Open Thread

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Open Thread

I’ve got hot-takes. They’re like capsicum applied with molten, red-hot steel tongs. But it’s a crowded field: the field of endless online opinionating. So I’ll try to limit myself to random barks.

News tidbits harvested from TwiX users:

• Our new national polling of Trump 2024 voters shows overwhelming support for Israel’s actions against Iran and strong backing for a major U.S. role:

  • • 73% say Iran cannot be trusted to honor any diplomatic agreement

  • • 72% support direct U.S. military action if necessary to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons

  • • 83% support Israel’s preemptive strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites

  • • 79% support the U.S. sending offensive weapons to aid Israeli operations

  • • 91% favor providing intelligence to assist Israel’s defense • 89% are very or somewhat concerned about Iran obtaining nuclear weapons [@LandonWall_ June 16]

But Trump’s main advisor in all things war and peace is the Russian dictator…

• NEW: Bill O'Reilly: "Earlier today, very briefly, I texted with President Trump. He doesn't want to use American air power at this point — because that would cause some problems with China and Putin. He would rather have the Iranians surrender, which he believes they will." [@JasonJournoDC June 16]

Twenty years and counting of appeasing the dictators who are covertly—and openly!—at war with us. With no end in sight. We have learned nothing.

• BREAKING: Iran targeted Soroka Hospital in Beersheba with a ballistic missile. We will not stand idly by, we will do whatever is necessary to defend our people - Israeli Foreign Ministry says [@FaytuksNetwork June 19]

Above site is “open source intelligence” news (OSINT) via users on Discord servers. The headline came similar ones. It’s worth posting because it illustrates the tactics used by the Iranians and Russians, and approved by their allies and proxies. These tactics, used regularly in Ukraine, are meant intentionally to target civilian infrastructure like hospitals, usually in the hopes of murdering nurses and doctors and at least demolishing expensive, hard-to-replace equipment.

While Trump was at the G7 whining on behalf of Putin, Russia intentionally sent missiles into a hospital for children with disabilities in Odessa, Ukraine, which is little more than another footnote added to the piles of corpses the Kremlin proudly stands atop.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated the Russian people on “Russia Day”, June 12. The United States officially congratulated a nation whose government authors modern-day campaigns of genocide, intentional war crimes, and assorted other worldwide crimes against humanity.

The United States officially congratulated a country which drafts civilians from developing nations in Africa to fight on the front lines in Ukraine, something reported by The Telegraph [UK] on Monday, June 16.

It’s about 20 minutes into the episode. From the description:

Then we hear about […] how Moscow hired African farmers to make shampoo, before sending them to war.