Marcus

[Marcus @FunkyBunch3112]

Proud to be an American!

[Not Match of the Day @NOT_MOTD]

This girt in Argentina has done the same for her country. 💃🏻🇦🇷

[Not Match of the Day @NOT_MOTD]

The girl in Brazil has gone viral for her World Cup dancing... 🇧🇷💃🏻

[FC Barcelona @FCBarcelona]

CHAMPIONS 🏆
It's not just a league title.
It's history. 💙❤️

[عيديت بار Idit Bar @bararit]

السياسي العراقي المثقف والشجاع عم يقول الحقيقة اللي كتير عرب بخافوا يقولوها👇

The educated and courageous Iraqi politician is speaking the truth that many Arabs are afraid to say 👇

[God & Country @GodandCountryy]

@EricLDaugh USA 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[John Ʌ Konrad V @johnkonrad]

NATO is in far bigger danger than anyone realizes. And the reason has nothing to do with defense budgets.

The real danger is psychological. It’s cultural.

Europeans didn’t just free-ride on American security for 80 years. They built an entire identity around the idea that they evolved past the Americans protecting them.

That identity is now the single biggest obstacle to Western survival. And the darkest irony is: we helped build it.
After World War II, Europe wasn’t just economically shattered. Its culture was in ruins. The cities, the universities, the concert halls, the museums. Rubble.

The Marshall Plan rebuilt the economy. But culture wasn’t a priority. Not at first.
Then the Iron Curtain dropped. And suddenly culture became a weapon.

American diplomats, academics, artists & scholars flooded Western Europe. We funded their universities. Supported their orchestras. Rebuilt their museums. Promoted their intellectual life.
Not because European culture needed saving for its own sake.

Because Eastern Europeans were struggling for Maslow’s mist basic needs.

We needed the view from the other side of that Wall to be intoxicating.

So America built Western Europe into a showcase of self-actualization. Art. Philosophy. Cafe culture. Long vacations. Universities where people studied literature instead of surviving.
We were manufacturing jealousy.

And it worked. The Wall came down.

But here’s what no one accounted for.

When you give a society self-actualization on someone else’s tab long enough, they forget it was a gift. They start believing it was organically theirs.

And when they look at the country that funded it all, a country busy building aircraft carriers and semiconductor fabs and shale fields instead of reaching the Maslow’s pinnacle.

An overweight American in a ball cap who can’t tell Monet from Pissarro. Who eats fast food. Who drives a truck. Who builds strip malls instead of piazzas.

And to a culture trained in aesthetics but stripped of strategic awareness, that American looks uncivilized.

So the arrogance takes root. And once a culture decides another is beneath them, they stop listening.

Americans say wars are sometimes necessary: crude.

Oil is the backbone of prosperity: unsophisticated.

Kids build companies in garages that reshape the planet: crass.

Wall Street finances the global economy: vulgar.

Europe has no world-class technology sector. No military capable of strong defense. No energy independence. No AI capacity.

What Europe has is culture. The culture we paid for at the expense of us reaching Maslow’s pinnacle.

For decades that was fine. We funded the museums, protected the sea lanes, and tolerated the sneering because the arrangement worked.

Then Europeans stopped keeping the contempt private. They started saying it to our faces. In their media. In their parliaments. At every international forum. “Americans are stupid.

Americans are violent. Americans are a threat to democracy.”

We could have moved the Louvre to NY. We could have built a Venice here. We could have stolen your best artists, designers, philosophers and more… like your conquering armies did for centuries.

Instead we funded them. And all we asked for in return was to let us visit.

You don’t have the military to defend your borders. You don’t have the technology to compete. You don’t have the energy to heat your homes without begging dictators.

What you have is an 80-year superiority complex FUNDED BY AMERICANS, protected by American soldiers, and built on the false belief that self-actualization is civilization.

It isn’t. Civilization is the ability to sustain itself. By that measure, Europe isn’t a civilization at all. It’s a dependency with better wine.

That’s not a threat. It’s a weather report.

Build a Navy. Or don’t. But stop lecturing the people who made you “better than us”

Our “crudeness” our “stunted liberal education” our “ugly strip malls” are because we sacrificed our culture to support yours.

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

A moment to be proud of. 🇺🇸

GOD BLESS AMERICA. GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS.

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

🚨“WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History, for one of our incredible Crew Office Members, who also happens to be a highly respected Colonel, and who I am thrilled to let you know is SAFE and SOUND!” - President Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

[Eric S. Raymond @esrtweet]

Hello, Europeans. The first thing you need to understand about the rant I'm about to utter is that I'm not MAGA, not a Trumpite, but a libertarian who has in the past nevertheless been strongly supportive of US military presence overseas. Because I want the wars that defend this country to be fought in somebody else's country, as far away from me as possible with a nice big ocean in the way.

Also relevant: I have a history of having lived in Europe and traveled there extensively. I was at one time bilingual in English and Spanish, and have been passably fluent in Italian and French as well. I could probably still find my way around London and Rome and central Paris reasonably well. So if you're tempted to tell yourselves that I'm some kind of parochial American hick, abandon that hope.

All that was set-up. So that, when I tell you that almost the entirety of the US electorate, not just Trump supporters, is increasingly fed up with your shit, take me seriously.

We've been cleaning up your messes and keeping the sea lanes open since 1917. And that was for you, not us - we, being very close to resource self-sufficient, don't need that investment so much. We've spent enormous amounts of blood and treasure on keeping you safe. We risked nuclear hellfire on our own cities for nearly 50 years to keep Soviet tanks from rolling through the Fulda Gap.

Even since the Cold War ended, we've subsidized your socialist-playpen welfare states and disastrous immigration policies by taking the need to maintain militaries more effective than a sack of wet farts off the table.

Now we've come looking for help keeping a bunch of rabid Islamic fanatics from getting nuclear weapons that are a clear and present danger to all of you even more than they are to us, and what do we hear?

"Waah! It's another Republican president we don't like, just like the last half dozen of them! So we're going to sulk in a corner, except when we're biting at your ankles with crap like airspace restrictions."

No. No, we're not going to take this anymore. It's not just conservatives who have had enough, it's moderates and people who used to be strong supporters of liberal internationalism.

Our citizen's willingness to pay higher taxes to protect you was upward-bounded by your gratitude. Now that we know your gratitude has effectively gone to zero, so does our willingness.

Don't expect this to change if the Democrats take power here. They are much less liberal-internationalist than Republicans now. While they might make mouth noises that soothe you, their overriding concern is the gaping, insatiable maw of their income transfer programs. They'll sacrifice subsidizing Europe's playpen socialism to feed their domestic version in a heartbeat. And there is no longer any significant Democratic constituency to argue against that.

In truth, three decades after the Cold War ended there is no American constituency at all for the massive subsidies you get. It frankly surprises me they lasted this long, that we were this patient with your cowardice and your bitchy whining.

This moment has been a long time coming. It's not Donald Trump sinking the transatlantic alliance, it is absolutely you.

[Hussain Abdul-Hussain @hahussain]

I find it fascinating how some European governments have bet on Islamist Iran regime against America and Gulf governments. That’s a huge gamble.
Like Warren Buffet says: Never bet against America.

[Daniel Foubert 🇵🇱🇫🇷 @d_foubert]

أوروبا لا تعاني من "مشكلة" واحدة، بل من ثلاث مشاكل: ثلاث دول أوروبية تعاني من حالة "دوار ما بعد الإمبراطورية" الحاد.

أولاً، المملكة المتحدة: تلك الأمة التي صوتت لصالح "بريكست" كي "تستعيد السيطرة"، لتكتشف لاحقاً أنها نسيت تماماً كيف تقود. إن أزمة الهوية البريطانية تشبه مشاهدة أسد متقاعد يحاول تبني نظام غذائي نباتي. لقد استبدلوا الثقة الإمبراطورية ببرامج تدريبية في "الحساسية السلوكية" تليق بقسم موارد بشرية. أرض "تشرشل" تُحكم الآن من قبل بيروقراطية "الدولة المربية" المترامية الأطراف، والتي تخشى الإساءة لأحد على منصة (X) أكثر من خشيتها من الانحدار الفعلي. أما الشرطة البريطانية، التي كانت يوماً ما محط حسد العالم، فتبدو الآن وكأنها تكرس مواردها للتحقيق في "حوادث كراهية غير إجرامية" وطلاء سيارات الدورية بألوان قوس قزح، أكثر مما تفعل في حل جرائم السطو. إنها أمة تتشبث يائسة بجماليات التقاليد — العائلة المالكة، المراسيم، الشاي — بينما نخر "العفن التقدمي" مؤسساتها حتى جعلها تبدو أكثر تطرفاً من حرم جامعة كاليفورنيا. إنهم يريدون "هيبة" القرن التاسع عشر، لكنهم مشلولون بالهشاشة العاطفية للقرن الحادي والعشرين.

ثم تأتي فرنسا: العمة الغاضبة المدخنة بشراهة التي ترفض الاعتراف بأنها عاطلة عن العمل منذ عقود. يتجلى "دوار ما بعد الإمبراطورية" لدى فرنسا في حالة دائمة من التمرد التي تتخفى وراء قناع "المشاركة المدنية". هويتها منقسمة بين نخبة واهمة لا تزال تعتقد أن باريس هي عاصمة الكون، وشعب يعبر عن "بهجة الحياة" بحرق مواقف الحافلات كل يوم خميس. يعاني الفرنسيون من "عقدة نابليونية" بدون وجود نابليون؛ فهم يطالبون بمستوى معيشة إمبراطورية فاتحة بينما يعملون 35 ساعة في الأسبوع ويتقاعدون في سن يكون فيه معظم الأمريكيين في قمة عطائهم. ينظرون للقيم "الجمهورية" والعلمانية المتشددة، ومع ذلك فقدت الدولة سيطرتها على مساحات شاسعة من ضواحيها. فرنسا باختصار هي متحف جميل في الهواء الطلق، حيث القيمون عليه في إضراب، والحراس يخشون الزوار، والإدارة مشغولة بإلقاء المحاضرات على بقية العالم حول "العظمة" (Grandeur) بينما فواتير الكهرباء لم تُدفع بعد.

أخيراً لدينا ألمانيا: العملاق العصبي الذي قرر أن الطريقة الوحيدة للتكفير عن تاريخه هي ارتكاب "انتحار صناعي" بطيء. إن "دوار ما بعد الإمبراطورية" في ألمانيا هو مرض مناعي أخلاقي؛ فالبلاد مرعوبة من ظلها لدرجة أنها استبدلت الفخر الوطني بجلد الذات العنيف وقوانين إعادة التدوير. هويتهم مبنية على كونهم "القوة الأخلاقية العظمى"، وهو ما يترجم عملياً إلى إغلاق محطات الطاقة النووية التي تعمل بكفاءة تامة من أجل حرق الفحم القذر، كل ذلك بينما يلقون الدروس على جيرانهم حول البصمة الكربونية. إنها أمة من المهندسين الذين هندسوا مجتمعاً لا يعمل. الروح الألمانية، التي عرفت يوماً بالكفاءة والانضباط، تحورت إلى بيروقراطية مشلولة حيث ملء الاستمارة الصحيحة أهم من النتيجة النهائية. إنهم مستميتون لتجنب الظهور بمظهر "التهديد" لدرجة أنهم تحولوا أساساً إلى منظمة غير حكومية ضخمة تمتلك جيشاً يستخدم "مقابض المكنسات" بدلاً من البنادق، خوفاً من أن يُفسر إظهار أي حزم على أنه انتكاسة للماضي.

[John Ʌ Konrad V @johnkonrad]

We had a good thing, Britain.

A really good thing.

You taught us this game. Mahan studied you. We just wrote bigger checks.

The deal was simple. We spend the trillions. Fight the hard wars. We even let you sit out Vietnam. And you? You hold the chokepoints you already own. You run Lloyd’s. Ships in the narrows, insurance on the hulls.

That’s all you had to do and we would back your interests with the strongest military and financial markets in the world.

That was the deal.

Now look at you.

You gave up Aden. Fine. You kept Diego Garcia so we could reach it with bombers. Now you’re giving that away too. To a Chinese client state.

You built Israel to guard Suez. Now your Foreign Secretary threatens to arrest their PM.

You built a base nearby to back it up. Iran hit your base in Cyprus. You didn’t have one warship in the Mediterranean. Spain got there first. Spain.

You gave up Hong Kong but backed Taiwan. Now you’re letting China build the largest embassy in Europe on top of London’s fiber-optic cables. We gave you Five Eyes. You gave Beijing a SIGINT platform in the heart of the City.

Gibraltar. Three hundred years. Actual sieges. Now the Spanish run your border checks.

You lost South Africa but kept the Falklands so we can overfly the Magellan Strait. Argentina could probably take that with rowboats today.

Your king kept ownership of the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand navies to fill the gaps. Those navies are now a laughing stock.

Your warships and bombers patrolled the GIUK gap. Now you don’t have enough but you also don’t want us buying Greenland. Fine. You do it. With what?

We gave London the @IMOHQ to regulate shipping, you backed the EU agenda to carbon tax every ship to build woke UN slush fund.

Iran closed Hormuz. In the ‘80s, 540 ships got hit. Lloyd’s never blinked. Because your navy was there. Now Lloyd’s cancels. Because it isn’t.

You scrapped your only amphibious ships. Sold them. To Brazil. You have more admirals than warships.

You built two light carriers but they keep springing leaks and you don’t have enough escort ships to support them.

The English Channel. Stopped Napoleon. Stopped Hitler. Now you can’t stop rubber dinghies.

You had one job.

Have the warships, diplomatic backbone and insurance to support shipping through the straits.

That’s it. That’s all we asked.

And you blew it. Chokepoint by chokepoint. Called it progress.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Now hundreds of ships are stuck in the Persian Gulf and the world is blaming us.

But that’s ok. All those solar panels you bought from China will keep you warm in that dreary weather I guess.

[Fox News @FoxNews]

FLASHBACK: Then-Senator Marco Rubio tears into President Obama’s proposed Iran nuclear deal, predicting the threat it posed to America and future generations:

“I want to be recorded for history’s purposes, if nothing else, to say that those of us who opposed this deal understood where it would lead. And we are making a terrible mistake.”

The clip has gone viral for how accurate Rubio’s predictions turned out to be as the U.S. and Israel work to end Iran’s threat to the Middle East and the world.

[Apple Lamps @lamps_apple]

I’ll say it so simply that everybody, and I mean everybody, can understand it… nobody, and I mean nobody, gave Iran the right to threaten the entire world with nuclear weapons. Nobody. That’s the question you should be asking. You want to talk about authority? Trump is the President of the United States, the most powerful, most respected, most feared nation in the history of civilization, and when a bloodthirsty regime says “death to America, death to everybody,” Trump doesn’t send a strongly worded letter suggesting they stop…. he sends a missile through their roof to neutralize the threat.

The Gulf states.. and we have great respect for the Gulf states, tremendous people, incredible wealth, beautiful countries.. the Gulf states have been calling us, calling by the thousands, behind the scenes, begging us to do something about Iran for years. Years. You know it. I know it. Everybody knows it. They couldn’t sleep at night because of Iran. They were petrified. And now that we’ve actually done something about it, now that we’ve taken the single greatest, most precise, most overwhelming military action against a terror-sponsoring regime that anyone has ever seen… now you want to complain? Not going to work.

Also… I love that you bring up money, because let me tell you.. the Gulf states got the single best deal in the history of deals. The region is safer, the oil markets are stabilizing, and Iran will never, ever threaten its neighbors again. Ever. You were spending billions on defense anyway, Khalaf. Billions. And it wasn’t working. We solved the problem that nobody else could solve, that nobody else had the courage to solve, and now you’re going to lecture Trump about costs? The cost of doing nothing would have been catastrophic. Would have been the end.

The threat will be eliminated. And every single country in the Gulf.. including yours… will benefit enormously from what we’ve done. Enormously.

God bless the incredible people of the Gulf.

God bless the United States of America.