Now THERE is a visual image that I am not going to get out of my head any time soon.

It is a good thing Jean isn’t a knee jerk entrepreneur… she could sell autographed photos for a profit.

By A David Merritt (Adm) on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 - 08:32 pm: Edit

"cranky cat who has a God complex"

Hrmmmm, why is this the definition of house cats in the dictionary?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 - 09:27 pm: Edit

And God said, "Mister Horse, tell me what you believe and I'll tell you if you can stay in heaven."

"I believe in partnership and hard work," the Horse said.

And God said, "You may stay. Mister Dog, tell me what you believe and I'll tell you if you can stay."

"I believe in family and unlimited love."

And God said: "You may stay. Mister Cat, what do you believe?"

And the cat said "I believe you are in my chair."

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 - 03:17 am: Edit

SPP, generally speaking crime is decreasing over time (and no-one is sure why). There are local variations for various reasons but the trend is clear. Some types of crimes are completely gone, like those involving cash (like robberies, raids on armed money transfer transports and banks), while new types has appeared (internet scams).
However there is only one place were the trend is that crime has increased and that is the news media.
A crime free society won't happen, but at this point becoming victim to a crime is something that really is a worry only when we go abroad, not in daily life.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 - 11:47 am: Edit

By and large, analysis of the U.S./Iran M.O.U. by [redacted] for House Orsini agrees with that of our respected counterpart in Amarillo; we intend to make appropriate demands in the Imperial Senate regarding implementation and oversight.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 - 12:30 pm: Edit

---

Quote:

A crime free society won't happen, but at this point becoming victim to a crime is something that really is a worry only when we go abroad, not in daily life.

---

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 - 01:06 pm: Edit

Crime isn’t a topic for this BBS.

Immigration is too hot a topic for this BBS.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 - 01:08 pm: Edit

Russia is building defenses on likely landing beaches in Crimea.

I for one don’t expect any amphibious landing, but we could start seeing commando raids.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 - 01:16 pm: Edit

"blackmail tolls like the Suez or Panama Canal. "

I dunno about that. sovereign nations SHOULD be able to charge tolls to use their canals. Go around if you don't like paying tolls. Turkey does the same for the Dardanelles & Bosporus.

Transit OUTSIDE a nations EEZ is totally different.

So the Russians can lawfully refuse to let Poland use the one at Kallingrad. So the poles built their own under their control on their part of the spit.

England and France inspect and seize sanction busters in their EEZ waters. Canada controls the St Lawrence seaway... I'm sure there is some rule about passage in Alaskan close in waters also.

Other examples include the Danube, White Sea Baltic, Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, and Canal des Deux Mers.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 - 02:54 pm: Edit

Canal tolls are to pay for maintenance requirements. IMO, they're sensible.

Tolls for transiting straits? I can't see any justification for that.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 - 04:06 pm: Edit

Turkey has full control over both sides of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, which have points that narrow to less than a mile wide; Turkey also was granted control of transit of these straits in the 1936 Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Turkish Straits. Contrast this with the Strait of Hormuz, which is 24 miles wide at its narrowest point, and of which Iran controls only one side (with Oman and the U.A.E. controlling the other side).

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 - 09:15 pm: Edit

Mike, I did not mean that the Suez/Panama tolls are evil, but that Iran wanted to impose evil tolls similar to the non-evil tolls for canals. Apparently the Iranians don't understand the difference between a canal someone built with shovels and bulldozers and an open waterway that nature built before humans showed up.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Thursday, June 25, 2026 - 11:57 am: Edit

Archaeologists and Paleontologists believe that the Bosphorous (spelling?) Strait may have been breached during human times and that its breaching is responsible for a plethora of flood legends, including Noah.

On a different note, I just heard a story on ABC (so I'm not 100% on its veracity) that Iran is insisting on ships using only a couple narrow channels in the Strait of Hormuz.

While I'm just a dumb civvie, it implies that one of two things are happening. First is that there're illegal minefields out there and the narrow channel is the only path through the Strait that won't risk ships blundering into them; an incident for which they would (rightly) be blamed.

The other is that they wish to herd ships into a narrow region where they could quickly set up a minefield if/when active hostilities recommence.

I'm curious as to the views of people more knowledgeable about military things on this subject.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, June 25, 2026 - 03:08 pm: Edit

Both and a lot of other things. Herding them into Iranian territorial waters strengthens the claim to the right to charge tolls.

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Thursday, June 25, 2026 - 03:57 pm: Edit

>> "when active hostilities recommence"

Did they ever end? Iran attacked a tanker in transit just off the Omani coast this morning.

--Mike

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Thursday, June 25, 2026 - 06:24 pm: Edit

There will never ever be peace in the middle east. Until somehow one religious group is proven to be the real GOD. The correct and only religion to be followed and all people agree to do so.

The hatred is so great between groups over there that it can probably never ever be removed from their society.

The US is involved in a war it cannot win. Only if the US does what people call war crimes can Iran be forced to surrender. Those actions would cause a hard backlash from other nations that could cause a wider conflict.

The Us needs to in my opinion. Pull out of the middle east and other countries. Leave only a few navel/air bases in strategic places. Cut back on the army and keep a strong naval and air force.

Drop all of the stupid sanctions on the other countries and stay out of their affairs. When they then attack us with their terror attacks and they will do so. In their eyes we are scared of them. (when we pull out) To force us to do as they want to live as the say we must. Then we must find out what group they are from and who paid/trained them. Fly over with a group of bombers and reign terror on them blow up an entire city. Terror attacks are a WAR CRIME.

I have read here from others saying that it is Israels fault. That they have caused the problems, and they need to stop taking land and give land back. That they are the entire cause and should just go away. The Jewish people since before any of the modern nations around now has been spit on attacked and atrocities done to them. Now they have a homeland and instead of turning the other cheek. The hit back hard harder than they were hit. OH, what the Jews are not allowed to fight back...

The whole world needs to hunt down and kill every last terrorist group in the world. Starting with some of those white supremists here in the US.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, June 26, 2026 - 12:42 pm: Edit

Israel, on the balance, is less "war criming" than the Gazans, Hezbollah, Iran and the former Syrians under Assad.

BUt, they need to reign in their settlers in the West Bank. Yes, it will enrage some hardcore Zionists, but it needs to be done. Maybe slowly withdraw from the West Bank with a clear message to the PA that if they have to come back they will be taking lands under any peace deal.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, June 26, 2026 - 09:05 pm: Edit

I don't see any Israeli government ever agreeing to withdraw settlements in the West Bank, legal settlements or illegal ones. It's the third rail of Israeli politics. Touch it and lose the next election.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, June 26, 2026 - 09:05 pm: Edit

Trump has apparently smacked Iran with a few bombs for shooting at that tanker.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, June 26, 2026 - 09:06 pm: Edit

Ukraine has launched a 40-day bombardment campaign intended to convince Russia that it won't win.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, June 27, 2026 - 09:53 pm: Edit

I have no idea if these are AI or real F47s but the guy who posted them claimed they are real.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Sunday, June 28, 2026 - 12:27 am: Edit

Just a guess - but I don't believe these are real. The planes don't really match the (admittedly, very speculative) descriptions of what the plane is expected to look like. Also, the lighting of the clouds doesn't look like it matches the lighting on the jets. The formation is... strange... especially for prototypes still in the development stage. None of this is proof. As always, I might be wrong. But my guess is - fake.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, June 28, 2026 - 02:35 am: Edit

These days it is soooo easy to fake such things.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, June 28, 2026 - 02:40 am: Edit

Ukraine has been killing a dozen or more trucks per day on the supply routes behind the southern front. One high confidence count puts losses at 800 total trucks during May+June 2026. During June 21-27 however, losses are over 30 trucks per day, and over 40 on some days.

This is from Denys Davydov’s YouTube channel.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Sunday, June 28, 2026 - 08:35 am: Edit

I've seem posts of several versions of what the pictures claim is the F-47, all different....