Only Ukraine

Ukraine’s Ground Drones and "the future of war"

Ukraine marked its 35th Independence Day with a military display unlike any it had staged before: robots on the streets of Kyiv, naval drones on the Dnipro river and UAVs in the skies above the capital, showcasing technologies that have transformed the battlefield since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

euronews

And so, the comparative Lilliputians in Ukraine and Iran are doing with five- and six-figure weapons what Gullivers Russia and the Toilet Nation cannot do with eight-figure weapons, of which the Toilet Nation is running out.

Iran War Updates: Trump says U.S. "achieving a very big victory," war "will continue for as long as necessary"

CBS, today

Trump Admits

Jim Sciutto (https://x.com/jimsciutto)

@jimsciutto (https://x.com/jimsciutto)

New: In a phone call with me after U.S.-Canada trade negotiations collapsed, President Trump suggested the US had added conditions late during talks. 

“That sounds like me,” Trump responded, when asked about Canadian officials' assertion about US late-stage demands. 

When I pressed, “So you don't deny it?”

The president replied, “No, no, I don't deny anything. So no, they have to pay a fair amount. And if they don't pay a fair amount, we won't make a deal. That's fine.“

More on the broader effects of tariffs here: cnn.com/2026/08/25/bus… (https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/25/business/canada-us-tariffs-american-consumers?cid=ios_app)

How Canada’s retaliation could hurt American businesses and consumers | CNN Business

From cnn.com (https://t.co/lIJwVSpYkD)

4:32 PM · Aug 25, 2026 (https://m.x.com/jimsciutto/status/2092349337934209159?launch_app_store=true&ct=engagement_view_post)1.3M

Views

 (https://m.x.com/jimsciutto/status/2092349337934209159?launch_app_store=true&ct=engagement_generic)

It's common strategy for predator-businesspeople: 

1) The Big Fish sets an artificial deadline for the Little Fish to comply or be eaten; 

2) Little Fish negotiates feverishly in good faith, obeying Big Fish's artificial deadline; 

3) Big Fish announces "DEAL!" but for "details"; 

4) at 11th hour Big Fish makes new demands betting that Little Fish will fall prey to momentum and bite off the new demands to not miss out on the whole feast; 

5) Little Fish is eaten by Big Fish.

The first four steps in this common predator strategy occurred in the Toilet Nation-True North trade negotiations. But at step five the Little Fish, seeing the common predator strategy at work, swam away, not without a bite out of his tail, and not without a nibble of his own out on bloated Big Fish. Now Big Fish has set a new artificial deadline, conveniently after, switching life form metaphors from fish to fowl, Big Fish, already a Lame Duck, could suffer a Quack Attack, with a bigger, much bigger, chomp out of Little Fish as punishment for further disobediance o. To switch fowl metaphors, it is now a game of Chicken. Will Big Fish Lame Duck become a TACO consumed by Little Fish?

My new Eleven shirt!

I'M SOO HAPPY!

 70% of his mind is on monuments to himself--Maggie Haberman

Before the Latin Cafe this morning:

Me, to friend, 7:17 am:

i know this is short notice. if you want to break your fast on my dime, i'm going to latin unless you choose roasters toasters.

Him:

Oh man wish I could just got out of the pool 

How about Thursday or Friday

Me: 

no prob buddy! so glad to hear you're swimming in morning. 

with my weirdo constitution i can't plan ahead, the expectation/obligation burden crushes me. i have to be spontaneous. another time when i have no food in the house.😂

Him: 

😂😂😂😂

Elevenish is an early riser, too. This was at 8:43 Friday morning. She wants an early round of "Get that Kitty" and she is ALL READY. 😄

I know I inundate you with photos of Eleven, but you have no idea how many I have on my camera roll that I never posted.

 I had breakfast at the Latin Cafe this morning.

There are only two sit-down restaurants on 41st Street, a major, major artery, on Miami Beach. There were more, a Chinese restaurant right across from me, and a delightful French cafe, but all but two have mostly been turned into BANKS. There are banks of every race, color and creed on 41st Street now.

The other extant restaurant is Roasters Toasters, formerly Arnie and Richies, a Jewish-style deli. Roasters Toasters certainly has the better food and I prefer it for a good, hearty meal, but it is more upscale (as upscale as a deli can be). The Latin is a People's restaurant. I took this photo this morning because early as it was there are always working class people there just before their shift. The far corner, where two police officers are seated, is usually the Otis Elevator peoples' table. There are usually four to six employees there. In the near table are three other employees of the City of Miami Beach, sanitation department as I recall. The Latin is inexpensive and I can get Cuban coffee there. I go there maybe once a week and have been going there for years and years.

Public Occurrences August 25, 2026

Dolly Parton Dies

Beloved by millions, Parton's singing career spanned 60 yrs and resulted in record sales of 100,000,000. She was 80 years old.

2:28 pm:

Canada Returns Fire

Mark Carney did not drop the E-Bomb. Theee tiered tariffs of 15%, 25% 50% targeted on U.S. goods in industries with businesses and workers hardest hit by the Toilet Nation's Aug. 23, 12:01 am tariffs. Significantly, 50% prophylactic taxes on American steel.

9:18 am:

Trump floats renaming Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’

AP

8:06 am:

A year after Israeli strikes killed journalists at a hospital, no one has been held accountable

AP

Of course not. It's Israel. 

I remember that well. First time I learned what the "double tap" was.

Gary residents turn to prayer as power outage stretches into third week

wfyi.com

Does anyone for one minute think that this would happen in a wealthy, white city? Not only is power not restored--in August!--but few of the rest of us even now. Or care.

Imagine if this was Minnesota, California, a blue state! Trump'd have the National Guard out!

Whoa Canada

This is what has changed, to me (maybe not in reality) in Prime Minister Carney's approach. This is what I meant in my initial reaction to Carney's walk-away from the talks, that it was a "human" reaction. To a gray banker, the other side's "attitude" should not matter. Do you know how many times in court I got insulted by the other lawyer, or I insulted the other lawyer? No, of course you don't know. The answer is "a lot". There are going to be personality conflicts. That should not influence you in whether the deal, or the plea offer, is objectively good, bad, acceptable. And Donald Trump is a serial winner of the Recent Assholes award. Seethe all you want about the 51st State, "artificial border", "Lake America", but don't let that influence you rationally. Do not condition a "return to the negotiating table" on Donald Fucking Trump or Howard Nutlick turning into Mr. Congeniality. Tain't gonna happen. If these assholes irritate you out of all rationality, can you not negotiate in writing? Why do negotiations have to be in person. Especially when the other side are All-Asshole. 

"Change in attitude" is not a rational strategy. It's no strategy at all.

Hours after Trump’s new auto and steel tariffs Monday, the prime minister said Canada would return to the negotiating table if there’s a change in attitude from the American side.

“There is a mutually beneficial deal possible here,” he said in Lévis, Quebec.

But a path to a mutually beneficial deal is now more challenging, according to former trade officials, and it could be months before both sides are willing to reopen negotiations.

“I think the U.S. may just not be able to get back to the deal that was on the table last Friday, and that’s just something that both sides are going to have to contend with,” said a trade lobbyist, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on record. “The president was still prepared to go forward with that deal, and then the Canadians rejected their best offer. I think that makes it really hard for the U.S. side.”

Politico

I am uneasy of Mark Carney's strategy

The consensus of econ. types is that the 50% tariffs of 12:01 Saturday will cost an estimated 90,000 Canadian jobs, mainly in the timber sector of the economy.

The consensus on the 50% automotive industry tariffs scheduled for Jan. 1 is that they will shut down the Canadian auto industry which will move to the U.S. where their factories and businesses can operate tariff free. The Toronto Star.

Carney, and others say that it was Trump's intent for the last year to "break" Canada in order to "own it," and that the New Year's tariffs were predictable. My judgment is that there is more truth in those statements than the other way around. However, if the 12:01 tariffs and the Jan. 1 tariffs were predicted then I would have expected a ready-made plan for the foreseen inevitable. I don't see that so far. 

I trust Mark Carney's judgment. But the judgment of even the most sober and erudite can be wrong. That I can see, only the Energy Bombs can flip the tables on the Americans. But Alberta's Premier has said no way Jose to that. Other than the Energy Bombs, I don't see an effective Canadian plan.

Stephen Marche wrote today:

For nearly a decade, I was a columnist at Esquire magazine. During that time, one of the greatest discrepancies I noticed between Canadians and Americans — and Canadian and American men in particular — was in their basic idea of what earned respect. For Americans, the capacity to project power, the ability to make things happen and to win are the primary virtues. For Canadians, the defining virtue is toughness, the capacity to endure.

I take Mr. Marche at his word, although it is difficult. Is that regardless of level of suffering? A-bombs? tariffs? alike, same response, "We will endure"? Marche's characterization and contrast is anecdotal, not scientific. I don't know to what degree Marche is accurate but if totally accurate endurance of pain is not a strategy to mitigate pain. It seems to me that a government, if possible, should work single-mindedly to reduce pain on its citizens. Maybe I'm wrong. But I still don't like "the capacity to endure" as a strategy for an advanced empathetic nation under attack by a hostile foreign government. Imo, Prime Minister Carney should look to avoid pain for Canadians at almost all costs and to ameliorate unavoidable pain. I see suffering. Marche does too: "But we will suffer." I'm not Canadian but I always thought I was close enough. I didn't realize, if it was to be realized, that "the capacity to endure" "suffering" is Canadians' "defining virtue." A virtue it may be, I'll shelve that for argument's save, it is not a strategy. Inflicting reciprocal pain on Americans at least brings company to misery. I strongly lean towards the Energy Bomb.

XIIM

Eight days after 11M. It's a phenomenon that has never occurred here before, not even close. It is redundant but polite and necessary to express thanks deeper than you can appreciated. If there is a God, and there is not, but I'm hedging my bets as an agnostic, by (S)he bless you for bringing this happiness to an aged Idiot blogger. I know almost none of you but I say sincerely, I love you.

Harping

 This is the photo of Natalie Harp running after Trump's golf cart in Aberdeen, Scotland.

"But we will suffer"

For Canada, the choice came down to either severe but temporary economic instability or binding itself to a pseudodemocratic fiscal basket case of a nation, whose only apparent foreign policy objective has become domination for the gratification of its president’s slapdash vanity."
...
The economic impacts of Mr. Trump’s tariff regime remain to be seen, especially given his history of reversing tariff policies on a whim. But we will suffer.

Mr. Carney has chosen suffering, but he did what Canadians elected him to do: stand up for Canada. It’s funny to wake up relieved that you’re about to take a beating.

Steven Marche in nytimes

Public Occurrences August 24, 2026

"Operation Economic Outcast" (no, not Canada): Trump's New Iran Plan

"Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone."--Treasury Secretary Bessent

Have sanctions ever forced capitulation?

Going solely on the freak-out reactions of the various Iranian factions, this one, it seems to me, might well do that.

5:15 pm:

Carney, Experts: Trump's Jan. 1 Auto Tariffs Will Devastate Canadian Auto Industry; Carney: That is Trump's Intent

10:51 am:

Doug Ford, Ontario Premier: Carney should drop Energy Bomb on Toilet People

“He underestimates Canada. We’re all in,” Ford said. “Up here, we’re at a fever pitch, everyone’s in for an economic war. They know they’re going to have to sacrifice.”


10:51 am:

Trump ups the Ante

The White House Felon says he is going to increase tariffs on cars, trucks and auto parts to 50% on January 1. 

Back to you, Prime Minister Carney.

Limey

 

That's my first grandchild Sophia there. Dr. Ana is at the end of her first trimester and little Sophia is the size of a lime in her tummy. Love you already, Sopie-Lime.

In re "Play the energy card"

Opinion | Mark Carney Did What Canadians Elected Him to Do

Stephen Marche

new twee times

Play the energy card

In recent months, Carney has faced increasing calls to play the energy card to put pressure on Trump. So far, he has not gone that far.

“Canada fuels American growth, supplying 99 per cent of their natural gas imports, 85 per cent of their electricity imports, 60 per cent of their crude oil imports,” Carney said on Saturday.

“I don’t think they want us to stop sending any of that energy.”

I trust Mark Carney's judgment. In his judgment things have not gotten to that point. Natural gas, electricity, crude oil--those are in pretty high demand around the globe, are they not? They are. They are easy, easy peazy, the easiest thing in the world to sell elsewhere. So, mere Idiot Blogger judgment here: Prime Minister Carney, if you're going to play, PLAY! If you are sincere in tariffing the U.S., and I don't say that you should or should not be, but if you really are going to tariff, why are you nibbling around derivatives, steel, dairy, electronics, appliances, agricultural equipment, and pulp and paper? What makes all of those go? Energy! You have the Gas bomb, the Electricity Bomb, the Oil Bomb. For godssake man, use those, not Milk Bombs, Pulp Bombs, Paper Bonds. 

Mr. Prime Minister, the American people elected Donald Trump twice, came close to electing him a third time. Trump is their voice but they are the power. You said recently that you feel sorry for the "Americans", the people, you didn't say you feel sorry for Trump, you said the Americans, because the Americans have no friends anywhere. That statement was precisely true. You recognized where the responsibility lay. 

You have said that America has changed. Again precisely true. The American people have changed since 2016. You are a logical man. You know what follows from those two true statements. Your fight is not with Trump but with the American people. You must take the fight to the American people.

This week, if you quietly, i.e. without telling Trump, Nutlick, Greer, et al, order Canada's energy industries to stop selling to the U.S. there would be two sounds you would hear from Washington:

1) a gulp and,

2) a flush. 

Trump would shit so much he wouldn't be able to touch his asshole with a powder puff. The lights would suddenly go off in the homes and businesses of MAGATS all over the country. There would be lines at gas stations again. The American people would take to the streets against the execrable Trump.

The logical step is to make the fecal logs and nuggets of gold, "the wretched refuse of humanity", feel the exquisitely painful consequences of their choice--twice--for their Leader. You know, sir, that it is the American people who need to be brought to their knees. I am an American. And I am cheering you on. Do it, Prime Minister Carney. Play the energy card and make the American people yelp.

 

Erling Haaland's buzz cut is a top story in Associated Press. Blink.

SAGE MODE
@sniper_geng_2m

They're winning PL this season


You have tweety birds flying around in your head.

Oh my goodness

City WON! :o Two late goals, Marc Guéhi in the 84' and Joško Gvardiol in extra time and God's Righteous Angels in Sky Baloo win their first EPL match under Enzo Maresca. 2-1 the final at Etihad Stadium.

👀

That's unbelievable. Enzo is a dead-ringer for Pep.

City 0 Bourne-cum-in-my-mouth 1, 69'

ESPN commentary, 65'

City look as though they've run out of ideas. The tempo of the game has been so, so slow.

No Pep, no pep. We were mauled 3-0 last Sunday by Champions Arsenal in the "Community Shield" in the Highbury Library. Now, so far, we're getting blanked by Bournemouth. And we have FFP looming over us. Back to Maine Road? lol.

City Forever!

Natalie's late night post for iDJiT

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!! They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of Tariffs. No more!!! President DJT

Aug 23, 2026, 1:06 AM

I also got along well with lawyers on the other side and had too much respect for them to insult them.

Man, I was a terrible negotiator as a lawyer. When a prosecutor, I never made a plea offer. I required the defense to make an offer to me. Of course they had to do their ethical duty and complete discovery. Of course I was under an ethical duty to participate in good faith plea negotiations. But my definition of good faith negotiations did not include bluffing. They made me an offer, I said yes or no and countered. If they said no, that was end of good faith negotiations and we would go to trial. I wasn't being a putz for being a putz' sake. Trial preparation is intense and extremely time and energy consuming. I wasted too much time in my earlier years preparing a case for trial only to have it plead out when the defense saw the whites of the jurors' eyes. 

I am constitutionally unsuited for and would not have done what both sides did in the U.S.-Canada trade negotiations. Spend a week in what I think are good faith, fruitful negotiations only to find out at the last minute that I was getting my chain jerked? No and hell no. I never was suited for diplomacy.

Why?*

Update: Chicken con Carney to go with TACO? 

I believe the answer to "Why?" is gamesmanship. Carney is taking a page out of Trump's go big to go small "negotiating strategy". Points one and two below are correct. Number three is wrong. Carney's threatened tariffs go into effect SEPTEMBER 8.🙄 Carney may well follow through on his own tariffs but there is no way Mark Carney, professional economist and Canada's guardian, is going to tariff the Toilet Nation out of spite for Trump. Trump threatened 50% tariffs a month ago. Carney walked away from negotiations and those tariffs went into effect. That's a L for Canadians. But it will be short-lived. It's still risky for the Canadian people but Carney has got sixteen days until his bluff is called, as Trump's was Friday night. Considering how close they were this week, that is an eternity to negotiate the details left.

Carney's better play imo would have been to announce his his own tariffs the day after Trump announced his. Then both sides would have had tariffs triggered to go into effect and Carney could have negotiated from some strengthened position.

But Carney didn't take this sage, after-the-fact advice. There now is risk for the negotiators in this duel of the chickens. Who calls who first? There are going to be Iran-like claims by both sides. "Carney called me and BEGGED for new negotiations." Mr. Prime Minister, don't take the bait. Be an adult. No more games. Just. Get. It. Done.

9:57 pm, August 22

Canadian Pencil: "Why does it feel like today Mark Carney is going to war (pause), trade war, the tone?"

Carney: "Because we were attacked."

(47:58 of video linked in previous post)

"We were attacked"? The 50% tariffs were an attack? It was hardly a Pearl Harbor-like surprise. Trump announced a month ago 50% were going to happen if an agreement wasn't reached. That's what the deadline was about.

I watched all of Carney's speech, I'm not as familiar, obviously, with his tone as a veteran Canadian journalist would be, but I didn't get that from tone.

It does puzzle me, the collapse of the negotiations, that has puzzled me ever since I read about it. I did get the sense from reading every article that I could that "today" Carney was different. Nothing that I read said that he was different today, it was just the penumbras and emanations. It's also who he is.

1) Carney is one of the most esteemed practicing professional economists of his time. This is going to hurt the Canadian economy more than it will the American. Carney said today that this coming week he will announce retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. Jamieson Greer, the lead U.S. negotiator said today they were working on a retaliation to Carney's retaliation. Are we all six years old? Canada was "attacked" today and Canadians got hurt; Canadians will be hurt more when Carney's retaliatory tariffs go into effect; they will be hurt more when the American retaliation to Canada's retaliatory tariffs kick in. I can't balance my checkbook but I know enough economics to know that this tit-for-tat is the classic trade war cycle where everyone gets hurt.

2) Carney is a politician. He's the Prime Minister of Canada. His constituents, and some of his fellow politicians, are royally pissed at the U.S.--with eminent, multiple good reasons. But this is going to hurt Canadians.

When rationality fails...

3) Carney is also human. It just seems to me that "today" there was a wire that was tripped and Carney just pulled the plug. He did pull the plug. Late Friday night, before the 12:01 am Saturday deadline, he ordered his negotiating team back to Ottawa. The deadline had been extended once, by Trump. Maybe they couldn't ask for another extension, I don't know. The shock of this...everyone was taken by surprise. Trump had announced the extension because there was a "DEAL!" Carney was not as certain but was positive. I'm not saying that Carney was at fault, just "Why does it feel like today Mark Carney is going to war?"

One war ending, another war beginning?

This has been a fucked up day. 

Iran suing for peace? ابدا. Other "politicians" than the president and speaker mentioned by Wally, and the guys with the guns, the IRGC, said no. The state broadcaster, IRIB backs the IRGC. Trump is correct: there really is a leadership crisis in Iran.

A new "war" with Canada? I have to slap the New York Times for that headline. Mark Carney did not say in his speech that his country and the Toilet Nation were at war. At the end of the speech he took questions. The next to last, and the the last in English, was "Why does it feel like Mark Carney is going to war (pause), trade war, the tone?" There was one last question in French and I did hear Carney say "guerre", but the context was trade war. Trump is not going to toilet-bomb Canada. 

Christ, what a Saturday.

Public Occurrences August 22, 2026

U.S.-CANADA TRADE NEGOTIATIONS FAIL; U.S. IMPOSES 50% TARIFFS; CARNEY: CANADA "ATTACKED" BY U.S. SAYS CANADA IN "TRADE WAR"

nytimes 1

nytimes 2

Iran Cries Uncle, Calls For End to War

(Busy Saturday)

Iran’s Top Politicians Urge an End to the War

President and parliamentary speaker say Tehran needs to negotiate an exit and shore up its economy while it has leverage

Wally

The president of Iran saying his country "needs to negotiate" is quite a change. Does he speak for the guys with the guns, the IRGC?

Greek Heet's Starting Five (Ira)

Davion (my favorite Heeter)
Klay Thompson
Andrew Wiggins
Giannis
Bam

That's damn good. "With an older roster, this is win-now time for the Heat..."

Greek Heet Make a Splash

 

The Fat Cuban Horse agreed to a buyout of Klay Thompson's contract. The former Splash Bro. has been a target since the Giannis trade and is expected to sign with us.

It's Friday Night...