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Khamenei, One of Most Evil People in History, is Dead

POSTED BY: 6IXSTRINGJACK
UPDATED: Monday, April 20, 2026 12:38
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Tuesday, April 14, 2026 7:29 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Trump’s Logic for Blockading the Blockaders

He wants to use economic pain to weaken Iran — even if that threatens the global economy.

By Will Gottsegen | April 14, 2026, 6:28 PM ET

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/04/trump-iran-war-blockad
e-of-blockade/686813/

Over the past seven days, Donald Trump has adopted two contradictory positions on the Strait of Hormuz. A week ago, he wrote that a “whole civilization” would “die” if Iran didn’t make certain concessions—among them, allowing ships to resume their normal courses in and out of the Persian Gulf. This weekend, though, after marathon peace talks between the United States and Iran ended without an agreement, Trump announced a blockade of Iranian ports, essentially doubling down on restrictions in the waterway.

Why blockade the blockaders? The tactic is all but guaranteed to aggravate the ongoing energy crisis, which has been a pain point for Trump since the start of the war. But it also inflicts a new level of punishment on Iran: a trade-off that, for the president, appears to be worth making.

Since late February, Iran has been threatening to attack most ships passing through the strait, and the resulting drop-off in traffic has created the worst threat to global energy security in history, per the International Energy Agency. American gas is averaging $4.12 a gallon, and prices for commodities such as fertilizer and helium are way up. But Iran’s threat to the Strait of Hormuz has always had a few carve-outs. Its own ships can pass safely, as can foreign ships that comply with the country’s terms for passage, which include the payment of tolls (reportedly in cryptocurrency or Chinese yuan) and the use of new shipping lanes closer to Iran’s coast. The U.S. blockade, which went into effect yesterday morning, is intended to prevent Iran from exporting its oil, choking the country economically.

So far, the precise scope of the U.S. blockade has been somewhat unclear. According to international law, a full blockade must be applied impartially. Total enforcement would mean that all vessels intending to travel to and from Iranian ports in the region would be prevented from doing so. The Navy has indicated that non-Iranian ships will be allowed to transit the strait; U.S. forces have the right to visit and search any ship, and the right to seize ships that they deem to be carrying contraband in support of the Iranian war effort. How the U.S. will determine which ships meet that criterion is uncertain, and Atlantic reporting suggests that even military officials have been struggling to understand how the blockade is being implemented.

In his social-media post on Sunday morning announcing the blockade, Trump wrote that the Navy will “seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran.” But the official notice from U.S. Central Command later that day didn’t mention any plan to halt ships that had paid the toll—in fact, it explicitly stated that U.S. forces would uphold freedom of navigation, allowing neutral ships to pass. The blockade will likely be tested in the coming days. Centcom said this morning that U.S. forces have already successfully directed six merchant vessels “to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port.”

The lingering question of the war’s legality could further complicate the situation. “If the war is not legal, then the blockade also isn’t legal,” Jennifer Kavanagh, the director of military analysis at the think tank Defense Priorities, told me. Our allies are hesitant too. Despite Trump’s claims that other countries would be “involved,” the United Kingdom has refused to lend its support, and Spain’s defense minister said that the blockade “makes no sense.”

Up until this week, the Trump administration had been focused on easing restrictions on some Iranian oil as a way of lowering energy prices. Now, with U.S. intelligence reportedly indicating that Iran’s economy could be more fragile than it appears, Trump has decided that attacking the country’s exports is more important: The plan is to force Iran back to the negotiating table, in a weaker position than before. In the lead-up to America’s blockade, Iran had been making an estimated $139 million (not necessarily paid out in U.S. dollars) each day through its oil exports. Inhibiting its ability to ship oil from its ports amounts to a direct hit on the country’s war chest. Plus, the chaos in the strait has the potential side effect of boosting U.S. energy exports.

But Iran has also displayed extreme resilience in past weeks, both in its ability to withstand the U.S. and Israel’s relentless bombing campaign and in its determination to assert control over the strait. Claire O’Neill McCleskey, who previously led the compliance division at the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, explained that Iran has a sophisticated capacity for so-called dark maritime activity, which could subvert the blockade: Its “shadow fleet” is able to switch off its tracking devices and broadcast false tracking information to authorities.

If the U.S. Navy does manage to stop Iranian ships from leaving the Gulf, the disruption will have a real impact on China, which buys roughly 90 percent of Iran’s exported oil (the Chinese foreign ministry has called the blockade “dangerous and irresponsible”). China has in recent years maintained close relationships with nations throughout the Gulf, and reportedly played a role in Iran’s recent decision to accept a two-week cease-fire. Chinese officials “don’t want to have a war with the United States in the Middle East,” Kavanagh said, but they also “don’t want to be seen as bowing to the United States.” How China might continue to respond over the coming days (and whether it might be more inclined to pressure Iran to reach an agreement with the U.S. and Israel) is an open question. “It’s what everyone’s watching,” Kavanagh said.

The White House’s latest move comes at an important cost. Already, the blockade is pushing up oil prices. In clamping down on Iranian exports, the administration is intentionally tightening the global supply of oil and worsening the energy crisis that it had until recently been looking to end. Iran and China aren’t the only nations that will bear these costs; in imposing this blockade, Trump is effectively toying with the global economy. The United States isn’t immune—on Sunday, the president told Fox News that oil and gas prices might stay the same or even go “a little bit higher” by the time of the midterm elections, in November. Iran has shown that it can withstand enormous punishment, including the assassination of top government officials. Meanwhile, America may be punishing itself.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, April 14, 2026 8:09 PM

JAYNEZTOWN


its war time so...vote good or get arrested


Limits on the interwebs and 'Speech'


YouTube bans viral pro-Iran AI-generated LEGO videos trolling Trump


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Tuesday, April 14, 2026 8:43 PM

JAYNEZTOWN


What has Trump achieved with his war in Iran? Ayatollah replaced with his extremist son

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15714921/Trump-achieved-war-I
ran.html

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Tuesday, April 14, 2026 9:12 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by JAYNEZTOWN:
What has Trump achieved with his war in Iran? Ayatollah replaced with his extremist son

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15714921/Trump-achieved-war-I
ran.html


So is the son alive then?

I thought nobody had actually heard from his gay, impotent son and everyone assumed he was already dead too.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Tuesday, April 14, 2026 10:34 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by JAYNEZTOWN:
What has Trump achieved with his war in Iran? Ayatollah replaced with his extremist son

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15714921/Trump-achieved-war-I
ran.html


So is the son alive then?

I thought nobody had actually heard from his gay, impotent son and everyone assumed he was already dead too.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Evil. Be a dick.
Trump bombed a school full of children, then denied they were children, calling them little terrorists. Then he said it was a false flag operation where the Iranians bombed the school to make Trump look bad. Trump is close to Victory!

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, April 14, 2026 11:48 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


They're Muslims.

Fuck 'em.

The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Wednesday, April 15, 2026 12:02 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Looks like either you or your Legacy Media was lying again today....

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-us-cease-fire-talks-stalled-2026
?st=u9RWoN

Nobody has gotten through. Not china. Not anyone.

They're afraid to even try.



Even Google AI says your story about a Chinese ship getting through without any problems was fake news.



You really should demand that the people you listen to stop lying to you every day if you're going to continue listening to them.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Wednesday, April 15, 2026 2:00 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
They're Muslims.

Fuck 'em.

The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
Hey WISHY! I didn't know SIX was your sock puppet!

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Wednesday, April 15, 2026 2:00 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Looks like either you or your Legacy Media was lying again today....

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-us-cease-fire-talks-stalled-2026
?st=u9RWoN

Nobody has gotten through. Not china. Not anyone.

They're afraid to even try.



Even Google AI says your story about a Chinese ship getting through without any problems was fake news.



You really should demand that the people you listen to stop lying to you every day if you're going to continue listening to them.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Evil. Be a dick.
Is success for Trump equal to the US stopping ship traffic? But previously, success was defined as ship traffic flowing smoothly.

There is a long article, which 6ixStringJoker will not read because he is running his mouth nonstop, which explains why Trump is foolish:

The High-Risk, Low-Reward Blockade of Hormuz

Americans may not have the stamina for the economic pain and military losses ahead.

Brynn Tannehill | April 15, 2026, 7:28 AM ET

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/04/iran-blockade-advant
age/686812/

The Trump administration’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has made the waterway one more testing ground in a battle of wills. The question isn’t whether Iran or the United States has the more powerful navy, but which country can endure economic pain and military casualties longer—the United States, which has been waging an unpopular war of choice in the Middle East, or the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is fighting for its survival.

Since the beginning of the war, Tehran has allowed vessels of its choosing to pay a toll to pass through the strait. In this way, it has been able to continue selling its oil at a high price while also profiting from the tolls. Iran is now demanding that any ship that wants to transit the strait must also deviate from the normal lanes into Iranian waters near Qeshm Island and be inspected by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In its counterblockade, the United States is stipulating that no ship that pays a toll will be allowed through. It is also denying transit to ships that enter or leave Iranian ports, which would presumably include those that deviated from the normal routes so as to be inspected in Iranian waters. Ships that comply with U.S. demands risk being attacked by Iran, and ships that comply with Iranian demands risk being detained by the United States. Complying with both is impossible. And on top of that, Iran has likely laid mines in the channels most commonly used for passage.

Enforcing the blockade could be complicated and risky for the United States diplomatically. The U.S. may have to decide, for instance, whether it will detain a Chinese-flagged vessel, or even one escorted by the Chinese, Pakistani, or Indian navies. If the United States were to board such a ship, the Chinese or other powers could retaliate economically, including through tariffs or by stepping up military or economic assistance to Iran.

Enforcement could also put American service members at risk. Visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) teams are tasked with inspecting vessels. They tend to use small, inflatable boats with a rigid hull, which are deployed from larger ships, such as destroyers and frigates. Vessels being boarded are supposed to come to a complete stop. But some ships attempting to run the blockade might refuse to be boarded and instead continue speeding ahead. The U.S. Navy would then have to decide whether to board the ship without the crew’s cooperation, which requires special training, or to disable the vessel by firing on it.

Other vessels might attempt to avoid capture by staying close to Iranian waters, which would expose the destroyers, and especially the VBSS small-boat teams, to enemy fire. Iran still reportedly possesses most of its “mosquito fleet” of small boats, which could swarm American assets that come near its coast. The Iranians could lay ambushes for VBSS teams onboard certain vessels, thereby turning seemingly compliant boardings into deadly firefights in hostile territory.

The U.S. has also pledged to disable mines that Iran has placed in the strait. This is a painfully slow process that will require teams in small boats to operate underwater drones in search of mines and then send divers to deactivate them. Mine-clearing teams may be even more vulnerable to attack than those seeking to board ships.

The U.S. warships from which all of these missions will be dispatched will have to operate much closer to Iranian territory than they did before the blockade. Iran has unmanned surface drones that can cause immense damage to warships, as Ukraine has repeatedly demonstrated. The best defense against Iran’s mosquito fleet and drones is airpower—using the MH-60R helicopters onboard Navy destroyers, say. But China has reportedly sent modern shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. Those could be used to shoot down helicopters. Just one drone, one cruise missile, one mine, or one suicide boat that gets through American defenses could put a billion-dollar guided-missile destroyer out of action for years. This has happened to U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf in the past.

Those are the risks. They must be measured against the uncertainty of the blockade’s rewards. Iran has proved adept at evading sanctions for decades, and it will undoubtedly attempt to continue moving goods over land, via airlift, and potentially via pipelines to Pakistan. The Iranians may also avoid sanctions by using ships flagged by other countries, or those that lie about their destinations inside the Gulf. They could use small craft such as a dhow, the traditional boat in the region, which are difficult to track and impossible to stop when they travel in large numbers. VBSS teams would have to board each one.

If, in spite of all of these obstacles, the blockade does successfully shut down Iranian oil revenue, the U.S. and Iran will find themselves racing against an economic clock. Iran entered the war with a precarious economy. Oil revenue accounts for 9 percent of the country’s GDP. Total Iranian exports through the strait amount to $435 million a day—roughly a third of Iran’s GDP. An extended, successful blockade would jack up the country’s inflation rate within weeks. But it would also raise the price of gas, food, pharmaceuticals, and electronics globally. Oil futures have been held down by President Trump’s repeated hints that an end to the conflict is just around the corner. But those statements can’t indefinitely postpone the consequences of removing 20 percent of the world’s oil from the market.

The American public was never sold on the war with Iran, and Trump’s popularity has taken a hit in the lead-up to the 2026 midterms. How the blockade ends may depend on just how many casualties and how much economic pain each country and its leaders can endure. The advantage in this contest belongs to Iran—because it is not a democracy, because it is fighting near its own territory, and because its regime will do anything necessary to survive.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, April 15, 2026 2:58 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Looks like either you or your Legacy Media was lying again today....

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-us-cease-fire-talks-stalled-2026
?st=u9RWoN

Nobody has gotten through. Not china. Not anyone.

They're afraid to even try.



Even Google AI says your story about a Chinese ship getting through without any problems was fake news.



You really should demand that the people you listen to stop lying to you every day if you're going to continue listening to them.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Evil. Be a dick.
Is success for Trump equal to the US stopping ship traffic? But previously, success was defined as ship traffic flowing smoothly.


Yup. Plans change.

Go fuck yourself.

Still doesn't change the fact that you lied yesterday and you were lied to by your Legacy Media Masters too.

Why don't you stay on topic, you little bitch?

If you're not going to admit when you're wrong, stop posting a bunch of bullshit everyday.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Thursday, April 16, 2026 9:44 AM

JAYNEZTOWN


Iran’s stubborn rulers defied Saddam Hussein. They won’t yield to Trump

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/iran-stubborn-rulers-defied-saddam-124729159
.html



they say Rumsfeld played a central role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Ford named Rumsfeld to succeed Schlesinger as the 13th U.S. Secretary of Defense

he was Iranate Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East, Rumsfeld met with Saddam Hussein

Rumsfeld, talking WMD - 1976 (USSR) & 2002 (Iraq)


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Thursday, April 16, 2026 11:34 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Yup. Plans change.

Go fuck yourself.

Still doesn't change the fact that you lied yesterday and you were lied to by your Legacy Media Masters too.

Why don't you stay on topic, you little bitch?

If you're not going to admit when you're wrong, stop posting a bunch of bullshit everyday.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Evil. Be a dick.
Trumptards are all alike. They lose friends easily, gain enemies frequently, and struggle to succeed in America.

Friends No More: Trump Turns on Italy’s Meloni

By Marcus Walker
And Margherita Stancati

https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/trump-turns-against-italys-giorgia-me
loni-broadening-clash-with-europe-ba37f1d4

ROME—As President Trump’s rift with Europe widens, he is casting even his political friends into the chasm.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has spent the past year trying to act as a bridge, while Trump tussled with other European leaders over tariffs, Ukraine and Greenland.

Trump, who has called Meloni a “great leader,” says he is shocked by her refusal to send forces to open the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.-Iran war. "I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” he told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

The abrupt breakdown of their political friendship shows how the middle ground is disappearing between a White House that is demanding loyalty from its allies, and a Europe where voters and governments increasingly view Tramp as a destabilizing force.

Meloni’s striving to hold the West together is laudable, former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti told The Wall Street Journal. “But this fails to take reality into account,” he said. Trump’s open hostility to the European Union makes it “difficult to act as a bridge.” Ever fewer European leaders now openly support Trump. On Sunday, he lost one of his closest allies, Hungary’s longtime Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who suffered a crushing election defeat despite U.S. efforts to support him.

Some European leaders, such as Spain’s left-wing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, have actively repudiated Trump’s foreign policy. But in many cases it is Trump who has reacted with anger or ridicule toward European leaders who have tried to win his ear, such as U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Now Meloni—a fellow right-winger whose views on immigration, gender and “woke ideology” are close to MAGA’s—finds herself dismissed by Trump as just another cowardly European leader whose country is being destroyed by immigration.

“Trump does not view European member states as equals: He sees the entire bloc as a problem to be managed, and as an obstacle to his own policies. And Meloni is part of this European bloc,” said Teresa Coratella, a senior analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

For more than a year, Meloni has maintained a balancing act between the U.S. and Europe, playing down differences with Trump and insisting that the trans-Atlantic alliance is alive and well.

In January, when Trump threatened to seize the Danish territory by force, she urged other European countries not to escalate or retaliate. Much of the region, however, is preparing for a divorce with the U.S.

The Iran war has tested her Atlantic triangulation to the limit. The U.S.-Israeli campaign, which Trump says was necessary to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, is viewed across most of Europe’s political spectrum as ill-advised and damaging.

Italy, which relies heavily on gas imports from Gulf Arab countries, could face some of the worst economic fallout if the closure of the Strait of Hormuz persists.

“I fear that if the situation continues like this—on the energy front and fuel oils—a severe recession will follow,” Italian Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti warned. Still, Meloni’s criticism has remained muted.

Her perceived closeness to Trump contributed to the defeat in a March referendum of her proposals to overhaul Italy’s judiciary, some political analysts said. The breaking point came this week after

Trump lashed out at Pope Leo for his anti-war sermons. Meloni, reluctant to pour fuel on the flames, at first endorsed Leo’s advocacy for peace without mentioning Trump.

But as outrage mounted in Italy, she clarified that Trump’s words were “unacceptable.”

“She’s unacceptable,” Trump shot back. Their relationship is no longer the same, he told Fox News on Wednesday.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, April 16, 2026 12:17 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Trump’s bungled Iran negotiations didn’t have to go this way

Wendy Sherman helped Obama reach a deal with Iran. She sees several areas where Trump is going wrong.

by Caitlin Dewey
Apr 16, 2026, 6:00 AM CDT

In her new interview with Vox’s Noel King, Sherman cautioned against being too “reductive” in discussing the outcomes of the war or the talks. (Iran has absolutely been weakened, she said.) But she outlined five areas where the Trump administration’s approach has, so far, failed.

Problem No. 1: They sent the B team to negotiate. Nearly 300 Americans descended on Islamabad for the most recent round of US-Iranian negotiations, including national security advisers, regional specialists, and Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation. But earlier rounds of negotiations were helmed by guys like Jared Kushner (Donald Trump’s son-in-law) and Steve Witkoff (Trump’s personal friend). Whatever their merits, neither man holds any particular expertise on Iran (or a real government position).

To further complicate matters, the US attacked Iran twice during previous rounds of ceasefire negotiations that Kushner and Witkoff hosted. So they don’t exactly radiate credibility, Sherman said.

Problem No. 2: They pursued a strategy that benefited Russia. Whatever the outcome of these peace talks, no one makes out better than Russian President Vladimir Putin. While the war in Iran is costing the US something like $2 billion a day, it could generate as much as $151 billion in additional revenue this year for the Russian government.

Russia benefits both from rising oil prices and from the relaxation of long-standing US sanctions, which Trump partially lifted in March. That windfall has already eased a domestic economic crisis in Russia and allowed Putin to continue his Ukraine war.

But that’s not the only way that Russia — and other US adversaries, including China — benefit from the war in Iran. The US will also emerge from the conflict weaker than it began, Sherman said: “We have just spent billions of dollars. We have reduced our inventory of weapons that we may need for other theaters. We have undermined our alliances.”

Problem No. 3: They badly damaged the world economy. At this point, I probably don’t need to list the myriad and diverse ways that the war — and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz — has destabilized the global economy. Just this Tuesday, Britain’s finance minister slammed Trump for what she called a costly “mistake” and “folly.”

Whatever you make of that “folly” bit, however, the cost was predictable, Sherman said. In fact, it came up repeatedly during the 2015 nuclear negotiations.

“We constantly said to the United States Congress, ‘if we risk war, it could close the Strait of Hormuz; it could increase the gas prices; it could take down the international economy,’” she added.

Problem No. 4: They did not, in fact, have the Iranians’ “backs.” President Trump initially urged Iranians to rise up against the regime, promising that the US would support them. Now, regime change is no longer a focus of either the US military campaign or negotiations to end it. That’s a major blow to many pro-democracy activists in Iran and throughout the Iranian diaspora, as the writer and advocate Roya Rastegar wrote for Vox last month.

“Iranian citizens who do want freedom … have been completely forgotten in this process,” Sherman said. “The regime in place in Iran now is more hardline than the one before, if you can believe it.”

Problem No. 5: They actually made the nuclear problem worse. As my colleague Joshua Keating has written, Trump’s quest to stop Iran from getting a nuke could actually encourage the regime to seek out a bomb. Why? Because in the present world (dis)order, that actually looks like the best or only way to protect against US intervention.

Meanwhile, if Iran gets a bomb, other countries will want one too — including close US allies, Sherman said. So the world may ultimately become more likely to see a nuclear attack because of Trump’s war.

The bottom line? “The United States, in my view, has been set back.”

https://www.vox.com/today-explained-newsletter/485875/iran-negotiation
s-mistakes

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, April 16, 2026 1:33 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Pope criticizes 'tyrants' who spend billions on wars after Trump spat
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg0z3n5e5jo

Trump specifically requested $200 billion to pay for his Iran war. Divide that price by 340,000,000 population equals $588 per American.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/white-house-offers-no-hint-i
ran-war-cost-it-seeks-military-funding-surge-2026-04-15

Where did that $200 billion price tag for the Iran War come from? Multiply 100 days by $2 billion per day.
Quote:
While the war in Iran is costing the US something like $2 billion a day
Current Day (April 16, 2026): Day 48 of the War. That means 52 days more to go! Assuming $200 billion is the real limit on what Trump will spend on his war-making hobby.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, April 16, 2026 2:24 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK




--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Friday, April 17, 2026 3:17 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:


--------------------------------------------------

Be Evil. Be a dick.
Trump Says the Strait of Hormuz Is Open Again. About That …

I regret to inform you that the president of the United States may not be totally on the level this time. You’ll be shocked to hear this, but President Donald Trump doesn’t seem to know how to handle the Strait of Hormuz.

To enforce its control over the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian forces placed myriad mines throughout the waters, ready to blow at a moment’s notice and snarl any unlucky trespassers. While Trump has posted that Iran is working on removing said mines (something the regime has not confirmed), any such effort is likely to take a while: Iran told the U.S. just a week ago that it was unable to recover all the explosives it’d placed, and the U.S. Navy released an advisory Friday adding that the munitions situation is “not fully understood,” meaning that boats should “consider avoidance of that area” for now. BIMCO, the world’s largest shipping association, is also asking the companies it represents to continue avoiding the strait thanks to those mines. Not exactly a “complete” opening, then.

More at https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/04/strait-of-hormuz-trump-ira
n.html

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Friday, April 17, 2026 3:30 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Before the war, Iran was exporting 1.1M barrels of oil per day at $47 a barrel.

Right now, they're exporting 1.5M barrels of oil at $120 a barrel

Excellent work, Donald

AMERICA HAS WON!

AI Overview

Based on reports from March 2026, Iran's oil exports and global prices surged following the onset of conflict, with reports indicating exports increased from roughly 1.1 million barrels per day at $47 to around 1.5M-1.8M barrels at prices approaching $120 a barrel. This spike follows escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Export Data: Reports indicate Iran's oil exports rose from around 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) before the conflict escalated to approximately 1.5 million to 1.84 million bpd by March and April 2026.

Price Increases: Oil prices surged past $100-$119 a barrel following the conflict, with some reports citing prices jumping from $47 to $120 a barrel, contributing to a "windfall" for certain oil-producing regions.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Saturday, April 18, 2026 6:21 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Trump Can't Even Surrender Right

That was the peace that was

Paul Krugman

Apr 18, 2026

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-cant-even-surrender-right

When you’re losing a war, but it’s not an existential defeat, your country, your government can continue pretty much as before. Aside from the humiliation, there’s a well-established technique, which is to declare victory and pull out. But it appears that Trump can’t even pull that off.

Hi, Paul Krugman with a Saturday update on the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and all of that. It’s been clear for a while that the United States has basically lost this war. The goal was to achieve regime change, possibly to take Iran’s uranium. Neither of those is going to happen. The Iranian regime is harder line than it was before. Iran has ended up strengthened because it’s demonstrated its ability to shut off traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. No way the United States, even under current management, is going to commit ground troops to attempt to really do in Iran’s nuclear program on a sustained basis.

So the indicated strategy was to essentially give up, but claim that something wonderful was accomplished, and that’s certainly something that Trump is good at doing. But he hasn’t been able to pull that off, I think because he himself is incapable of facing reality.

So the Iranians said that they are willing to allow free passage of shipping through the strait, by which it turns out they mean basically passage that stays close to the Iranian coast and pays a toll along the way. Well, what’s our alternative to that? What is it that we want to get?

The United States has started imposing a blockade on Iran, which hurts the Iranians. It does give them a reason to seek a deal, but only if they get something out of it. So if allowing ships to start carrying oil and LNG and fertilizer and helium out of the Gulf allows them to sell their own oil again and to import food, which apparently is an important issue for Iran, then that’s a deal that can be done. It will, in practice, be a strategic defeat for the United States, but something that the Trump administration could try to spin as a victory.

But in order to get that, you have to actually deliver on that deal. You can claim that you’re winning and that they’re surrendering, not us, but you have to actually deliver on the deal. What Trump tried to do was to say, great, they’re opening up the strait, but meanwhile, we’re going to continue our blockade. And also, they have promised that we can have the uranium, which they had not.

That doesn’t work. It’s just basic logic. Why would the Iranians agree to a deal if they don’t get a lifting of the US embargo, don’t get their ability to sell oil and their ability to import food back? If that’s what’s going to happen, then you might as well keep the strait blocked. So what was this supposed to be? What was the idea? What was the thinking?

Well, as best I can tell, and this is all speculation now, I don’t think that Trump has taken on board, maybe he’s emotionally incapable of taking on board the reality that he screwed up, that he took us to war and lost, that he, in his mind, still thinks that America has the upper hand and that the Iranians are cowering in fear over the might of the U.S. military, and that he doesn’t need to make any concessions.

Does he really believe that? Do we even know? Is really believing a thing that makes sense in his case? Probably not. But to some extent, he is at least incapable of accepting as a basic proposition, never mind in public, but at least in terms of actual policymaking, accepting as a proposition that, well, the U.S. just found the limits to its power, and they turn out to be closer to our goal than they are to the Iranians’ goal. So we basically have to cut our losses by making a deal that leaves the Iranians with some stuff that they didn’t have before.

He can’t seem to do that. But if he doesn’t do that, then the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed. In fact, it’s more closed than before because the Iranians are not managing to export oil, which is new. They were exporting oil before, and now that little bit of supply to the world market has been cut off. It’s about 2% of world oil supply. Not huge, but in a very tight oil market, it is significant. And I have no idea where it goes from here. Once again, we’re in a situation of total uncertainty.

Now, I might be willing to say, maybe I’m misunderstanding, maybe the United States does have, in some sense, more leverage. But, you know, we do have markets. The futures markets are closed for the weekend. So let’s see what happens when they reopen Sunday night. But the prediction markets are open, and for all the problems with the prediction markets, they show very clearly that the perceived probability that the strait would reopen by June 1st spiked last week and is now back basically to where it started. All of a sudden, we’re down to a 30% or so probability of getting the strait open anytime soon, which looks about right. Maybe that’s even a bit high.

But, my God, like I said, we are led by people who not only can’t plan a war right, they can’t even successfully execute a surrender. And that’s a really bad omen, not just for the Iran conflict, but for everything else.



The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Saturday, April 18, 2026 6:36 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


You're looking pretty haggard, Paul.

Looks like you're about to be reunited with Kevin Drum.


Maybe when you get the band back together you can both gaslight St. Peter into letting you in where you don't belong.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Sunday, April 19, 2026 6:35 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
You're looking pretty haggard, Paul.

Looks like you're about to be reunited with Kevin Drum.


Maybe when you get the band back together you can both gaslight St. Peter into letting you in where you don't belong.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Evil. Be a dick.
6ix, you lost track of the fact that Trump asked for $200,000,000,000 from Congress to kill old Iranians and very young children. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y73gwk1qdo

That has got to cost more than $1,000,000 per dead Iranian. Is Trump dropping gold bars on their head to kill them? $1,000,000 is a lot of money per corpse.

More relevant is the cost per irate American. There are around 340,000,000 Americans, so the cost is $588 each.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Sunday, April 19, 2026 6:48 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
You're looking pretty haggard, Paul.

Looks like you're about to be reunited with Kevin Drum.


Maybe when you get the band back together you can both gaslight St. Peter into letting you in where you don't belong.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Evil. Be a dick.
6ix, you lost track of the fact that Trump asked for $200,000,000,000 from Congress to kill old Iranians and very young children. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y73gwk1qdo


No I didn't.

I treat that story like the pure bullshit that it is and disregard it wholly.


Fuck you and fuck Paul Krugman.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Sunday, April 19, 2026 5:51 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116433000897070863

Quote:
Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them. The U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop. The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom. Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel. The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board! President DONALD J. TRUMP


--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Sunday, April 19, 2026 8:19 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Robert Barnes' interview on Trump's advancing dementia. (If Barnes' description is correct, fronto- temporal dementia.)

According to him, life in the WH is like living in an abusive household. Everyone is tiptoeing in fear of setting off a rage, not passing along negative news, and not correcting Trump's confabulations.

He made the point that "the left" created such a caricature of Trump that they're oblivious to his very real decline.



-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Sunday, April 19, 2026 9:30 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK




--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Sunday, April 19, 2026 11:50 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


You don't understand SIX. Robert Barnes was a big Trump supporter. He defended Trump all thru his first term, supported his second run for President, voted for him etc. He's not your usual TDS sufferer AND he has contacts in DC.

You might want to give a listen.



-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Monday, April 20, 2026 12:29 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


I'm good.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Monday, April 20, 2026 1:03 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
I'm good.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.


Er... no.

You're not.



-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Monday, April 20, 2026 2:46 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Yeah I am.

I don't need to have my mind poisoned with some dude's thoughts I've never heard of before.

I don't give a single shit what he did or said before. I have no idea who he is or what his motives are. And anybody who sounds like the Legacy Media is somebody I don't need to listen to at all.

I'm good.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Monday, April 20, 2026 12:01 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:
Psychedelic Stocks Soar After Trump Order; RBC Says Commercialization Path Could Accelerate

Monday, Apr 20, 2026 - 04:45 AM

Psychedelic drug stocks soared in premarket trading in New York after President Trump signed an executive order aimed at accelerating research and expanding access to therapies used for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"The executive order I'm signing, we're actually signing the executive order today, is really a moment," Trump said at the signing event. "These treatments are currently in the advanced stages of clinical trials to ensure that they're both safe and effective for the American patients."


Has no one considered the idea that Trump may be suffering from PTSD? After all, he was shot and came very close to being killed.

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Monday, April 20, 2026 12:37 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Yeah I am.

I don't need to have my mind poisoned with some dude's thoughts I've never heard of before.

I don't give a single shit what he did or said before. I have no idea who he is or what his motives are. And anybody who sounds like the Legacy Media is somebody I don't need to listen to at all.

I'm good.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Evil. Be a dick.
6ix, your absurd overconfidence despite being provably incompetent is why you struggle and flail around, missing the point. The same goes for Trump. He is proof that the Peter Principle is true.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/roddwagner/2018/04/10/new-evidence-the-pe
ter-principle-is-real-and-what-to-do-about-it/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Monday, April 20, 2026 12:38 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


In Iran, the regime has indeed changed: It’s less restrained, more hard-line

After the U.S.-Israeli war’s “decapitation” strikes against top Islamic Republic political and military leaders, who is this new generation that has taken the reins in Iran? They are more hard-line than their predecessors, and less willing to compromise.

By Scott Peterson | April 20, 2026, 5:00 a.m. ET | London

https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2026/0420/iran-war-regime-
change-hard-line-new-leaders

Every night, thousands of fervent, flag-waving supporters of Iran’s Islamic Republic take to the streets to vent vitriolic rage at their American and Israeli attackers.

They celebrate surviving 40 days of war, a fragile ceasefire, and now negotiations in which they believe Iran has the upper hand.

The chants also herald another change: The ascendance of a new hard-line cadre of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has stepped up as the United States and Israel have assassinated scores of senior military and political figures, including the longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

U.S. President Donald Trump, invoking an initial and oft-cited war aim, says he has achieved “regime change” in Iran, and that the new leaders are “less radical and much more reasonable” than before.

But analysts say the decapitation campaign has, instead, enabled the rise of the most hard-line elements of the IRGC, which now feel freshly emboldened and less willing to compromise to end the war.

One apparent example? Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced on the social platform X Friday that the critical Strait of Hormuz was “completely open” to shipping, after weeks of strict limitations imposed by Iran. Yet on Saturday, the IRGC fired on two commercial ships, and someone identifying himself as a member of the IRGC navy issued a message on marine radio, recorded by crews in the strait: “We will open it by the order of our leader, Imam Khamenei [Iran’s new supreme leader], not by the tweets of some idiot,” the Wall Street Journal reported. That message came in the context of a hard-line backlash in Tehran against Mr. Araghchi’s statement.

Still, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth referred repeatedly Thursday to what he called the “new regime” in Iran, and told leaders to “choose wisely” as they continued “digging out” their disabled missile launchers. Iran’s motivation to continue the ceasefire was “very high” to avoid further attacks, he said, and U.S. forces were “locked and loaded” to resume strikes.

Such rhetoric has yet to deter Iran’s regime loyalists, much less the IRGC, which U.S. intelligence reportedly believes may still retain half its missile arsenal.

“Moms, dads, take your children’s hands and join the [pro-regime] street gatherings,” Hossein Yekta, an IRGC ideologue believed close to Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his slain father, told state-run television this month. “Don’t you want your kid to become a man? Let them feel like a hero in the middle of the battlefield.”

The night before, appearing on state television, the gray-bearded Mr. Yekta likened the war to a fight between Shiite Muslims and Jews, foretold in the ninth century:

“The infallible Imam [Mahdi] said Iranians will enter Jerusalem and there will be killing. He said ‘bekosh, bekosh’ [kill, kill]. He said that in Persian,” Mr. Yekta said.

Impact of hard-line messaging

Such hard-line messages have helped shape Iran’s response to the war, and – coupled with Iran’s tight restrictions on the flow of one-fifth of global energy supplies, through the critical Strait of Hormuz – may be complicating ways to end the conflict.

Mr. Trump on April 13 imposed a U.S. naval blockade on top of Iran’s, warning that any ship that left Iranian ports or carried Iranian oil would be stopped. On Sunday, he said on Truth Social that U.S. naval forces had fired upon and seized an Iranian cargo ship that was defying the blockade.

After the U.S. fired more than 17,000 munitions, and Israel another 19,000, since Feb. 28, Iran’s military capacity has been severely diminished. Its missile arsenal – and the industrial capacity to rebuild that arsenal – has been hammered, and its nuclear program has been more widely damaged than during a 12-day Israeli-U.S. air campaign last June.

But during 20-plus hours of negotiations in Pakistan between U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran budged little on U.S. demands.

The White House wants Iran to suspend its nuclear program, hand over all highly enriched uranium that is currently buried under rubble, limit the range of its missiles, and open up the Strait of Hormuz.

Still, the new hard-line commander of the IRGC, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, was scathing about Iran’s civilian leadership.

“The supreme leader isn’t even buried yet, and yet Qalibaf is already shaking hands with those who killed him,” General Vahidi is reported as saying, suggesting a division at the top in Iran. A front-page cartoon Wednesday in the national newspaper Hamshahri, published by the Tehran municipality, depicted Mr. Trump up to his neck in water as he tried to block traffic in the Persian Gulf, with the words, “Drowning in defeat.”

Surge in patriotism

The IRGC claimed that recruiting interest has been so high that it lowered the enrollment age to 12.

Hard-line regime supporters in recent years have been estimated to constitute just 10% to 15% of the population – even less since January, when the IRGC led a brutal crackdown on street protests that left thousands dead.

But Iran’s retaliation against the U.S. and Israel, with volleys of hundreds of missiles and drones fired at Israel, and at military and civilian targets in Gulf states that host U.S. forces, have yielded a degree of national pride for some.

“These guys have been sitting [perilously close to] their launchers ... to defend their country. This is their moment,” says an Iranian analyst with close access to policy circles in Iran, who asked not to be further identified.

“The regime change is that someone like Vahidi is the face of the unrestrained IRGC, of using all-out force,” says the analyst. “What we have really seen is regime change, in the sense that there is no longer restraint in military operations.”

Still, that may not translate into the IRGC making all decisions, at the expense of civilian leaders like Mr. Qalibaf – himself a former ranking IRGC commander and national police chief – or the new supreme leader, who is close to the IRGC. Reportedly wounded in the Israeli strike that killed his father, Mr. Khamenei has not been seen in public since the start of the war.

“I am convinced that we have not moved away from the institutionalized way that Iran works,” says the analyst. He notes that the majority of leading figures in Iran’s delegation to the talks in Pakistan were Ministry of Foreign Affairs diplomats, and the rest were from the Supreme National Security Council and advisers.

“All that shows you have continuity in how the state functions, but of course with some primacy right now of the military establishment,” he says. “The hard-line element of the IRGC can sabotage, but they cannot veto any new deal.”

The toll of the war has been high for Iran, with 1,701 civilians killed, including 254 children, out of a total of 3,636 deaths, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Iran has demanded reparations, and plans to charge a toll for ships passing through the strait.

Younger, less cautious commanders

“Iranian commanders who have replaced those killed are, in many respects, more dangerous than their predecessors,” wrote Narges Bajoghli, an Iran expert at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, in a recent analysis in Foreign Affairs.

“They are younger. They fought the Americans in Iraq. They fought Israelis in Lebanon and Syria alongside Hezbollah. They believe – with considerable justification – that they helped defeat the most powerful militaries on earth in those theaters [and] do not share the caution of the older generation of leaders,” wrote Dr. Bajoghli.

“They face the institutional pressure that new leaders everywhere face: the need to prove themselves,” she wrote. “The predictable result is that rather than being deterred, Iran’s military will become more aggressive.”

Indeed, the IRGC has warned that it will target U.S. Navy ships enforcing the American blockade, and any vessels attempting to bypass Iran in the strait.

“We do have IRGC hard-liners that are sticking to their mandate to protect regime security and stability through a very resistance-based approach,” says Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Chatham House think tank in London.

“There has been an internal debate for quite some time about moving away from being defensive, and perhaps predictable, to taking a more offensive posture,” she says. “That is what we have seen play out for the past 40 days. They recognize that the caution invited way too much presumption from the Israeli side that Iran was weak. So they are changing up their game plan.”

Dr. Vakil suggests there is a “good cop, bad cop approach” in which the IRGC plays an “outsize role” because of its security mandate, but is not likely able to dictate terms.

“I do think there is a negotiation, a process of consensus-building and persuasion playing out within the ruling system ... because the system always required a degree of balance and compromise to be stable,” she says.

“We are not in the room, but I can imagine they have fiery debates about what to do,” she says. “Qalibaf has the authority to make a deal, but certainly calling Vahidi and understanding red lines from others in the ruling system would be important.”

An Iranian researcher contributed to this report.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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