US/Israel Launches Op Epic Fury Against Iran (6 Viewers)

[Mark IV]

Had to do with democracy government wanting to Nationalize oil.

 

[VIRIATO]

Probably what I should have said Oz, was there is no such thing as moderate Islam, that's a complete myth. If you don't believe me then read the Koran/Quran or maybe listen/watch the likes of Raymond Ibrahim, who does an excellent job of explaining that faith and its conflict with the west.

The Koran teaches violence towards the non-believer, its not only justified, but encouraged.

Referring to those Muslims who follow their true faith as 'fanatic's' is a western construct, designed to appease the masses and why we in the west get things so wrong when it comes to understanding their religion & beliefs.

Choosing to be a so called 'moderate' in a country where you are a minority is also encouraged within the Koran and its smart.

I've worked alongside many Muslims over the years and spent nearly 5 months protecting mosques in full body armor and tooled up with Bushmaster and glock, after the Christchurch Mosque attack here in NZ. This gave me an opportunity to engage and discuss their faith with them at a particularly stressful time. It was a unique experience and I enjoyed despite the tragic circumstances.

I'm not anti-Muslim, however their faith is the total opposite of my western values and they don't mix well.

I have not read the Koran or had your experience, which I respect a lot. So I would say that you're better informed than me. But maybe some of the things that were written in the Koran or the Bible centuries ago should not be taken literally today. Interpretation might be stricter or less strict I guess (Sharia or not Sharia for instance). That said, there are things in the general Muslim culture that instinctively feel wrong to me, like the treatment of women or some medieval punishments for "crimes".

 

[Panzer ace]

Yeah, I have looked this up many times as it is irritating. Basically, considered commodity risk, so they legally draw the line this way to "prevent" price gouging................huh? As I have said many times, you literally just can't make any of this up when common sense situations turn political.

I think I mentioned this before - in Maryland up until last year, we were able to shop our electric distribution on the market, and I had a contract with Dominion for about 7 years at an average of 7.8 cents/kw. Wes Moreless came into power and the passed Protect Maryland Consumer Act (some dumb name) which now makes it impossible for other suppliers to sell into Maryland. Dominion notified me that my contract ended and they would not renew............so now I am stuck with 1 option - BGE - the price is now 13.9cents/kw and rising. Like I said, you can't make it up, but they are protecting me.

Message for Mike, Jason and other Texans - you may want to complain about certain things happening in your State or the weather, but in all seriousness, be thankful you live there as it is much more expensive and worse policies in a good majority of other States (of course not all, so Floridians, Kentucky, Carolinas and Georgians on here don't yell at me!). Another of my cousins just moved there in the last few years, he was originally Maryland, then Delaware (which is not bad except for Winter). He continually reminds me of his savings and he has sticker shock when he visits me in Maryland. If you all ever want to read about factual comparisons of States, there is an annual report put out by the Tax Foundation, it is non-partisan. IT compares a myriad of data points and you would not believe the costs in the ten most expensive States.

Last year ten worst States (cost wise)
41. Massachusetts
42. Hawaii
43. Vermont
44. Minnesota
45. Washington
46. Maryland
47. Connecticut
48. California
49. New Jersey
50. New York

Comment - I believe New York became the worst in 2025 flip flopping with California from 2024. NJ stayed steady at 2nd worst.
Last year ten Best States

1. Wyoming
2. South Dakota
3. Alaska
4. Florida
5. Montana
6. New Hampshire
7. Texas
8. Tennessee
9. North Dakota
10. Indiana

Now to be fair, 11 thru about 30 are now terrible either. It is really the last 20 that rise dramatically. Also for the board Illinois is 37. Kentucky is 22. North Carolina is 12.

Tom

Tom:

To be clear the ONLY (caps intended) thing I don’t like about Texas is the weather.

I often jokingly say that the only 3 things I truly hate about Texas are June, July and August.

For us personally and probably Mike, it is extremely small business friendly, the everyday cost of living is unparalleled and people who live there are kind and caring. You can also include the ridiculously low cost of real estate and it is paradise.

Except……the weather.

-Jason.

 

[mikemiller1955]

here is some good news...hopefully...

U.S. officials have said they are struggling to stop waves of drones launched by the Islamic Republic and that they are bringing in an American anti-drone system proven to work against Russian drones in Ukraine. The system known as Merops also is cheaper than firing a missile that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars at a drone that costs less than $50,000.

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin posted on X late Friday that it had agreed to “quadruple critical munitions production” and “began this work months ago.” Trump and Lockheed did not offer a timetable of when the production increases would reach their target.

 

[Warrior]

Price of oil is now close to 90.00 a barrel, gas is up over 3.00 a gallon for regular here in MA, about 3.09, it's gone up .40 cents a gallon since the war started.

One of my investments tanked by about 6K; no worries though, it's only a paper loss, nothing to worry about as I hear over and over when the market tanks................."It's all about playing the long game with investments".....................right, sure it is.

Don't worry though, Trumps secretary of energy said it's only a "temporary" and prices will come down soon.

Right; I've seen this movie before.

 

[mikemiller1955]

Price of oil is now close to 90.00 a barrel, gas is up over 3.00 a gallon for regular here in MA, about 3.09, it's gone up .40 cents a gallon since the war started.

One of my investments tanked by about 6K; no worries though, it's only a paper loss, nothing to worry about as I hear over and over when the market tanks................."It's all about playing the long game with investments".....................right, sure it is.

Don't worry though, Trumps secretary of energy said it's only a "temporary" and prices will come down soon.

Right; I've seen this movie before.

I think America has learned that prices reduce a lot slower than they escalate...maybe 6 months...hopefully no more than that we can see some help on gas prices...

my tank is only 15 gallons...so at 40 cents more...that's just $6 more to fill up...not the end of the world...

but in the grand scheme of things...the cost of fuel is one of the single most influential costs in shipping...I think domestic shipping on everything we buy...groceries...electronics...vehicles...

"everything" your local merchants sell is shipped in via truck...it will all have transportation "surcharge costs"...cause it now costs more to ship...which will cost consumers more...

 

[OzDigger]

here is some good news...hopefully...

U.S. officials have said they are struggling to stop waves of drones launched by the Islamic Republic and that they are bringing in an American anti-drone system proven to work against Russian drones in Ukraine. The system known as Merops also is cheaper than firing a missile that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars at a drone that costs less than $50,000.

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin posted on X late Friday that it had agreed to “quadruple critical munitions production” and “began this work months ago.” Trump and Lockheed did not offer a timetable of when the production increases would reach their target.

Let's hope so Mike, I've watched a lot of videos of drones attacking Russian soldiers, actually feel sorry for them sometimes, it must be terrifiying to be pursued by those things. I've seen them fire their personal weapons at them but they must be hard to hit, four barrells should do it.

 

[OzDigger]

I think America has learned that prices reduce a lot slower than they escalate...maybe 6 months...hopefully no more than that we can see some help on gas prices...

my tank is only 15 gallons...so at 40 cents more...that's just $6 more to fill up...not the end of the world...

but in the grand scheme of things...the cost of fuel is one of the single most influential costs in shipping...I think domestic shipping on everything we buy...groceries...electronics...vehicles...

"everything" your local merchants sell is shipped in via truck...it will all have transportation "surcharge costs"...cause it now costs more to ship...which will cost consumers more...

Yep, fuel is getting scarce here already, I'll fill the car up today plus my Jerrycan, maybe get some toilet paper while I'm out, you can't have too much..apparently

 

[Horus]

Yep, fuel is getting scarce here already, I'll fill the car up today plus my Jerrycan, maybe get some toilet paper while I'm out, you can't have too much..apparently

Equivalent of $7.11 per US Gallon where I am in UK, a friend in Germany has just paid the equivalent of $8.78 for a US Gallon !

 

[VIRIATO]

Probably what I should have said Oz, was there is no such thing as moderate Islam, that's a complete myth. If you don't believe me then read the Koran/Quran or maybe listen/watch the likes of Raymond Ibrahim, who does an excellent job of explaining that faith and its conflict with the west.

The Koran teaches violence towards the non-believer, its not only justified, but encouraged.

Referring to those Muslims who follow their true faith as 'fanatic's' is a western construct, designed to appease the masses and why we in the west get things so wrong when it comes to understanding their religion & beliefs.

Choosing to be a so called 'moderate' in a country where you are a minority is also encouraged within the Koran and its smart.

I've worked alongside many Muslims over the years and spent nearly 5 months protecting mosques in full body armor and tooled up with Bushmaster and glock, after the Christchurch Mosque attack here in NZ. This gave me an opportunity to engage and discuss their faith with them at a particularly stressful time. It was a unique experience and I enjoyed despite the tragic circumstances.

I'm not anti-Muslim, however their faith is the total opposite of my western values and they don't mix well.

I took the time to listen to a Raymond Ibrahim interview on Youtube. Very interesting and deep historical knowledge. I see where you're coming from. I don't have enough knowledge of History to argue against some of his points. But I would say for an historian he clearly has a Christian/West bias in what he says. Yes I guess it is true that a strict interpretation of Islam leads to atrocities against the West. But not all Muslims follow that interpretation, probably most of them don't. And strict interpretations of the Christian religion have led to atrocities from this side too (Inquisition, etc.). Don't misunderstand me, I don't buy the silly woke guilt and History revision stuff, in my view that's garbage. But in my opinion we in the West have not always been perfect too, to say the least.

 

[Desertkiwi]

Yep, fuel is getting scarce here already, I'll fill the car up today plus my Jerrycan, maybe get some toilet paper while I'm out, you can't have too much..apparently

It’s the same here Oz, however NZ fuel storage capacity for the likes of diesel, jet fuel and the stuff used to run vehicles is less than a month which makes us very vulnerable to any fluctuations in supply. I recall ‘car less’ days back in the early 70s when I was a nipper as a result of the Middle East oil crisis. I can see us heading in that direction again if the war drags on which seems likely now…..

 

[OzDigger]

And FYI guys, concerning the Three Australian Navy personel that were on the US Submarine that sank the Iranian ship.

I don't know where some people got their 'information' about that matter, most likely late night shows or similar.

They were on that sub and other US vessels as part of the AUKUS partnership for training and observation only, and therefore (obviously) not part of the operational US crew.

This video from around 12 months ago explains the situation:

 

[Horus]

And FYI guys, concerning the Three Australian Navy personel that were on the US Submarine that sank the Iranian ship.

I don't know where some people got their 'information' about that matter, most likely late night shows or similar.

They were on that sub and other US vessels as part of the AUKUS partnership for training and observation only, and therefore (obviously) not part of the operational US crew.

This video from around 12 months ago explains the situation:

From what I understand this is all quiet normal with allies doing training in each other's ships, though I suppose there are more Australian, NZ, Canadian and British and other NATO Naval Officers on American ships than vice versa, simply because of there being more American ships.

 

[OzDigger]

Probably what I should have said Oz, was there is no such thing as moderate Islam, that's a complete myth. If you don't believe me then read the Koran/Quran or maybe listen/watch the likes of Raymond Ibrahim, who does an excellent job of explaining that faith and its conflict with the west.

The Koran teaches violence towards the non-believer, its not only justified, but encouraged.

Referring to those Muslims who follow their true faith as 'fanatic's' is a western construct, designed to appease the masses and why we in the west get things so wrong when it comes to understanding their religion & beliefs.

Choosing to be a so called 'moderate' in a country where you are a minority is also encouraged within the Koran and its smart.

I've worked alongside many Muslims over the years and spent nearly 5 months protecting mosques in full body armor and tooled up with Bushmaster and glock, after the Christchurch Mosque attack here in NZ. This gave me an opportunity to engage and discuss their faith with them at a particularly stressful time. It was a unique experience and I enjoyed despite the tragic circumstances.

I'm not anti-Muslim, however their faith is the total opposite of my western values and they don't mix well.

Same with Covid etc Todd, I think we should just agree to disagree on this and move on, there's no point in us trying to 're-educate' each other using repetition etc.