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Breaking News / Re: Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 12/16
« Last post by RonE on December 16, 2025, 04:26:23 PM »I'd bet JK is gaining some education on how liberals react to anything they disagree with.
I remember some of his hit-pieces on Trump. He despised Trump and didn't attempt to buffer any point he wanted to make. Trump no doubt was familiar with Reiner's "opinions". Like Maddow or Tapper, Reiner's hit pieces were powered by TDS, not facts. His pretend-facts were twisted and the supporting logic and numbers he used to back up his stories were pathetic. Reiner wanted to get to Trump but fell short. He simply wasn't smart enough. Trump was, and is occupied trying to fix real problems. He doesn't schedule much "gottcha-time" in his daily planner.
I don't mean to dance on Reiner's grave. And, his family members don't deserve the grief they are experiencing. But, if anyone goes to the trouble to read what Reiner, and others put out there as facts (without the burden proof) it's fully understandable how Trump didn't feel the need to sugarcoat his statement.
Absent contrary evidence, I'm inclined to attribute this to some mix of incompetence (the police either were less than eager to help Joooos or were so unprepared that they froze for a time) and the confusion of what was in progress.
Why is boarding a shadow-fleet tanker legal?
First: the USCG was involved. Coast Guard officers are federal law enforcement, and their authority travels with them wherever they’re embarked.
Second: under the “law of the sea” — UNCLOS — any stateless vessel can be stopped and boarded by any nation. No permission required.
Now look at the ship’s identity. Marine Traffic showed it flying a Guyana flag, but that’s just self-reported AIS data. Go to the actual government registry database, http://Equasis.org, and you’ll see Guyana officially denies registering this ship.
No real flag = stateless vessel.
And stateless vessels have zero legal protections.
Naval War College lays out the full framework here:
https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3102&context=ils
What’s the difference between a stateless tanker and a pirate ship?
A pirate attacks a crew and takes the ship.
A stateless shadow-fleet tanker is a ship that’s been sold into the dark economy, where operators hide ownership behind shell companies, scrub papers, forge flags, and erase accountability.
It’s the maritime equivalent of grinding off the VIN number and selling your car to a criminal network.
Pirate ships are also more dangerous because they often have weapons on board and are used as a base for other criminal activities.
Most stateless shadow tankers are crewed by regular seafarers who either really need work or are paid extra to not worry about the legalities.
It’s the difference between a bodyshop in the hood that’s owned by the cartel and is a front for drug and gun storage and a body shop that’s mostly legit but will do to the occasional no questions asked cash jobs to repaint a car that’s got blood stains.
Why don’t more nations do this?
Because Biden’s National Security Council told allies to avoid boarding shadow-fleet tankers out of fear it might escalate tensions with Iran or Russia.
But since Biden left office, some have acted anyway:
•Estonia boarded and detained the Kiwala in April, and tried to seize the Jaguar in May before Russia scrambled fighters and forced them to abort.
•Finland seized the Eagle S after suspecting it of cutting subsea cables.
Bottom line:
Stateless tankers are outside maritime law, and boarding them isn’t escalation.
It’s law enforcement but most nations don’t want to deal with the diplomatic and legal fallout.
Plus there is always a chance the operation will go wrong, boarding teams will take causalities and the tanker could run aground and cause an oil spill.
Most militaries today are very risk adverse.
One more thing: this specific tanker previously transported Iranian oil to China… and nobody has much appetite to stand up to China today.
On the Saturday night before the couple's murders, they were attending a Christmas party at the home of former talk show host Conan O'Brien. Nick was also apparently in attendance, and he got into a "very loud argument" with his parents during the party. A witness told People magazine that "Nick was freaking everyone out, acting crazy, kept asking people if they were famous."
Apparently, the argument was over money. "Rob wouldn’t agree to give him the money because he knows his son has a serious drug addiction and was lying about it," the witness claimed. "Rob was saying no, and they got in a big fight."
Witnesses also say the couple left the party shortly after, though it's not clear if Nick went with them. However, the LA Times reports that there was no sign of forced entry into the home after the murders, so it's possible they took him to their house.
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Actor James Woods appeared on Jesse Watters Primetime on Monday night and gave an especially touching tribute to his relationship with the late actor-director ... .
Woods said that Reiner "literally" saved his career at a time when a studio didn't want to put him in a movie. Reiner believed Woods was perfect for the part and fought for him and eventually won.
"And we did Ghosts of Mississippi together, and I went from really being basically out of a job to getting an Academy Award nomination, and I give all the credit to Rob," he said.QuoteI said, "Look, let me explain something about Rob Reiner so that you know."
First of all, I judge people by how they treat me, and Rob Reiner was a godsend in my life. We got along great. We loved each other. We had more fun together doing a very serious subject. It was a way to kind of get through it. And he was always on my side.
But when people would say to me, "Well, what do you think of his politics?"
I would say, "I think Rob Reiner is a great patriot."
Do I agree with some of or many of his ideas on how that patriotism should be enacted to celebrate the America that we both love? No. But he doesn't agree with me either, but he also respects my patriotism.
JK Rowling Strikes Again, Rips LGBT Crowd After Rapist Targets Girls in Mixed Gender Changing Rooms.
Author J.K. Rowling, creator of the wildly popular Harry Potter books, is once again ripping deep into the heart and soul of the LGBTQ+ movement after a recent study revealed a rise in the number of women and girls raped and sexually assaulted in mixed-gender changing rooms across the United Kingdom. How many times have leftists received warnings about this? And yet they continue to champion policies that allow men who identify as transgender to enter women-only spaces.
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A new report from The Telegraph states, “New police data show that at least 16 rapes, 80 sexual assaults and 65 acts of voyeurism occurred in sports centres in 2023, equating to three offences a week.” Even one crime is too many. Unfortunately, these numbers will continue to rise as long as authorities allow biological males to share changing rooms and bathrooms with biological females.
Rowling cited the data as proof that women have not been “lying” about their desire for women-only spaces. When the left accuses these women of dishonesty, it exposes how hollow its so-called “pro-women” stance truly is.
“Bear with me here, but it’s almost as though girls and women who want female-only spaces aren’t scaremongering, hysterical, lying bigots after all,” Rowling wrote in an X post on Friday. The Women’s Rights Network (WRN) sponsored the study, which also found that many of the assaults and rapes occurred in mixed-gender changing areas—spaces the report describes as a “magnet for sexual predators.”
A man who rushed in to help disarm one of the terrorists who fired at a crowd celebrating Hanukkah in Australia’s famous Bondi Beach was mistakenly shot by police and tackled by bystanders, according to a new report.
The heroic civilian, who was only described as a Middle Eastern refugee living with his Australian wife and kids, was in Bondi Beach when Naveed Akram, 24, and his father Sajid, 50, allegedly opened fire at a crowd of Jewish revelers.
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Harrowing video shows the moment the good Samaritan runs up the bridge where the gunmen were firing from after one of them was hit by police returning fire, the Daily Mail reported.
The man quickly sneaks up on the downed shooter and begins kicking his rifle out of reach before the gunman can grab it.
The quick-thinking civilian then begins to raise his hands and back away from the scene, but gunfire continues to ring out as he shouts, “Don’t shoot.”
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A few weeks later, FBI agents raised more concerns, including about the legality searching Trump's personal residence at the Mar-a-Lago residence, the memos show.
I let them (Biden DOJ) know we are not in agreement for PC (probably cause) on the SW (search warrant) and that we already had an Ops Plan in place that will/can be quickly updated between FBI/MM and FBI/WF," the July 2022 memo said. "However, WF- does not believe we havee PC for the 45 0ffice or the bedroom due to recency and issues of boxes versus classified information. Therefore, as we are in disagreement on the SW and its scope, we are not yet finalizing a SW as we are missing relevant logistics and details."