Schrödinger's Strait - Trump Thread #162A

[Spandauer]

The Strait of Schrödinger remains open and closed, safe and dangerous, insurable and uninsurable, blockaded and free.

"You put your tanker in, you put your tanker out
In, out, in, out, you sail it all about
You do the Straits of Hormuz and you turn around
That’s what it’s all about!"

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

Got overwhelmed by the 🍊💩's idiot fuckery last time and missed out thread #161 so have designated this one as fake #162...A

Trump’s Final Term Ends in: - Countdown Timer
Thanks for link @CaveMum

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5516057-he-has-no-deal-he-has-no-dice-trump-thread-162

Does no one ever tell him NO!

(apart from Melania)

Oh bloody HELL!!! Mine doesn't expire til 2034 and DS2's in 2035. But I've sent the link to DS1 just in case telling him he better get in there and process a renewal if he's eligible now.

I have a feeling there's going to be a mad rush of applications and renewals at the processing center. And I hate to think of the cost that's going to go down the tubes when they destroy the remaining stock in 2029.

Fuck. Can you imagine seeing that gob every time your passport was opened?

He did this to the USFS Parks passes so I guess it's not unexpected. People were putting stickers over his face and they had to pass a regulation that putting stickers on was considered 'defacing' and would void the pass. Luckily I have a lifetime pass issued years ago. Mine just has flowers on it.

Well that would tie me to my home state forever.

Amazing again - in a very bad way.

Politico is saying those passports are limited edition 'America250 '

So Trump is merching US passports now. Words fail me, yet again.

Thread on Trump's speech

https://bsky.app/profile/sethcotlar.bsky.social/post/3mkkybmftxc26

“Their veins ran with Anglo-Saxon courage” is some serious Madison Grant/Lothrop Stoddard stuff, straight up 1920s Klan/eugenicist language.

Here's a transcript of this portion of Trump's speech. Startling to see such unabashed, settler colonial blood and soil stuff being spoken from a WH podium in the 21st century. FWIW, roughly 20% of the population of the colonies in 1776 was comprised of enslaved people of African descent.
https://bsky.app/profile/sethcotlar.bsky.social/post/3mklgb2aqpd2v

Don't think so. Prob all hoping he will die before its implemented. Can't see anyone in Federal Govt being a fan. He and his maga mates incl Musk were firing people off then having to reappoint them

Donald Trump is an embarrassment.

Well that's a start but seemingly has no nor ever has had any good qualities. Has anybody ever seen or read of any? He plays golf and likes young foreign women (Ivana/Melania) but nothing redeeming about him I can see. For all his bluster and bullying history won't be kind to him. Would he be the worst President of the last 100 years?

Just caught up with today in Trumpland.

Charles doing OK it seems. Oh, to be privy to the 'debrief' once he's out of the 🍊💩's orbit!

Meanwhile the White House SM accounts are trying too hard. Crass.

Trump passports? JFC.

Its going to take a decade to scrub his cretinous residue from everything

Madness. And all the embarrassment that goes with it. Still exists.

This thread still has a few posts to go but as things can 'happen' overnight I'm thinking I should start a new one before lights out.

Nah. One king and a wanking wanker.

Is there no-one in his family who cares about this man who is clearly delusional and demented.

New thread...For whenever

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5523047-his-magasty-meets-his-majesty-trump-thread-163

eta: good night!😴

Dumb move. Chances are the MAGAts don't have or need passports.

'Limited Edition' for an extra fee I suppose. That will somehow end up in Scrotus' pocket 'for the use of his image'.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/28/trump-passports-state-department-00896221

Oooohhh, it will have his signature IN GOLD! Well, that's me sold then. NOT!

What the fuckety fuck???? That's not just saying the quiet part out loud, it's screaming it from the mountaintop using a bullhorn (loud hailer?).

https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/2049292364875714636?s=20

Oh boy! Even Melania was cringing.
The conversation between Charles and Camilla afterwards. 😆

The WH giving an official two fingers to the "No Kings" protests.

https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2049208884280062270?s=20x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2049208884280062270?s=20

Re passports. CNN says Washington office only.

US to issue passports featuring Trump’s picture to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary | CNN Politics

"The official said that the passport “will be the default passport out of the Washington Passport Agency when available” for those who renew their passports in person at that location."

"when available" - So like his phones I suppose.

“As the United States celebrates America’s 250th anniversary in July, the State Department is preparing to release a limited number of specially designed U.S. Passports to commemorate this historic occasion,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said Tuesday.

"limited number" - In the case of his phones, that number is zero.

At least snake oil salesmen put any old gloop in a bottle to flog it. Turd often does not even get to that point.

Interesting article from The Times - a way for Iran to access nuclear weapons if they end up agreeing to US terms for reopening the SoH.

North Korea is the nuclear friend Iran needs
Pyongyang’s uranium surplus and technical know-how could give IRGC the weapons they crave

Iran’s key strategic dilemma is simply put. If it gets nuclear weapons and delivery systems, by hook or by crook, it becomes harder to attack. But trying to get there in an age of global surveillance increases the chances of a pre-emptive strike against the regime. It’s a window of vulnerability.
...
Tehran admires North Korea’s perceived safety, but to follow the North Korean path would expose it to getting hit again and again before it reaches its goal. No one has forgotten what happened to the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi after he agreed to give up plans for weapons of mass destruction
...
The nuclear issue, then, remains the heart of the conflict. Donald Trump thinks the US can survive a game of chicken with Iran over freedom of passage through the Strait of Hormuz, since the US has become a net oil exporter and Iran is utterly dependent on selling its oil. Western intelligence assessments say this is only half the story. No matter; the US president is convinced that he can sweat the mercantilist part of the regime into submission.
But the denuclearisation of Iran, its defanging, is the goal that Trump craves. It would, in his view, firmly establish that he was right in 2018 to rip up the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action which traded verifiable limits on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for lifting western sanctions.
...
Victory, therefore, will be determined not by gunship diplomacy on the high seas but by the Trump administration forcing an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Only this will establish that the president’s use of hard power is more likely to bring results than Barack Obama’s over-charitable bartering. It would be the crowning foreign policy legacy of second-term Trump.
By the same token, for the Tehran regime to claim victory it will be enough to thwart Trump. Iran’s fightback against the US and Israel has its admirers in the Middle East, even in those states without a large Shia population. And there appears to be a plan hatched by some IRGC commanders: expand an already thriving military connection with Pyongyang. It has supplied missile technology for decades and its designs serve as the blueprint for some of Tehran’s ballistic missiles.
...

Kim’s expertise could involve shrinking nuclear devices to fit on the tips of missiles. Shared blueprints and physics data could shave years off Iran’s nuclear development. And there is North Korea’s proven skill in hardening deeply buried targets. Any engineering expertise that helps Iranian plants survive America’s bunker-busters will improve the chances of a nuclear breakout.
None of this necessarily points to emergent nuclear weapons being used in an imminent war. But a fast nuclear recovery — and a lifting of the fatwa against using nuclear arms — could help Tehran realise its currently suppressed ambition of being the power that eventually scared the US out of the Middle East.
It’s time that Trump had a Henry Kissinger at his side, someone who could credibly tell China: help us stop North Korean nuclear transfers to Iran, or we will no longer discourage South Korea and Japan from developing their own nukes.

archive.ph/44BKh

https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/north-korea-nuclear-friend-iran-needs-s5wm876qf

When I read articles like that, I pick up on statements of fact, that I wonder if they are facts. Here is one.

"Iran is utterly dependent on selling its oil. "

Is it ? The DPRK has no oil to sell, and it is a nation that is maybe even more sanctioned than Iran. Note how I said "maybe". Because I don't know for sure, so I wont post that claim as a statement of fact.

When I see a statement like that, I get a bit dismissive unfortunately. The author could at least have put a hyperlink in to explain why he is stating that as fact.

Especially when I remember news snippets. I saw on the CNN feed a month or so back about an Iran/Iraq border being bombed. And that was a crossing where Iran exported to Iraq.

Iran Exports to Iraq - 2026 Data 2027 Forecast 1998-2022 Historical (tradingeconomics.com)

And there is the Caspian sea of course. A direct route into Russia, and a way to the Chinese/Russia/DPRK rail network.

Nice TV station you have here. Be a shame if something happened to it.

"As the Trump administration pressures ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel, the Trump-aligned FCC is challenging the network’s station licenses, setting up a legal battle with ABC’s parent company Disney."

Trump administration challenges ABC station licenses amid Kimmel controversy | CNN Business

I don't really understand what you are asking @RedTagAlan. The article wasn't about selling NK's oil or anything to do with Iraq. Iran's economy is very dependent on its O&G industry.

As an aside, your quoted figure for annual oil export to Iraq is tiny compared to Iran's annual oil production, but there is no mention of Iraq in the article.

Iran’s economy is relatively diversified compared with many other Middle Eastern countries, but petroleum and other liquids exports are a significant source of government revenue.
In 2023, we estimate that Iran’s oil companies earned about $53 billion in net oil export revenues, similar to 2022 revenues and up from around $37 billion in 2021. Total export revenues grew in 2022 due to rising global oil prices and increasing total petroleum liquid exports from Iran.

(US Energy Information Administration)
https://www.eia.gov/international/content/analysis/countries_long/Iran/pdf/Iran%20CAB%202024.pdf
☝This file gives a good overview of Iran's economy if you're interested.