blocks the development of)

Question 3 – Why is there no accountability for the failure of SPA fiduciary duty and operational responsibility?

NOTES Q1….there are seven identifiable reasons why the operation of the Apia Port could stop. If the port were to close fuel supply would stop, energy would be almost stopped, and imports of food and medicines stopped. Samoa has a second port at Asua that was developed and used for the timber industry. The Samoan Government pays money to SPA to develop and maint
ain Asua Port
But there are no entrance chanel markers, no navigation aids, no wharf maintenance. Why? Where does the money go? Why does SPA not want a back up to APIA Port? A contingency.

a) an earthquake and damage stops the port operation
b) vessel sinking or stranding.
c) destructive cyclone.
d) unchecked overcapacity. Ships anchored offshore waiting a berth alongside, containers parked in the street because lack of wharf space – already happening.
e) broader military action such as a world war blockade
f) tsumani
g) political unrest

NOTES Q2…..a small oil refinery could be built at Asua Port. There is an abundance of fossil oil and gas on the banks to the west and north of Samoa. Pipelines or tankers can bring to the refinery. Export and domestic applications.
Alternatively an oil refinery based on bio input. Samoa has high rainfall, good volcanic soils, and undeveloped agricultural areas. Two bio digesters and a good sustainable income to be shared.

It is well known that there are very viable mineral resources unexploited in Samoa, including copper, gold and rare earth minerals. These could be mined and processed and exported from Asua Port for the benefit of all Samoans.

A regional trans shipment hub can be developed using the existing Asua wharf. This could free up space at Apia Port and cruise ships could be welcomed.

And there is the natural growth of Samoa, a place to store empty containers, berthing for the “not in current service” vessels that park in Apia Port, as well as local export services.

NOTES Q3…Has the Asua Port been promised to a foreign country as a naval base by politicians and that is why these opportunities can never be realised?
Why no SPA audits published?
Where does all the income SPA makes go?How do Samoan citizens benefit from the Apia Port that their politicians gave away 25 years ago?

And one more. Why doesn’t Samoa apply to join BRICS. It is a trade organisation and only a few countries in BRICS share the Chinese political ideology. BRICS countries want trade opportunities. As Samoa should.

This letter was written by an Invitee to the UN Sustainable Development Summit 2026

Posted by: Bingo | Sep 28 2025 3:59 utc | 464

In the future diamonds will be a common engineering material with properties unlocking new technical capabilities that until now were out of reach.

It used to be, and not so long ago, that iron came from meteorites.

Posted by: too scents | Sep 28 2025 2:33 utc | 452

***************

Industrial diamonds are very useful for cutting and grinding, and even for some wear surfaces.

China is making large quantities of industrial diamonds. It seems that they are using an energy intensive approach, manufacturing diamond material using a process similar to that by which natural diamonds are formed.

Readers may remember earlier this year that I mentioned a process for making a highly non-reflective form of gold by assembling aggregated gold atoms.

A similar process can be used for creating diamonds, using atomic carbon. We never patented the process, so I can’t say too much, but relying on the crystalline form of carbon (diamond) one can think about ways of ‘assembling’ a crystal. In principle, this is quite straightforward – you just need to supply single carbon atoms at the right place and with the right energy. The hard part is actually doing that in a clean, controlled, repeatable manner. This is a relatively low-energy process, and does not require high pressure. With correct control, large(ish) crystals can be assembled relatively quickly.

Materials engineering is a field of great promise. Interesting developments ranging from metallic glass, exotic alloys, self-assembling polymers, structural proteins, are all well under way…

Posted by: General Factotum | Sep 28 2025 9:29 utc | 466

Lord Bebo
@MyLordBebo
🇭🇺“In Hungary, we consider family the basis of society. That’s why we spend 5% of our GDP to support them”

-> Committing 5% of GDP to families with children sounds like a great idea!
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1972212421327835527

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 28 2025 10:08 utc | 468

Three separate headlines on Iran in Reuters

“‘Snapback’ sends West back to the drawing board on Iran’s nuclear programme”
“Iran’s clerical leaders face existential crisis amid nuclear deadlock”
“UN arms embargo, other sanctions reimposed on Iran over nuclear programme”

What the main headline should be is “UN now defunct”

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 28 2025 10:22 utc | 470

The UN, through the SC, has unlawfully reinstated sanctions against Iran, demonstrating yet again that it is an instrument of the US and its appendages’ interests and plans.

When organs, national and international, entrusted with upholding the law, violate the law, they undermine the very idea of law and lose legitimacy. The example they set by acting against the law causes great harm, often irreparable.

Two members of the UN SC, China and Russia, have rejected the Iran sanctions decision and will not abide by it.

That further erodes the rapidly waning authority of the UN.

Iran has also rejected the reinstatement of sanctions and, correctly, holds that
“Neither Iran nor any UN Member State is under any obligation to comply with such illegal measures”.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi annouced in a letter to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council that the Islamic Republic of Iran firmly rejects the alleged reinstatement of resolutions terminated under resolution 2231 (2015).

The full text of Araghchi’s letter:
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/237044/Re-imposition-of-terminated-UN-sanctions-null-void

Posted by: JB | Sep 28 2025 11:22 utc | 472

All you want to know on French economy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMDATQjx_uo

Are the EU and the US trying to put all of us at the level of Eastern Europe (500e per month and a lot of booze)? Is that what they plan to save “white supremacism” ?

Posted by: Minaa | Sep 28 2025 11:58 utc | 474

….. Moldova’s electoral commission has excluded the pro-Russia party Heart of Moldova…..

Translation pro-russia means anti-war neutralist

Posted by: Exile | Sep 28 2025 12:15 utc | 476

Exile.

This as well, now we know why he was illegally held in France.

“About a year ago, while I was stuck in Paris, the French intelligence services reached out to me through an intermediary, asking me to help the Moldovan government censor certain Telegram channels ahead of the presidential elections in Moldova.

After reviewing the channels flagged by French (and Moldovan) authorities, we identified a few that clearly violated our rules and removed them. The intermediary then informed me that, in exchange for this cooperation, French intelligence would “say good things” about me to the judge who had ordered my arrest in August last year.

This was unacceptable on several levels. If the agency did in fact approach the judge — it constituted an attempt to interfere in the judicial process. If it did not, and merely claimed to have done so, then it was exploiting my legal situation in France to influence political developments in Eastern Europe — a pattern we have also observed in Romania 🇷🇴

Shortly thereafter, the Telegram team received a second list of so-called “problematic” Moldovan channels. Unlike the first, nearly all of these channels were legitimate and fully compliant with our rules. Their only commonality was that they voiced political positions disliked by the French and Moldovan governments.

We refused to act on this request.”

https://nitter.poast.org/durov/status/1972263703149002980#m

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Sep 28 2025 13:33 utc | 478

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Sep 27 2025 22:31 utc | 410

.

.

No, most of us aren’t violent freaks, as you bolshies advocate. We live and let live, until you bolshies threaten us.

Learn this.

Posted by: seer | Sep 28 2025 13:43 utc | 480

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Sep 28 2025 13:42 utc | 480

.

.

The US Constitution does not sanction violent freaks, lad. It does sanction curbing them as necessary.

Posted by: seer | Sep 28 2025 14:37 utc | 482

seer  (483).
 
Your comment must surely be sarcasm – from the freedom to practice religion to the freedom of speech to the right to freedom of assembly – to the 15th amendment,  The 15th amendment, ratified in 1870, makes it illegal to deny voting rights based on race, color, or former slavery – how many Americans can’t vote because they get obtain the proper letter/ID required to vote – the you have the,  22nd amendment, ratified in 1951, adds a term limit to the office of the president, Trump didn’t quite like that one last time which led to folk stormed the capital.
 
This one has been broken so many times I’ve lost count – The 14th amendment, ratified in 1868, contains some of the most critical legal clauses in the constitution. For decades, the “due process” and “equal protection” clauses in this amendment have been cornerstones of American law.
 
As for Portland.
“There is no national security threat in Portland. Our communities are safe and calm,” said Oregon Governor Tina Kotek.
 
Trump really must love his Proud Boys, oops I meant ICE lads.
 
 
 

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Sep 28 2025 18:42 utc | 484

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Sep 28 2025 18:42 utc | 485
 
.
 
.
 
You advocate for violent freaks, breaking the law unopposed. We get it, lad. 
 
Fortunately, the US Constitution provides for a proper course, contrary to your above assertions. 

Posted by: seer | Sep 28 2025 19:26 utc | 486

Hmm; what happened to <i>journalists</i>?
And <b>*</b>?
Suddenly not recognizing valid HTML?
According to the “Code” view it’s substituting HTML symbols for characters (like & lt; for “<“).
Plus the “Visual” composition window doubles-spaces, making it hard to see the actual formatting.
I want my preview back!

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Sep 28 2025 20:36 utc | 488

*****Republicofscotland| 485The 15th amendment, ratified in 1870, makes it illegal to deny voting rights based on race, color, or former slavery – how many Americans can’t vote because they get obtain the proper letter/ID required to vote *****Absolutely NONE!!! The information provided to get welfare and that needed for a drivers license is sufficient in every State to obtain a voter ID.
Posted by: Jerr | Sep 29 2025 0:45 utc | 490
——————————————————————————————–
 
Look; if voter fraud was as widespread as some folks (like the MAGAs) claim it is, they you’d have a good case.
But it isn’t. It just is not a major problem anywhere in the US, by all investigations into it.
Oh sure, there’s a bit of fraud here and there, just like there is in any other country. But certainly nothing close to that required to change the outcomes of even close elections.
So the idea of imposing voter ID is a definite step backwards, towards the bad old days of Jim Crow and literacy tests and all that shit. Not a step forward. And the intent of such moves is clear, which is to try to disenfranchise voters of certain ethnicities and political leanings, nothing more, nothing less. As has always been the case. Different day, same shit.
So let’s not get cute here and pretend that the playing field would still be level and that we should just move along, nothing to see here.

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Sep 29 2025 1:27 utc | 490

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Sep 28 2025 20:36 utc | 489
——————————————————————————-
Nevermind. I figured out that’s what that toolbar up there is for.

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Sep 29 2025 1:57 utc | 492

***George the Zero @494
Source for your assertions about Detroit, please? That’s news to me. ******
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/05/recount-unrecountable/95007392/

Posted by: Jerr | Sep 29 2025 2:23 utc | 494

**** George zeroth @496***
There is a line in the ad that says Continue, it should direct you to the article. Also, depending on your browser there show be a text view option.
If not, below is recent  article on a lawsuit between DOJ and Michigsn trying to get Michigan voter files which they won’t release.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/09/guess-whos-not-above-law-mi-sos-benson/
 

Posted by: Jerr | Sep 29 2025 3:14 utc | 496

Re my (498) comment to George.
 
George I forgot to add this link as well, click the map to see how your states acts.
“Millions of Americans are excluded from our democratic process on the basis of criminal disenfranchisement laws. These laws strip voting rights from people with past criminal convictions, and they vary widely between states. Twenty-five states bar community members from voting, simply on the basis of convictions in their past. Navigating this patchwork of state laws can be exceedingly difficult, especially because election officials often misunderstand their own states’ laws.
In the map below, click on any state for a summary of its current laws on criminal disenfranchisement. States have a range of policies as to whether citizens with pending legal financial obligations relating to their convictions are eligible to vote, and also as to whether, and under what circumstances, misdemeanors are disenfranchising. These policies are not reflected in this map.”
 
Disenfranchisement Laws | Brennan Center for Justice

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Sep 29 2025 9:15 utc | 498

“You advocate for violent freaks, breaking the law unopposed. We get it, lad. ”
 
seer (487).
 
On the above – certainly not,  sure there are people in America that are there illegally, but kidnapping  people off the streets at gun point, only plays to MAGA’s – as you put it violent freaks, it may be a good idea in your head, but to other nations it looks bad, of course you don’t really care what other nations folk think – because we’re American’s and we have the biggest guns so F-U, and of course the USA’s admin is aiding and abetting in genocide, as you prop up a occupying force will hundreds of billions of taxpayers dollars – fixing that first should be apriority

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Sep 29 2025 9:28 utc | 500