News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine …
Back to Main
February 18, 2026
Open (Not Ukraine) Thread 2026-042
Comments
“Oedipus is the structure of comedy,” from Alan Alda’s character in ‘Crimes and Misdemeanors’.
was any portion of gusano Narco Rubio’s speech at the Munich Conference reproduced in the US MSM?
Posted by: duck n cover | Feb 18 2026 17:20 utc | 1
Venezuela’s economy expanded by 8.7% year-on-year in Q3 2025, accelerating from a 6.7% growth in the previous three-month period, according to central bank data. The boost stemmed primarily from a 16.1% surge in oil activity during the period, while non-oil activity grew 6.1%. Within the non-oil sector, notable growth was recorded in construction (+16.4%); transportation & storage (+9.35%); manufacturing (+8.98%); trade & vehicle repair (+8.19%); mining (+7.08%); electricity & water (+6.89%); accommodation & food services (+6.78%); real estate & professional services (+6.6%), and agriculture (+6.11%). source: Banco Central De Venezuela
Looks like Venezuela is doing too good for its own good.
Posted by: arby | Feb 18 2026 17:52 utc | 2
Such is Such….
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/mTGIjLdEo0k
Posted by: Nobody | Feb 18 2026 18:05 utc | 3
steven t johnson opined on another thread “there is no looking back.”
looking backward is the only way forward. you don’t even know that you are mammals. the way backward is the way forward.
are Marxists materialists? or are they Platonists? even Gnostics?
what don’t you share w/the sheep? your brain wattage? your Chinese EVs on autopilot? the ones w/all the touchscreens, not manual buttons and knobs, cuz progress?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs
are you healthier than the air? are you healthier than the soil? are you healthier than the water? are you healthier than near-earth orbit?
are you healthier than the garbage-filled capitalist mirror universe called the internet? cuz you are very smart and read some marx?
or are you just part of it? you are healthier than the diseased social body around you and not just a cell of that body? cuz you don’t personally smoke the crack pipe? you are not one of Dostoevski’s underground men, born and bred in a capitalist gmo- and pfas-filled radioactive test tube? educated, in the US, by the state lotto funding “Dept of Imagination”?
as Kafka knew, when talking about his Met, when people talk about the future, they are dreaming. of what are they dreaming?
their own death. all of us are going one place and one place only: back to the mother. the mother of all. hopefully there’s will be a few worms left to recycle the corpses like they been doing for thousands or millions of years (hardly matters how long when they are going extinct.)
“Oedipus is the structure of comedy.”
let’s frack the Arctic together…we need that gas now more than ever…
why not just nuke the place and get it over with? nah, when we all get our own nukes, that won’t happen.
something that’s not apocalypse-inducing dragon vomit from a scarecrow in death’s dream kingdom. death valley a buzzing blooming confusion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xg_TQpXrKo
what kind of person boasts about not being able to turn around and change direction? elon musk, mars or bust. best not to look backwards at that sewer running into the Potomac, how that happened.
don’t look back! that’s how we figure things out. as the herd stampedes over the cliff. too late to stop now.
Posted by: duck n cover | Feb 18 2026 18:10 utc | 4
Posted by: duck n cover | Feb 18 2026 18:10 utc | 4 In that other thread I wrote
Anarchism is in my view fundamentally reactionary, no matter how the anarchists posture on occasion. Looking backward is no way to move into the future. Anarchism looks back to a stateless Golden Age. But the Golden is always in the future.
Talking about the lessons of history is looking backward. It’s how you know where you are now. If you don’t understand the present you don’t understand the past either. Without an understanding of where you are, you merely conceive a fable of a Golden Age we should go back to. Fables help no one. The past in one sense is never past, since so much of it is still with us. But the entirety is gone. Most important, the parts that are gone went away for a reason. The notion that you can recreate the past—or even more amazingly only the nice parts—rests on a tacit assumption that the individual will creates the present. That I submit is idealist, platonic, Gnostic.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Feb 18 2026 18:27 utc | 5
Cuba’s Fate May Be in Marco Rubio’s Hands
https://x.com/SachaLlorenti/status/2023898637751722240
“The Economist is trying to romanticize the commission of crimes against humanity. This is how the media enables criminals. They have no values nor decency. They are a mouthpiece for the illegitimate and unlawful aggression against millions…”
Open Letter To The World From the Island of Cuba
https://www. counterpunch.org/2026/02/16/open-letter-to-the-world-from-the-island-from-cuba
To all humanity, to mothers of the world, to Doctors Without Borders, to journalists with self-respect, to governments that still want justice: I condemn the crime they don’t want to see.
My name is like millions of others – no famous last name, no important position. I am an ordinary Cuban woman – a daughter, a sister, a patriot. I write this with a broken heart and trembling hands.
What my people go through today is not a crisis. It is slow, calculated murder, coldly executed from Washington. And the world looks the other way…
From this small island, with a giant people, and from an ordinary Cuban woman who does not surrender: IF THESE WORDS MOVE YOU FROM THE HEART PASS THEM ON…”
Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 18 2026 18:39 utc | 6
6 corrected: Open Letter To the World From Cuba
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/16/open-letter-to-the-world-from-the-island-from-cuba
Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 18 2026 18:43 utc | 7
some here might enjoy yalensis post today.. he is on the website awful avalanche that some here already know about…
Posted by: james | Feb 18 2026 18:59 utc | 8
There’s a wonderful family named Stein
There’s Gert and there’s Ep and there’s Ein.
Posted by: pasha | Feb 18 2026 19:03 utc | 9
The first time \i\ visited Cuba was in the 90’s and fell in love with her instantly.
Posted by: pepe | Feb 18 2026 19:16 utc | 10
MOATS, with George Galloway: ‘JAW JAW’ (& vid)
https://x.com/MoatsTV/status/2024196931405128170
“Peace pow-wow/ Zelensky riles Trump/ Iran readies for war/ Randy-Andy crime probe|”
With guests Larry Johnson & Trita Parsi.
Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 18 2026 19:24 utc | 11
Talking about the lessons of history is
Posted by: steven t johnson | Feb 18 2026 18:27 utc | 5
—
Today’s propaganda will become accepted history in the future. If the present can be so distorted the veracity of the past is unimaginable.
The only way forward is from the current situation. Every historical frame of reference is compromised and leads in retrograde directions.
History doesn’t help much. It is a biased arbitrator.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 18 2026 19:29 utc | 12
see the three photos at the first link. israelis and zionist-jews and -christians (such as Mike Huckabee et al.) are the worst people on the face of this Earth
https://x.com/AbujomaaGaza/status/2024010440418750550
Motasem A Dalloul @AbujomaaGaza
The first Ramadan without my son Ibrahim, and the second Ramadan without my son Yahya and the third Ramadan without my son Abu Baker and my beloved wife Riham..
IOF killed all of them.
————-
https://t.me/Middle_East_Spectator/28451#
Middle East Spectator — MES
— 🇺🇸/🇮🇷/🇯🇴 A short note on Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Jordan, and why Iran may not strike it (although I argue they should):
For striking Muwaffaq Salti airbase, which currently hosts the majority of U.S. aerial assets (F-35s, F-15s etc.), Iran would need to utilize its longer range ballistic missiles. The vast majority of Iran’s ballistic missile stockpile are SRBMs that are capable of striking U.S. bases in countries like Qatar and the UAE, but that are incapable of reaching Jordan. Iran has spent significant resources to increase its stockpile of long-range missiles since the 12-Day War, but no stockpile is infinite.
Iran’s long range missiles are more valuable, exist in more limited numbers, and they would likely be prioritized to target Israel. Using these missiles to strike U.S. forces in Jordan instead of Israel may be perceived as a waste by Iran, especially considering the large amount of air defenses that have been deployed near the airbase.
This is also the main reason America is using Jordan as its primary staging grounds. It’s not because Saudi Arabia and Qatar refuse to let their airspace be used, that’s just the spin. It’s simply because the U.S. has decided that it prefers to be outside the range of the majority of Iran’s missile arsenal.
—————–
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-settlers-attack-home-of-palestinian-oscar-winning-di
Israeli settlers attack home of Palestinian Oscar-winning director
The co-director of an Oscar-winning film documenting life under occupation reports a new assault in Susya, as “Israel” usurps more land in Masafer Yatta.
The co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land reported that his family home in Susya, southern West Bank, was attacked once again, nearly a year after the film highlighted Israeli settler violence and Israeli occupation forces’ atrocities in the region.
Hamdan Ballal said that a group of settlers, who have a long history of assaulting Palestinian villagers, arrived at his home on Sunday……..
Posted by: michaelj72 | Feb 18 2026 19:45 utc | 13
Precious metals dealers.
The one I have been using? Fuck them now.
Silver 1oz Eagle (all they have on hand) US $86.35
Buying? $72.85, on a $76.79 spot. Their excuse? Silver might go down.
But they will happily take a pre-order on Canadian silver oz. at $86.40, that they will not deliver for a month, maybe, and if the price goes down, too bad, you pay what you bought it at.
They have to make a percentage on trade, sure. But this is double ended gouging, plain and simple. Fuck them.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 18 2026 20:26 utc | 14
too scents | Feb 18 2026 19:29 utc | 12
And persflo from the last thread
Much to be learned from history, but history has to be taken in its whole. For us in the ‘Anglo American west’, the world moved from WWII straight into the cold war. So much of what I was taught and believed turned out to be a lie. Propaganda. To prevent revolution, The men of capital did give us a better life than what the Soviet system was able to deliver.
Building a prototype of anything and testing it, you find what works and what does not. The communist manifesto was simple a theory. In practice, some aspects were very good, others unworkable. Russia and China, although they took different paths, ended up in the same place. Their older cultures combined with the workable aspects of the communist manifesto.
Here in the west, the left used to be often termed the progressives. It would often combine socialist policies with ‘progressive’ policies. The socialist policies I often consider good, the so called progressive policies nearly always a giant leap of a cliff.
In the countries where peoples general prosperity is rising, the highly educated leadership is generally very much in touch with the common man.
After Putins first election, he began with a clean slate and laid down the law. During the Yeltsin years, crime and corruption was rampant. It was part of society. A lot of stuff he did in those early years was televised. I wondered about that for a long time. He is not a tv Trump nor a baby kissing politician. Then I realised. He was letting the people know that they had a leader that actually cared for them. He led by example to give his people hope. He can speak in the language of the common man.
Many videos now from other places use AI voice translation. I don’t like listening to the AI voice, and it is exceptionally difficult to distinguish them from the genuine and the Indian and Ukrainian shonks and scammers.
So much on youtube that comes up from Burkina Faso with the AI voice re Traore. what comes through is exceptionally similar to what I saw – the mindset or thought or whatever you want to call it of the actual aboriginal people of Australia.
Sebgo that comments here is a highly educated man that knows nothing of the common man of his country. General also – that comment in the last thread, earlier comments not in laymans terms.
The so called west and those that aspire to the so called values of the west. There is a disconnect between the educated man and the common man.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 20:29 utc | 15
ftp | Feb 18 2026 20:26 utc | 14
Though many have been touting it, I’m very wary of silver. It is now simply an industrial metal, no longer coinage/currency.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 20:33 utc | 16
@14 re PM dealers.
The prices you listed seem pretty much standard with many PM dealers. If anything their prices on US Eagles are on the low end of dealer prices.
If you don’t buy someone else will. Its called supply and demand.
Perhaps you should start buying your silver directly from the US Mint.
https://www.usmint.gov/american-eagle-2023-one-ounce-silver-uncirculated-coin-23EG.html
Posted by: golddigger | Feb 18 2026 20:41 utc | 17
Posted by: ftp | Feb 18 2026 20:26 utc | 14
Silver, AFAIK includes the VAT tax. So besides dealer mark-up price it has the VAT which makes the buy-sell spread wider.
Gold doesn’t have taxes so buy-sell is much narrower.
That said, physical silver is for the long term. It had a large price swing from $25 to $120, now down to $75. It can’t be excluded it doesn’t still fall but IMO $50 will be the new ‘bottom’, within 5 years the next swing will take it to hundreds of dollars, simply due to continuous money printing (it will actually accelerate to paper over continuously rising debt and eroding government tax base).
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 18 2026 20:48 utc | 18
golddigger | Feb 18 2026 20:41 utc | 17
You see some countries were paper has greatly devalued. A bottle of petrol can be bought for a certain number of bricks. A brick is a thick block of paper. Metals with mint stamps are better but silver, you need a wheelbarrow to carry the stuff around.
When it comes to metals/elements, I suspect if you had some gallium, you could charge the Americans a kings ransom for it.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 20:53 utc | 19
Posted by: arby | Feb 18 2026 17:52 utc | 2
Venezuela’s economy expanded by 8.7% year-on-year in Q3 2025, accelerating from a 6.7% growth in the previous three-month period, according to central bank data. The boost stemmed primarily from a 16.1% surge in oil activity during the period, while non-oil activity grew 6.1%. Within the non-oil sector, notable growth was recorded in construction (+16.4%); transportation & storage (+9.35%); manufacturing (+8.98%); trade & vehicle repair (+8.19%); mining (+7.08%); electricity & water (+6.89%); accommodation & food services (+6.78%); real estate & professional services (+6.6%), and agriculture (+6.11%). source: Banco Central De Venezuela
Looks like Venezuela is doing too good for its own good.
https://www.southfront.press/the-illegal-drug-trade-in-latin-america-part-iii-regional-convergence-the-drug-trade-armed-conflicts-and-counterinsurgency-wars/the content of this link tells quite a story..
Posted by: snake | Feb 18 2026 20:54 utc | 20
The prices you listed seem pretty much standard with many PM dealers.
Perhaps you should start buying your silver directly from the US Mint.
Posted by: golddigger | Feb 18 2026 20:41 utc | 17
Yes. They are all gouging at the moment.
No. I don’t even want the Eagles, would like the Canadian ones, but an inexperienced friend wants some (any) silver, now, and I said I would try to get him some. Not selling mine, just insulted at their buying price when I looked. I don’t mind them making a profit, just not a ridiculous one at the expense of their clients.
Be interesting to see what happens Friday. I figure a pretty good smash down, when I would like to get my buddy some, but if the premiums are still stupid, nope.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 18 2026 20:56 utc | 21
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 18 2026 20:48 utc | 18
Canada. No tax.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 18 2026 20:57 utc | 22
@16 “Though many have been touting it, I’m very wary of silver. It is now simply an industrial metal, no longer coinage/currency.”
The fact that Silver is an industrial metal is what makes it worth so much, and that exactly is the reason the price is high, and going higher. There is not enough silver mined to cover its demand, and demand is great and growing. Silver production is in deficit and will continue to be. Unless a large number of mines are opened. To open new mine, from discovery to first pour can take a decade.
For instance a single 400 watt commercial grade solar panel can take up to 21 grams of silver to produce it.
Posted by: golddigger | Feb 18 2026 20:57 utc | 23
Posted by: golddigger | Feb 18 2026 20:57 utc | 23
And Samsung’s new SS EV batteries. 1kg+ of silver per unit.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 18 2026 21:00 utc | 24
Posted by: ftp | Feb 18 2026 20:56 utc | 21
Am waiting to see – IMO there’s still a chance silver will drop lower this or next week. If it does will be adding some more oz’s. Otherwise have also some micro/small cap gold and silver mining stocks with more leverage to these metals. As long as they have cheap production costs (usually means high mineral grades and large reserves) and growing production, they have a very large upside leverage to the metal price and are relatively protected even if metal price drops.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 18 2026 21:03 utc | 25
🇮🇷🇺🇸🇮🇱 BREAKING: Barak Ravid (Axios) reports on Israeli Channel 12 that Trump is “very close” to ordering a military strike on Iran.
A Trump advisor: “The boss is losing patience. I think there’s a ninety percent chance we’ll see military action against Iran within the coming weeks.”
Washington sources say this would be a joint US-Israel campaign lasting weeks, “more like a war” and “completely different from the Venezuela scenario.”
“More significant and closer than the American public understands.”
🔴 @DDGeopolitics
War… lasting weeks!
As we enter the fifth year of the SMO – a war.
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡 show underway.
oh boy this is going to be like little big horn, charge of the light brigade, Singapore, Dunkirk and Napoleon and Hitler retreat from Moscow – combined!
forget the gold and silver grab some extra beers and get the best seats in the bar to watch! The world turns.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 18 2026 21:03 utc | 26
One curious thing about the release of the Epstein files, is that they do not cover the period leading up to 9-11, the attacks or the period following. As they are numbered in sequence, this suppression has been noted on X as it is obvious and leaves a long and large void.
Now the question is why? Not only it helps those who were profiting from the attacks, who can be reasonably assumed to possibly be part of Epsteins financial wheeling and dealing (not necessarily sexual), but it also implies that the FBI are covering themselves. Why? Remember that Mueller, in charge of the inquest (enquiry?) had at his disposal the films from about 32 surveillance cameras of the Pentagon, From which one “anonymous” person chose only about three, and even cut out frames of some of them. Then destroyed all the rest. ie, an FBI cover-up. Now surely there are many films and e-mails about such a major event, in the Epstein files that have not even been released, let alone “redacted”, that could shine light on many of the more questionable parts of the attacks. Are the FBI covering themselves again?
golddigger | Feb 18 2026 20:57 utc | 23
You are quite right. Supply and demand. I have AU in my name, but that is because I am from Australia rather than a symbol of gold. I look at gold because the non US banks are sucking the stuff up and hoarding it.
On the five year chart, the difference in gold and silver can be seen. Gold is a steadier longer curve, silver a spike. I only invest my money in ethanol. For the astute speculator, silver can bring in some profits. To me, I guess I am not a speculator and gold seems more like money in the bank.
Supply and demand. With the increase in demand, new previously unprofitable deposits are being opened up. Once they are in full swing, metals will then settle at a new normal.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 21:10 utc | 28
Stonebird | Feb 18 2026 21:05 utc | 27
The missing emails are the period between the senate hearing on America requiring a peal harbour and 9/11.
The FBI investigation was called off the money trail as the trainee pilots/hijackers were funded by Saudi intel. Saudi is a close accomplice of the American powers that be. Those missing files pretty much seals the matter. Operation NorthWoods.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 21:17 utc | 29
https://t.me/Middle_East_Spectator/28448#
Middle East Spectator — MES
People need to understand that Iran’s only way of pressuring America in case of war, is by dragging the entire region into it and making the Americans unable to deal with the consequences. Every single option will no longer be held back, all axes will be activated.
If America attacks, assuming it’s a large-scale attack aimed at toppling the regime, Iran will unleash EVERYTHING it has—and the Middle East will explode, from Iran to Jordan, from Yemen to Kuwait—the ENTIRE region will be ablaze. There will be a global energy crisis, and it will push other anti-American forces to try their luck in various parts of the world.
This has the possibility of becoming America’s second Vietnam. They’re entering into something of which they cannot possibly fathom the implications for decades to come.
If a large-scale war happens, even if the Iranian government doesn’t fall, it will be a historic moment far more instrumental than the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
I can assure you that the Islamic Republic won’t fall easily. It will trigger a civil war far more deadly and violent than Syria.
Posted by: michaelj72 | Feb 18 2026 21:19 utc | 30
@ Stonebird | Feb 18 2026 21:05 utc | 27
clearly this info can’t come out as it is too damaging to the narrative… this is yet another reason why the epstein files are so important.. they are essentially an open window on corruption of such a high degree involving intel agencies and so much more..
Posted by: james | Feb 18 2026 21:22 utc | 31
Just for laughs:
Michael Tracey Fails LIVE – Audio MYSTERIOUSLY Cuts When Asked Who’s Paying Him to Defend Epstein
https://youtu.be/TY4xCw6ln_8?si=5RM53eCKZa63v74B
Posted by: James C | Feb 18 2026 21:28 utc | 32
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 21:10 utc | 28
True. But for six years silver demand has been well beyond production and most of the loose silver is now gone. Near future demand for industrial consumption silver is climbing very quickly. There really is not enough unexploited silver to cover the almost certain coming demand.
Personally, I am expecting $150-200US silver by end of 2026. ***PLEASE*** don’t take this a advice. I have been wrong before, and most I bought so cheap it does not really matter to me if it falls to $30US (though I would not be pleased). I can afford to average-out gamble.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 18 2026 21:28 utc | 33
Tim Dillon nails it.
Why The Elites Are Quiet About Epstein
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 18 2026 21:32 utc | 34
Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 21:17 utc | 29
You are not counting the insurance on the two towers taken out just before the attacks, and the stocks and shares that were invested in those that would rise in the case of aerial attacks. (Airlines, security etc,) before anything happened. Epstein was known as a financial “adviser”. So did he know in advance?
The Israeli presence is also well known (“Art students” in the Pentagon, bof, and Mossad’s personel living near the “hijackers”, again bof. “dancing Israelis, bof) All I am saying is that if FBI were called off, the Saudi angle may have been used as a diversion. ie. “Look over there, a poisonous (saudi) frog”.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 18 2026 20:56 utc | 21
It’s never a great time to buy when volatility is so high.
Better to pause and let the new normal establish itself, whatever it might be, then restart accumulation.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 18 2026 21:43 utc | 36
Alexander Mercouris claims Iran is readying to shut the Hormuz. If that happen then oil prices are going to jump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdsiZnHZYZo
Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Feb 18 2026 21:51 utc | 37
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 18 2026 21:43 utc | 36
It’s never a great time to buy. 🙂
Buy.
Price goes down. “AHHRRRGG! I bought too much!”.
Price goes up. “AHHRRRGG! I didn’t buy enough!”
It’s why traders drink heavily.
But watch Friday, first three hours of trading, on silver. Could be a good time if you can lock in a buy. There are still shenanigans going on for those criminal conspirators who need to cover the ‘OH crap!’ shorts.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 18 2026 21:54 utc | 38
Posted by: Stonebird | Feb 18 2026 21:35 utc | 35
Alex Krainer also mentioned the British government was using the Pakistani grooming gangs in England (somehow) to funnel money to Osama bin Laden. The events surrounding 911 are all very perverse and strange.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 18 2026 22:05 utc | 39
Stonebird
A couple of times you have mentioned that incident where your wife walked out and you followed. That time of my youth, traveling across the top of Australia – many crazies headed up there to escape the law, but there was also many young people like me. The road of death. Many died. The foolish thought the crazies were simply interesting people. I run onto many that I would never go to a lonely place with. They would kill you soon as your back was tuned or you went to sleep. Traveling to other countries and other cultures. A stranger in a strange land. Always difficult because in every culture there is the good and the bad.
My only two trips to Asia, late in life – I wish I had the interest to travel overseas earlier – was for my daughter. She was going through a hard spot in life so the first year I said book a trip to Thailand and I will pay for it. She booked a hotel in Chinatown in Bangkok. That was good. I walked the streets and ally’s of chinatown every day. One day we went a bit far and got into gangland. Blokes with tats sitting in doorways. Time to turn back.
Same with the trip to China. Said to the daughter we will go over for the Canton fair. It ran for seven days so told her to make it ten. She booked us into an out of the way place where no one spoke English and me being me cannot speak any other language. Flew to Hong Kong then a train to Guangzhou. Arriving in Guangzhou I got totally screwed. My hearing is not good, especially with broken English. Some blokes intercepted us and I was trying to work out if the were the people from the hotel to pick us up. My daughter said something and I though she said they were from the hotel. As it turned out, she had tried to tell me otherwise but I guess had not worded it blunt enough for me.
A fashionably dressed well built young man. Nice car. Wearing a well made knitted t shirt with half sleeves. We were sitting in the back seat cruising along, all seemed good. I was on the opposite side to him but in the back, then the half sleeve rides up a bit and I see the tat. In Asia ordinary people don’t or rarely have tats. I thought fuck. If its overcast I get lost in a city, but the sun was out so I checked that and we were headed the right way so sat back to await developments. He delivered us to the hotel but payment time was another thing. I would give him a Chinese note and he would say that is no good and give it back. I tried a number of notes till he accepted one.
Turned out he worked for a counterfeiting mob. I was handing him good notes and he was handing back counterfeits. At that time counterfeiting was bad in China. Everyone checked the notes carefully, many shops had machines to run the money through.
Daughter went into a pharmacist to buy something but the counterfeit notes were rejected. She was in tears so I collected all our Chinese cash and headed down to a small supermarket that had a counterfeit machine. I run all the notes through that to separate the counterfeit from the good. There was a mob of young blokes in there standing around talking. Here a mob of young blokes like that would be wanting to start a fight. They came up and tried to point out the difference between counterfeit and good money. They didn’t speak a word of English, and I did not speak a word of Chinese, but they were good men.
The good and the bad in all cultures.
Evil only prevails when good men do nothing.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 22:14 utc | 40
Posted by: Simon | Feb 18 2026 22:19 utc | 41
Nobody is forgetting this shit he’s been involved with. His political career is dead.
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 18 2026 22:22 utc | 41
Why? Because Epstein was running a honeypot extortion operation on behalf of the CIA, MI6 and the Mossad.
He had the incriminating evidence on hundreds of political and military figures …………….
Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 18 2026 22:22 utc | 42
Simon – totally wrong. The DJT MAGA base detests endless foreign wars that waste the lives of their own sons and daughters……….that is completely clear.
Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 18 2026 22:24 utc | 43
Let’s review !
Trump is 79 years old and in questionable health. Please recall how the media didn’t expose either Biden or Reagan as senile. (NBC was somewhat apologetic about Reagan, I recall) Trump is a heartbeat away from eternity. Maybe he says, “F**k it all”. Who knows? Go to your job and think, “what would it be like to have a 79 year old boss?” This is deranged.
The whole horrible Epstein scandal is wildly, grossly missing…….TRUMP ! Why? This. liability means he is vulnerable to blackmail. Now, add Israel’s purchase of Congress and tell me how war is avoided? He Is Owned.
So, war is coming because Netanyahu can order it up – by commanding Trump. Make sure your investments are in gold and oil. This thing is a Greek Tragedy. All the characters are fated, Predetermined to do what they must. Very weird.
You can ridicule me as you wish. I think the only hope of the human race comes from suppressed accounts (by credible people) that Extraterrrestrials object to nuclear weapons. I’m serious. I don’t see hope otherwise because these weapons are in the hands of psychotic people who worry about the climate 20 years from now AND NOT the threat of nuclear war being triggered. The Undersecretary Of Defense (War?) thinks “limited nuclear war with China” is not a big deal (position paper).
I’m wondering if ideas that our world is a simulation are credible. This world makes little sense to me, as to how it survives.
Posted by: Eighthman | Feb 18 2026 22:31 utc | 44
I read that Trump is less popular than spiders according to polls in the US now. A spider would do a better job of running the country anyway.
At least European leaders showed some sense with the Trump-Kushner Peace Initiative of Real Estate Nepotism.
People with the empathy of psychopaths aren’t that good at peace anyway.
Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Feb 18 2026 22:32 utc | 45
Stonebird | Feb 18 2026 21:35 utc | 35
This business of the trees and the forest. I guess my thought is if we stay in the forest to long studying the trees, it is easy to get lost. Others may have a better sense of direction than me. For me, its a matter of zooming in to look at the trees then zooming back out to look at the forest.
Too much time amongst the trees and I tend to get into testicle warbling fisticuffs which is somewhat undiplomatic.
Time to get a grip on oneself. I look down at my wrinkled up old fella and think, bloody hell, there’s not much to get a grip on there.
The Epstein class, the common man and the traveling man.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 22:34 utc | 46
I guess this qualifies as not Ukraine or Palestine. .. Donald Trump with camara on him and ‘special envoy’ Lutnick among those behind his desk, says not only how Lutnick is one of the great businessmen of all time but that ‘we are lucky to have him’ what that one day 9/11/2001 his wife urged him to not have the driver take the children to school but do it himself, instead of going to the World Trade Center.
Candidate for Dunce Cap Moment of the year!
Posted by: JustSomeOldGuy | Feb 18 2026 22:40 utc | 47
I am currently studying anger management.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0_enY3qcL4
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 22:46 utc | 49
Laura Dogu & Warshington’s Regime-Change Playbook
https://mronline.org/2026/02/16/laura-dogu-and-washingtons-regime-change-playbook-nicaragua-honduras-venezuela/
“Laura Dogu, newly appointed US envoy to Venezuela, is described by the Los Angeles Times as an appropriate choice because she ‘navigated crises’ in Nicaragua and Honduras during periods of ‘social and political volatility.’
What the LA Times fails to add is that it was precisely Dogu’s job to create crisis and volatility in both countries.
In Latin America she is widely regarded, for good reason, as the ‘US Ambassador of interventions and coups…”
Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 18 2026 22:56 utc | 50
On todays @GenghisKhanShow we confirm the fear that the FEMA Camps have been repackaged into ICE camps and are being prepared for long term internment of “Anti Government Dissidents”. The coming possible war with Iran will be set up for this.
https://open.substack.com/pub/genghismfkhan/p/episode-87ice-concentration-campsiran
https://x.com/GenghisMFKhan/status/2024196342084477199
—-
Those massive DHS/ICE “concentration/detention camps” which are funded by the Pentagon that are springing up all over the country will be fitted out to deal with “medical waste and management” capabilities for BIOHAZARD related scenarios, via INCINERATORS. 🚨🚨🚨⚠️⚠️⚠️
WHY the hell does an ICE facility need to use incinerators, unless it is for the DISPOSAL of dead bodies, and or body parts, biohazard waste etc.?
Your local hospital doesn’t even have an incinerator on site, it is usually contracted out to a local crematorium.
Keep in mind that these facilities are NOT only going to be for illegal immigrants…
When you take into account the sheer scale of these facilities all together, in many different states (10,000 plus people each), they are clearly anticipating and preparing for A WHOLE LOT of people to be held in them.
When the government is building concentration camps, it is NEVER a good thing and I will let you put two and two together to figure out what happens from here…Combine all of this with Trump et al talking about bringing back insane asylums… History ALWAYS repeats itself.
Americans have always said “it can never happen here”…
Well, I have some TERRIFYING news to share with y’all…
IT IS HAPPENING HERE UNDER THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.
VERY QUICKLY.
https://x.com/TPV_John/status/2023896690936476142
#####
The Palantir/Epstein future for America. You’re all Palestinians now.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 18 2026 22:57 utc | 51
WWNGD? What Would Nazi Germany Do?
Tucker Carlson Detained in Israel
Shortly after Carlson’s interview with Mike Huckabee in Ben Gurion AirPort, Israeli officials confiscated his passport and hauled off his executive producer to an interrogation room.
Tucker: “Men who identified themselves as airport security took our passports, hauled our executive producer into a side room and then demanded to know what we spoke to Ambassador Huckabee about. It was bizarre. We’re now out of the country.”
Two sources familiar with the matter said the Israeli government initially did not want to allow Carlson into the country, prompting a delicate negotiation involving the State Department.
They eventually decided to not bar Carlson from entering the country to avoid a ‘diplomatic incident,’ according to a Channel 13 report. He is now back in America.
Source: Dailymail
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 18 2026 23:04 utc | 52
US STATE DEPARTMENT TO MIRROR SITES OTHER COUNTRIES TRY TO CENSOR
https://x.com/disclosetv/status/2024253074441716165
Some pieces of narrative must simply be forced through no matter what or who places barriers:
U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to access content banned by their governments including “hate speech and terrorist propaganda,” the site will be hosted at
http://freedom.gov — Reuters
Posted by: Jerry Cairns | Feb 18 2026 23:30 utc | 53
Lutnick worked at Cantor Fitzgerald.
several thousand perished. But he knew enough not to be there
Posted by: Mungo Man | Feb 18 2026 23:35 utc | 54
After the failed offensive of 2023, Trump was ordained as president and Carlson was anointed to interview Putin. Putin well understood the power behind Carlson and was well prepared. Carlson did his act, but Putin hit him with a thick folder of Russian history to take back to his masters.
Many have tried, and all have failed. The Russians. Slow to saddle but fast to ride.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 23:37 utc | 55
Missing 9/11 DOJ files. Gap is 1999- 2001
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HBL0MvDawAABNhu.jpg?name=orig
Posted by: Sam Isdat | Feb 18 2026 23:39 utc | 56
Axios consistently publishes bluster from anonymous sources bolstering, in particular, Israeli propaganda and information ops. Which doesn’t mean it always has no value or isn’t half-right, but that it shouldn’t be considered literally on its own terms.
Posted by: jayc | Feb 18 2026 23:42 utc | 57
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 18 2026 21:32 utc | 34
Dillon makes an obvious point that Epstein is just the fuse that could set off a bomb which could destroy many people’s elaborate structures that are built like houses made from packs of cards. One step over the line with Epstein years ago, probably set up further years of going over the line into a very dark world of corrupt behaviours – that’s if they hadn’t already gone over the line earlier with some of obvious players that many suspect.
Remove the Epstein card at the bottom of the structure and the huge edifice could come crashing down.
The good thing here is that it only takes one card to be removed in a room full of house of card structures, and the knock on effect could mean many could come tumbling down. If that happens they will all squeal on each other in the end too.
Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Feb 18 2026 23:47 utc | 58
“Many have tried, and all have failed. The Russians. Slow to saddle but fast to ride.”
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 23:37 utc | 57
Very good at rapid surprise ambush attacks in small groups on horseback as Napoleon’s men found out as well.
Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Feb 18 2026 23:50 utc | 59
FEMA Camps in the U.S.
Too many possibilities at the moment to make any definitive conclusions. These facilities could be holding areas for mass deportations. They could be used to detain what is referred to as the American Stasi. They could be used to confine and exterminate Christians. It could be used to detain people hostile to Israel. They could even be built for one purpose but used for another. I’m not getting hyped up about them, but I am keeping my eye on them.
Posted by: Nobody Special | Feb 18 2026 23:59 utc | 60
Lutnick worked at Cantor Fitzgerald.several thousand perished. But he knew enough not to be there
Posted by: Mungo Man | Feb 18 2026 23:35 utc | 56
Yes, I wondered about that. I thought that everyone at Cantor Fitzgerald died on 911. Interesting.
Posted by: arby | Feb 19 2026 0:05 utc | 61
Talking about the lessons of history is looking backward. It’s how you know where you are now. If you don’t understand the present you don’t understand the past either.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Feb 18 2026 18:27 utc | 5
I’m not particularly into Hegel, but he has a powerful idea about this problem: there is an other to history (Das Andere der Geschichte) – alike to goggles we necessarily have to put on in order to look into the past, and which qualities about filtering and rim etc we don’t get to know. A meaningful history of ideas must deal with this; which is one reason to introduce as a separate discipline historiography; while the two can never be truly discerned at any given point in time.
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 0:12 utc | 62
9/11 and Directed Energy Weapons
https://archive.org/details/youtube-EjhqNbjR6_Q
It’s long, the woman’s presentation style can be distracting but the information is fascinating.
Posted by: Nobody Special | Feb 19 2026 0:14 utc | 63
Posted by: too scents | Feb 18 2026 19:29 utc | 12 Strictly speaking, much history is today’s propaganda foisted onto the past. It is quite common for the conventional wisdom of a time to be forgotten as soon as convenient. Perhaps the most notorious example in American historiography is re-writing the causes of the Civil War. Everybody knew it was about slavery. It wasn’t hookworm, yellowjack and magnolias that made the South think it was too different to survive a majority government. As soon as Lincoln was elected they saw that coming, so they went. Reading history is like listening to the government. You simply cannot be content with the prevailing views. Those are paid for, directly or indirectly. If it is impossible to see through falsified history, it is impossible to see through the propaganda. It’s not impossible. It does take work, and experience, but most of all a determination that your gut is not your brain. So-called common sense is too often conventional wisdom.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Feb 19 2026 0:14 utc | 64
STR – The cause of the southern states’ secession was of course to preserve the institution of slavery in the long run.
But the cause of the Civil War was the North’s (successful) attempt to prevent the southern states’ secession and to preserve the union as it was.
Posted by: Caliman | Feb 19 2026 0:25 utc | 65
But they will happily take a pre-order on Canadian silver oz. at $86.40, that they will not deliver for a month, maybe, and if the price goes down, too bad, you pay what you bought it at.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 18 2026 20:26 utc | 14
And just now the pre-sale delivery times moved again. “Two weeks” three weeks ago. “March” a week ago. “Late March” now. “?????” next week. Extrapolated, by March, delivery will be suggested to be in May/June.
No way would I leave my money in their hands for deliver with dates sliding further out weekly. Smells of BS with no actual deliver date known.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 19 2026 0:37 utc | 66
The so called west and those that aspire to the so called values of the west. There is a disconnect between the educated man and the common man.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 20:29 utc | 15
My colleague ‘A*‘ and me were wondering about Russian culture together a lot, not least because he became enamored with my then best friend, a highly educated girl from Ukraine. For all his intellectual virtues, he never truly got hold of some kind of desire for superiority. After a couple of years and much experience, he accepted my observation that Russian history of the C20th alone would suffice to nowadays expect something much more refined and capable from them, culturally-wise, than what was present before; with this, I do not mean so much the subtleties of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, but more the nation-state capable society that brought on modern rocketry as well as housing and education for everyone. Things that would interest a hardcore German conservative/reactionary rightwinger, if you so will.
Where we really did part ways, so to speak, was when our friend reported that the common ground among folks in Russia is to always carry a shovel in the trunk of their cars. Yes, you read that right. He had no understanding of what it takes to live in a vast country without pristine continually serviced roads, and he thought them the lesser for that. For all the problems I had and will continue to have with this guy, this one is one I can’t get over easily.
I don’t say this to gather credibility with you, it is completely true, and a thought I’ve been having for years at this point. I might go as far as to say that the ‘conservative’ party over here has lost me over that.
The disconnect that fuels reactionary ideology.
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 0:40 utc | 67
BREAKING: Barak Ravid (Axios) reports on Israeli Channel 12 that Trump is “very close” to ordering a military strike on Iran.
Okay, there’s that. I will go out on a limb here and predict it’s swagger again. TACO ftw.
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 0:44 utc | 68
School days and homework. Metal work and the teacher was a bit of a harsh or rather strict task master. A mob of us didn’t do our homework. He gave us the choice of the strait edge or the corner. I didn’t want to stand in the corner for an hour so stepped up thinking the straight edge would not hurt. I should have had trousers with large back pockets and a book in each pocket. He could swing a strait edge. Sort of thing that made the eyes water.
Next week same thing. But I step up with great trepidation, thinking Fuck, this is gonna hurt. Perhaps that is the way I have lived my life. I dunno. We are what we are.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 0:53 utc | 69
As many as there were before attack on Iraq.
🇺🇸🇮🇷 OSINT trackers have identified 87 military tanker aircraft either inside or positioned near CENTCOM’s area of operations.
This is the largest aerial refueling buildup in years. The breakdown:
🔴 RED — Tankers already inside CENTCOM (Middle East): Al Udeid, Prince Sultan, Diego Garcia, and more
🟠 ORANGE — Tankers at strategic staging bases nearby: Chania (Greece), Moron (Spain), Naval Station Rota, Sofia (Bulgaria), Lajes (Azores)
🟢 GREEN — Tankers across Europe on standby: RAF Mildenhall, Ramstein, Geilenkirchen, Glasgow Prestwick
87 tankers are spread across three continents, and are all oriented toward one theater.
For context: the U.S. used roughly 90 tankers during the opening phase of the Iraq War.
🔴 @DDGeopolitics
Iraq has a nice fly zone for many months before.
No modern air defence.
No strategic partners – big boys – China or Russia and all the most modern tech and surveillance…
They are going to need a bigger fleet!
The only use tankers will be is to refuel the escaping f35’s from the US bases in the satrapys.
There is assessment that the Jordanian bases will be used because that has the best air defence !!
the best ! Of the best of the best?
lol- they think they are going on a jolly! Just like a before !
The US naval sacrificial goats tied to their posts in the depths of their dinky tin cans that will be struck by hypersonic hammers – concussion and deafeness as instantly at best – unless they are immune Quasimodos.
Poor shmucks – for their Ziolords – who will tell them?
Well how can that challenge be refused?
Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 19 2026 1:00 utc | 70
Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Feb 18 2026 22:32 utc | 46
I’m rather fond of spiders.
Mind you, I live in a place where all the arachnids are benevolent and the worst that can happen is one of them runs up your sleeve.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 19 2026 1:01 utc | 71
Who will say boo?
Mr Lavrov – in clear and precise statement. This just as joint Iran naval miltary manoeuvres.
amongst other issues specific Iran and regional related are:
➡️He warned of serious consequences if new strikes are carried out against Iran;
➡️Lavrov called demands in Geneva for Iran to fully abandon its right to enrich uranium unacceptable;
➡️Putin has established trusting and mutually beneficial ties with Saudi Arabia’s leadership;
➡️Russian Muslims are grateful to Saudi Arabia for special attention and a significant Hajj quota.
🔴 @DDGeopolitics
Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 19 2026 1:06 utc | 73
DunGroanin | Feb 19 2026 1:00 utc | 72
The orange maybe be for the second phase. That they expect the air bases to be bombed and that Iran will use up its missiles in the first phase. then. after that, the next group will move closer. To finish off the govt, what they call ‘the regime’
if this is so, and the US military really is ready to accept massive losses, that would be very dire indeed.
Posted by: JustSomeOldGuy | Feb 19 2026 1:06 utc | 74
I don’t say this to gather credibility with you
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 0:40 utc | 69
I’m not some hobbly goblin that will bite your head off. Well so as you are not some sort of above though wanker. If you wee I would grab you by the nuts and hold on till Greta Thunberg freezes over.
Be you a philosopher in Germany or me a shitkicker in Australia, we are moving into an exceptionally shitty world.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 1:06 utc | 75
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 0:44 utc | 70
I’ll take the other side of that bet.
I think he has to now. If he doesn’t, I think Bibi the Butcher will start it and drag the USA in either way.
Also, I don’t think the Trumptard ego will let him back down this time.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 19 2026 1:13 utc | 76
lol the US threatening Iran with a fleet of tankers … hope I am right, as usual /argh
But seriously. What is the scenario? Iranian missiles will degrade air arm basing out to Diego Garcia, CGS are not resilient enough these days for a prolonged campaign, and other standoff missile platforms lack the firepower to prevent effective retaliation (“scud hunting”) even if the F-35’s now all come in with a superduper fancy radar nobody saw before. Consequential ROE will make the patrols prone to fire at decoys, while detection from ground radar will put them at risk. If the “Penguin” could indeed effectively avoid tracking, they would have won the 12-day war with that.So we are back at trying to defeat the mountain fortress. Yet, even if an all-out nuclear engagement does the trick, there will be an issue with international relations after that.
Can one worm out of that?
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 1:19 utc | 77
Yet, even if an all-out nuclear engagement does the trick, there will be an issue with international relations after that. Can one worm out of that?
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 1:19 utc | 79
They already dropped nukes on a country. That country now is a slavish vassal. And nobody seems to care.
Posted by: arby | Feb 19 2026 1:24 utc | 78
@ Posted by: arby | Feb 19 2026 0:05 utc | 65
”I thought that everyone at Cantor Fitzgerald died on 911. Interesting.”
Everyone except the boss! No witnesses. No records. No trail of $trillions that was their job to launder.
I posted on that and the missing files from these years some days ago;
Along with his crocodile tears the following day on some tv interview, about the ‘poor families’ and his immediate attempt to get their death in employment payouts doubled by the insurers !
The very next day! while his unfortunate facial expression seemed to be involuntarily smiling. Well getting away with $trillions and cold blooded mass MURDER would put a smile on any robber for ever!
The kind of smiles that the dancing izzios had the day before !
When they were able to celebrate that no one from the floors of the cantor offices would be able to get out and no one would be able to get up there to help them …
in hindsight the dots obviously connect.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 19 2026 1:25 utc | 79
Sebgo that comments here is a highly educated man that knows nothing of the common man of his country. General also – that comment in the last thread, earlier comments not in laymans terms.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2026 20:29 utc | 15
************************
Hello again, Peter. In my (very weak) defense, I do make an effort to speak in the language that I feel is appropriate for the occasion. When addressing a Conference, for example, I try not to drift into an easy-going ‘bush yarn’ style. Similarly, I have found that a formal, scientific style generally falls flat around a campfire – unless it be intentionally used as parody – the art of which I am smugly proud…
/Layman’s mode on … 🙂
Yeah.. Hey, hey – Jes’ stop the bs. Remember de ole Abdanoridginal sayin’? I bin roun’ so long I bin startin’ turnin’ real good ‘n’ white long time, man – most always c’n pass for gen wine whitey now – ‘ay – sposin’ you want ‘im white lady? Ahh – you naughty bot. Not dat White Lady – dis white lady – hic; I get ‘im from Jasper’s ‘ardware round de corna – tax-free boss. Multi-purpose – cook, drink, cure coff, col’ ‘n’ sore arseole…. ‘Ouse nigga ya say? Man I now gradumated – King Nigga now.
An’ you nmetter leave off dat Sebgo dude, man – ‘im be de real goods! I tok ony one langidge – pidgin – an’ shit like one too – arrghhh, ha ha ha!! – but dat Sebgo, man, he tok More; more an’ more More aye – eh?? eh?? ‘ear dat damn echo get inside ma ‘ead – inside ma ‘ead – Whitey say full a shit man – ‘ow can echo in ma ‘ead if full a shit man inside ma ‘ead – an’ den dat Sebgo ‘im tok a bit more More – dere’s dat damn echo again – good, echo prove ‘im not fulla shit – but man, dat Sebgo; he nebber shut up – Mine tinkit ‘im musbee brudder to Lubbly Don Bass… Mista Bass, some dude say ‘im bot, but I sez no bot got brain like Lubbly Don’s brain. ‘n dat Sebgo, man – some dude say ‘im bot too, dude Sebgo dude. No bot got brain like ‘im Sebgo, man.
Hey I hear AI (gawd damn, man, dat blutty echo – you ‘ear dat? “‘ey I ‘ear AI…”) can spell dat damn aluminuminmum but More got no damn aluminuminmum in langidge, so Sebgo dude no more spell dat damn aluminuminmum in More any more den de pig can fly, eh. Sose den King Billy bot test; sposi’n he spell aluminuminmum, den ‘im deff-eye-nately bot. Sposi’n ‘e not spell aluminuminmum den ‘im deff-eye-nately spik More, ‘n ‘im be gen wine Sebgo dude. ‘n if ‘im dat Sebgo dude, you bet ‘im yur arse he spik more ‘n more More. ‘N Sebgo dude also spik de fancy pooncy Franky shit – and ‘im be pretty good wid de King’s English too – not dis King, dat King.
Mine tinkit ‘e eben spoken to dat German fulla, dude wiv mustarsh? Prolly forgat ‘im now – dat Sebgo talk wid much more ‘portant pipple now, Generals ‘n real dig knee taries man…
Mind now, ‘memmer it be King Niggar f’rever to you, you blutty ‘ittle supplick ant.
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 1:25 utc | 80
Know your real European history.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1804523991018930352.html
What does milk and Palestine have in common??
Posted by: Barry Mundi | Feb 19 2026 1:28 utc | 81
Lucky Larry’s excellent tower insurance / demolition plan
https://x.com/quantumalteredx/status/2022366978166477083
Posted by: Mungo Man | Feb 19 2026 1:35 utc | 82
About shovels and Russian vehicles – a rope to a tree won’t do in the tundra …
Driving a Kamaz through heavy surf around a cliff
Driving a Kamaz floating downstream
Laid-back fording in the taiga
Screw getting bogged down
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 1:40 utc | 83
Jeffrey Epstein won the Oklahoma Powerball lottery, July 2, 2008 …??????
>A financial planning company based in Oklahoma City received $29.3 million Monday on behalf of the Zorro Trust, which held the winning ticket from the July 2 drawing.
> There was also a computer malfunction that pre-empted the televised broadcast of the Sunday draw, and instead the drawing was held later and monitored by an auditing firm.
> Jeffrey Epstein’s, “New Mexico” ranch in his black book identifies a column as Epstein, Jeffrey, Zorro Ranch, with a phone listing for Brice & Karen.
The very same Brice M. Gordon, who was a manager of Zorro Trust.
> The link between Jeffrey Epstein and Zorro Trust is very apparent, so the question that begs asking. Did Jeffrey Epstein receive $29.3 million in the form of an anonymous trust from the Oklahoma Powerball Lottery?
Posted by: Mungo Man | Feb 19 2026 1:41 utc | 84
The birds and the bees and the wasps. Operating a dozer without a cab cutting tracks left one open to environmental problems. The birds were not a problem, but when the wasps and bees come in, you’ve goto cut and run.
A couple of times when the scouts came in, I just slammed the throttle forward and ran like a scalded cat. I was going to fence the back boundary one time and the owner was clearing it. I perchance went up to see how he was going. He was not going so well. He had pushed a bee tree. I found the dozer still going full noise and saw the bees. Ah Hah. Down the track I passed his sunnies, then I passed his has hat, then I found him. The bees had worked him over pretty good and when I got him back in, required some injections of steroids to keep the ticker going.
The bees and the wasps could be bad news. The sting of a wasp was far worse than that of a bee. After the first couple of scouts bees would attack in great numbers but the individual sting of a wasp would sting. The little buggers got me a few times. One time in particular, climbing over a channel on a flood gate like a monkey and a bloody wasp hit me on my back. It was a bit sharp but I was hanging above a boghole so kept my hands on the cable.
The birds and the bees and the wasps.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 1:41 utc | 85
Where we really did part ways, so to speak, was when our friend reported that the common ground among folks in Russia is to always carry a shovel in the trunk of their cars. … The disconnect that fuels reactionary ideology.
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 0:40 utc | 69
**************
Comes back to that old saying “Walk a mile…”
We used to carry a shovel and a chainsaw on the old bush roads. The thought of ‘backward’ or ‘primitive’ never entered our heads – rather, what a great advance the road and motor car were over the old bridal trail (our term for a ‘horse track’).
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 1:42 utc | 86
Does Russia realize China is going to own Russia eventually at the rate that it’s wasting away in Ukraine?
Posted by: iwanttodrink | Feb 19 2026 1:49 utc | 88
… the old bridal trail (our term for a ‘horse track’).
Oh dear! Hoist on me own petard… The shame… and the ‘old mare’ I found on a different trail still resists the bridle…
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 1:58 utc | 89
Shame on me, General. I never even had a driver’s license. I can ride a bicycle, however. Got bogged down with that, too.
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 2:01 utc | 90
General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 1:58 utc | 91
Don’t try and bullshit me general. Perhaps as a child, you lived as I did but it is difficult to tell if that is not something you have taken from what could be considered Australian classics.
The creeks coming up in front of you, the creeks and rivers coming up behind you.I doubt you have ever been there.
A couple of times racing the river to get home. There was bullshit about floods in NSW a few years back. Two days without tucker. Helicopters flying bullshit in. I have no time for that sort of crap
General, your smart arse crap I have no time for either.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 2:15 utc | 91
Posted by: snake | Feb 18 2026 20:54 utc | 20
Link broken.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 19 2026 2:16 utc | 92
The BRICS are gonna have Chinese and Russian warships (likely Indian warships or at least submarines) stationed off the Iranian coast and doing “live fire” drills in coordination with Iran in something called “”Maritime Security Belt 2026″” and they will be defending Iran from the American Armada for the next few weeks
https://share.google/aimode/QLrLZYuraUkEUoUBo
So I’m expecting T-Rump to TACO out or global Thermonuclear war
Posted by: Hot Carl | Feb 19 2026 2:19 utc | 93
General, your smart arse crap I have no time for either.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 2:15 utc | 93
******************
OK.
I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I think I understand the message when it is expressed so clearly and eloquently in layman’s terms.
Thank you, Peter.
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 2:21 utc | 94
It’s long, the woman’s presentation style can be distracting but the information is fascinating.
Posted by: Nobody Special | Feb 19 2026 0:14 utc | 65
As it turns out, it’s also pretty easy to debunk. A long thread here:
https://truthandshadows.com/2012/06/02/the-judy-wood-enigma-a-discussion-of-the-most-controversial-figure-in-911-research/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqcM-B-pFuc
https://jameshfetzer.org/2015/09/judy-wood-and-dews-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
https://docshare.tips/implausibility-directed-energy-beam-demolish-wtc-by-gregory-jenkins_577d143bb6d87f8e4e8b49b2.html
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 19 2026 2:24 utc | 95
Posted by: Hot Carl | Feb 19 2026 2:19 utc | 95
#####
The Chinese will be providing signals ISR as they did in the 12-day war.
I don’t know that Trump can chicken out. He’s in too deep. Even an hour ago, they were still shuttling more planes from Britain to West Asia.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 2:25 utc | 96
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 19 2026 1:01 utc | 73
I like spiders too, even deadly ones like Red Backs in my country, related to Black Widow if I remember correctly . Spiders have a great name in Chinese : Zhi Zhu
Doesn’t mean I like Trump though
An most Americans don’t according to the poll either, hence the comparison of spiders with Trump’s ratings.
Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Feb 19 2026 2:28 utc | 97
The shame… and the ‘old mare’ I found on a different trail still resists the bridle…
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 1:58 utc | 91
I doubt you have lived the life. When a horse drops its head in the thick gidgee it is a wild ride. You have not been there.
You are very good art remembering the Australian classics. Humbolt and so forth. But it is different to live the life.
Sitting out the wet season talking to Jeremy. The afternoons when Wallace would come over and tell me the oral history. Don’t bullshit me general.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 2:29 utc | 98
Lutnick stuff has been blowing up on social media all day. That he and his wife (coincidentally) decided not to work (they worked in the towers with the Carlton Group) on 911.
And then his niece or some relative ran an organization with Ghislaine Maxwell.
There used to be footage of Trump walking around after the towers fell, trying to console people.
It is quite likely that, given his connection to Epstein and Lutnick, he knew in advance.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 2:33 utc | 99
Another Lutnick coincidence. His son now lives in what was Epstein’s apartment, which was wired by Israeli intelligence to surveil people (ostensibly to manufacture kompromat).
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 2:36 utc | 100