Posts posted by MagicSoccerSpray
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Following the recent attacks on US troops in Syria, the question of the day is: Why does the US continue to maintain a presence there?
Without a clear long-term strategic rationale, the small US special forces presence is intended to keep ISIS in check. Remember, we're talking about a place where chaos and violence have thrived since the dawn of man. After the fall of Assad's government, Syria fractured and allowed groups like ISIS to reemerge in the desert interior.
Unless Syria reconsolidates or a major power steps in, suppressing ISIS isn't realistic.
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Global oil markets are nearing a massive shock as the shadow fleet edges towards collapse.
With mounting pressure from US seizures, Ukrainian drone attacks, and European interdictions, the roughly 1,000-tanker-strong shadow fleet is in the crosshairs of...everybody. As ships are confiscated, disabled, or destroyed, the numbers stop making sense for captains to run the risk.
This could trigger a severe tanker shortage, driving oil prices up, and making it harder for sanctioned countries to export. We're not just looking at an immediate price spike; this will be a prolonged oil shock impacting everything from transport to production.
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Global oil markets are nearing a massive shock as the shadow fleet edges towards collapse.
With mounting pressure from US seizures, Ukrainian drone attacks, and European interdictions, the roughly 1,000-tanker-strong shadow fleet is in the crosshairs of...everybody. As ships are confiscated, disabled, or destroyed, the numbers stop making sense for captains to run the risk.
This could trigger a severe tanker shortage, driving oil prices up, and making it harder for sanctioned countries to export. We're not just looking at an immediate price spike; this will be a prolonged oil shock impacting everything from transport to production.
Ukraine claims to have damaged or destroyed a Russian Kilo-class submarine while in the port of Novorossiysk using a subsea drone.
If confirmed, Russia's last major naval base would be vulnerable to air, surface, and now subsea attacks...not a great look. Russia's Black Sea naval operations would likely collapse within a year.
But let's not overstate the power of the subsea drones. While they may be effective for anti-port applications like this one, they won't be replacing traditional naval warfare tools like torpedoes anytime soon.
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The first domino of regime change in Venezuela has been toppled, as the Trump administration has imposed a naval blockade on the main oil export ports.
No oil exports mean Venezuela's income vanishes. That means food imports stop. Food shortages will give way to unrest, which will give way to regime collapse. So, what kind of situation will we be looking at once the final domino falls and Maduro relinquishes power?
It's not going to be pretty. We're talking about a grim humanitarian outlook, a scary security picture, and an ugly transition of power.
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Ukraine and Russia peace talks are proceeding furiously, but going nowhere, mostly because the Trump administration is trying to make this a rush job and has neglected all the important details.
Steve Witkoff has been the lead on these negotiations, but with no foreign policy experience, we're getting the kind of results you would expect. The pattern looks something like this: Witkoff meets with Ukraine or Russia, he's force-fed propaganda, he regurgitates that back to the White House, a fantastic new deal (aka a one-sided propaganda piece) is written up, the other side rejects it, and the pattern repeats itself.
We're seeing deals being drafted that completely ignore the redlines established by either side, so it's quite clear that these peace talks aren't going anywhere, anytime soon.
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We've got two major developments in Eurasia. We're talking about Ukraine disabling two ships in the Caspian Sea and Poland getting EU approval to build a nuclear power plant.
Since the Caspian is landlocked, it's difficult for Russia to reinforce. So, Ukraine could disrupt Russia-bound Iranian weapons flows with limited strikes. With two ships already disabled, the Caspian could be a success story for Ukraine.
Let's jump over to Poland. With approval for a nuclear power plant, they will now have access to fissile material. Which means nuclear weapons could be developed at the drop of a hat (and even shared with some close friends).
As the security landscape in Europe changes, we'll likely see the emergence of multiple new nuclear-capable countries in the coming years.
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Should the war in Ukraine result in a Russian loss, what will the future hold for Russia?
Well, we know the road ahead for the Russians is going to be a rough one, but that doesn't mean the country will collapse from within immediately. The military and internal security services hold too much power, and since the heavily propagandized, aging, ethnic Russians account for 70% of the population, an internal uprising isn't of concern.
The real threat to Russia comes from the outside. Neighboring countries or those with an interest in seeing Russia remain destabilized could take advantage of its weaker borders and limited economic and strategic capacity.
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Edited by MagicSoccerSpray
20 hours ago, AUS-97HORN said:This is something I've seen more and more folks advocating to move back to physical media, specifically DVDs, or whatever a new DVD generation woudl look like.
Absolutely
20 hours ago, AUS-97HORN said:Another problem is that there are a lot of movies that are out there that are completely unavailable to watch because either the streaming rights have expired (and not been renewed with another company) or controvsial
It's also music rights. So many shows and movies either can't released for streaming, or are being re-edited with different music, because their right's contracts were written before the internet/streaming was a thing.
20 hours ago, AUS-97HORN said:Silent Movie (Brooks) ,Cocoon, Crash (not great but won the damn best picture Oscar that year- barf) , P.C.H., and The Basketball Diaries
I understand some of them have an issue in todays morality, but for most of us- the over 40 crowd- we can differentiate between real racisicm/ sexism/etc PCH is just bad rauchy college fun... I understand the 2020's problems with Revenge of the Nerds, Crying Game and Song of the South... but dammit let adults have the chance to watch good movies and put up a fucking "we dont condone this" disclaimer.
Do you mean PCU? Great college comedy movie. PCU DVDs at one were going for @$50+ on ebay. Bonus trivia - This douchebag:
Directed PCU. Hart Bochner
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On 12/13/2025 at 12:09 PM, Lerka Lerka said:
Israel Says It Killed Senior Hamas Commander, Despite Cease-Fire
Hamas said the attack on Saturday was a breach of the truce. The militant group did not comment on Israel’s claim to have killed one of its members.
The Israeli military said it killed one of Hamas’s top commanders in Gaza in a targeted strike on Saturday, in what would be the most high-profile assassination of a senior figure in the militant group since the cease-fire began two months ago.
The target of the attack was Raed Saad, a senior commander in the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, according to the Israeli authorities. Mr. Saad helped plan the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that ignited the two-year war in Gaza, the Israeli military said.
Hamas did not immediately comment on Israel’s claim to have killed Mr. Saad, leaving his fate unclear, but said in a statement that the attack was a “further criminal breach of the cease-fire agreement.” The group has frequently taken weeks or months to confirm the deaths of senior figures killed by Israel.
A longstanding member of Hamas, he had slowly risen in the ranks to become the armed wing’s second-in-command, according to two Arab intelligence officials. He spent much of the war deep underground in Hamas tunnels beneath Gaza City, they said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a statement that he and the country’s defense minister had personally ordered Mr. Saad’s assassination in response to an explosive device that had wounded two Israeli soldiers earlier on Saturday.
Four people were killed in the attack — which hit a car on Gaza’s coastal road — and their bodies were brought to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, according to Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the medical center’s director. He said he could not immediately confirm their identities.
The assassination attempt could further rattle the already fragile truce between Israel and Hamas, which has been tested by repeated rounds of violence. The United States and its regional allies brokered the cease-fire in mid-October, which saw the last 20 surviving hostages in Gaza freed in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
But the truce did not entirely stop the fighting. More than 300 Palestinians have since been killed in Israeli attacks, including children, since the truce went into effect, local health officials say. And at least three Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat, according to the Israeli military.
International mediators, including President Trump, have tried to press ahead with carrying out the next phase of the cease-fire, which would see Hamas lay down its weapons and lead to a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Hamas regards giving up all its weapons as tantamount to surrender, as armed struggle against Israel is a core part of its ideology. Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly said that if Hamas did not agree to disarm quietly, it would be done “the hard way.”
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On 10/14/2025 at 9:19 PM, BurgleBro said:
Uber tier naturals.
On 11/25/2025 at 8:35 PM, billfromlaketravis said:Eh… his ginger daughter is not marrying that fat sloppy bitch. Season 2 with a dad and daughter mystery solving team could be interesting.
Hope is still alive to see Lake Bell’s big naturals before she hits 50.
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Both the Ukrainians and the Russians will hate this plan. For Ukraine, the plan bans NATO membership, cuts the military in half, establishes weapons restrictions, and cedes key regions like Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk. For Russia, the plan accepts Ukrainian independence, freezes military ambitions in Europe, affirms the post-Cold War security order, and directs frozen assets towards Ukraine and the US.
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Exclusive-US peace plan for Ukraine drew from Russian document, sources say
The U.S.-backed 28-point peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, which became public last week, drew from a Russian-authored paper submitted to the Trump administration in October, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The Russians shared the paper, which outlined Moscow's conditions for ending the war, with senior U.S. officials in mid-October, following a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Washington, the sources said.
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1 hour ago, Brian Fantana said:
Yeah I'm sure that's super high on Apartheid Justin Hammer's priority list.
Thanks for bringing this thing that everyone has known about for a week to our attention, I'm glad your handlers gave you permission to post about it.
Sorry about your sock accounts. May they rest in peace.
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1 hour ago, Serak The Preparer said:
I believe the implication is that it is not just the Gaza-promoting source you linked to. To put it another way, every conservative site I've seen is loudly broadcasting "Look at all these liberal woke accounts that are fake" and every liberal site I've seen is loudly broadcasting "Look at all these magat racist accounts that are fake".
There are lots of Russian and Chinese accounts being revealed as well, and that's good. Whether they're pro-hamas, or anti-Ukraine, all propaganda accounts should be exposed and shut down.
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X rolls out location tool, unmasks fake Gaza influencer network
https://www.ynetnews.com/tech-and-digital/article/rygk6llwzg
QuotePlatform’s new transparency feature uncovers fake Gaza influencer network, revealing users posing as war witnesses while posting from Central Asia and Europe
QuoteSocial media platform X (formerly Twitter) has quietly introduced a feature in recent days that publicly displays key background information about user accounts. The tool adds a small button on profile pages that reveals the country or region where an account is based, how many times the user has changed their handle, when the account was created and where the app was originally installed, making previously hidden information accessible to all users.A platform long known for allowing people to craft alternate identities and adopt personas from across the world abruptly lifted the curtain — and a sprawling ecosystem of fabricated accounts was exposed.
Texas Roster 2026
in Football
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Edited by MagicSoccerSpray
I say drive up the Coleman price, and then go get a guy like Amare Thomas from Houston.
No