Brian Tolbert

Louisiana Native | Probably just venting into the chasm | J.D.

[BSAT Properties @BSAT_Properties]

I was on a train in Tokyo. We stopped between stations. Announcement in Japanese, then in English: "We apologize for the delay. We will resume shortly."

The delay was maybe 3 minutes. Not a big deal.

When the train started moving again, another announcement: "We sincerely apologize for the delay. We were stopped for 3 minutes and 20 seconds. This is unacceptable. Thank you for your patience."

Three minutes and twenty seconds. They measured it exactly. And called it unacceptable.

When I got off at my stop, there were station staff on the platform bowing and handing out delay certificates.

I took one out of curiosity. It was an official document stating that the train had been delayed by 3 minutes and 20 seconds, signed and stamped.

The staff member said in English "for your employer. So they know the delay was not your fault."

I said I'm a tourist, I don't need it. He looked confused. "But the delay affected you. You deserve an apology."

Three minutes. They were treating a three-minute delay like a major incident.

Later I mentioned this to a Japanese friend. They said "oh yes, delay certificates are normal. Trains are supposed to be exactly on time. If they are late, they must apologize."

I said three minutes isn't late, it's nothing. My friend said "in Japan, three minutes is late. On time means on time. Not approximately on time."

They said the train company probably investigated why there was a 3-minute delay. "They will find the cause and fix it so it doesn't happen again."

I kept the certificate. It's framed in my apartment now. A reminder that somewhere in the world, people care about three minutes.

© 6IX.

[Zen and the Art of Persuasive Writing @Zenpersuasion]

I’m an appellate court judge.

I’ve read thousands of briefs.

Here’s what no one told you about persuasion and how to win. Thread.

[Robert Greenway @RC_Greenway]

One of the most important but least discussed lessons gleaned from US military actions taken against Venezuela and Iran is not the breathtaking success but that China and Russia are neither willing nor able to stop us or come to the aid of their allies, and that the assistance provided them was utterly useless.

As states consider a “multipolar” world one nation stands apart. 🇺🇸

[Tom Kratman @TKratman]

From Martin Iles, reposted:

Having lived in the USA for nearly two years, I've realised something.

The USA and the remainder of the Western world are no longer aligned.

We all laugh and mock when the Americans say, "Freedom!" because we truly think we're as free as they are.

Wrong. We're not. Not even close. The laws, the mindset, and the behaviour, is totally different in this regard.

Most of all, the governments are totally different. The USA's convictions around core freedoms are on a scale we do not share.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump wins the popular vote, the electoral college, the House, and the Senate... a man who, in every other Western country, is held in open derision, if not contempt.

For these and other reasons, we are not the same.

Yet the West, including Australia, fully expect to rely on the USA for our very survival.

If the world turns bad (which will happen - only a question of time), then the whole West, without America, is toast.

So, you may ask - if we're not very aligned ideologically, then it must be that we bring something to the party militarily?

Well, no... actually... we don't matter that much militarily.

The USA has about 470 ships in its navy, including 11 aircraft carriers, 69 submarines, 75 destroyers... plus 110 new ships in the pipeline.

Australia has about 30, including 3 destroyers, 7 frigates and 7 outdated submarines. The UK does a little better, with about 60.

Meanwhile, the US has over 14,000 military aircraft. A staggering number.

Australia has 252 military aircraft. The UK has 556.

The US army has just shy of 1,000,000 uniformed personnel in its military. Australia has about 45,000.
The USA spends 3.4% ($968 billion) of its GDP on defence. Australia spends 2% ($36.4 billion). The US spends as much as the next 15 largest military-spending countries (including China) combined.

The USA has a fighting culture. The men shoot things (a lot) and hunt things, the veterans get favoured in everything from parking spots to boarding planes. A uniformed young man is thanked in the street a dozen times a day.

"Oh, the Americans and their guns!" we say, in our smug way. Yes, they have a warrior culture. We do not. We don't have to, because we're a leech on theirs.

How many young British men are willing to fight for their country? Now ask the same regarding young American men. The difference is about as wide as it could be.

Militarily, we don't offer squat.

Meanwhile, look at the way Australia works against America's interests by loving on China. China made us rich and we stay close. This is a Marxist regime with expansionist aims.

Again, you have to spend time in the USA to realise just how vast a gulf there is between us on China.

Europe, too. They let China have their way everywhere from Germany to Greenland, all the while importing Islam and sending their own people to court for saying hurty words.

Somehow, we have landed the deal of a lifetime with the USA that says, "when the baddies come, you'll save us ok?" Because we can't save ourselves.

And we live in peace. But we keep gnawing away at freedoms, keep enabling China, and get flabby and disinterested about our military because Uncle Sam's got it.

And, let's be honest, Americans are widely looked down on. To add insult to injury, we don't think that highly of our protectors.

So, the USA is finally saying "enough." I am here, I can tell you what the vibe is, and that's it. Trump is doing what people want in this regard. They're over it.

And we come across all shocked and hard done by. We behave like people with no self-insight at all.

Yes, the global alliance system is all over the place now. From America's perspective, it's about time.

And I must say, though I be a proud Australian, I am forced to agree. Something has to change.

[Ari Fleischer @AriFleischer]

My message here clearly struck a nerve. A few friends from when I was press secretary, domestically and abroad, don’t like what I said. Instead of seeing how Western European nations must change, they just want to attack Trump.

The reason it struck a nerve is because they recognize that this time NATO nations are being held to account. They know they’ve come up short for decades and by denying us overflight rights, they’ve gone too far. Americans are fed up, especially with France and Spain. Trump won’t stand for it and they know it. They now fear the consequences of their inaction.

The UK, unlike its days under Thatcher or Blair, is wishy-washy. They’ve often been a good allie, but this time they want to sit it out and have it both ways. We can use their bases, but only for limited operations. At least the UK spends real money on defense.

France, Spain, and Italy are another story. So too is Canada. None of these four contribute seriously to NATO. They’re laggards, trying to get away with it. Spain and France force our pilots to fly thousands of miles out of the way (I thought they didn’t like carbon footprints) en route to Iran.

Eastern Europe is a different story. They spend more on defense and they understand power. They lived under Soviet domination and recognize weakness when they see it. They won’t be weak.

Western European governments, especially France, are good at issuing communiques and statements. They enjoy hosting conferences. They love to ponder deeply. Getting them to act is another matter, unless it’s to purchase Russian LNG, which they still do.

The world is changing. Out of this war will come a new group of younger nations that understand real power and the importance of strength. The UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Eastern Europe will emerge stronger than ever. Western Europe will continue to fall behind.

As for Trump, you don’t have to like him. He often says things none of his predecessors would say. But don’t underestimate the fact that US taxpayers are fed up with nations that don’t pull their weight, and then force our pilots to take risks and longer flights so we can rid the world from the menace that is Iran.

Today’s Western European leaders would rather mollify Iran and pay them ransoms (trade) than support the US.

Things are different today. We all know it.

The UK, France, Spain and Italy (despite its Prime Minister) have earned the consequences that will unfold.

They could have and should have supported us. Not as a NATO alliance. But as individual free nations.

All we wanted was overflight rights and full access to airfields.

They’ve made their choices. Soon, they’ll see the results.

[Vince Langman @LangmanVince]

British humor is hilarious 😂

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

I'm seeing quite a bit of comment about this, so I want to make a couple of points.

I'm not owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character I created. The idea is as ludicrous as me checking with the boss I had when I was twenty-one for what opinions I should hold these days.

Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn't want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them.

However, Emma and Dan in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right - nay, obligation - to critique me and my views in public. Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created.

When you've known people since they were ten years old it's hard to shake a certain protectiveness. Until quite recently, I hadn't managed to throw off the memory of children who needed to be gently coaxed through their dialogue in a big scary film studio. For the past few years, I've repeatedly declined invitations from journalists to comment on Emma specifically, most notably on the Witch Trials of JK Rowling. Ironically, I told the producers that I didn't want her to be hounded as the result of anything I said.

The television presenter in the attached clip highlights Emma's 'all witches' speech, and in truth, that was a turning point for me, but it had a postscript that hurt far more than the speech itself. Emma asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence 'I'm so sorry for what you're going through' (she has my phone number). This was back when the death, rape and torture threats against me were at their peak, at a time when my personal security measures had had to be tightened considerably and I was constantly worried for my family's safety. Emma had just publicly poured more petrol on the flames, yet thought a one line expression of concern from her would reassure me of her fundamental sympathy and kindness.

Like other people who've never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she's ignorant of how ignorant she is. She'll never need a homeless shelter. She's never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward. I'd be astounded if she's been in a high street changing room since childhood. Her 'public bathroom' is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door. Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool? Is she ever likely to need a state-run rape crisis centre that refuses to guarantee an all-female service? To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who's identified into the women's prison?

I wasn't a multimillionaire at fourteen. I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous. I therefore understand from my own life experience what the trashing of women's rights in which Emma has so enthusiastically participated means to women and girls without her privileges.

The greatest irony here is that, had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me - a change of tack I suspect she's adopted because she's noticed full-throated condemnation of me is no longer quite as fashionable as it was - I might never have been this honest.

Adults can't expect to cosy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend's assassination, then assert their right to the former friend's love, as though the friend was in fact their mother. Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public - but I have the same right, and I've finally decided to exercise it.

[Kyle Becker @kylenabecker]

"Let me hammer something home. I am sick and I am tired of hearing people say, like Barack Obama did, like Hillary Clinton did, 'oh, we condemn this violence'."

"Guess what? You can't call the President of the United States for ten years Adolph Hitler, and you can't say that he's a fascist dictator, and you can't say that anyone who voted for Trump or advocated for him... are Nazis..."

"And then when someone tries to kill us, you can't suddenly say, 'oh, we condemn this violence'."

"You caused it... when you tell people that someone is Hitler, you are telling crazy people 'go k*ll them'!"

@ClayTravis has got this exactly right. You can't engage in non-stop character assassination without expecting there will be political assassination.

[Brian Tolbert @TolbertBrian91]

lol I don’t think that’s how that scene went in the show

[Jennifer Bendery @jbendery]

A DC resident shared this photo she took at Union Station yesterday. Looks like a scene from the Handmaid's Tale, but no, just another day of Trump's militarization of DC right now. #UnderHisEye

[NewsForce @Newsforce]

This one never gets old 😂

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

This is the sweetest thing I have seen in a long time. ❤️

[RetroNewsNow @RetroNewsNow]

‘We must stop the terror. I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you.... Now, watch this drive.’

— President George W. Bush (August 4, 2002)

[Lord of the Rings Memes @TheLOTRMemes]

Relatable

[𝕐o̴g̴ @Yoda4ever]

You don't need lots of friends, just the right ones..🐕🐾🧓🎂😊

[Puppies & Positivity @Puppieslover]

He literally couldn’t decide 😂😂

[Brian Tolbert @TolbertBrian91]

@AdeleScalia “flying trapeze and light show” when Catholics put on more hollow theater and unfounded ritual than all Protestants put together. With thuribles and all manner of nonsense. Got really cool buildings and relics though, so I guess that ruthless iron rule in the Dark Ages paid off

[Megan Basham @megbasham]

"Every county clerk in the south."

This is the most accurate character sketch ever created.

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

It looks like straight out of a cartoon

[Adam Ellis @adamtotscomix]

🗡️🗡️🗡️

[Brian Tolbert @TolbertBrian91]

I’d keep it at arms length if I were him.

[Raylan Givens @JewishWarrior13]

🚨THIS IS AWESOME! WATCH: PM Netanyahu gives @SenFettermanPA a SILVER PAGER is a gift thanking him for his strong support for the State of Israel. Senator Fetterman is visiting Israel.