iembalm wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 4:38 pm

Lu Zwei wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 3:41 pm

hbiden@onlyfans.com wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 3:40 pm with allies of course it could. Ask china. Ask Pearl Harbor.

"Herro China! Are you harboring a pearl!?"

I'm sorry. I didn't know what or with whom I was dealing with here. Thank you for the illumination.

Ling Ling!?

Worth to remember!

https://x.com/academic_la/status/2007529232625480016

DOJ: we are now reviewing more than 5 million Epstein files

*shortly afterwards*

Trump administration: we just totally captured Venezuela’s president and are going to take all of their oil

Sounds like a very effective way to change the topic.

Lu Zwei wrote:

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 1:38 pm Anyway, much of the US is less crowded than much of Croatia. As in, you can drive for half a day and barely see a soul in Montana, West Texas, even Northern California. And many of our (secondary, never mind largest) cities are a lot more diverse, grimier, and more chaotic than Zagreb. (Sure, they're also less traditionalist and far less historic, but it's a much younger culture here.)

The best part of our country is that everything is basically half an hour away. Lets say that Zagreb is ground zero. Budapest? 2 hours away. Seaside? 2 hours away. Italy? 2 hours away. Brothels in Austria? 2 hours away.

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 1:38 pm I can see not visiting the US b/c it's intimidating, expensive, too vast, occasionally dangerous, has middling to poor mass transit (although Amtrak did just experience its highest-ever ridership and revenue; and the Northeast is pretty easy sans wheels), or full of badly educated, aggressive morons. Those are all valid things. But I wouldn't call it particularly crowded or sterile, unless you're aiming for population-dense suburban sprawl or a very dull city that attracts relatively few travelers.

My first choice of not traveling here is that I would probably get deported to Africa because of my online comments or whatnot. If that is something that I have to worry about prior to visiting country, is it really worth it? I have been to China and that has not come to my mind thinking about getting censored by a country that would supposed to be more restrictive. Also, yeah. If I come to NY per se, I would get super lost and would feel anxious waling around there. I had no such feelings in Paris, even though I felt hella judged for being a pale Balkan kid.

Well, the American Northeast is fairly compact like that (ok, not so much the proximity-to-foreign-countries part). But you've certainly got beaches, mountains, New England, and Philly w/in two hours of NYC. The rest of the country, not so much.

Seeing as I have friends who are active online and practically card-carrying communists (the kids of radical academics) or other sorts of oddities (Russian citizens [living in Italy] whose parents were employed by a nuclear sub lab) visit me from Europe from time to time, I kinda doubt you'd have much to worry about. You're a white dude from the EU? Not gonna overstay? It'll likely be fine.

Now, if you were suspected of playing gigs here w/o a work visa or an artist's visa, that's another matter. A good friend was sent home some years ago for volunteering in a kitchen on his previous trip; didn't matter that he was not compensated for it, work is work. And I've known musicians who were denied entry on suspicion of playing shows w/o papers (which, to be fair, they were planning to do), as well. So that's worth considering.

For what it's worth, my wife's brother was in China for a month, his room was bugged, officials constantly stopped him, etc. To the point of it being comically obvious. Granted, he's a big redhead and, at the time, worked in regulation and standards for the science industry. Long time ago, but it was much this way when I was in Russia; I didn't dare put "journalist" on my visa there either. Such things are better publicized when they happen in the USA b/c they're.... way, way less common in the first place. They're not supposed to happen here. But uh, we'll see if that's still true in five years!

I do cynically wonder if distracting the public from the Epstein files had any weight in Trump's decision? Probably just bullshit, but you know, the right always accused Clinton of suddenly acting in the Balkans when the Lewinsky scandal was at its most acute. (Lewinsky "scandal." Jesus, that seems so positively quaint and comical now, right?)

Any other reaction than pure horror to this shit show is brainwashed garbage. Venezuela has been the target of the west and its 3-letter agencies for a long time, we have a media complicit in shoring up support for the state’s murderous foreign policy, and the US’s history with regime change should probably give you a hint as to what is going to happen next.

If you still need things explained in cowboy good guy/bad guy terms ok, this is a bad thing that has happened because of us, the bad guys.

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 5:46 pm I do cynically wonder if distracting the public from the Epstein files had any weight in Trump's decision?

It may have something to do with the timing, but this has been quite publicly and obviously in the works since his second campaign.

You have Chris Wright as the US Secretary of Energy. His activities include:

Wright served as the CEO of Liberty Energy, North America's second largest hydraulic fracturing company, and served on the boards of Oklo Inc., a nuclear technology company, and EMX Royalty Corp., a Canadian mineral rights and mining rights royalty payment company

and shit like this

"The Oilman Who Pushed Trump to Go All In on Fossil Fuels
Harold Hamm, an Oklahoma oil tycoon, has played a central role in reshaping energy policy by allying himself with President Trump."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/busi ... =url-share

and just look at how much fossil fuel money has gone to members of the administration
https://www.americanprogress.org/articl ... istration/

We all may know this, of course, but seeing the numbers and having it all laid out may help your outrage burn even brighter

Lu Zwei wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 2:07 pm Brothels in Austria? 2 hours away.

Andiamo, anyone?

AdamN wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 10:43 pm

Lu Zwei wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 2:07 pm Brothels in Austria? 2 hours away.

Andiamo, anyone?

WELLCUM HOME, BROTHA!

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 6:07 pm Any other reaction than pure horror to this shit show is brainwashed garbage. Venezuela has been the target of the west and its 3-letter agencies for a long time, we have a media complicit in shoring up support for the state’s murderous foreign policy, and the US’s history with regime change should probably give you a hint as to what is going to happen next.

If you still need things explained in cowboy good guy/bad guy terms ok, this is a bad thing that has happened because of us, the bad guys.

The dumbest part is no regime has changed. The VP was sworn in. Trump hasn’t spoken to any opposition leaders.

There’s no plan.

The element of surprise is gone. Bombing the country would be a war crime the world couldn’t ignore. If he does there’ll be a Maga civil war.

World leaders are sitting on their hands for now. For now it’s lots of “we won’t mourn Maduro’s exit but…”

This looks like a South Park episode

Gramsci wrote: Sun Jan 04, 2026 9:12 amBombing the country would be a war crime the world couldn’t ignore. If he does there’ll be a Maga civil war.

Well they were bombing Caracas the night they abducted Maduro. They even attacked Hugo Chavez’s mausoleum because ?