TBoneTX

This is truly insightful -- I was spellbound through the whole thing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It May Not Be a Ceasefire. It Might Be a Strategic Pause. I could spend a lot of this column musing about the absolute whiplash gripping the American and global commentariat surrounding the announcement of a ceasefire in the Iran War Tuesday evening. Instead, I'm going to let Ace of Spades knock that out for us, because his treatment of the instant pivot from Trump The Barbarian Civilization Killer to Trump The Cowardly P____ Who Caved To Iran was as good as I've seen: Remember, the "smart people" are also the "thoughtful" and "responsible" people. They have all the answers, they'll tell you. They definitely do not simply spam out random disingenuous claims completely incompatible with each other as the day's news cycle might require. David Strom wrote about this. I've seen it all over myself. The "nuke" thing was absurd. Trump threatened to use a top-secret conventional weapon the world had never seen before. What was it? I dunno. Maybe some kind of non-nuclear EMP to take out the power plants without harming the child human shields Iran stuffed them with? At no point did he threaten or imply a threat to use a nuke. Now I might think "Trump is making up some secret uber-weapon," but then again, Delta Force does seem to have unleashed absolute top-secret Sci-Fi weaponry in the Venezuela Snatch-and-Stash operation. But he never hinted at a nuke. But the "reasonable," "responsible," "thoughtful" people — you know, the really "smart" people you can rely upon for their intelligence and probity and smooth emotional restraint — all just went on twitter and did what they usually do, shriek lies that no one including themselves believes. [...] https://spectator.org/it-may-not-be-a-ceasefire-it-might-be-a-strategic-pause/

EYE CHART A Polish immigrant went to the DMV to apply for a driver's license. First, he had to take an eyesight test. The optician showed him a card with the letters CZWIXNOSTACZYK. "Can you read this?" the optician asked? "Read it?!" said the Polish immigrant. "I KNOW the guy!"

Sounds like it's beyond too far gone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Islamification of Britain In Britain, March meant Ramadan. My local supermarket advised me to "Make this holy month meaningful" and offered "everything you need for Iftar, Suhoor, and beyond," including a range of halal foods. At televised Premiership football matches, play stopped to allow Muslim players to break their fast. Days before Eid, Muslims gathered in London's Trafalgar Square to pray in public. The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, hailed the "power of being Muslim" as he addressed thousands at the "biggest Iftar in the Western world." It's not that Britons have undergone mass conversion to Islam or, for the most part, have a deep interest in religious practices. Indeed, a leading politician sparked debate by condemning London's mass public prayer gathering, and boos rang out around the stadium when a big screen announced that the match between Leeds and Manchester City would pause at sunset to allow Muslim players to break their fasts. Rather, a growing Muslim population has become more confident in asserting its identity, while Britain's political and cultural elite increasingly insists upon respect for Islam as a show of support for the supposedly progressive values of diversity, multiculturalism, and anti-racism. The result is not just tolerance of Muslims but an extending Islamification of all aspects of British society. [...] https://www.city-journal.org/article/uk-britain-islam-muslims-free-speech?skip=1

Leftists never consider that Actions Have Consequences.

Scintillating Thursday repartee, yawn man. ----- Thrilling Thursday report, see man: Breakfasted/skoolbused Mini-B., groggy-yet-more-timely wee man man. Breakfast for us was 2 orphan hotdog buns, ingest we man. Fought fatigue to get ready for doc caucus, groggy we man man. Got there Many (2x2x2 +1) minutes before caucus time, timely we man. Many (2x2x2x2x2 + 2x2x2x2 +2) -- si man, Many (2x2x2x2x2 + 2x2x2x2 +2) -- minutes after caucus time, we were called into the exam room, how can any schedule already be that hosed that early man. Doc came in, without apology, Many (2x2x2x2x2 + 2x2x2) minutes after that, we man. Doc mumbled something about "mmmmph rmph rmmph mmpfph," tests healthy man. He brushed away our specific questions, saying "See online, posted there mmmphf frmph man," man. He barely gave us Many (2+2+1) minutes, howya like them apples boy man. Nor did he give us any quantitative metrics, clear targets, or med-escalation plan, no and no and no man. His plan was "come back in Many (2+2+2) months, bye man," man. We wasted all morning on a low-value visit with operationally poor communication, man. We absolutely barbecued the rat-illegitimate male child in the survey sent out on him, some solace man. And to this minute at this writing, nearly 1 Manyzen hours later, no report is posted online, man. We were steamed, man. The checkout chica asked when we were to return, ask she man we man man. We said, "Many (2+2+2) months, but we'll be damned if we see that rear-end aperture for intestinal effluvium again, si and no man!", si man. Now our uncontrollably switch-medding GP is in charge, man. He has already called in an Rx that would conflict with our current iteration of it, man. The pharmacy, in fact, messaged us to question it, correct they man. Can these docs find either butt-cheek with both hands plus outside help, huh man? The short answer is that we probably won't die imminently of the CT finding, knock on wood man. Saw Uncle T-B. after this, nearly out-of-it senior he man man. We delivered his stuff, appreciative senior he man man. As usual, he'd managed to hose his computer again, really weird stuff man. With difficulty, we managed to get it to restart, up-clear problem man. Saw Mama T-B. after this, aysheep senior she man man. She demanded to know why test results weren't posted, don't ask us man. Caucus took over an hour, accomplish tasks we man. Finally siesta'd, zzz we man. Mini-B. zzz'd lengthwise on his bed again, zzz wee man. Din-din was something new, concoct we man. We nuked/up-sliced the remaining Many (2+2) hot dogs, slice we man. We up-warmed onecan of Great Northern beans*, up-warm we man. *bought at a previous ES, F$WM We nuked tubags of microwave rice, nuke we man. We combined all together, ingest ingenious casserole Two Guys man. Mini-B. liked this better than the usual weenies-&-beans, and something new man. We are pleased with our culinary prowess, modestly report we man man. Mini-B. didn't want a movie night, man. He has just reported a 2-day sore throat to us, man. No party with the rubias tonight, no cavort we man. We have itineraried Many (2+1) rather local ESs for Friday, itinerary we man. We could have itineraried Many (2+2) remote ones but didn't, too far away man. And that was/is our thrilling Thursday, report we man.

Man -- the great majority are as thoughtful and incisive as they could possibly be.

Let's elect Gov. Hair Gel as president so the entire country can benefit!

Great observation by CC. These filters enable the Moderation team to investigate new accounts and posters with even more attention, in turn enabling us to nuke those as required. Time for a gentle reminder: We certainly appreciate reports of spammers that you see before we do. When one spammer posts multiple times, please report only ONE spam post from that spammer. We ban spammers, not posts, meaning that once we ban a spammer, all of his posts then disappear. It's not necessary to report every spam post made by one spammer. Thanks for your continuing help!

With everything in this process, the firm rule is to read carefully, interpret literally, and respond completely & accurately. We can't say whether you'll get an RFE; however, you might reconsider your involvement with this lawyer before he genuinely hoses anything else.

Back-up cameras were a great addition, but that's absolutely all. Hoorah re the below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trump Administration Kills the Most Annoying Car Feature Obama Forced on Drivers The Trump administration is eliminating Obama-era off-cycle credits that incentivized automakers to install automatic start-stop technology in vehicles, effectively killing what many drivers consider one of the most annoying features of newer models. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin highlighted the victory on Wednesday — building on the February repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding — while sharing a Wall Street Journal article highlighting drivers celebrating 'the demise of the most hated feature in their cars.' [...] https://redstate.com/rusty-weiss/2026/04/08/trump-administration-kills-the-most-annoying-car-feature-obama-forced-on-drivers-n2201095

So sorry to hear. This. HCMC is the only consulate that processes K-1 & CR-1 visa applications. Edited to add: Read reviews of HCMC, good and bad: https://www.visajourney.com/reviews/index.php?cnty=Vietnam&cty=&dfilter=5

Mimicking NB-language! Reported!!!!!

Fascinating insights, and see Iran's 10-point demand. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How China helped seal Trump's 11th-hour Iran truce [...] As the clock ticked, even Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said: "Only the president knows where things stand and what he will do." Behind the scenes, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president's peace envoys, as well as JD Vance, the vice-president, were working furiously alongside some of Pakistan's top diplomats to find a solution. Mr Witkoff is said to have a direct channel of communication with Iranian officials including Abbas Araghchi, Iran's foreign minister. But on the other side, another superpower was talking to Iran. China had been pushing for an end to the conflict for weeks, with Wang Yi, its foreign minister, engaging in dozens of conversations with his counterparts across the Middle East as well as in Russia. According to China's foreign ministry, Mr Wang made a total of 26 phone calls with "parties including Iran, Israel, Russia and the Gulf states". Ultimately, it was China that nudged Tehran over the line. [...] https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/11th-hour-us-iran-ceasefire-031843370.html

This makes sense, and a good link to "Foreign Policy" is included. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trump Confounds Critics Again President Donald Trump has once again confounded his many critics by agreeing to a two-week ceasefire in the war against Iran, after threatening to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age and end a civilization. On the right, former Trump supporter and former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said that Trump had gone "insane." Andrew Day in The American Conservative suggested that Trump might use nuclear weapons against Iran. Bruce Fein characterized Trump's attacks on Iran as "unconstitutional" and "criminal." Steven Simon in Responsible Statecraft accused Trump of threatening genocide in Iran. On the left, Sen. Chuck Schumer said [...] https://spectator.org/trump-confounds-critics-again/

Scintillating Wednesday repartee, yawn man. ----- Thrilling Wednesday report, see man: Breakfasted Mini-B., drag-footing wee man despite multiple prompts and some yelling man. He intentionally delayed trying to make the skoolbus, count on other transportation wee man man. Local car service couldn't get him there on time, inaction has consequences man. He petitioned us to drive him, forget it man. He called ex-Mrs.-T-B. to drive him, forget it man. He was rude to ex-Mrs.-T-B., nearly dealt with that conclusively but had to stay calm today we man. He took the car service, unknown if he reached skool late man. If skool writes us for an explanation, we'll tell them exactly what happened, inaction has consequences man. Breakfasted on bowl of cereal, not preferred but one of permissible options man. Siesta rather successful, some zzz we man man. Got ourself together, book + sack lunch man. Went for tests, Many-hour ([2+2]-hour) overall process including planned breaks man. Lunch (part of test plan) was half a bologna sandwich + 2 chicken tenders, ingest Mama T-B. donations we man. Tests completed, si man. Doc already left for day so will probably get verdict at Thursday-a.m. caucus we man. Went to CVS to get stuff for Uncle T-B.*, eldercare we man. *WUOC, F$WM Ex-Mrs.-T-B. had dry-fed miu and taken Mini-B., non-Two Guys eve man. We wet-fed miu, satisfy expectant miu we man. Din-din for us was a full sleeve of Oreos, hose glucose and A1c we man. Mini-B. returned about an hour after we did, return wee man to we man man. Movie night was Click, watch Two Guys man. Many (2+2+1) bowls of Costco popcorn were consumed, ingest Two Guys man. This tallies to Many (2x2x2 +1) bowls, one short of minimum weekly quota man. Mini-B. on track to embed self at semi-reasonable hour, maybe ex-Mrs.-T-B. read him riot act man. No party with the rubias tonight, no cavort we man. We can do nothing but wait to hear doc's verdict on Thursday, si and preferably not sigh man. On paper, we should plan to itinerary Friday ESs, hope we're in frame of mind for that man. Must also visit Uncle T-B., drop stuff man. And that was/is our thrilling Wednesday, report we man.