Politics

[meigsbucks]

Personally, I would rather see them go take a peek at the Titanic in a

We throw tons of garbage into the sea every day, what’s a little more.

 

[1dirthawker]

It never stops with you guys does it?

You gripe if Trump attacks.
You gripe if Trump withdrawals.

You gripe if Trump is silent.
You gripe if Trump speaks.

You gripe if Trump parts his hair on the left
You gripe if Trump parts his hair on the right.

@skydiver,

you have the makings of a great Dr. Suess book going there!

 

[mark-hunter]

Slovenia is introducing fuel rationing. Officially. BBC reporting.
Iran war consequences arrived, with few weeks delay since the start of operations.

Croatia: First gas station closed.

Italy: a friend of mine was limited on 30 liters, on one of the gas stations in Italy, but I dont know if it is nation wide.

Austria (from below article) qoute/unqoute:
The price for a litre of Euro-super 95 petrol in Austria is pushing towards €1.80

I paid fuel on Salzburg hunting show, end of February, before going home - 1.51 EUR

Slovenia becomes first EU state to introduce fuel rationing

Until further notice, motorists in Slovenia will be restricted to a maximum purchase of 50 litres of fuel per day.

www.bbc.com

 

[Pondoro]

But-but-but...it must be Europes fault to be in this situation...

Strait of Hormuz Live Tracker

Real-time monitoring of the Strait of Hormuz shipping crisis. Ship transits, oil prices, stranded vessels, global trade impact, and crisis timeline.

hormuzstraitmonitor.com

 

[mark-hunter]

But-but-but...it must be Europes fault to be in this situation...

We live in interesting times, do we?
EU was preparing for one year in advance. Because Russia will loose the war, by next year, you know?
Then everything will be normal, business as usual.

Iran was preparing 47 year for this situation.

USA had a grip on gulf for decades, tackling Iran problem.

It will be interesting to see policy changing in forthcoming future, in the EU
While USA vision as described in national strategy as of 2025 is clear, EU vision or strategy is not clear. Defense and energy partners, or policy?

Fuel rationing is not exactly a booster of constituency votes.
And there is 6 months to go before major newspapers remember to start reporting gas prices or rationing for home heating.

Fuel and gas producers of the world - now take your pick as EU leader, or future EU leader:

The Big Picture

• Top 3 (USA, Saudi Arabia, Russia) account for a huge portion of global supply
• Middle East = largest reserves and lowest-cost production
• USA = most technologically flexible producer (shale)
• Offshore production (Brazil, Norway, UAE) is increasingly important

 

[KJE81]

It seems Trump missed the deadline to endorse either of the republican candidates for the Texas runoff and have the other one drop out, is that a good thing or a bad thing for the republicans?

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/17/politics/paxton-cornyn-tump-texas-endorsement?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc&recs_exp=up-next-article-end&tenant_id=related.en

 

[skydiver386]

@skydiver,

you have the makings of a great Dr. Suess book going there!

For some it's a skill, for me it's a gift.

 

[jeanes]

It seems Trump missed the deadline to endorse either of the republican candidates for the Texas runoff and have the other one drop out, is that a good thing or a bad thing for the republicans?

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/17/politics/paxton-cornyn-tump-texas-endorsement?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc&recs_exp=up-next-article-end&tenant_id=related.en

If Republicans can unite behind whoever wins the runoff it won't matter. My fear is the loser's supporters will stay home in the general election and hand the senate seat to Talarico. He was my state representative for awhile. His victory would not be a good thing.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

The Big Picture

• Top 3 (USA, Saudi Arabia, Russia) account for a huge portion of global supply
• Middle East = largest reserves and lowest-cost production
• USA = most technologically flexible producer (shale)
• Offshore production (Brazil, Norway, UAE) is increasingly important

Add Guyana, currently at almost 1 million barrels per day and will double that within the next few years. Conveniently located to the US gulf coast refineries.

263 reactions · 21 shares | Some major developments in 2026 are expected to shape Guyana’s oil and gas sector; take a look at what to look forward to in this new year. #OilandGas #Developments #Guyana | OilNOW

Some major developments in 2026 are expected to shape Guyana’s oil and gas sector; take a look at what to look forward to in this new year. #OilandGas #Developments #Guyana

www.facebook.com

 

[mdwest]

But-but-but...it must be Europes fault to be in this situation...

Strait of Hormuz Live Tracker

Real-time monitoring of the Strait of Hormuz shipping crisis. Ship transits, oil prices, stranded vessels, global trade impact, and crisis timeline.

hormuzstraitmonitor.com

No one said it’s Europes fault….

Europe does however have the opportunity to be part of the solution…

If it doesn’t want to, what has also been said is Europe will suffer the consequences…

So… bitch, whine, cry, sit on the sidelines, and suffer..

Ultimately the US and Israel will dictate how and when the war ends… and won’t consider for 10 seconds whether or not Europe likes the decision..

The US and Israel are acting in their national interests.. and Europe appears to think sitting on the sidelines crying is in its best interest…

To each their own..

Next round of crying will be when the US jointly controls the straits and agrees to install a payment system for passing, much like the Panama Canal (large vessels pay between $200-$500k to pass through the canal depending on their size and displacement)…

 

[Pondoro]

" Europe does however have the opportunity to be part of the solution…

If it doesn’t want to, what has also been said is Europe will suffer the consequences… "

For the umptheent time..the US and Israel own this war.. Stop dragging others into this mess and clean it up..

You are going down the road to be extremely unpopular globally if the energy crisis drag on..and subsequently become more politically isolated..

 

[mdwest]

It seems Trump missed the deadline to endorse either of the republican candidates for the Texas runoff and have the other one drop out, is that a good thing or a bad thing for the republicans?

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/17/politics/paxton-cornyn-tump-texas-endorsement?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc&recs_exp=up-next-article-end&tenant_id=related.en

He didn’t miss the deadline. He purposely remained quiet.

This is a runoff race where Trumps endorsement won’t matter.. it could even potentially hurt his preferred candidate… and he knows it…

R’s are almost perfectly equally divided.. centrists prefer Cornyn… but… even some centrists dislike him because they see him weak on the 2A and other core R issues that are very high priority in TX.. but if they think Trump opposed Cornyn it’s unlikely they would vote Paxton..

Paxton is preferred by the hard right (smaller base) but also appeals to some centrists because of the 2A issues, Cornyn being seen as part of the “swamp”, etc.. but he is hobbled with both some personality problems and a series of controversies that include accusations of corruption, impropriety, etc (none of which he has been convicted for… but the allegations are extremely well known and publicized)..

Trump won’t endorse Cornyn… but endorsing Paxton could potentially be problematic for Paxton… and both Paxton and Trump know it.. I’m reasonably sure their camps had a conversation and decided silence was the best option..

 

[mdwest]

" Europe does however have the opportunity to be part of the solution…

If it doesn’t want to, what has also been said is Europe will suffer the consequences… "

For the umptheent time..the US and Israel own this war.. Stop dragging others into this mess and clean it up..

You are going down the road to be extremely unpopular globally if the energy crisis drag on..and subsequently become more politically isolated..

For the umpteenth time the US and Israel acknowledge they own the war.. which means they own the outcome.. and they will make sure the outcome is one that favors their national interests.. they will clean up THEIR mess… any mess Norway or the rest of Europe has as a result will be left for Norway and the rest of Europe to deal with.. no different than when the EU does stupid shit that impacts the US, and the US is forced to deal with it..

What you can’t seem to figure out is… we truly don’t care if we are unpopular with liberal Europeans… you matter exactly zero…no one in the US is losing any sleep over your crying…

Liberal Europe has gone out of its way to demonstrate how little it gives a shit about the Trump administration… remember baby Trump balloons and all the lampooning the last time he was in office? Well.. you’ve ensured that that joke is now on you..

So.. participate in the solution.. or suffer consequences… it really is that simple of a transaction.. all the crying in the world won’t change it.. nor will the threat of being unpopular with liberals that we were already unpopular with to begin with..

So keep crying… we’ll keep bombing until we are satisfied… then we will leave under terms that we believe are to our liking… and no one will bother to call the EU during the process..

You seem to think Trump is the only President that’s an isolationist… maybe you and our resident historian Ontario Hunter should spend a weekend doing some research..

The truth is we have had 11 isolationist presidents… the first was George Washington… somehow we seem to have survived them all and have done pretty well overall…

I’m guessing we’ll be just fine in 2.5 years once Trump leaves office..

You on the other hand might have already died from the stroke you’re going to give yourself with all of your hissy fits…

 

[Pondoro]

You can go on and preach to the choir on this forum about how great this war is while your administration do not seem to have a clue on how to end this..

The rest of the world hardly believe in this project..

Turned out to be a bad omen when you changed The Department of Defence to The Department of War..

But hey...Trump promised you no more wars remember..??

WTF..? War Minister..?

 

[RLD]

If Republicans can unite behind whoever wins the runoff it won't matter. My fear is the loser's supporters will stay home in the general election and hand the senate seat to Talarico. He was my state representative for awhile. His victory would not be a good thing.

I think some serious coin is going to be spent in the run off as well.

 

[mdwest]

And again you demonstrate your inability to read and comprehend..

We do not care about your opinion… or if “the world” believes in the project..

The US will act in its own national interest.. exactly as the EU acts in its own interests…

Regarding department of war… once again you demonstrate an inability to understand anything.. the legal/statutory name established in 1947 remains the Department of Defense… all Trump did was establish Dept of War as an authorized secondary title… which by the way was the legal/statutory title prior to 1947… Europe didn’t seem to have a problem with the prior title from 1941-1945, or from 1914-1918… you know, the time when it served your interests…

You can almost guarantee when the next D president takes office the DoD will stop using a secondary title…

Keep crying though… every court needs a jester…

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

The rest of the world hardly believe in this project..

Yes, we covered that a week or so ago. You're a pacifist as are so many Europeans. We understand your lack of learning from history. I again invite you personally as well as the European pacifist leadership to present an alternative plan for dealing with Iran. I won't hold my breath waiting for it.

 

[LivingTheDream]

You can go on and preach to the choir on this forum about how great this war is while your administration do not seem to have a clue on how to end this..

The rest of the world hardly believe in this project..

Turned out to be a bad omen when you changed The Department of Defence to The Department of War..

But hey...Trump promised you no more wars remember..??

WTF..? War Minister..?

He isnt preaching how great the war is, what he is preaching is he doesnt care if you cry. He is also saying that no one in America, even the most liberal of liberals, AOC and beyond, cares about the price of gas in Europe.

The rest of the world doesn't have to believe (which I think you mean Europe, seems like the middle east is onboard). Maybe you should not have laughed at Trump when he told you to stop buying Russian gas.

 

[mdwest]

I think some serious coin is going to be spent in the run off as well.

I’m not so sure… originally I thought t so.. but the runoff is 2 months and 2 days away… and I’m not seeing a lot of bill boards or hearing many radio adds etc yet…

Im starting to think they know that everyone has made up their minds… they’re not converting anyone new.. so they’re focusing on their base just trying to make sure everyone gets off the couch and goes to vote in May..

 

[375 Ruger Fan]